I had some time to kill this past week while other folks were going to a movie and ended up in Brackenridge Park after remembering that there was some trout stocked there somewhere.. but I was confused on the dates. I visited with a gentleman there who also was fishing but was convinced the biggest fish was little bluegill... and he wasn't having any luck.

Long story short, saw an entire school of BIG bass in there. Real big. I didn't have any bass equipment with me, but dropped a couple jigs just for the heck of it.

Anyone tried bank fishing for bass there? They're over by the footbridge across from the playground under the water lilies.

Is this footbridge anywhere near the zoo or train station?

Near-ish. I parked at the train station and walked back and forth a couple times before settling there.

Ok, I just haven't been there in years. Is it the bridge where vehicles are allowed to drive over or at least used to drive over?

No. This is a bit further in directly across from the playground. Its a black footbridge.

I spotted a good size school of largemouth about hand length, but there was another school of over a foot long, and one the length of my forearm and hand, and very very thick.

Around what time? I want to make sure I take the right equipment. thanks so much for the information.

Time is a good question. Noon-ish to mid afternoon?

If you catch something, I need a pic! Walk to the high side of the bank and look down. Have patience cause they're patrolling in and out from under the pads.

Again thanks for the info. I will definetly send a pic if and when I get one. Happy New Year.

I stopped by there this morning. The only lily pads i saw were as you follow the river toward the UIW campus. It was still cold out so there wasn't much stirringh. With the temps around 70 this afternoon, I bet thet would be a good day to go before it cools off again.
On a side note, does anyone know where they stock the trout there and how crowded it gets? I would like to take the kiddos there if it isnt too bad.

I caught two bass there the other morning. small but very aggressive with lots of jumps. i was fishing both fly and spin cast but only caught fish on the fly rod with a woolly bugger. saw lots of larger bass but i couldn't get a good cast at them, so I'm going back with a gulp worm on my spin cast, since they would have nothing to do with a spinnerbait.

I was out there on Sat with my daughters and we tried and tried and tried but no luck with catching them. They were there, even a big one you mentioned. Thank you again for the info I will try again when its a little warmer, I think the cold played a role and why they weren't bitting.

Joe

hit it Sunday with a friend. he landed one at about 2lbs, i had no luck though and only had one on a hook till it jumped and threw the hook.

it certainly seemed like the cold was shutting down the larger bass, the small ones and the sunfish were attacking grubs though.

Incidentally, i think its time for the city to sponsor a cleanup day. we need to get a decent sized group to move through the river front part of the park and remove the trash from the banks and water, as well as many of the "tree bass" that make fishing there so frustrating.

I agree with you. My girls as young as they are even commented on how dirty and the amount of trash was there. My 5yr. "Daddy the fish won't eat if their house is dirty." something needs to be done.

so in doing a bunch of research on who to contact and all that i realized that the entire area is scheduled for an overhaul when the "Museum Reach Park Segment portion of the San Antonio River Improvements Project" gets under way.

from the looks of it though, the river will be kept natural up to the dammed off portion in Brackenridge, and a "wetlands" will be constructed near the Witte Museum.

that's going to take a while though, so i'm going to see if i can find somebody at the parks department who might know something about future cleanup plans.

personally, my favorite part of that park for fishing is the section down stream between Mulberry and the main dammed off portion. the river is natural through there with good flow and feisty fish, yet that is also the section with the most trash.

I'm hoping i can get the park to agree to a sponsored cleanup of mostly that section, concentrating on removal of trash, and removal of scrub along the bank. also, if we could get some allowance to trim up some trees and low hanging branches, that could allow for better angling access.

but this all depends on if they want to even bother fixing something up that is destined for an overhaul in the next two years.

If we can get an allowance for beer in the park on that day, i can probably get Lonestar to donate kegs, and i might be able to get Jason Dady or some other local chef to donate BBQ or tacos. if enough people want to get involved, we could really make a great day of it, and that involvement would work well in convincing TPWD that they need to stock bass and pan-fish, and maybe make the park a catch and release only.

Newtothis and Fshnpop, My hubby is from down there and organized a cleanup of the Ladybird Johnson park when he was a teenager. He basically called the city, asked if they would bring a dumpster, and put out flyers asking people to come clean up their park. He ended up with about 20 people and together they filled one of those big roll-off dumpsters. I'm sure there's a number for the city that you can call and contact someone and organize a cleanup. I'd be more than happy to get involved, but I'm way up here in Dallas. People will help and do care about their parks if you give them a chance.

Congratulations on the luck!! I saw those big ones in the river but didn't have any bass stuff and they weren't interested in my jigs. Maybe when things warm up a bit. Also, wondering if you'd have any luck with minnows or shad around sun-up or dusk.

Stocking panfish should be easy. Again, I'd start calling TPWD and see what they say. See what they say about making that a community fishing pond like what there is around the rest of the state. Those can be big draws and get kids interested in fishing... and encourage more traffic to the park. I THINK Miller Pond down there is a community fishing pond, but I also think that's the only one in San Antonio... meanwhile I can think of 4 off the top of my head within easy driving distance up here.

Just a couple ideas. I'd start off with calling the number for the officials of the park, or failing that, your local TPWD number and see what they say. Failing that, call the city and see what they say about dropping off a dumpster so you can organize a clean-up day. Trash is a never ending battle, but if enough of us do our part, we can all enjoy the outdoors more.