Jutting out from the northwest corner of Texas up into the rest of the country is the Texas Panhandle, the largest geographic area within Texas. The majority of the region is hot, flat and dry, the kind of place you may associate with the "badlands" of Texas lore. There are, however, some lovely lakes that dot the region.
Located in the outskirts of the city of Abilene, Kirby Lake covers about 740 acres of land just east of Route 83. It is a shallow lake, only reaching depths of about 16 feet, but is home to several species of fish, including large mouth bass, saugeye and catfish.
Lake Kemp is located on the Wichita River, just north of U.S. 183, near Seymour. It is home to three kinds of bass: strippers, white bass and spotted bass. The lake is one of the larger Texas Panhandle lakes, encompassing 15,590 acres. It is 53 feet deep at its deepest part, and the water level fluctuates from six to eight feet during the year, depending upon season.
Located in the upper northern portion of the Panhandle, Lake Meredith is even larger than Lake Kemp, at 16,411 acres. It is an ideal lake for fishing, with an abundance of white bass, walleye, small mouth bass and catfish. The lake is sometimes plagued by golden alga, a microscopic alga which, under the right conditions, can kill off large numbers of fish. The maximum depth is of Lake Meredith is 127 feet.
Fifty-five miles east of Abilene and about five miles north of Cisco lies Lake Cisco, a fairly small lake for the region. It covers 1,050 acres and reaches depths of 70 feet. The lake is home to a large population of large mouth bass and catfish.
