1. Lewisville Lake
Start a tour of Texas at Lewisville Lake, one of the largest lakes in northern Texas. It was formed by the damming of the Elk Fork of the Trinity River for flood control and to provide drinking water to the citizens of Dallas.
The lake is in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, and it is a popular recreation site, particularly on weekends.
There is an annual large scale bass fishing tournament on Lewisville Lake, which is stocked with largemouth, spotted, white, and hybrid striped bass.
You can sunbathe, swim, and go boating in the many parks around the lake. You can rent boat and jet-ski rentals.
2. Lake Conroe
Lake Conroe is perfect for fishing and swimming! You will find the 21,000-acre man-made Lake Conroe in Montgomery County in East Texas. It was constructed in 1972 as an alternate water source for the city of Houston and sits on the west fork of the San Jacinto River.
It is a popular destination for jet-skiing boating. The most frequently used public access point is Lake Conroe Park, which has boat slips, fishing piers, two swimming areas, a children’s playground, picnic tables, grills, horseshoe pits, and volleyball courts. We brought a picnic lunch in the spring.
The lake runs through east Texas into the evergreen forests of Sam Houston National Forest. Fishing in Lake Conroe was excellent, with good-sized largemouth, white, and striped bass, bluegill, and channel catfish.
Address (Lake Conroe Park Access):
210 W. Davis Street, Conroe, TX 77304Phone: 936-788-8302
3. Canyon Lake
Canyon Lake is a reservoir on the Guadalupe River in the lovely Texas Hill Country.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the river to provide flood control and formed eight parks around the lake that are still in use by visitors and locals wishing to swim, go boating, camp, or have a picnic next to a pristine lake with great views of the surrounding hills.
There are boat ramps in the Comal Country portion of the lake, and excellent fishing for largemouth, striped, and white bass as well as catfish. Canyon Lake Gorge gives guided tours of the rock strata, which is more than 100 million years old and has fossils and a set of dinosaur footprints.
All around the lake are hiking, biking, and equestrian trails for public use.
Address:
Hwy. 306 West, New Braunfels, TX 78130Phone: 210-964-3341
4. Lake Travis
Located close to my house is Lake Travis, a man-made lake near Austin, Texas in the chain of Highland Lakes in Texas Hill Country.
Created in 1942 to prevent the flooding of the Colorado River, Lake Travis is 65 miles long and has 270 miles of shoreline.
It is a beautiful, pristine lake with clean water that supplies Austin and its metropolitan area.
I personally like hiking and swimming. We sometimes go on a picnic. People also come here for boating, and camping, and zip-line. Lake Travis is a fisherman’s delight with its population of largemouth, guadalupe, white, and striped bass, catfish, and sunfish.
Young people enjoy tubing and wakeboarding on the lake. Bob Wentz Park is a popular entry point of Lake Travis; it has concessions, volleyball courts, picnic tables, and restroom facilities.
5. Sam Rayburn Reservoir
Sam Rayburn Reservoir opened in 1965 after an extensive project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a dam to prevent the flooding of the Angelina and Neeches Rivers and to provide drinking water for nearby communities.
It is located in the heart of East Texas pine forests and is a highly popular location for anglers.
Over three hundred fishing tournaments are held in the Sam Rayburn Reservoir annually; the main catch in this stocked lake are largemouth bass, crappie red ear sunfish, blue gill, and channel catfish.
There are many access points to the lake through campgrounds, resorts, and marinas, and locals and visitors use the reservoir, the largest in Texas, for waterskiing, boating, swimming, and the land around it for camping, nature hikes, and scenic drives.
Address:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, Jasper, TX 75957Phone: 409-384-5716
Romantic Texas Lakes:
6. What is the biggest lake in Texas? Toledo Bend Reservoir
Toledo Bend Lake is a reservoir on the Sabine River in both Texas and Louisiana; most of its surface area is in Louisiana.
It is the largest reservoir in the south, and the damming of the Sabine River took place in 1969 by the Sabine River Authority. With 1200 miles of shoreline, the lake is a beautiful location for recreation, as it is set amongst lovely rolling hills and pine trees. Its sandy beaches make it an ideal place for building sandcastles, picnicking, and swimming, while its calm waters are a lovely place for boating, as long as boaters stay within the marked boat lanes.
Otherwise there is a danger of collision with the tree stumps and trees that were left in the reservoir when it was built. Fishermen will find striped bass, catfish, and bluegill, especially in the spring and autumn.
Address:
Sabine River Authority of Texas, 450 TX-135 Spur, Burkeville, TX 75932Phone: 409-565-2273
7. Possum Kingdom State Park
Just an hour west of the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area is Possum Kingdom State Park with miles of shoreline on the clear blue lake.
The 1,500-acre state park was constructed in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and is now a popular destination for fishing, swimming, boating, waterskiing, scuba diving, and snorkeling.
You can cast their line from the fishing pier, from the comfort of their own boat, or from a canoe rented from the park’s marina. Catch in the lake includes largemouth, striped, and white bass, channel and blue catfish, and white crappie. Also available at the marina are wakeboards, kneeboards, water skis, and tubes for fun out on the lake. Visitors can camp overnight at a full-hookup campground or rent one of the park’s air-conditioned cabins. Watch out for free-roaming Texas longhorns wandering the park!
Address:
3901 State Park Road 33, Caddo, TX 76429Phone: 940-549-1803
8. Lake Whitney State Park
Lake Whitney State Park is located along the eastern shores of the lake, which is a flood-control reservoir on the Brazos River. Opened in 1965, the park is an excellent location for fishing and for spotting wildlife and birds; 195 species of birds have been spotted here, and include wild turkeys, bald eagles, egrets, ibis, hawks, falcons, woodpeckers, brown pelicans, bluebirds, and kestrels. On land, keen-eyed visitors may see white-tailed deer, foxes, coyotes, and bobcats. The park has campsites, screened-in shelters, and group facilities.
Day use visitors may use the picnic tables and boat slips, and they are welcome to enjoy recreational activities on the water.
The park is a remnant of the once-great Texas plains, and visitors can walk through its tall grass prairie and seek shade under groves of live oak and blackjack oak. Spring sees the park covered with fields of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush.
Address:
433 FM 1244, Whitney, TX 76692Phone: 817-694-3793
Family-friendly Texas Lakes:
9. Lake Buchanan
Lake Buchanan is the second largest of central Texas’ Highland Lakes, and it was created in 1939 by the damming of the Colorado River.
Located sixty miles northwest of Austin, the thirty mile long lake has 124 miles of shoreline that has been given over to campgrounds, rental cabins, and lakeside homes. Its gravel shores are ideal for swimming and sunbathing, and there is excellent fishing for striped bass.
It is a great lake for birdwatching, and visitors with a pair of binoculars can watch nesting bald eagles as well as the scissor-tailed flycatcher, great blue herons, great egrets, pelicans, cormorants, and roadrunners.
Armadillos live in the area, as do opossums, bobcats, chameleons, deer, and foxes.
Address:
Lake Buchanan, TXGeneral Info: See local listings for campgrounds and rentals
10. Lake Texoma
Lake Texoma sits on both sides of the Texas-Oklahoma border, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created it along with the Denison Dam in 1944 to prevent the flooding of the Red River.
It is the 12th largest lake in the United States and has over 1,000 miles of shoreline, perfect for swimming, playing on the beach, or enjoying one of the over 700 campsites in the ten campgrounds around the lake.
Lake Texoma is a very popular place to fish, as the natural minerals in the water are the perfect environment for striped bass, which grow as big as 15-20 lbs.
Many other species of fish live here also, including crappie and catfish.
Around the lake are 25 miles of equestrian trails, hiking trails leading to the bluffs overlooking the lake, boat rentals, concessions, and wildlife refuges that are home to a large variety of birds.
Address:
Lake Texoma, Texas/Oklahoma BorderPlan Your Trip