Crappie Fishing in Texas Along I-20: Fall and Winter Spots Near Eastland

By Inez Spring Park Management.

Quick answer: the best crappie water within an hour of I-20 Exit 343 at Eastland is Proctor Lake (white crappie, fish near the spillway per TPWD, about 40 minutes, est.), Lake Brownwood (about 1 hour, est.) and Lake Cisco (about 20 minutes, est.), with Lake Leon 10 minutes away for a short session. Texas allows 25 crappie a day, white and black combined, 10 inch minimum. Fall and winter are the crappie months here. Our Leon River fishing RV park page covers the base.

Crappie are the fish that keep anglers busy after the bass slow down. This guide is for the winter angler, the Winter Texan with a rod in the truck and the weekend family that wants a fish fry.

Crappie fishing in Texas means targeting white and black crappie, the two panfish species Texas manages together, usually on brush piles, timber, docks and bridge pilings with small jigs or live minnows.

Here is how the four lakes near Eastland compare for crappie. Facts come from TPWD lake pages read in October 2026; drive times are estimates from Exit 343.

Sources: TPWD pages for Proctor Lake, Lake Brownwood, Lake Cisco and Lake Leon. We would rather tell you Proctor is the crappie lake than oversell the one closest to us.

There is no closed season. Crappie are open all year under Texas statewide rules. What changes is where the fish are. As water cools in fall, crappie gather on brush and timber and feed hard. In the coldest weeks they hold deeper and slower. In late winter and spring they move shallow to spawn, which is the easiest bite of the year.

For a base at Exit 343 that means October through March is the crappie window, with the best days on stable weather between cold fronts. Pack layers. Our winter fishing guide for the Leon River and Lake Leon covers cold weather gear and timing.

Statewide, the daily bag is 25 white and black crappie in any combination, and each fish must be at least 10 inches. All four lakes in this guide run on statewide rules according to their TPWD pages. Here is the full table for a mixed bag trip.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department statewide freshwater bag and length limits, valid September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027. Some lakes carry exceptions, so check the TPWD exceptions list for the water you fish.

1. Find the brush first. TPWD publishes the locations of habitat structures, including the Christmas tree brush piles in Lake Cisco and the brush and reefs in Proctor, through its Habitat Structure Viewer. Load the coordinates before you launch.
2. Fish straight down. Hold the boat or kayak over the brush and drop a small jig or a minnow under a slip float to just above the branches.
3. Count the depth. When you catch one, note how deep. The rest of the school is usually at the same depth.
4. Go light. Light line and small hooks catch more and lose fewer to the brush.
5. Move if nothing bites in 10 minutes. Crappie are school fish. An empty pile is a signal to try the next one.

At Proctor, TPWD points crappie anglers to the spillway area. On calm winter days that is a good first stop.

Yes, and a kayak is a quiet way to sit over brush. Anchor or use a stake pole in shallow water, keep the rod short and fish vertically. On the Leon River at Inez Spring you can launch from the park bank and work the slow water near cover. For lake launches and rentals, see our kayaking near Abilene and Eastland guide.

If you move between lakes, clean, drain and dry the boat. TPWD reports zebra mussels in Lake Brownwood, and moving them is illegal. Our Lake Brownwood day trip guide explains the rule.

• Layers and a wind shell. A calm morning can turn cold when a front arrives.
• A light rod and small jigs in two or three colors, plus a minnow bucket if you fish live bait.
• Graph or phone coordinates for the TPWD brush piles you plan to fish.
• A cooler with ice for the fish fry, and a ruler to check the 10 inch minimum.
• Your Texas fishing license. Anglers 17 and older need one.

Inez Spring Riverfront RV Park sits one minute off I-20 at Exit 343 in Eastland, with more than 70 sites and the Leon River running through the park. Nightly RV sites start from $40 and tent sites from about $31. Pull through sites run up to 100 feet for a truck and boat trailer.

Crappie anglers often stay the winter. Monthly sites are $500 back in or $650 pull through, plus metered electric at 17 cents per kWh and a $200 refundable deposit, month to month with no 12 month lease. Abilene is about 50 minutes west and Fort Worth about 1 hour 35 minutes east. See monthly RV sites, and for the bass side of the same lakes read our bass fishing lakes along I-20 guide.

Find the brush, fish straight down and keep the 10 inch fish. Base on I-20 and you can fish a different lake every day of the week.

Check dates on our booking page, or call (254) 629-1197 to ask about a monthly site for the winter.