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Lake Livingston white bass #12371470 08/03/17 10:43 PM
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 6
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Little Mac Offline OP
Green Horn
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Green Horn
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 6
The white bass fishing has been on fire on lake livingston this year. I have been putting limits in the boat pretty much every outing thanks to an assortment of Ducktracker Slabs I have been using this year. Did finally get an I Pilot earlier this year & that was definitely a game changer & don't have to troll unless I just want to on those hot days with no wind. Anyone on here fish Livingston much ?

Re: Lake Livingston white bass [Re: Little Mac] #12372797 08/04/17 10:32 PM
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 11
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HtownBB Offline
Green Horn
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Green Horn
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Joined: May 2017
Posts: 11
That is pretty much the only lake I have fished. I want to go somewhere else but I grew up on it.


2017 Tracker 195 TXW.
Re: Lake Livingston white bass [Re: Little Mac] #12373006 08/05/17 01:12 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,618
Dennis Christian Offline
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Posts: 3,618
Fished it regularly from 1974 to 1999, then moved to Cedar Creek Lake. I fished the part between the 190 bridge south to Walker Lake area, mostly on the old 190 roadbed. The fishing is best on the submerged bridges on old 190. There are 3 bridges east of the river channel and 4 bridges west of it. At the bridges fishing is best at each end of the bridge except the river channel bridge. Its east end just terminates - the part going over the river was dynamited. The west end of it is a great spot. Set up right over the end of it and cast 4 ways: down the roadbed, down the middle of the bridge, to the bar ditch on either side of the roadbed as it leaves the bridge, and "rail fishing." I'll include a description of rail fishing below.

The next bridge to the west of the river is Hell's Half Acre. I've done really well at both ends of the bridge fishing like I mentioned above. About 3/4 mile from the west end of the roadbed is the next bridge, We've always called it the Honey Hole Bridge. It also is good on both ends. The last bridge we call the Far Bridge, and it is about 65 yards from the shore. The east end of it is definitely the best.

Here is some more info from previous posts:


Fall 2009

About "rail fishing" for whites: You have to use the inline spinner technique for this to work. When fishing is slow, try "rail fishing". Locate a bridge and position the boat directly over one edge of it. You will be right over one rail and the other will be about 20 ft away running parallel to it. You can fish the rail 2 ways. The most productive way is to cast the inline spinner far enough to go over the opposite rail out into the deep water. Let it go to bottom then crank it back a few turns and let it go to bottom again. Crank it in some more and when the spinner gets close enough to the rail, you can feel the drag of the line coming over the rail. Keep cranking at a medium to medium fast speed so the spinner will not hook the rail. When the spinner clears the rail, you will feel a let-up on line tension (assuming a fish didn't latch on as it came over). Immediately release and let the bait drop just this side of the rail. When it hits the bottom, take up slack and crank several times as usual. If no bite, try a 2nd crank on top of bridge. You catch the most fish on the 1st crank this side of the rail. You will also catch a lot as spinner comes over top of rail and on 2nd crank after you come over rail.

The other way to rail fish is to make medium length cast down the bridge just inside the rail you are sitting over. Just work the inline spinner technique parallel to rail and on top of bridge close to the rail all the way back to boat. All the bridges (at Lake Livingston on Old 190) have in tact rails except the 1st one east of the river channel. The rails are OK on each end of it but the middle section of bridge is out.

My family and friends have been using this to catch whites since the early eighties. When fishing is really tough, you can usually catch them this way. Good luck and feel free to ask questions if I didn't explain it well enough.


Fall 2009

To a fellow who said he needed help fishing lake Livingston:

I assume you have a topo map of the lake. Locate old hwy 190. It goes all the way across the lake at mid-lake area. From west of Indian Hills point (which is on east side of lake) all the way to the west side of lake the top of the roadbed averages 12 to 14 ft deep with 20+ ft water on both sides. Whites can be any where along it but, the best fishing is on the submerged bridges and just off each end of them. There are 3 bridges east of the river channel and 4 bridges west of it. Find the roadbed a little west of Indian Hills Point then follow it west. From this point to the river channel the roadbed is in line with a large light blue building on the far west side. To find the bridges get on the roadbed shoulder (about 17 ft) and go toward the blue building keeping depth at 17 ft. When you come to a bridge the bottom will suddenly drop to 20+ feet (the creek the bridge goes over). The bridge structure is intact, so if you were on the right shoulder swing around to the left and go back and forth over the roadbed until you see the bridge. The bridges have rails on both sides 7-8 ft deep. The middle of the bridges is about 10 ft deep. Locate and set up at either end of the bridge and cast in 4 directions to find fish: down the roadbed, diagonally into the bar ditch to either side and down the middle of the bridge. Try not to let your lure land on the rails or it will likely get hung up. The whites hang out at end of bridges and within 2 to 3 ft of the rails on top of the bridge. You don't have to find them surfacing. They are down there. I fished Livingston for 25 years and now live on Cedar Creek. Went down to Livingston twice this year - once to fish with my sister who lives there and once to fish with fiend who has a place there. Fished the bridges both times. Sister and I caught 110 whites from 7:30 am to 11:30 am in early July. Friend and I caught 206 from 7:45 am to about 1:30 pm in early August. Most were 13 to 14 inches and all caught working the bridges - none on surface feeding fish. The bridge on the river channel was dynamited when lake was created but there is a 20 yard section of it on the west side of river. Also, just west of the river channel bridge the roadbed turns about 10 degrees to the left as you are moving in western direction. Two-thirds of the way across the lake going west it turns about 5 degrees back right. There is one bridge in the section of roadbed after it turns left 10 degrees. It is called Hell's Half Acre. After roadbed turns back right 5 degrees there are two more bridges.

Favorite Structures:

At Livingston I counted about 20 structures I fish from the Hwy 190 bridge southward to about 1200 yards south of the Old Hwy 190 roadbed. My favorites are Old Hwy 190 submerged bridges (7 of them and each bridge has 3 structures - both ends and the middle), Submerged Kickapoo Bridge - both north and south sides of it, the point in front of old Frank's Marina, Old submerged Hwy 190 Roadbed where it reaches Trinity River on the east edge of river.

Of all these structures, my very favorite and most reliable are 4 of the submerged bridges on Old Hwy 190 roadbed: the one on the west side of the Trinity River channel, Hell's half Acre bridge, and 2 bridges near the west end of old 190. Submerged bridges, if at the right depth, are ideal structures for attracting white bass. The ones on Old 190 are 10 to 12 ft deep on the road surface with rails on each side 3 ft shallower. Depth under the bridges varies from 22 to 30 ft. Shad feed on the algae on the hard road surface and on the rails. This in turn attracts the white bass. Fish can hang out in the shade of the bridge, and then when they want a meal, they swim up to the roadbed or rail and catch a shad. We park our boat at either end of a bridge or in the middle of it (of course after we find it using our electronics). We catch fish casting on top of bridge road surface, casting down the roadbed and to shoulders at ends of bridge and casting over and pulling bait across bridge rails (which you can do with an inline spinner but not a slab or spoon without getting hung up). I call this last one "rail fishing" and made a post describing it last year. How effective is this bridge fishing? I went to Livingston twice last year. The 1st trip I fished with my sister in mid July, and we went out from 7:30 to 11 AM and caught 110 on the bridges and came in. In early August I fished with long-time friend Randall Lovelace, and we fished the middle half of the day and caught 206 on the bridges. All these sandies were from 13 to 16 inches. All caught on Mepps spinners.

Hope this is helpful.


Last edited by Dennis Christian; 08/05/17 01:59 AM.
Re: Lake Livingston white bass [Re: Dennis Christian] #12373306 08/05/17 04:56 AM
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Little Mac Offline OP
Green Horn
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Thanks Dennis for the in depth post. That's pretty much the areas I fish & like you said the ends of the bridges are the best spots to fish. I mainly stay to the west side of the river but have been fishing the east side a little this year. I have fished Walkers some with a friend & a couple times on my own. I prefer to stay on this end of the lake. Gets too crowded on the south end. Might have to give that rail technique a try.
Thanks again

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