For a town that still calls itself Horse Country, Aubrey is lucky to sit a short drive from one of North Texas’s biggest sheets of open water. Point your truck up US-377 to Pilot Point, follow FM 455 east, and you run right into Ray Roberts Lake — close enough for a sunrise fishing trip and back before lunch, big enough to lose a whole weekend camping on its shore.
Here’s how a neighbor actually uses the place: which unit to pick, what’s biting, where to launch, and how to lock down a campsite before the good ones go.
One lake, several front doors
Ray Roberts is a Texas Parks and Wildlife reservoir on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, impounded in 1987 about ten miles north of Denton. TPWD’s fisheries division lists the surface at roughly 25,600 acres (the state-park page rounds it up to 29,000), with a maximum depth around 106 feet — plenty of room whether you’re fishing, paddling, or just watching the water.
The state park is spread across nine separate units. Three of them have real facilities: Isle du Bois, Johnson Branch, and Jordan (home to the Lone Star Lodge and Marina). The other six are satellite units that mainly exist to get a boat in the water. For most Aubrey families, the decision comes down to two names.
- Isle du Bois sits on the lake’s south side off FM 455 — the closest developed entrance to Aubrey and Pilot Point. It has the swimming beach, the big trail system, and, fittingly for this part of the county, dedicated equestrian campsites.
- Johnson Branch is over on the north shore near Valley View. It’s a longer drive but tends to feel a touch quieter, with its own beach and multiuse trails.
Both have well over a hundred campsites, so neither is a small operation.
What’s swimming down there
Ray Roberts has a genuine reputation, and TPWD’s own ratings back it up: the department grades largemouth bass, white bass, and crappie all as excellent, with catfish and sunfish rated good. Since the lake was dammed in 1987, it’s been stocked with Florida largemouth bass, channel catfish, and shad, and the bass fishing shows it.
The water-body records tell the story better than any brag:
- Largemouth bass: 15.18 lbs (2015)
- Flathead catfish: 62.60 lbs (2014)
- Blue catfish: 61.05 lbs — a fresh mark set in March 2026
- Channel catfish: 11.22 lbs (2016)
- White crappie: 3.09 lbs; white bass: 3.12 lbs
A few practical notes from TPWD’s lake write-up if you want to actually catch something. The upper reaches hold roughly 2,000 acres of standing timber, and biologists have sunk 44 constructed brush piles — classic crappie and bass structure. White bass fishing peaks during the spring spawning run and again in summer, when the schools push shad near the dam. And the blue catfish population has improved a lot in recent years, with fish in the 12-to-20-inch range plentiful and quality specimens topping ten pounds. There’s rip-rap along the dam and submerged vegetation (chara and milfoil) worth working, too.
Getting a boat in the water
You don’t have to camp to fish here. Ray Roberts has boat ramps across both main units and its satellite units, plus a marina, a lighted fishing pier, and fish-cleaning stations. Just know that ramps can close when lake levels drop, so it’s worth a quick check on the TPWD site or a call to the park before you hitch up the trailer. The Isle du Bois office answers at 940-686-2148.
Camping: reading the site list
The campsite menu can look like alphabet soup, so here’s the plain-English version.
Isle du Bois Unit has the most variety:
- 102 sites with 30/20-amp electric — the everyday RV and tent-with-power option ($25/night)
- 13 premium sites with 50/30/20-amp ($30/night)
- 53 primitive walk-in sites for tent campers who want a little distance ($15/night)
- 3 double sites with water and 50-amp for two rigs or a big group ($60/night)
- Equestrian sites — primitive horse camps ($15) plus sites with water and 50-amp ($30). If you keep horses in Aubrey, this is your spot.
- Two walk-in group camps that sleep up to 24 ($30/night)
Johnson Branch Unit keeps it simpler: 93 sites with 30/20-amp electric ($25), 11 premium 50-amp sites ($30), and 70 primitive walk-in sites ($15). Standard sites here hold up to eight people.
If it’s your first trip and you’ve got a camper, aim for the 30/20-amp loops in either unit — they’re the sweet spot on price and convenience. Tent campers chasing quiet should look hard at the primitive walk-ins.
Fees, gates, and reservations
Day use runs $7 per adult, and kids 12 and under get in free — camping fees stack on top of that per-person entry. Gates at both main units are open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, so plan arrivals accordingly.
Campsites are reserved through the Texas State Parks system, and the popular electric loops book up fast for spring and fall weekends — reserve as far ahead as you can rather than rolling the dice. You can book online at Texas State Parks reservations, or call the reservation line at (512) 389-8900. Day-use reservations are recommended on busy weekends, too, since units can hit capacity and close the gate.
More than a fishing hole
Even if the fish aren’t cooperating, the land side earns the trip. The park’s 20-mile Greenbelt Corridor connects Ray Roberts to Lake Lewisville, with about 12 miles open to horseback riders and 10 to hikers and bikers, plus shorter multiuse trails inside each unit. There are swimming beaches at both main units (no lifeguards, so keep an eye on the kids), paddling access, a kids’ fishing pond, and even all-terrain and beach wheelchairs to borrow.
For an Aubrey household, Ray Roberts is about as good as a day trip gets: far enough to feel like a real getaway, close enough that you can decide over breakfast and be casting a line by mid-morning. Check the current conditions on the TPWD Ray Roberts Lake State Park page before you go, throw the rods and the tent in the truck, and head north.
