Are there any public lakes or ponds in the Boerne or Kerrville area that spit out double digits? I've looked into Canyon Lake, but from what I can tell, it's well past its prime and on the decline. The wife wants to take a trip down and check out these two cities to possibly relocate to, and I want to check out the bass fishing potential before signing off on it. I'm not into tournament fishing, I just really enjoy chasing the bigs. Please tell me there are some fisheries in the area that are capable of producing some DD's!

There are fisheries in and around the Boerne (Hill Country Area) that are capable of having DD Bass. Check out the Freshwater Body Records (Hill Country) on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. Web Site. The hill country is one of my favorite places to fish.

Public water and big bass here would be slim. Now if you wanted giant yellow catfish (aka flathead), Boerne lake is full of them.
Kerrville has a lot more water with the Guadalupe River chain on lakes (small damed up areas), but nobody talks about the fishing. So it’s either so good that people are too smart to share or it just sucks also.

Many come to Boerne and think “Oh it’s so beautiful”, but take a good look at the lack of roads and the amount of apartments & subdivisions. We have a traffic issue and there are no plans to fix it. Not sure what your budget is, but I’d also look at Fredericksburg, Marble Falls and all the surrounding areas. It depends on your needs and wants, this town is sucking with all of the tract home growth & junky apartments, it’s lost its small town feel.

Canyon lake is actually fishing better than it ever has, you just can’t launch a boat because we are in a massive drought.

Lake LBJ would be your best bet for catching a DD in this area and it’s a constant level lake, so the drought doesn’t affect it.


And I might as well mention it, just in case. Many of the hill country areas are majority run Republican, if that’s something that’s going to bother you, research election results before choosing the area. Many move here and then complain about how the conservatives dominate everything from the FB pages to events. Not joking, I’m being 100% serious. If that’s something that you won’t like, chose your area wisely.

Boerne City Lake has DD bass...good luck catching one. Those bass have seen every lure made twice and that's just from last weekend.

Kerrville has a stretch of 3 small lakes, damed up Guadalupe River. They also have DD bass but again...good luck catching one.

They all get heavy fishing pressure.

If Hopalong wasn’t such a puzzzzzzzzz, he’d post his picture of his Boerne Lake 10 pounder, that he caught in 1970.

Hes from N. Idaho, just as or more conservative than Texas.

Not an area to move to if fishing is important. Even living in SA now and the hassle to get to a decent lake is becoming a real issue. It’s time for me to move!

Come on now, you can fish the funky slime filled lakes for those freshwater redfish. Of course, I couldn’t figure out how to catch one, but I suck at fishing!

Just speaking from experience, but don’t you have to go fishing to suck at fishing?

Canyon Lake is really the only major lake in that area. It's fun to fish and has big bass, but it's really really low right now. you can't launch a boat. Canyon is 30ft low. All our central texas lakes need a massive hurricane to just stop over the entire year for like 2 weeks to refill.

Sorry, it was 14 lbs. Oh, it was on certified scales too.

And the time he spent camping at the Calliham picnic tables on Choke in ‘72

That was greatness, since the lake was built 12 years later!

That Hop, always full of Come on Hop, I know you want to defend yourself.

Appreciate all the replies. I apologize for not responding sooner. Sick kids and crazy at work. Anyway, please see my responses below:



Good idea... will do!




We're actually considering Fredericksburg too. What public waters around there have big bass?




Yup. No issues here with it being conservative. The redder the better!




Bummer, but makes sense.




Dang it. Not what I was hoping to hear.




Is Canyon capable of producing a DD or maybe even a teener?

There are DD's in Boerne Lake and Canyon.

Catching them is another story. I don't even go to Boerne Lake anymore due to the pressure. It's nuts how many people fish it and it's 13' low (normal pool is 49'). I've done ok out there on white bass but even downsizing and slowing down - a keeper largemouth is hard to come by.

I would say the best bet is Canyon. But good luck launching a boat. I think there are some public ramps available for a significant fee. I've seen some 7-8's come out lately and I'm sure there is a DD in the grass somewhere.

If you don't want to pay private pond money - I would try to launch a kayak on Choke (which I'm going to do). All the highland lakes have a DD in there but are getting pounded right now.

If you have a bass boat and want to chase a giant - I would go to Ivie.