I've been fishing along the banks lately. There have been lots of shad in the coves and working near the surface. I finally saw some white bass surfacing this evening. They actually pushed in close enough that I could catch one on the fly rod. I heard a couple of reports that they have been surfacing right before dark.

Any recommendations on wading areas around Somerville? Which of the feeder creeks has the clearest water and best bottom substrate? For that matter, any good catching from the bank?

Also, quick report from the spillway this past Monday: caught (snagged) 2 buffalo ~5 lbs each, many gar, 1 white bass ~13 inches, and about a dozen drum between 8 and 14 inches. Almost all were caught on small rat-tails or grubs <2 inches.

Forget about the creeks.. this time of the year most don't have much (if any) running water and are swampy snake infested cesspools with tall weedy brushy banks.
I wait until November or later to start working the creeks and continue until early April when the majority of the spawning is over.
The only exception is the Yegua by kayak any time of the year when there is water.
Bass fishing (blacks or whites) is tricky for the wade fisher.. here today gone tomorrow, hit or miss but most of the time miss for me now.
Unless you can fish very often you can't learn the summer feeding patterns of these fish.
In years past we have had some luck from the shore wade fishing around Welch park in the early morning and late evenings for whitebass,
same goes for Yegua Creek park, Big Creek and Rocky Creek Park.

Most of the time you just have to be lucky enough to line up with the fish when they are actively feeding close to the shore whether that is early morning or late afternoon/evening.

If you are like most of us your fishing time is very limited and that makes it more difficult to learn where the fish might be feeding at the time you get to go..

Any recommendations for river/creek wading hereabouts then? I'm from Austin so I really miss being able to wade clear, fast water in the summer.

edit: if it helps, I mostly target sunfish.

Maybe J-Moe will chime in.. there really isn't much clear and fast water around here or east of here.. Go west !!

Welp, just got back from the lake. Got there just before 8, left around 12:30. 4 LMB between 14 and 18 inches, 6 or 7 bluegill, and a 14 inch drum, out of standing timber. As I expected, bite pretty much ground to a halt ~10, don't think I caught anything after 11. Might be better in the mornings once full moon subsides. Like J-Moe mentioned, saw lots of shad hitting the surface throughout. Just out of curiosity, is any part of Somerville "slightly stained to clear", as TPWD lists it? That has got to be some sort of practical joke.

RedQueen. There aren't any clear creeks in this area. I go west like Ben said. I fish the San Gabriel, Brushy Creek, and all the creeks west of Austin, and south through San Antonio. As far as lake Somerville, if you want to catch Bluegill, fish around the rock outcroppings or rocky points.

Oh well. Guess I'll be "checking in" on my parents a lot more for the rest of this summer.

By the way, not a point, but does the riprap along the dam hold gills?

I was out walking the banks around 5:00 PM yesterday catching a few bluegill when a good group of white bass started surfacing near the bank. I caught a white bass on my first cast, then a Hybrid on my second. Of course it took a while to land him on the 4 weight rod. By the time I landed him the school had moved off shore. I caught one more white bass and a couple of LMB before leaving.

I was told the white bass have been surfacing around sun up in the morning so I went out this morning to find out. I watched from 6:00 AM to 6:45 AM when I finally say some largemouth bass surfacing near the shore. I waded out and ended up catching 18 largemouth in one spot. I didn't see any white bass surfacing until after 7 AM and they were further out. I had to leave at 7:30 so I'm not sure if the surfacing picked up when I left or not.

awesome J-Moe!

The Video dude and I took the kayaks out to the main lake this morning. We fished from 6:15 to 8:00 AM. I was fishing for bluegill with the fly rod and size 10 olive briminator pattern. But, I had another rod ready with a magical clouser if the white bass or lmb started surfacing. Unfortunately, we didn't see any surfacing activity this morning.

It turned out to be a very good day anyway. The bluegill bite was very good and I caught a couple over half pound. The biggest officially weighed 0.76 lbs.

I also caught a surprise on the size 10 briminator. A 19.5 inch / 3.7 lb. largemouth.

Good to see a J-Moe fly fishing report.

Nice J-Moe