Lake Kirby


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Location: Taylor County in Abilene

Fishing cover/structure: Black willow trees and scattered American lotus and pondweed at the upper end, some dead brush, rocky points and ledges along the east side, and a rip-rap dam.

Size:
740 acres
  Water clarity: 3 to 12 inches and red colored
Impounded:
1928
  Comments: Lake Kirby is impounded on Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. Lake Kirby opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. At one time, Lake Kirby was known for excellent flathead catfish fishing. In recent years, numbers of flathead catfish have declined, but fishing can still be good. Lake Kirby is home to the area record channel catfish, and large numbers of channel catfish are typically available. Fishing for white crappie and largemouth bass can be exceptional in the spring. The most productive technique is wade fishing and flipping plastic worms along the east side or upper end. Saugeye, a hybrid between walleye and sauger, were introduced in 1993. Saugeye grow extremely fast and can be found along the dam or east side. Saugeye can be caught with jigs tipped with night crawlers or minnows fished slowly alon teh bottom. bluegill are mostly small and not abundant. Florida largemouth bass were introduced in 1988.
Distance from Abilene:
3 miles
 
Game Fish Present:
Bluegill, channel catfish, flathead catfish, largemouth bass, saugeye, white crappie
 
     
    Drought update: Lake Kirby completely dried up because of the drought and lost what was left of it's fish population. The city of Abilene began pumping effluent water into Lake Kirby and recent rains in July 2002 has caused Lake Kirby to completely fill. The Parks and Wildlife Department began restocking Lake Kirby in the fall of 2001 with bait fish and some species of fish. Additional stocking were made in the spring of 2002. See News Release on Fish stocking for 2001-2002 for specific species and stocking dates .
         
Lake Records:
Species: Weight: Length: Angler: Date:
Blue catfish 1.82 18.0 Ben Burnett 05/02/00
Channel catfish 10.16 29.25 Clyde Ward 08/24/94
Flathead catfish 37.5 41.0 Larry Allen 10/19/96
Freshwater Drum
Hybrid striped bass        
Largemouth bass        
Red Bellied Pacu
Saugeye 5.68 23.75 Marie Dunn 11/10/96
Smallmouth Buffalo
Walleye
White bass
White crappie 2.42 15.25 Gus Culpepper 05/28/96

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