Fresh water lakes near Houston

Recently moved back to Houston, looking for places to bank fish or kayak within 30-45 minutes of NE Houston? Thanks

Fayette, Somerville,

Lake Houston, San Jacinto river.

This is strictly JMO.

1) Lake Houston - sucks - dead sea. Occasional good fishing in Luces Bayou.
2) Lake Conroe - great if you know the magical places to fish - good luck.
3) Gibbons Creel Reservoir - good luck - killed by power plant closure.
4) Lake Livingston - sand pit that is only good for white bass.
5) Lake Raven - big fish can be found if you have a shock boat.

lake Houston is tuff but there are fish in in it. Luce is a mudhole now.
Conroe just sucks
Gibbons has started generating again, start up is this month maybe 2 years before it gets good again
Livingston isn't great anymore
Raven is okay at times

I concur!

TO the OP, there are a lot of kayak groups around, my neighbor found one on Facebook that fishes the lakes/ponds in the Woodlands and around. There may be a similar group on your side of town.

All the bayous in Houston that do not have fully cemented waterways are good. You can catch anything and everything. A lot from the bank. 1/8" Roostertails in white, chrome, chartreuse, firetiger and white/red head all work. Some areas will shock you how many bream they have in them. Bass too. The problems with some of the bayous is that some of the areas they are in are not exactly desirable.

Sheldon Reservoir can be good at times also

Since you mentioned bank or kayak take a look at the various Harris County Parks. For example John Paul Landing Park (Pt. 3) near Katy has a lake that is managed and stocked by TPWD. Right now the lake covers 180 acres but will soon be expanded to 450+ acres. You can read the history and how the lake was designed for bass habitat.

Lake Houston has decent fish, when its not muddy, but the fish are still there.
Conroe is a good fishery, you just have to spend time on it to find them.
Gibbons also has good fish, as we fished it in March and caught great numbers and even a few big fish.
Livingston, I agree, is [censored] unless you want to chase white bass.
Raven is hit and miss.
I'd spend the extra time and go to Fayette. You'll get the best bang for your buck on this lake.

It's all about spending time on the water and finding the structure that holds the fish. Most people don't do this so they get mad and say the lake is [censored]. Be patient, take your time and you'll find the spots.

Man, I forgot all about Sheldon! The only problem with that lake is it gets completely overtaken by vegetation in the Summer. There is some good pitching/flipping when you can get through the growth.

BTW - Sheldon has the weirdest ramp in the country.

Well, I'll be darn! This article says Gibbons will be back in operation next year.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/bu...as-coal-plant-is-restarting-15268177.php

True that ! My son just bought a 2000 Dodge 3500 with a 6 speed stick, need to take him to that ramp with my boat soon and teach him the ins/outs of easing off the clutch!! All you can see is blue sky but the ramp on the other side of Fayette is the same, blue sky straight up.

BTW sheldon used to do that one in Chevy Traverse, front wheel dr, no problem. I seen some good stuff at that ramp over the years and there are bigger fish in there that L Houston for sure. L Houston is near me so I still fish it they have two tourney there Sat. 15lbs would lock both but likely be 12 or so and lots of 10s and 11 lb bags.

Look into southeast texas kayak bass league (SETXKBL) on facebook. Alot of those guys can help you out.
The north end of Conroe in a Yak can be good, especially north of Cagle. Woodlands and Raven can be very good at times. Sheldon is fire when its good and not over run with vegetation.

On Lake Houston topic it took just over 10lbs to win a small tourney this last weekend, 17 teams 47 fish but a big bass of 5 and some change did come in and take a side pot, other than that looked like a lot of 2lbers and that was it. Typical summertime and the water is in the 90s

I just saw this online. Wasn't Gibbons Creek supposed to be generating already?

I can understand Bryan getting involved; it's only a few miles away. What does Garland, Denton and Greenville have to do with this?

What kind of recreation is going to be built in basically Anderson, Texas? There is NOTHING out there. This sounds like another Lake Decker golf course nightmare. This would have to be something that would recoup the millions of dollars it would take to de-construct the plant and "clean" the area.

https://www.sierraclub.org/texas/bl...takes-hit-tmpa-backs-out-interconnection

Lake Conroe, Livingston, Lake Houston, Somerville are all nearby spots. We like to go bowfishing on conroe. Somerville is a good fishing lake but it's so dang muddy. Here lately we've just been making the track to Canyon Lake down near New Braunfels and have been real happy with it. It's a little bit more of a drive. Canyon Lake is crystal clear.

The TPWD site has a ton of small community ponds/lakes listed for fishing. Doing a link as there are too many to type in lol.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/cfl.phtml