Texas Boating Overview

Texas may or may not be famous for its lakes, but it ought to be. With over 6,000 square miles of water inland (in addition to all that coast), only Alaska can match Texas, and only Alaska can surpass it. These lakes do particularly gather around the northern stretches of Texas, in the plains and hills and bayous, but large lakes can be found anywhere. Although the coast is lake sparse, it, itself, is one of Texas's biggest boating stops.

Destinations to consider are grouped below by region. For detailed information, follow the links to any biking destination that interests you.

Boating in Big Bend Country - Texas

Big Bend Country may be the dryest part of Texas, but Lake Amistad is its most famous lake. With a surface area of 64,900 acres and daunting depths of over 200 feet, this is a boater's lake. Why, a boater could spend a month exploring the rocky shoreline and cruising the open water.

The two other major lakes in Big Bend Country are Red Bluff and Balmorhea. Balmorhea is very shallow and perhaps not best suited to large boats, although it's still beautiful. Red Bluff is less shallow, a fine, clear-watered lake with some varied terrain.

Boating in Panhandle Plains - Texas

Texas's Panhandle Plains have enough lakes to keep a dedicated boater hopping from place to place all summer and still have plenty of places to explore next summer and the next. There are so many lakes that it's difficult to cover any at length in a summary, and they vary from rocky to wooded, deep to shallow, thickly vegetated to clear as a summer sky. Abilene and San Angelo are near quite a few of these lakes.

Boating in Hill Country - Texas

Lake Travis, near Austin, is one lake that's noted as quite the spot for boaters . . . it's beautiful and has plenty of amenities on the shore. Not only that, but Lake Travis is only one of the Hill Country's six Highland Lakes, the others of which are Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, and Lake Austin.

Another notable Hill Country lake is New Braunfels' Canyon Lake, a reservoir dammed off of the Guadalupe River. Water-skiiers, sailors, and boaters all love it here.

Boating in Prairies and Lakes - Texas

The Dallas area's reputation as that land of prairies and lakes is completely reinforced here, with not only many lakes, but massive ones. Cedar Creek Reservoir, some ways south of Dallas in Caney City, is one of Texas's largest lakes at over 32,000 acres, if it's considerably shallower than its Amistad cousin. In general, prairie lakes tend to be a little shallower, a little more developed, but work lovely for boating, skiing, well, you-name-it parties on the water. Lake Lewisville is another popular lake for water sports.

Lake Whitney, near Waco is a beautiful lake, sometimes noted as one of the most beautiful lakes in Texas, if not the most beautiful. Not only is it an excellent fishing lake, it's just that easy to get to, and quite the recreational playground.

Boating in Piney Woods - Texas

Caddo Lake of the Piney Woods is the only natural lake in Texas, land of reservoirs, and it straddles the border between Lousiana and Texas. This lake is thickly vegetated bayou style, and a boat will cut through acres of green scattered by blue. Toledo Bend, Texas's largest reservoir, is also situated in the borderlands between states.

Texarkana is home to the Wright Patman Lake, a massive body of water served by no less than 14 marinas. The shores are well-wooded and like many Texas lakes, this is a glorious place to fish as well as cruise.

Boating in Gulf Coast - Texas

Boaters may not find a plethora of lakes here, but it is the coast, and shoreline cruising is more the object anyway. The surf in some areas can be intense, but there's plenty of open water to explore. Windy Corpus Christi in particular is excellent for any boating (or surfing) that involves sails.

Boating in South Plains - Texas

San Antonio, near the Hill Country as it is, has more lakes to its name than anywhere else in the region, and they are but two, each with only one (if particularly well equipped) marina to their name.

For an international experience (if you're fishing while you're boating, you'll need licenses from two countries), check out the Falcon Reservoir near the Rio Grande Valley. In contrast to some other South Texas lakes, at that, it is over 80,000 acres large.