Lake LBJ — officially Lake Lyndon B. Johnson — is the busiest boating lake in the Highland Lakes chain, and the reason a lot of buyers end up looking at Kingsland, Horseshoe Bay, Granite Shoals, Sherwood Shores, Sunrise Beach Village, and Highland Haven in the first place. It’s formed by the LCRA’s Alvin Wirtz Dam on the Colorado River in Burnet and Llano counties — the dam was originally called Granite Shoals Dam and got renamed in 1952 — and it covers roughly 6,400 acres, stretching up three separate arms formed by the Colorado River, the Llano River, and Sandy Creek.
I’m Robbie English, REALTOR and Broker at Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty, and Lake LBJ is where most of my waterfront buyers end up spending their weekends.
Why Lake LBJ Stays at a Constant Level
Unlike Lake Travis or Lake Buchanan, which the LCRA draws down for flood control and drought management, Lake LBJ is operated to stay within a tight 0.6-foot range — 824.40 to 825.00 feet above sea level — nearly year-round. That’s even tighter than Lake Marble Falls downstream, which runs a slightly wider 0.8-foot band. For buyers, this is the single biggest reason Lake LBJ waterfront commands a premium over the seasonal lakes nearby: docks, boathouses, and boat lifts here stay usable through a dry summer instead of sitting on exposed mud during a drawdown.
Boating, Marinas, and Getting on the Water
Lake LBJ has more marina and rental infrastructure than any other lake in the chain. On the south shore, Horseshoe Bay Resort runs its own marina with everything from pontoon rentals to larger cruisers, and Blue Lake Marina operates independently nearby. Down toward the dam, the Lake LBJ Yacht Club & Marina handles boat storage and rentals, and in Kingsland, Kingsland Community Park (Lions Park) sits right on the Llano River arm with public boat access, a short walk from the Slab — the low-water crossing where the Llano and Colorado rivers meet, and one of the most recognizable gathering spots on the whole lake.
The lake’s mix of open water and narrower river arms has made it one of the go-to spots in Texas for wakesurfing and wakeboarding — Texas Wake Academy runs camps and lessons here, and the Wakepoint Open, one of the Hill Country’s bigger wakeboarding and wakesurfing competitions, is held on Lake LBJ. If you’re shopping for a home here specifically to tow a boat behind, that’s worth knowing before you assume every stretch of shoreline is created equal — wake sport crowds tend to cluster on the wider, straighter sections, while the narrower coves stay calmer.
Swimming and Water Safety
Lake LBJ is generally safe to swim in, though like any natural lake it comes with the usual caveats — no lifeguards, variable depth close to shore, and water quality that dips for a week or so after a heavy rain. I’ve written up the full picture, including what’s actually worth worrying about and what isn’t, in Is Lake LBJ Safe to Swim In?
Towns on Lake LBJ
Six communities actually front the lake, and each has a different feel: Kingsland, where the Llano and Colorado rivers come together; Horseshoe Bay, the resort and golf side of the lake; Granite Shoals, on the lake’s east shore; Sherwood Shores, one of Granite Shoals’ original 1962 subdivisions; Sunrise Beach Village, one of the oldest lakefront communities on Lake LBJ, dating to 1958; and Highland Haven, the smallest and quietest of the six. For the rest of the Highland Lakes chain — including the towns on Lake Marble Falls and Lake Buchanan — see my Highland Lakes homes for sale overview.
If you’re looking at waterfront specifically, tell me which of these six you’re drawn to and I’ll pull together what’s actually on the market right now.
