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Areas of structure such as rock piles, small ledges, or grass not far from the shallow areas I described early, will hold fish. Tight lines and have a great July! Finding where there are ledges and drop offs along these bluff walls has been one of the best ways to target these fish. Expect to see water temperatures anywhere from the low 60s to the mid 50s. Before getting into that I should touch on the morning bite. A topwater bait can be productive, but that bite is mainly limited to the first hour of daylight. . Lakes Buchanan and Travis, the two water supply reservoirs in the Highland Lakes, were designed to fluctuate, capturing water during rainy times and holding it for use when the weather turned drier. There are a couple baits that I like to throw in particular when the bass are spawning. Time to buckle down and focus, because the easy fish have been picked off. My approach to bass fishing often involves the science behind it, and not just whatever the latest fad on BassMaster is. Sometimes you catch two fish at once with it! As soon as a couple cold fronts roll through and you see the water temps drop several more degrees the fish will get moving! I love these since I can cast them far, feel the bottom easily and they dont get snagged too easily. 2. Areas like this are natural places for bass to congregate since its typically the only ambush spot on the bottom in these areas. On several occasions I have watched my bait fall down the screen, watch a fish move up to it on the graph, then set the hook. As it gets colder later in the year, you may consider pausing it longer. Carolina rigs are always a good choice for a long, lazy approach, for lethargic cold water bass. Fish the bait slow and really try to get a feel for the bottom. Throwing small swimbaits that mimic threadfin shad can be a great way to cover a lot of water and catch a lot of fish. With this heat and warm water, the bass have been moving around and a couple new patterns are working well. As far as plastics go Im not very picky, anything that resembles a crawfish usually works well. (i.e. With bed fishing you may spend 30+ minutes looking for a nest and trying to get the fish to bite. The whites can still be caught in creeks on the main lake but there is a good number of them up river that can be caught a variety of ways including trolling. These arent community holes, these are spots I am catching fish with paid clients. Big fish become very migratory and predictable, while smaller fish can be found in the backs of creeks, year round. The premium is now placed on utilizing electronics to discover condensed groups of fish on select pieces of offshore cover. *These tide times are estimates based on the nearest accurate location (Port Lavaca, Matagorda Bay, Texas) and may differ by up to half an hour depending on distance. These reports give you all the info on what baits Im throwing, colors to use, conditions to look for and a ton more. Recently Ive had several half day trips with 20+ fish. The fish are post-spawn at this point so they will be making their way back out to the main lake and feeding up. I always tell clients, spring and fall are hands down my favorite time of year to fish. When the moving bait bite is good I like to tie on a red/ orange squarebill, a white spinnerbait, a 4 Keitech on an underspin head, or a fluke rigged on a belly weighted hook. Water temperature is by far one of the largest factors that influence how the bass behave and what they do. Lake Travis has finally begun what I refer to as the fall transition. A crankbait is one of my favorite ways to catch bass in the fall. When its more calm or the bite is slower a jerkbait allows me to cover water, while still fishing slower since Im able to pause and suspend the bait when fish arent as aggressive. Bites will be subtle but typically theyll feel like one light thump. Instead, we have been targeting grass edges and shallow sloping rocky banks close to spawning areas. If youve been on the fence about booking a guided trip, now is the time! Once you catch a fish off a nest, please return them to the lake quickly. It is more narrow, has smaller coves and creek arms, and the water is more stained. If you dont have one of these graphs yet give me a shout and I will help you get set up through Mealey Marine. Lately I have been fishing certain areas of the lake following this pattern, targeting bass anywhere between 15-40 feet deep. A Ned rig with a green pumpkin TRD worm, a Neko rigged Grande Bass airtail rattler, and a finesse jig are all bottom baits I like to fish slow this time of year. Something new this year I am offering are what I call my Honey Hole Reports, these paid fishing reports are much different than the reports you can find here. Fish will move up shallow again to feed so moving baits like topwater and crankbaits can be productive. and as late as April 1st, have kept water temperatures cooler than average for this time of year. If you fish Lake Travis often this can be the difference between having a good trip every once and a while, to consistently going out and catching fish. If you intend to stay in the water for a while a thin shorty wetsuit will suffice. Cooler water temps tell the fishs biological clock that winter is approaching and that its time to start fattening up. Its a great joy to get your kids into fishing and into the outdoors. Focus on the mouths of small coves, points within a these coves, and drains along the shoreline in these coves. These offshore fish tend to be lethargic and it can sometimes take a lot of work to get them fired up and chewing. Understanding what is going on beneath the surface of the lake, not only with largemouth bass, but also with the other species of fish in the lake, can help you become a better angler. Once summer gets here and the water warms more fish will start to move out of the coves and out of the shallows to deeper cooler water. I have noticed the fish relating to the deep sloped chunk rock banks as the lake level creeps down. Live sonar is very effective for finding these fish, but simply paying attention to the water and looking for splashes can also give away the bass location. I mostly stick to crawfish patters, browns, oranges, and reds are all very good colors. On cloudy days or when the fish are being finicky and I just want to try something different I change to an underspin. Schooling Fish In some areas of the lake right now there is a lot of grass growing along the bottom. Well, there are several things I like to throw, but lets go with my top three. Look for ledges that sit in 10-20 feet of water on top and drop off deeper. Repeated casts alongside structure like this can often lead to a few extra bites. I still have some dates in spring coming up so get your trip booked soon with Texas Hawgs, Lake Travis has been fishing well this month. With summer approaching the water temps are in the mid 70s and rising. The evening bite has been very good. Its mainly about how high in the water column the fish are positioned and their level of activity. Choose a bait that will get down to the depth the fish are at, oftentimes bottom contact is key to getting these fish to bite. Despite the fish getting a bit more active, I still recommend fishing these slow. This style of fishing will last a few more weeks. Early in the mornings there is still a marina bite to be had. As for schooling fish, certain deep water marinas on the lake have been holding large schools of largemouth and white bass. Due to this then move out deep seeking cooler water. During this time of year, there are two main patterns I fish in order to consistently find fish. The fish will move up shallow early in the mornings. While this isnt the only way, I take advantage of years when the lake is low to learn the shorelines in preparation for when the lake fills back up. Water Level. Water clarity is still very good, Lake Travis is known for being very clear, but at the present time can be a bit more cloudy in some areas depending on the wind. March and April are historically some of the best months to fish Lake Travis. The ability to walk the dog with it, then pause and kill it every once and a while is very enticing to spring time bass. The current lake level is about 28 feet low, but by the time you read this it may be a couple feet lower! A wacky rigged worm on a 1/0 weighted wacky hook fished as close to the sides of the docks as possible is a good way to catch these lethargic suspended fish. Make a long cast past the school and get it down to depth before you bring it through the school of fish. Big fish have greater metabolic needs and leave nursery type areas to follow oxygen saturation and open water forage. Towards the end of this month I would expect more and more fish to be pulling offshore. Once the sun comes up and the morning bite slows, I like to back off the bank. During late fall and into winter it is common to find schools of bass suspended out deep off of these kinds of spots. Torwicks Guiding Service, Tyler Torwick. Recently I have seen water temps as low as 61 degrees first thing in the morning. Not that you cant catch them, but you have to work hard for them. A few stripers up to 8 pounds have been showing up in the mix as well. Cut them off by targeting the areas they can easily move to. Im either at the mouth of the creek arm, fishing main lake points, or Im offshore looking at deep contours. Currently water temperatures are in the 85-88 degree range with temps varying slightly depending on the time of day you are on the water and what end of the lake you are fishing. The fishing is only going to continue to get better over the next couple months! Personally I love throwing topwater since it is so much fun seeing the fish hit it on the surface! When bass are spawning they are not hungry or fixated on feeding, rather they are territorial and will attack something that poses a threat to them. Lake Travis is Central Texas' largest water storage reservoir, holding over three hundred billion gallons. A watermelon red trick worm on a shakey head has been our ticket the last few weeks. It was a very subtle bite today but a lot of fun! Temperatures average 74 to 94 degrees in the summer and 40 to 70 degrees in the winter. Look for creek channels or big drop offs, then find the nearest point or ledge where a fish could pull up to in order to ambush prey. When everyone else is throwing power fishing techniques like heavy flipping and cranking or spinner baits, the finesse presentations can be quite advantageous. As the lake level creeps down on Lake Travis the fishing has been great the last few weeks. My primary approach for bass fishing Lake Travis in January is to employ 1 of 2 strategies. Normally I see this behavior on Lake Travis in late February. Austin pumps highest amount of water, so far this year. Either I fish very slow, or I fish very fast. A small roboworm or trick worm in something watermelon, green pumpkin, or purple is a sure fire way to put fish in the boat. Feel free to reach out to me ! When the water is low I focus more on man-made structures such as docks, staircases into the lake, concrete walkways, etc. Theres nothing better to get clients excited than when the bass are literally jumping in front of you! This is especially nice as I am able to return to a spot multiple times during the week without wearing it out. I look for areas where bass can move to feed on bait that moves into these areas. While you can get bit doing some of those things at the moment, thats not the main way I am fishing. I have been catching fish out deep on deep diving crankbaits, and as the water gets even hotter, more fish will begin that migration. You can cover a lot of water with this bait and trigger reaction bites with it. Male bass will clear away debris and sediment on the bottom of the lake creating a nest for the female to lay their eggs. When the fish are like this I approach them in two ways. Lee Benton Fishing Guides Austin. You can catch some up shallow in spurts and a few decent ones out deep with really slow presentations using jigs, t-rig worms and shaky heads. Between now and the heat of summer the fishing will only continue to get better! Jul 1, 2009. If you find yourself struggling to catch fish please consider booking a trip with me! Deep boat docks on the main lake will also hold suspended fish this time of year. Once you catch one, get back in there quick with a follow up cast as you can often trigger a feeding frenzy. When I find fish out deep I pay attention to how they are positioned on the fish finder to help me decide what bait to throw. What is the Ideal Swimming Temperature? A drop shot is also hard to beat. I do know that access to freshwater and sunlight are important for the spawn. Host a fundraising event like a boat party, boat parade, water sports tournament, charity fishing tournament, or water conservation auction, and donate the proceeds . With that said, focusing on the 10-20 foot depth range has been the most productive. Of course, this fluctuates if its a hot sunny day, or if its early in the morning right after a cold night. Whilst sea temperatures for Lake Travis are as accurate as current data allows, there may be slight local and regional variations depending on conditions. This past week I have fished both the upper and lower end of Lake Travis. Early in the morning I like to start out looking for schooling fish or throwing a topwater bait. April 23, 2022. Structure such as shallow brush, rock, or a drop off is ideal just be thinking about where a bass could position themself to be hidden from their prey. ), As far as baits go, there are a couple that I recommend you keep tied on. This technology is incredible. One thing I always notice is when the trees start getting little green buds and flowers on them, the fish will be moving up shallow. Small swimbaits, topwater lures, and jerkbaits can all be excellent baits to target these fish. Please feel free to visit my website, or give me a call! ARL:UT Lake Travis Test Station Real-Time Weather Data Lake Travis Test Station 04/30/2023 01:55:00 PM The water temperature on Lake Travis is currently around 64-66 degrees. Make long casts up forward of your boat and get close to the shoreline. You are getting these fish to react to it. With water temps in the low 60s this is the prime time of year if you want to sight fish for Largemouth on beds. Once you see water temps get above 58 degrees give or take, you will see what is referred to as pre-spawn behavior. Coves will be an important place to look for the next few weeks until winter really sets in. 11,848 Readers. These two baits are perfect for putting numbers in the boat. They will eat though if something easy to catch goes past their face. If you are not seeing any baitfish activity, keep moving. During slow periods, the baitfish and bass will relate to the creek channels. 6,771 Readers. If the slow presentation wont draw a bite, switch baits to something fast moving. In this report well discuss both what the fish are currently doing as well as what they will be doing. Be quick though. This also applies to the first dock in a row of docks when you enter a large cove. There are seasonal patterns to every lake, but not all fish make a migration to those textbook spots at the same time, or at all for that matter. Deep Offshore Fish Keitech makes a ton of excellent colors, so stick with something that looks like a baitfish. Look for points and drains close to spawning coves with deep water nearby. Once you see water 59 degrees or higher you can expect a change in the bass behavior. If I am not getting bit throwing a moving bait, I will then slow down and switch to working the bottom with one of those other baits. Also, deep timber off of these points can also be good. Be patient and make sure to let you worm float down to that depth before slowly twitching it back to the surface. I run Garmin Panoptix on my boat (for those unfamiliar with it, it is live view sonar). Structure is always something to be on the look out for as well, rock piles, ledges, or brush close to these areas will attract the fish and are high percentage places for you to cast. When I have clients in the boat who can cast well, I love to cover water with a medium diving crankbait. Days prior to cold front or storms can have very good fishing. You will never be getting old out date information. Tight lines! Lets start off with our bottom baits. Once you determine these factors, you can select a presentation to suit the specific situation. The exception though is if the bank has things like stumps, concrete anchor blocks (for docks/ marinas), grass, or brush. A Storm Wiggle Wart in brown craw is one of my favorite baits, but there are tons of great options out there. AUSTIN, Texas The mean water level on Lake Travis is 657 feet above sea level, or 64.5% full, down from the same time a year ago. For those of you new to Lake Travis, the lake is around 65 miles long. When bass are on a nest they become very territorial. Jun 26, 2009 . So what does this cold weather mean for the bass fishing? We would recommend a small black and blue craw imitation, worked slowly on the bottom over brush piles or grass patches. A fishing report can only help you so much. For the topwater spook I work this a little faster giving it a walk the dog action while pausing it every 5-6 feet. With that said, I would expect to see pre-spawn fish getting active within a week or two unless a cold front comes through. With all the recent rain expect some areas to be slightly more stained and more debris in the water. On a topographic map these creek channels are generally denoted by a darker color, signifying a deeper depth, relative to the surrounding topography. A fluke- A Zoom fluke in a baitfish color is a deadly bait fished up shallow. I put a lot of work into these reports and share all the info on how Im catching fish with my clients. Whereas if most of your bites come when you are actively moving the bait, you can pause less and fish a bit faster when in doubt fish slow though. Hot water holds less dissolved oxygen and is also less appealing to largemouth bass, they would prefer cooler temps. During the fall, crawfish become a large part of a bass diet. Change baits often and rotate through your arsenal of lures to draw bites. Repeated casts to high percentage targets, fishing quick, and rotating baits often will also help get you more bites. When I find fish on the graph, especially if they are suspended this is how I like to try and catch them first. As I mentioned earlier the bass are very much in their typical winter time pattern right now. Some of those days with less than ideal forecasts can be some of the best fishing! haha. These bass are there guarding their eggs, and fish like sunfish and bluegill love to eat their eggs! They will usually be down deep, and once they find the shad, they push them up to the surface chasing them. Spring and fall are my two favorite times to fish here in Austin, TX. There is write up on there I did last year covering this its a long read, but well worth it! On the upper end of Lake Travis where the water is more stained and there is a little more brush in the water, a white swimjig or chatterbait is another lure I like throwing. The areas we target are near the main river channel that runs through the lake. Baits like jigs, dropshots, and Texas rigged craws can also be productive on days when the fish refuse to chase moving baits. If we have several more cold fronts it could push back the spawn. Catching them will soon be on more moving baits such as spinner baits, crank baits, swimbaits, etc. When you take a good look at the size of Lake Travis, this large water mass is quite impressive. If you are interested to know more about catching bass off a nest, visit the Article page of my website. 6,013 Readers. As the water gets colder you will start seeing these fish move out deeper, but why? Spots like this are higher probability to hold bass as these fish living out deep dont have to travel far to find shallow water to feed in. The bites can be very very subtle. Written by Professional Austin fishing guide, tournament angler and owner of Torwicks Guiding Service, Tyler Torwick. The upper end of Lake Travis feels more like fishing a river. Let me break down the bite I have been on in two ways, fishing shallow and fishing deep. This is where the female bass will move to in order to spawn with the male bass. We are catching them on a number of baits such as soft plastics, jigs and crank baits. Visit https://www.torwicksguidingservice.com/shop-2 to check out these reports! My favorite baits this time of year are rattle traps and mid to shallow running crank baits, during periods of wind or cloud cover. From year to year your favorite honey hole could be high and dry, or 30 feet underwater! A Ned rig and a Texas rigged creature bait are both baits that have been putting a lot of fish in the boat for me. The second, to fish for bass that are using staging locations. This normally means slowing way down with your presentation or going with a bait that will trigger reaction strikes. Here in Austin we are fortunate to not have to winterize our boats, and can use them pretty much year around. Warmer water instinctively tells the fish that it is time to build nests and lay eggs. Slow down and dont over work it. So what should you throw to catch these shad hungry bass? My clear water approach begins in 15 ft or less. One other important thing to mention! There are three types of offshore/ deep structure I look for, ledges, secondary points, and bluff walls with docks. New for this season I am running a 2022 Phoenix 921 elite with a Mercury 300 on the back! In other news, theres been some big changes at Torwicks Guiding Service! Keep in mind during this time the fish are not focused on feeding, rather they become very territorial of their bed. The water temperature on Lake Travis is in the high 50s to low 60s, so pretty warm compared to the rest of the country this time of year! If you dont have any of that try using red, they carry it at Academy around here. I like to keep my boat as far away as possible and make long casts with the swimbait or Alabama rig and run it right through the middle of those schools of bass. I typically start with a brown craw color this time of year, but if Im not getting bit on it I will quickly switch to a shad pattern. Spring is in the air, the weather is finally warming up, and the water temps are slowly rising. When they are more lethargic I like to drop a small fluke on a drop shot down to them. Strategy 1: Throw small baits and retrieve at an average speed. They also prefer low light conditions to feed. I take out anyone from novice to most advanced and a lot of kids as well. Lower Colorado River Authority. Obviously there are times these arent the best places to be fishing, but for a lot of the year, especially times when fish favor deep water, these can be the ticket. When fishing with any of these baits make sure to keep your retrieve very erratic, lots of stops and starts and changes to the speed of your retrieve will help to elicit reaction bites from the bass. If you are not seeing fish busting on bait, get your casts close to structure such as the sides of docks or behind boats. Early in the morning bass will move up shallow to feed. Yep, when these fish move up shallow but the bite is a little tough, I like to break out a wacky rigged senko. In this video I cover my top 5 baits to have tied on. This time of year can be very productive! If you know anything at all about Lake Travis then you know the lake is quite low right now. We will cover patterning bass, understanding the current conditions, what baits to throw and why, where to look for bass deepening on seasonality, and so much more! A Rapala DT10 is another very good option that most sporting goods stores offer. Legend: <0F 0F 10F 20F 30F 40F 50F 60F 70F 80F 90F 100F While the bite this time of year can be a little more hit or miss, if you put in the work you can still have some very rewarding days on the water! Trooper said on April 29, around 11:56 p.m., a 2003 Suzuki . 11,847 Readers. It casts far, covers a lot of water, and looks very realistic. Best Lake Travis Boat Fuel Docks 2. This is when I like to pull out the moving baits, which is my personal preference for catching bass. So it begs the questions, why do they do that? The weather averages for the month of April, temperature averages around 26c and at night it feels like 15c. Evenings Lately I have been finding a lot of fish in that 20-40 foot depth range. For the drop shot, Im using a zoom fluke in the albino color. You can catch some of the bigger fish on jigs and shaky heads using trick worms, senkos and craw worms. Then find shallow water closest to that! There is no central/single point of access. This is when they move to the shallows to build a nest and lay their eggs. Boating, scuba diving and swimming are popular activities enjoyed at the lake. Here on Lake Travis a lot of our coves are very deep and are basically flooded canyons. Throwing the moving baits is more fun in my opinion, but sometimes the fish get lethargic or the conditions just call for slowing down. As of writing this at the beginning of January, water temps are still in the mid 60s! Rig up a Texas rig with a or 3/8th ounce bullet weight (the windier/ deeper the heavier I go) and a 4/0 EWG hook and a craw style bait like a Zoom speed craw. In my opinion, its a waste of time. The bite is still good during the summer, but its hard to beat springtime fishing! Polarized sunglasses are a must! Today's Weather Forecast. Currently lake temps are in the low 80s but are on the rise. (Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/USA Today Network) There are more of these below the water line, and this is where the fish congregate. One tip though, if you are fishing on the upper end of the lake where the water is a bit more stained, consider adding some chartreuse dye to the tail of your bait. Watch your line to make sure you are maintaining bottom contact, especially when you get down deep with the bait. I find a deep diving jerkbait like a Megabass Vision 110 +2 to be a great option to trick them into biting. I prefer the weightless presentation, but in the wind I will sometimes switch to an Owner twist lock hook with a small belly weight. You can usually see these super shallow fish blowing up in schools on the bank. Lake Travis is a BIG lake. What this means is that your typical pre-spawn spots will reload quickly with different fish. A Picasso School-E rig is my favorite Alabama rig to throw this time of year.