From trip advisor......�Not a safe park�
Reviewed 25 October 2012
Lock your car. Wouldn't go there after dark. The lake is pretty good for fishing during the day. No problem on the water, but the parking lot is not safe.

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Unless there is severe drought they lock the gates at night which helps with safety from driveby crime.Ladybird is the place I'm always ready to go kungfu on somebody.

What's the situation with accomodation, are you saying that the campers are locked in for safety at night ?

Yes they are, emma is on Lake austin which is on the other side of the dam from ladybird lake.There are many issues fishing there this summer.Although it is near an urban area the road to the park is six miles from the nearest highway.We have camped and fished in the summer at emma. My son and I probably fished more hours there the summer before last than anyone.There are campsites with electricty and sites without.electric sites are about $25 a nite non electric $10.In the middle of summer you can expect mainly teener commons with occasional large grassers.Not many buffalo that time of year.The boaters are very tough and will strip the line off your reels.My son and I became the masters of the 3 hour session and fished only early mornings before the boaters became to bad. We still fish this way today even on ladybird lake, although it leads to many blanks that we cut short to an hour and a half.Most summertime carpers fish at night to avoid boaters, and use the electric sites that are near the bank so they can fish from there tent. The 100degree+ heat can be tuff and can lead to heatstroke in july and august, especially for someone only used to a mild UK climate.The weeds this coming summer may make the lake unfishable.I hear the weeds are not so bad now but will grow all summer and become worse in late summer. Our best fish that summer were 28lb common and 36lb grasser no buffs.

Thanks Green , i guess the heat turns the Carp off feeding ? We have many fickle waters that you could set your watch by .
For instance i know of at least 4 lakes that you wont catch a Carp between the hours of 11am to 4pm crazy but true , many anglers will not even cast a line inside that time slot due to inactivity .
100degs + does not sound good for a long session on the bank so i would purely fish through the night/ early morning .
This maybe a stupid question but do you take safety precautions when going fishing in risky areas ? dare i say.. take a hand gun with you ?

.In the middle of summer the smaller common carp tend to be caught.June and September are a little cooler and better fishing than July and August The average weight of the commons will be lessin summer. I don't own anything more powerful than my 1968 daisy red ryder bb gun, and I don't feel comfortable fishing around guns.I would say I feel much safer fishing at emma than LBL.There was a fatality right where my pod sat last year about 12 hours after I left the swim on LBL,was an auto accident.On LBL I try to stay where there are lots of joggers when fishing with my son.We feelpretty safe at emma mornings and late evenings.When camping we usually are near other campers.Also at emma weekdays are much preferred than weekends.The park is crowded on weekends during the summer and the boaters are way to many.

Red mate - sorry - in and out right now - up at Lake Fork with the Texas 44 tourney.

Damn Gina!!