Lake Buchanan’s Oct. 16 report: crappie roaming off the brush, stripers on small bait

Lake Buchanan’s crappie are starting to leave the deep brush. The Lake Buchanan and Inks Lake chamber fishing report dated Oct. 16, 2026, quotes guide Steve Morrison on the change. Before the latest cool stretch, he was catching quality crappie in deep timber and main-lake brush piles in 30 to 35 feet. With the water at 76 to 78 degrees the last couple of days, those fish were roaming between the brush and the timber. When a group was on the structure, he writes, the size and the numbers were both there. He expects them a little shallower as the temperature keeps dropping.

The same page’s striper note, from chamber member Graham Vaandragerg of Bosstriper Guide Service, says the fish have been up but not parked. Schools have been moving, and they have been eating smaller bait, so smaller lures have worked better than big topwaters. The first couple of hours of the morning and the last couple before sunset have been the windows. Once the sun is up, the surface bite has been harder to find.

Inks Lake, on the same Oct. 16 chamber page, is described as normal, stained, and about 79 degrees. The note attributed to Anders M. says the better action has been quality bass feeding on large gizzard shad around offshore rock, on big topwaters and large swimbaits.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Lake Buchanan / Inks Lake Chamber — Weekly Fishing Report, Oct. 16, 2026.