Lake Limestone, Texas: A Guide to the Quiet Lake

Lake Limestone is a 12,553-acre reservoir on the Navasota River in East Central Texas, about two hours from Austin, Dallas, and Houston. It is one of the largest lakes in the state and one of the least developed: no waterfront strip, no resort towers, a handful of marinas, four free public parks, and a pair of bald eagles that have nested near the dam for a quarter century. People who know it come for the bass and crappie, the long empty coves, and the fact that it still feels like it did in 1978, the year the water rose. This guide covers where the lake is, how it came to be, what the fishing and wildlife are like, the history on its banks, how to get on the water, and where to stay.

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Where is Lake Limestone?

The lake sits where three counties meet: Limestone, Leon, and Robertson. Texas Parks and Wildlife places it 15 miles southeast of Groesbeck on FM 3371. The nearest towns are Jewett to the east, Groesbeck and Mexia to the northwest, and Thornton, where the Brazos River Authority keeps its lake office, to the west.

What makes the location unusual is the drive time. Lake Limestone sits almost exactly in the middle of the Texas Triangle. From downtown Dallas it is about two hours south on I-45 and Highway 79. From Austin it is two hours northeast through Rockdale and Franklin. From Houston it is two hours north, most of it on I-45. Few Texas lakes of this size are that reachable from all three cities, and fewer still are this empty when you get there.

Limestone Fields is on the east shore, at 159 LCR 890 in Jewett, with 1,200 feet of private, undeveloped frontage.

How the lake came to be

Lake Limestone is young. The Brazos River Authority built the Sterling C. Robertson Dam across the Navasota River and closed its gates in 1978, flooding the river bottom and the creek valleys that feed it. The dam is named for a Texas empresario whose colony once covered this part of the state, and the reservoir behind it was built as a water-supply lake, holding more than 203,000 acre-feet at its conservation pool of 363 feet above sea level.

Because it was built for water supply rather than flood control, the level stays relatively steady, moving one to three feet in a normal year. That stability matters for the shoreline: trees grow to the water, docks and boathouses stay usable, and the coves keep their shape season to season. The flooded timber and creek channels the lake covered in 1978 are now the fish habitat that anglers work today.

What is the fishing like?

This is a fishing lake first. Texas Parks and Wildlife lists largemouth bass, white bass, crappie, and three catfish species, channel, blue, and flathead, as the predominant fish. The water is stained, the kind of tea-colored water common to East Texas reservoirs, which means fish hold shallower than they would in a clear Hill Country lake and react well to bright and noisy lures.

A rough calendar, drawn from the state biologists' notes:

• Largemouth bass. Spring is the season. Fish move into the backs of creeks and the northern coves to spawn, and a white or chartreuse willow-leaf spinnerbait worked along the cattails and willows is the local standard. Bass can be caught year-round around the lake's docks, boathouses, and the five artificial fish reefs.
• Crappie. Shallow in spring during the spawn, then suspended around isolated standing trees and brush piles through summer. Minnows and small jigs.
• Catfish. All three species bite year-round, but May and June, when they spawn along cut banks and in the flooded timber, are the best months. Cut shad or live bait on the bottom.
• White bass. They school on windy main-lake points in most seasons. Watch for birds working the surface and cast small slabs or crankbaits into the commotion.

Habitat is varied for a reservoir: cattails, hydrilla, lily pads, pondweed, water hyacinth, and willows along the edges, with standing timber in the creek arms. From the Limestone Fields shoreline, guests fish from the bank or paddle a kayak into the marsh at the mouth of our cove, where the herons already know the good spots.

Eagles, otters, beavers, and the edge of two ecoregions

Lake Limestone lies on a seam. To the west is the Blackland Prairie, the deep dark soil that once grew tall grass and later cotton. To the east is the Post Oak Savannah, a belt of oak woodland and open meadow that runs the length of Texas between the prairie and the Piney Woods. The lake and the Navasota River run along that boundary, so the shoreline holds a mix of both: post oak, blackjack oak, and pecan in the uplands, hardwood bottoms along the creeks, and wildflower meadows in between.

The most watched residents are the bald eagles. According to the Brazos River Authority, a pair has lived on the lake for about 25 years and has built at least five nests near the dam, most recently moving to a new tree nearby. Bald eagles in Texas nest from October through July. Eggs are laid mostly in December, chicks hatch in January, and the young are flying by spring, so winter and early spring are the best months to see them hunting the open water. They range the whole lake, and we have had one of them close enough to see the yellow of its beak without binoculars.

The birding does not stop there. Great blue herons stalk the shallows, and egrets gather in the marshes at dusk. Wood ducks, belted kingfishers, and red-tailed hawks work the creek arms, and migrating waterfowl use the lake in winter. White-tailed deer are everywhere along the Navasota corridor.

Then there are the animals you hear before you see. A large beaver lives on our property and has built a dam across the drainage that feeds our cove, which is about as clear a sign as a landowner can get that the water is healthy. North American river otters, once nearly gone from Texas, have moved back into the Navasota and Brazos river systems, and Lake Limestone is otter country now: watch the still coves at first light for a wake with a whiskered head at the front of it. At Limestone Fields the domestic side of the ecology is a working permaculture farm with Highland cattle, ducks, and laying hens, sixteen acres from the water.

The history around the lake

The land under the lake was Tawakoni and Waco country long before it was Texas. The Tawakoni were farmers, hunters, and traders who lived along the Navasota and Brazos and faced raids from the Comanche and Apache to the west. The Texas State Historical Association records that both peoples were living in what became Limestone County when Anglo settlers arrived in the 1830s.

The most famous of those settlers built Fort Parker in 1834 near the headwaters of the Navasota, a few miles north of present-day Groesbeck. On May 19, 1836, a force of several hundred Comanche and allied warriors attacked the stockade, killed several of the Parker men, and carried off five captives. Among them was nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker, who grew up Comanche, married the war leader Peta Nocona, and became the mother of Quanah Parker, the last principal chief of the Comanche. A replica of the fort, Old Fort Parker, stands on State Highway 14 about three miles north of Groesbeck and is open to visitors.

Limestone County was organized in 1846. The railroads came next. Jewett, the town closest to Limestone Fields, was laid out in 1871 by the International Railroad Company and named for Henry J. Jewett, a judge who helped organize Leon County. By 1884 it had five general stores, three saloons, a cotton gin, and a newspaper. Two more rail lines arrived in 1905 and 1907, and for a while Jewett was a junction town where passengers changed trains. Nucor Steel opened a mill outside town in 1974 and remains the area's largest employer.

Mexia, to the northwest, boomed when oil was struck in November 1920. Thousands of people poured in, and the county's population peaked at nearly 40,000 in 1930 before the field played out. A quieter tradition ran alongside: from 1889 to 1946, Confederate veterans and their families gathered every summer under the bur oaks where Jack's Creek meets the Navasota River. The 77-acre Confederate Reunion Grounds is now a state historic site, and the 5.3-mile Limestone Bluffs Paddling Trail runs from there down the river, past hardwood bottoms and limestone bluffs, to Fort Parker State Park.

Public parks, boat ramps, and marinas

Getting on the water is easy and free. Four public parks ring the lake, all open around the clock, year-round, with boat ramps, restrooms, picnic areas, and camping:

• BRA Park #1, on the west side of the dam off FM 937. Two-lane ramp, run by the Brazos River Authority.
• Limestone County Park #2, west shore on FM 3371. Three-lane ramp.
• Limestone County Park #3, east shore on FM 3371. Three-lane ramp. This is the closest public ramp to Limestone Fields, about six miles by road.
• Leon County Park, east shore on FM 39. Two-lane ramp.

Two private marinas, Lake Limestone Campground and Marina near Jewett and Running Branch Marina, add fuel, bait, campsites with water and electric hookups, and a place to ask what the fish have been doing. Fort Parker State Park, up the Navasota River, rents canoes and kayaks.

Why it stays quiet

Texas has bigger lakes and closer lakes. What Lake Limestone has is an absence. Lake Travis has Austin on its doorstep, Lake Lewisville has the Metroplex, and Lake Conroe has become a suburb of Houston with a shoreline of second homes. Lake Limestone sits an hour past all of that, in farm country, with a shoreline that is mostly private ranch land and a handful of small lake communities. There is no town on the water. The nearest stoplight is a long way off.

The result is a lake where you can paddle for an hour on a Saturday in June and pass two bass boats. And it means dark skies. There is no city glow on any horizon, so on a clear, moonless night the Milky Way runs bank to bank over the water and the fire pit is the brightest thing for miles. In the morning the loudest thing is the ducks. For anglers it means fish that are not pressured the way they are on the metro lakes. For everyone else it means the thing that is hardest to find within two hours of a Texas city, which is quiet.

Where to stay on Lake Limestone

Lodging on the lake has always been thin: campsites at the parks, RV hookups at the marinas, and a scattering of rental houses. That is one reason we built Limestone Fields. Ten new cabins sit on 16 acres of the east shore, each with a king bed, a private outdoor cedar soaking tub, a built-in desk, and a view of the water. A 1,200-square-foot commons barn holds indoor and outdoor chef's kitchens and a long table. The farm is out the back door and the lake is out the front.

Cabins book individually for a weekend, or the whole property books as one reservation for up to 26 overnight guests, which is how our company retreats, small weddings, and reunions work. Kayaks are on the shore for guests. There are no televisions.

Planning a weekend

Getting here. Two hours from Austin, Dallas, or Houston. The last stretch is two-lane farm road; allow a little extra after dark. Groesbeck, fifteen minutes away, has a grocery store and gas. Jewett has a gas station and a café.

When to come. Spring for bass, crappie, wildflowers, and eagles still on the nest. Fall for the best weather and empty water. Summer for swimming and long evenings on the deck; plan your fishing for dawn. Winter for the eagles, the waterfowl, and the fire pit.

What to bring. A Texas fishing license if you plan to fish (available online from Texas Parks and Wildlife), layers for the cool nights, and nothing you need to charge every hour. Guests at Limestone Fields have kayaks, linens, and a stocked kitchen waiting; bring your own food and drink.

Side trips. Old Fort Parker and Fort Parker State Park near Groesbeck, the Confederate Reunion Grounds and the Limestone Bluffs Paddling Trail near Mexia. All are within forty minutes.

Sources. Lake facts are from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Brazos River Authority. History is drawn from the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas entries on Limestone County, Fort Parker, Jewett, and the Confederate Reunion Grounds.

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