I have not been able to find the big cats in austin? My son and my catch alot of eater size but no big ones. Can anybody help, my boy wants a big one on the end of his line. Any help will do Thanks to those who respond.

where are you fishing at in Austin?

Well we go to mansfield dam, 360 bridge, town lake. I do not have a boat so we fish the bank.

If you get a chance, try the San Gabriel by Circleville. Just north of Taylor on hwy 95. Duchess in Circleville has maps of the lake. Plus you can get your bait there. You can go to the bridge just north of Circleville, it is crossing the San Gabriel. You can park and walk in from there. Caught some nice cats on the river.

Have you been there lately? What do you use for bait. Is this river deep?

We use shad, stinkbait, shrimp, worms and minnows. From the bridge you will have to walk a little way up stream. It has some nice deep holes up there. Usually holds some nice cats. If you drive across the bridge on 95, there is a road to the left. Go down it and you will cross the railroad tracks. Keep going down and to your right, there is a little dirt road that leds you to a parking spot by the river. On the river, you will see where people have been fishing. I've caught a 18 lb blue cat from that area before. It is a good clean spot for kids. It also slopes to deep water. I'll walk in and fish that area with my daughter sometimes. I usually fish the main lake, but I will go up river in a heart beat to chase cats. Good spots up there.

I'm going to drive back home this weekend. I'll probably hit up the gabriel off lake granger. How is willis creek right now? I'm assuming it is dried up.

I DRIVE TO LAKE FAYETTE AND FISH OFF POINTS OR THE PUBLIC DOCK. I HAVE CAUGHT MORE THAN A HUNDRED CHANELS THIS LAST WEEK. 2-4 LBS. ON DANNY KINGS AND SURE SHOT PUNCH BAITS. I FOUND THE HONEY HOLE. CATCH ALL YOU CAN CLEAN. I LIVE IN AUSTIN AND I AM LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO SHARE EXPENCES. I AM SPENDING ABOUT $100.00 EACH TRIP. I HAVE A DEPENDABLE BASS BOAT CONVERTED INTO A CATFISH AND BOWFISHING BOAT. I WORK FOR MYSELF SO CAN GO ANYTIME. BEEN MARRIED TWENTY YEARS SO CAN GO ANYTIME. NOTHING BETTER IN LIFE THAN WATCHING KIDS CATCH FISH.

I wish I could take a excavator and dig Willis Creek out right now. It is low. The river is your best shot. Not releasing to much water below the dam right now.

RLO2,

Sent you a pm about fishing sometime.

-Geezo

Went to the gabriel last night, not under the bridge but off a further north by the river boat dock. Threw out some punch bait, shrimp, and frozen shad. Got one bite on the shrimp. But didn't catch a darn thing. Sat out for about 3 hours. That makes about 3 or 4 trips in a row that I have been skunked. I need some help. Thinking I might go night fishing tonight after my brother in law gets his kid to sleep. Not sure where to try. He has a canoe, but not sure if we would use that or just go off of the bank

I fished the Gabriel today. I parked at the bridge, and went downstream a bit. Tried going upstream, but slogging through those woods with my poles and tackle was just too aggravating.

Caught one small cat on DK's, but that was all. In fact, all I seem to catch with DK's is small cats.

I found directions to Willis creek. Is it worth trying there, or is the level too low right now?

if you want bigger cats try fishing at night, with no moon, dont bring a lantern any big light will scare the fish off, use a penn light to bait up , being quite is a must, bait up with perch you caught eariler in the same place, it slow at times but very rewarding, if you want to kick it up a notch, fish with night crawlers for channels, i do both at the same time fishing with 3 rods, make sure you keep your bait away from were your fishing, snakes might come to them, i never had a problem with that but its better to be safe than sorry, my biggest was a 67 lb yellow, plenty of 4 or 5 lbers channels and blues

Honestly, not much fresh water coming down the Gabriel right now. That slows down the cat bite. To catch right now, you got to do a little walking. Fish one spot for about 20 to 30 minutes, if no bite, move. Look for logs and and type of cover in the water. Cast towards it. Just keep moving. They are there, just in cover.

They are in there and will take some work. If that does not work the bite should be heating up in the main lake at Granger. They should be moving out of the river channel and into deeper water so any of the parks on the North or South Side of the lake should be better than by the bridge with the slow water. It will be a little easier to get to and from your spot anyways especially, with son in tow.

Get you a fifty pound bag of range cubes or horse and mule, if you are fishing the main lake. Put the food into a bucket with holes on a long rope if you are bank fishing, toss it around where you are fishing. Take a couple of cupfuls and throw it all around. Bait the poles up with DK for the channels and then throw one or two poles in with some cut carp or live perch for the blues and maybe a yellow this time of year and just let em sit. Bring a small heater for your son or you will be back in the truck in no time.