Waters · Lakes · TX · Tue, Sep 15
Lake Travis water level today 676.48 ft, falling
Bite index 6/10 — Biting — get there by six.
Worth a cast.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
Today's bite windows
Sunrise 7:16 AM · sunset 7:36 PM · tomorrow's first major 4:22 AM–6:22 AM · windows on every water
Conditions right now
What this means
Lake Travis level over the last 8 days
676.48 ft down 0.12 ft in 24 hours
That sits 4% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 676.43 and 677.56 ft. Over the week it is down0.91ft.
The week ahead
| Wed | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 6 | Biting | |
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
| Sat | 6 | Biting | |
| Sun | 5 | Picky | |
| Mon | 6 | Biting | |
| Tue | 5 | Picky |
Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.
Lake Travis depth map and depth chart
The Texas Water Development Board surveyed the lake bed in November 2019, so the deepest point is a measured figure rather than an estimate.
Measured from the conservation pool at 681 ft (NGVD29) down to the deepest surveyed point at 504.89 ft. Depths quoted against a flood pool or an older survey come out higher.
Depth data from Texas Water Development Board · survey November 2019. Bathymetry changes slowly — treat it as structure, not as today's water.
Lake Travis boat ramps and public fishing access
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department lists 16 public access points on Lake Travis. These are the first 8 the agency names.
- Camp Creek ParkParking: YesCamping: Yes
- Shaffer BendParking: YesCamping: Yes
- Narrows Recreation AreaRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: Yes
- Grelle Recreation AreaRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: YesCamping: Yes
- Turkey BendRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: YesCamping: Yes
- Muleshoe BendRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: YesCamping: Yes
- Gloster BendRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: Yes
- Pace Bend/Collier CoveRestrooms: YesParking: YesPicnic Areas: YesCamping: Yes
Access data from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The agency describes how to reach each one on that page.
Before you go
A Texas fishing license covers this water — $30 a year for residents. TPWD sets the rules and is the one that counts.
What it costs, and who is exempt →Nearby waters today
- 5 Picky Lake Buchanan TX · 63 km
- 5 Picky Canyon Lake TX · 65 km
- 5 Picky Belton Lake TX · 90 km
- 5 Picky Medina Lake TX · 137 km
- 5 Picky Navajo Reservoir NM · 1144 km
Questions people ask about Lake Travis
Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Lake Travis.
- Is it worth fishing Lake Travis today?
- 6 out of 10 — biting. Worth a cast. The strongest stretch is 3:34 AM–5:34 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Lake Travis?
- Today's major windows run 3:34 AM–5:34 AM and 3:58 PM–5:58 PM, with minor windows at 11:13 AM–12:13 PM and 9:38 PM–10:38 PM. Sunrise is 7:16 AM and sunset 7:36 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Lake Travis?
- No gauge on Lake Travis measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 84.5°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KRYW (Lago Vista TX, Rusty Allen Airport). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
- What is the water level at Lake Travis right now?
- 676.48 ft, read at 7:40 AM from USGS station 08154500. Over 24 hours it is down 0.12 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Lake Travis?
- Falling. The lake is down 0.12 ft in 24 hours and down 0.91 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 676.43 and 677.56 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
- Is Lake Travis full right now?
- At 676.48 ft the lake is 4.52 ft below its conservation pool of 681 ft, as Texas Water Development Board defines it. That is a comparison of two elevations, not a percentage of capacity — a reservoir at half its depth holds far less than half its water, so the two are not the same thing.
- Can you eat the fish you catch in Lake Travis?
- That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. Texas Department of State Health Services publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where an interactive viewer shows advisories and possession bans by waterbody. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.
- Do you need a licence to fish Lake Travis?
- Yes. A Texas fishing license covers this water, required from age 17. TPWD sets the rules and is the one that counts.
- What size fish can you keep in Texas?
- It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: red drum (redfish), spotted seatrout (speckled trout), black drum, southern flounder. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.
Red drum (redfish) limits · Spotted seatrout (speckled trout) limits · Black drum limits · Southern flounder limits · Check a length against the rules
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 7:59 AM
- NOAA KRYW Lago Vista TX, Rusty Allen Airport 7:15 AM
- NOAA EWX gridded forecast 6:42 AM
- USGS 08154500 Lk Travis nr Austin, TX 7:40 AM
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.