Oh no Livingston is nowhere near as good as Rayburn. Hell Livingston is not even in top 10 lakes in southeast texas. But for me I love it. That's all I'm saying. About like lake Houston. For people that don't know it, it's just a garbage dump. For us that know it it's a good fishery close to home.

I was on that lake weekly back in the early 80's while in college. There was a time it fished real well. I guided duck hunting and bass fishing (but mostly whites). Never the giant bags of today, like Rayburn or Falcon, but 12 to 15 pounds was what it took to win. The BASS event in 89? took 36 for 3 days. In 94 it was ~ 44 for 4 if I recall. It still takes ~ 15 to win most events, but the weights fall off much quicker. I pre-fished a lot for TXTT last summer, and what blew me away is how much it has silted in. I can run White Rock from Galloway's to the river with my eyes closed. That used to be 40' deep, and now I was barely able to stay on plane through there! 38' of Dallas [censored]! And the river at the chalk bluffs was 50' deep, and now is 8. North from White Rock to Robb's Lake was 45' and is now 8'. So many of the creeks above 19 that were real good are completely cut off from the silt. Whites, Dillards, Nelson, Blacks all of them are gone. 95% of the jungle is cut off with a rim island that has developed along the river. I had big plans for a run up the river last year, but when it was all said and done we ended up on the south end. And it was a carousel of people fishing the same stuff. We ended up OK, but the lake fished real small.

I don't think there is enough local interest or money for the lake to recover. None of the local towns seem to care, Trinity, Huntsville, Livingston. And Onalaska can't muster it alone. The fishery doesn't get any love from TP&W. And as long as it will drain Dallas the COE doesn't care about it silting in. I saw a footprint of the watershed, and it was ~ a quarter of the state of Texas. The home values on the north end are pitiful, and the south is not much better. Compare them to Conroe 45 min's away. All that said I like fishing the lake because of the type of fishing it takes. Just wish it got a little care and love from the government. Oh yeah, and as Bobby Bare said - I give her a 3.

To each their own I guess! This has been an interesting thread for sure I had no idea how silted in the lake had gotten over the years.