Author: Christopher Meza
Part One: How To Fish San Antonio’s Power Plant Lakes
Here in San Antonio we have two power plant lakes that are stocked with Red fish, Catfish, hybrid striped bass and largemouth bass. You have an option to fish Braunig or Calaveras Lake and both provide equal chances of catching fish!
Lots Of Cool Fish Have Been Stocked In These Lakes
If you check out the stocking report, you'll see that 17 tarpon were stocked in 1984 and 1985. We even had spotted seatrout, Nile Perch, Corvina and Black & White Crappie. The only species I knew they caught till 1993 was corvina and not 100% sure on crappie but I do believe crappie was also caught before they stopped stocking them in 1995.
Fishing Braunig Lake
If I’m fishing Braunig Lake, I will most likely fish one of the points. You have Dead Tree, 1st point, 2nd point and 3rd point. Personally I like to fish Dead Tree since I can literally fish right by my rods and don’t have to walk my gear down. All the other points except 1st point will require you to walk a small distance. There is other spots to fish but I thought I would cover the main fishing spots I would recommend to anyone who has never fished here before.
Fishing Calaveras Lake
Calaveras Lake is different and has deeper water compared to Braunig Lake if you’re fishing off the bank. If I’m fishing Calaveras lake ill most likely fish Spider Island or The Flats but you will have to walk all your gear down to your spot. First spot is called the horseshoe and around that area water gets deep pretty fast. Then we have the rails which in next to granny’s cove. Then we have Table 18 and that’s another popular spot to fish. Then on the right side of the lake we have Spider Island and here it gets deep but not as deep as the horseshoe.
To the left of Spider Island we have the area call the flats because it’s shallow and has a soft muddy bottom. Then we have the pier which can be hit or miss but I’ve seen this spot produce limits of big redfish. And lastly we have table 4 which is right of the pier and table 8. All these spots produce fish but fishing is fishing and sometimes you don’t catch.
What Bait?
I did mention what baits I used in my previous article but here ill list what works for me. Crawfish, Shad, liver, chubs, Fish bites and shrimp.
Crawfish
With the crawfish we either just use the tail by itself or with a piece of yeh monn crawfish flavor to add more scent. We also will use the whole live crawfish but cut off all the legs and pinchers and crack the head of the crawfish. This bait will help you target Red fish and sometimes Catfish.
Shad
When we use shad we cut a portion of the tail off and that will most likely be the yellow tail shad. If we catch a gizzard shad then we fillet it like any other fish and you can tell when it’s a gizzard shad because it’s mainly all silver. This bait will help you target all species listed above.
Liver
Livers pretty simple to use and works for catfish and the hybrid striped bass. You would want to take some thread and wrap it once you have it on your hook so that way when you cast it won’t easily tear off.
Chubs
Don’t know the proper name but we call them chubs and we just hook a couple of them on the hook and you can catch red fish and catfish.
Shrimp
I’m sure everyone knows how to use shrimp but we like to add some more scent by adding a piece of shrimp fish bites. This will target red fish, catfish and hybrid striped bass.
Fish Bites
Will use fish bites with all the baits above and mix different scents till we find what exactly they want. We will also just use fish bites by itself and will use shrimp flavor with crawfish and sometimes that’s all they will hit.
Stay Tuned For Part Two: How to Hook Bait (Live & Dead)
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Check Out Some Of My Recent Reports Fishing In The San Antonio Power Plant Lakes:
Catching Redfish In Braunig Lake:
Preview:
By 5am I was up and ready to hit the lake and secure a spot before the weekend crowd shows up. Before I arrived I made a quick stop to get some ice and got me some bill millers sweet tea. After the quick pit stop I made it to the lake around 6:05am and gave the lady my pass. Once I got my pass back I headed straight to Dead Tree and saw how packed it was with overnight people fishing.
Fishing For Redfish & Catfish On Braunig Lake:
Finally, spring break is here and that means fishing all week for me. Well almost all week but we did have an awesome day of fishing. Me and my buddy Lalo decide to do some fishing and stay overnight at Braunig lake. With spring break in full affect we knew that fishing during the week was going to be less packed.
