Waco Lake and other central Texas Lakes

[3 green tornados]

Looking for advice as to clean lakes in Central Texas. We are visiting my sister-in-law in Waco and other family an hour away in Mart.

Here in Southern California my local lakes are questionable and one has regular warnings about toxic algae and bacteria and even while deemed “safe to swim in” causes rashes on a couple of my kids. The other is just “dirty”, floating trash, occasional bacteria and algae warnings, but no deaths I am aware of like am the other due to its cleanliness.

Hoping the central Texas lakes are worth towing the 212x 1,400 miles. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[white2kstang]

Ive heard good things about Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Lake. Both in the Temple/Waco area. We are probably going to try Stillhouse soon. My wife went hiking there and said the water and ramps were nice. Just need to find a day to take off and make the 50 min drive from the north Austin area.

We are about 5 miles from Lake Travis in the Austin area, that's our primary boating lake and is widely known. We are 25 min from Lake Austin. Both are a good hour and a half from Waco though. Lake Georgetown is small and probably still an hour from Waco. Georgetown does not have anything restaurants or marinas. Its an Army Corp reservoir but that usually makes it more calm. These three are relatively clean. We have never had issues in any of them. We go to one of them probably 2-3 times a month in the boating season.

A lot the lakes have issues with invasive Zebra mussels so you should clean and dry your boat thoroughly to help reduce the spread between bodies of water.

1st pic Lake Georgetown
2nd pic Lake Travis
3rd pic Lake Austin

 

[3 green tornados]

Thank you for the info and pictures. That water in all three looks so much better than what I have locally. We have the zebra mussels in some of the local lakes as well and in our favorite, Lake Havasu on the Colorado River.

Lakes around here that are free of Zebra mussels will tag your boat as you leave and as long as the tag hasn’t been cut you can enter another lake without the dry out and waiting period. Is it the same out there?

Which of the three local to the Austin area is your favorite?

 

[white2kstang]

They dont screen the boats on the way in like they do out there. You do want to make sure that all the water is out and plugs are pulled and visibly open. If you get stopped you can get a ticket but I've never seen that happen personally. I open the drains, blow out the exhaust and pull the plugs so that it all drains out. Clean and dry it so that its dry before you go anywhere else.

Texas Governance:

TPWD: Boating - Laws

Protect Our Waters

I'd pick Travis if you've never been followed by Austin.

If you want restaurant options more space to explore and party coves Travis is the place to be. It does get rough on busy weekends or windy days but you can find calmer spots. It's probably my favorite all around option. I prefer Travis for lazy cove days and for Shack512's pulled pork nachos.

Lake Austin is basically the river. It's not very wide and there are only a handful of coves. Though I heard they added some no wake zones that people have been chilling around. Most people like to surf and wakeboard because its constant level and can be calmer. There are a couple of restaurants. I hate the ramp waits and right now there are no public ramps open on it. I usually go during the week to avoid the crowds. Hula Hut is great for Tex-mex food with Hawaiian flair.

Georgetown is not a destination. I go when we want to be left alone and just pull the kids on the tube.

 

[3 green tornados]

This is awesome information. We are leaving early Saturday morning to head out that way. We will be taking a couple days to get there and plan to decide which lakes to visit.

Thank you again!

 

[JonKTX]

Lake Waco can get busy on the weekends. Not a huge lake but not bad most of the time. Lake Whitney is about 30 minutes north of Waco and it is a good bit bigger. During the pandemic they have both had more traffic than normal but both are worth checking out.

 

[DSCLLC]

My primary lake is Lake Belton in Temple. Not many people, deep water, and easy to access. I’d highly recommend checking it out.

 

[MacAR210]

Canyon Lake is beautiful!

 

[dyfanf]

I was going to suggest Whitney too, but I've also heard it's been busy.
Belton looks nice on the map -- now I want to check it out! LOL
There's also Lake Buchanan, but that's probably 2 hours away.
All the "canyon lakes" in the Austin area seem pretty clean!

 

[3 green tornados]

Thanks for all the input. Got out here Sunday and planning on going out on Waco Lake Tuesday or Thursday, maybe both and then Belton on Saturday and possibly Whitney next week before heading back to commiefornia.

 

[white2kstang]

Hope you have a good time. Probably a lot less stress putting in here too.

 

[dyfanf]

Post up if you de decide to go to Whitney, it's about an hour away for me and I might be able to peel away during the week - if you want to meet up that is. Not that I can show you the lake, it would be my fist time there on something besides a kayak!

 

[3 green tornados]

A lot less stress, decided not to go to Waco lake today because of expected thunderstorms and I am am unfamiliar with how storms come across this lake. We did drive by a couple launch ramps and they were all open but we saw no one around. After eating a quick lunch on the shore we finally saw ONE boat on the water and a couple kayaks along the shore fishing. This will be so much easier than the crowded 6 lane ramps I have used most of the summer.

 

[3 green tornados]

Just realized I just posted what I meant to post yesterday.

 

[3 green tornados]

Waco was amazing today. Took my family and both my sister-in-laws with their kids out today. It was “glass” compared to what I am used to and I only saw four or five other boats and a pair of skis all day. Felt like I was on our own private lake! Wish I could’ve surfed but with 12 kids under 10 it was all about the “buzz bomb” tube. Awesome day, thank you Texas!

 

[white2kstang]

Usually great during the week most places around here. Especially early in the day. Looks like it was worth hauling it down here.

 

[throttlebc]

We've had a great time recently on Belton Lake. We park at Arrowhead Trail Park and there are hardly any other boats out there. It seems to be constant level with lots of room to run or just float. Next weekend we're headed to Lake Whitney near Hillsboro. If the weather forecast holds, we're planning to boat and camp all weekend.