Granger Lake, TX

Angling Opportunities

Crappie is the most popular sportfish in this reservoir. Large numbers of legal-size crappie are present. Channel, flathead, and blue catfish are present in good numbers. White bass are also present and provide a consistent fishery. Largemouth bass are present in small numbers and provide a marginal fishery.

Fishing Cover/Structure

Granger Lake is dominated by flooded willows, stumps, and laydowns. Generally speaking, it is a very shallow reservoir with turbid water. The best cover/structure can be found in the old creek channels, main-lake humps and ridges, and up the San Gabriel River. In the main lake submerged man-made brush piles consistently attract crappie.

Tips & Tactics

Crappie fishing is at its best in the spring. The fall can be good as well. In February, crappie move to shallow water in preparation to spawn. They start spawning around 56 °F; during this time they can be found in water as shallow as a foot deep. Anglers should concentrate their efforts near flooded trees and laydowns, which are found in abundance in the creeks and upper end of the reservoir. During the summer, concentrate on main-lake humps, ridges, and drop-offs that have brush. Most of this brush is man-made, placed there by anglers. Good electronics will be necessary to find this structure. For fish that are actively biting, it's hard to beat a 1/16-1/8 oz tube jig. Small or medium minnows are always a good bet, and can produce a stringer when little else works.

Catfish anglers can find channel, flathead, and blue catfish throughout the reservoir. Stinkbait and cutbait work well for channel and blue catfish, while live bait is preferred for flathead catfish. Trotline and jugline fishing are popular techniques for large catfish. They can also consistently be caught on hook and line fishing snags and laydowns in the river portion of the reservoir. White bass can be caught in the spring up the San Gabriel River and the Willis Creek arm if inflows are adequate. Whites school and chase shad in the main part of the reservoir during summer and early fall.