I will be spending the week of the 22nd in downtown Austin near the Capitol for work and most of my early morning and evenings will be free for some fishing. Me and a colleague have never fished the Austin area are looking for recommendations for somewhere in the area to catch some fish (any species). We have a vehicle and traveling a half hour or so is no problem. It looked like that banks of the river running through downtown had many spots to fish and kayak rentals, but not sure if its worth the trouble renting a kayak?

Also any recommendation for a nice glass of whiskey would be much appreciated as well.

Thanks TFF'ers

Lady bird lake, you can fish that. Also the dams on both ends of lady bird lake. There's Moby docks in cedar creek about 25 east of Austin. Also onion creek south of Austin.

When I was there for school 2007-2012 the kayak rentals were something like $10 for 2 hours so very well prices, probably gone up but don't think it'd be crazy. Lady bird is stupid clear water so bring natural colors and also bluegill colors, very very healthy gill population and the bass eat a LOT of them.

Eric

Austin is THE place in Texas to catch carp and buffalo. Any spot on the Colorado River will produce some nice ones. Lady Bird, Lake Austin, and the various parks dotting it. You may also get a big grasser or two. Decker Lake is also in the area and is known for giant buffalo. It's (unfortunately) potentially going to be drained as the power plant will be shutting down, so I'd fish it while you still can. I just wish I lived closer to Austin so I could fish these waters!

I had heard that they were planning to replace the public park with a golf course, but I wasn't aware of the plans to drain the lake to make room for a larger golf course until now. I don't fish Decker much, but one less fishable body of water in the area is still a loss.