If you are out there early either fishing from your boat, or at your marina getting ready for a fun lake weekend, have a rod at the ready rigged up with a small 3 swimbait smaller the better. Look for fish busting on the surface to give away their location. First off, while we are experiencing this cold front expect the bite to change and the fish to react to it. No. I especially like it if there is a little wind blowing into the area I am fishing. When scouting I recommend utilizing tools like the Navionics web app or Google Earth to find new areas like this. There are three types of offshore/ deep structure I look for, ledges, secondary points, and bluff walls with docks. Ive seen it as low as 61 degrees recently though. The backs of coves will stay slightly warmer than the deep part of the main lake. Instead, I am looking for the first stretch of deep water out in front of the areas where the fish have been spawning. Fish it with small twitches of the rod top and dont be too aggressive with the bait. Early in the morning I like to start out looking for schooling fish or throwing a topwater bait. 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. When fishing for these bass I recommend having four baits tied on, a swimbait, an Alabama rig, a jigging spoon, and a drop shot. Lake Travis's water temperature & fishing - LakeMonster.com Zara spooks, buzz baits, and poppers just to name a few. I completely disagree! The graph below shows the range of monthly Lake Travis water temperature derived from many years of historical sea surface temperature data. During the winter they fish slow down due to cold water, then fire back up as it warms in the Spring. Deep boat docks on the main lake will also hold suspended fish this time of year. Current weather 15C / 58F (clear sky) Wind 13 mph Humidity 65% 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. As the fall months near the fishing will continue to be stellar! There are a couple baits that I like to throw in particular when the bass are spawning. Sunset Water Utilities has the rights to 348.74 acre-feet of groundwater but is only permitted to use 152.5 . They are not trying to feed, rather they are just trying to get your bait to go away. You can catch some of the bigger fish on jigs and shaky heads using trick worms, senkos and craw worms. were focusing on main lake points and docks with quick access to deep water nearby. Tip: a Donkey Rig is a rig with two separate flukes on it, this is a fun way to fish this bait and make it look like a small school of bait fish. One, this helps maintain bottom contact, and two it makes the bait easier for the fish to catch up too. Jul 1, 2009. Tight lines! Look for bright spots on the bottom where the male bass has cleared away sediment from the rock with his tail. With a little less water in the lake, the end result is being able to target the fish a little easier in certain areas. With water temps in the low 60s this is the prime time of year if you want to sight fish for Largemouth on beds. The fishing is good now, but the best fishing of the year is still ahead of us! If you are not seeing fish busting on bait, get your casts close to structure such as the sides of docks or behind boats. If the water appears to be more clear, you might move deeper. Lake Travis weather forecast updated daily. 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! For these trips the focus of the trip is to teach you to be successful on your own. Recently I had a day with a morning and evening trip we caught numerous fish, up to 5 pounds, on a spook all throughout the day. This past week I have fished both the upper and lower end of Lake Travis. The bass fishing on Lake Travis will stay good if not get a little bite better for the next month. As for the Texas rig, this bait is often times interchangeable with a jig. May this be the year you break your personal best! I would love to get you out on the water and educate you on how to catch these fish, that way you are successful the next time you are out on the lake by yourself. Best Lake Travis Boat Fuel Docks Right now there are two patterns I recommend you try. Due to the changes in bottom composition the lower end of Lake Travis can get very clear. Wind direction and depth along the bank is also important. For coves like this stick to the points and nearby shorelines. Let me break down the bite I have been on in two ways, fishing shallow and fishing deep. Bluff walls and creek channel bends where the shoreline is fairly steep can also be very productive. A bright colored bait lets you see it disappear in their mouth easily. I recommend targeting the mouths of spawning coves. Until it gets a lot cooler I will not bother fishing any further back than half way into the coves. While the shad pattern is very popular to fish this time of year, imitating crawfish can also produce some nice fish! January in Central Texas can actually bring some very good fishing! Stick to colors that resemble a threadfin shad, these tend to get bit the best. This is one of the absolute best places to have Garmin Panoptix in your boat. Before getting into that I should touch on the morning bite. During the summer the warm water and sunlight provide ideal conditions for plankton blooms and an ample food source for these hungry shad. The premium is now placed on utilizing electronics to discover condensed groups of fish on select pieces of offshore cover. If you are visiting the area, want to try your hand at fishing Lake Travis, or want to book a coaching trip to get better at fishing, I would love to take you! As the water temps rise throughout the day the fish tend to pull up shallower to feed. This normally means slowing way down with your presentation or going with a bait that will trigger reaction strikes. If you want to fish on a weekend I recommend booking well in advance. What I mean by that is that the behavior and location youll find fish is going to change a lot throughout the month. 3. This is the time of year when the water temps start dropping from their summertime highs and some fish start moving up more shallow. In these areas I select a bait that will stay above it and avoid fouling up the hooks. They will usually be down deep, and once they find the shad, they push them up to the surface chasing them. 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 average number of fish caught per trip has been exceptional lately. A good ol Texas Rig has been working great lately. The second pattern I recommend is focusing on structure. The National Weather Service reported an estimated wind gust of 65 mph in Burnet County, the highest in the area. Focus on rocky shorelines that are not super steep. I will teach you how to figure out a pattern as you are on the water and how to build on it throughout the day in order to better predict what the bass will do, rather than just hitting the same honey holes over and over. You can catch them right on the bank out to 35-40 feet of water. Currently the thermocline on Lake Travis is around 40 feet deep. These hold fish almost year round. I fish it kind of as a combination of how I fish the morning and mid day bite. Lake Travis Test Station | Weather - University of Texas at Austin The bass fishing on Lake Travis has been great, and will only continue to get better throughout April! Bluff walls near the mouths of spawning coves can also hold a lot of fish early in the pre-spawn phase. Do you fish Lake Travis often but unsure where to fish? The slow fall of the bait can often get you bit. April 23, 2022. Where to look: I recommend searching for beds in the back of protected coves and on spawning flats. If this report was helpful and you enjoyed it, the biggest thank you you can give me is to share this on social media! I also encourage you to follow me on Instagram @LakeTravisFishingGuide I post daily on there with tons of great Lake Travis fishing content! If you read fishing blogs, my reports or watch Youtubers, youve probably heard that the bass move up into the backs of creeks and coves. A thermocline is essentially a divide down deep in the lake between the cooler dense water and the lighter warm water. Happy New Year everyone! A green pumpkin Zoom baby brush hog is an excellent choice right now. Lake Lyndon B. Johnson's water temperature & fishing Thus, in middle of the Summer you need deep, cool oxygen rich water that carries a substantial food base. This isnt to say they wont feed, but they do become more selective and less aggressive. Related Links: Once you start seeing these temps the bass start to get more active and move up out of their deep summertime homes. Lake Travis Hotels If you need a refresher, here is a video I filmed last year with a lot of details about how to fish this bait. The bite on Lake Travis has been great and will only get better for the next month! Cleanups help protect marine life and the quality of the water itself. (i.e. Lets not forget about the white bass run that is taking place farther up lake (up river) and the crappie that will soon be showing up in the shallows and the marinas to spawn. We just happened to pull up on the right school of fish at the right time feeding. On cold bluebird sky days you really need to force yourself to slow down and give your bait long pauses. At nearly 35 feet low as of writing this there is a ton of new structure to fish! Change baits often and rotate through your arsenal of lures to draw bites. In addition to your normal guided fishing trips, I also offer what I call my Coaching Trips. There are a couple key patterns that I recommend you try. In particular, I look for shorelines that have small rocky drop offs, or veins of rock as I refer to them. Jul 1, 2009. Ned rigs and drop shots are a staple on Lake Travis. Finesse fishing excels this time of year, there are lots of other baits I throw, but what I call the holy trinity of finesse fishing is always on the deck of my boat; a shaky head, a drop shot, and a ned rig. Look for fish in anywhere from 20-40 feet of water. The deeper chunk rock banks have been key for this pattern. While I prefer throwing moving baits, sometimes slowing down will do the trick. I can literally pan the transducer around and see exactly where the schools have moved to in order to make a more accurate cast. Its not uncommon though to get bit at the base of the ledge if the ledge isnt super deep. Fall is finally here and the water temps are down into the mid 70s and will continue to get colder with these shorter days and chillier nights. If you are taking the time to research a fishing report, this trip may be just what you need. Water clarity is the typical gin clear Lake Travis. Instead, we have been targeting grass edges and shallow sloping rocky banks close to spawning areas. I use these bright colors since they are easy for me to visually see on the bottom of the lake. During spring, one of my favorite ways to chase bass is when they are schooling. Lee Benton Fishing Guides Austin, The fishing on Lake Travis is holding strong as summer is officially here. Keep in mind though the seasonal transition these fish make has to do with water temperature and not the date on the calendar. Finding where there are ledges and drop offs along these bluff walls has been one of the best ways to target these fish. With Lake Travis being so rocky, there is actually an abundance of crawfish in the lake. Not every deep spot like this is loaded with fish, but when you find the right one they can be loaded. These slightly deeper, but nearby locations will contain a mix of pre and post spawn bass. Spring is just around the corner and the fishing on Lake Travis is about to become prime. 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. They can still find your lure, but I find it makes them a little less discerning and more likely to attach a fast flashy moving bait like an Umbrella Rig. That considered, its important to focus on offshore locations near deep water access, where fish can access cool water. In addition to the location were catching them I also tell you the exact baits, colors, and techniques Im using. I recommend looking for large coves and trying the points and sections of shoreline directly adjacent to the point. The big difference between a productive bank, and one that will only produce a few bites is structure. Crankbaits- Medium diving crankbaits can also be a terrific bait to throw at these shad hungry fish. Waterborne Gradient Self-potential, Temperature, and - USGS 6,770 Readers. During the fall there are two main forages the bass prefer; crawfish and threadfin shad. Water temperature is by far one of the largest factors that influence how the bass behave and what they do. Offshore areas such as humps on the bottom with rock, small ledges where fish can set up to ambush prey, or bluff walls with docks that provide shade are all places I have been catching fish. On days when the fish dont want to commit to a moving bait bite, slowing down with finesse techniques can be very productive. PHOTOS: Hail, severe storms hit Central Texas, Hill Country April 28 Current Situation | AustinTexas.gov All of these baits can be fished deep effectively yet slowed down to maintain bottom contact. I look for secondary points in 20-35 feet of water so pretty deep. Dont let the heat stop you from booking a trip and getting out on the lake with me this month! There are more of these below the water line, and this is where the fish congregate. I still have some dates coming up so get your trip booked soon with Texas Hawgs, Lake Travis has been fishing a little tough this month. Well, largemouth bass are cold blooded and as the water cools their metabolism slow.