What to throw: I recommend a craw style bait rigged on a Texas rig or a drop shot with a very short tag end between the hook and weight. 6,013 Readers. Big fish have greater metabolic needs and leave nursery type areas to follow oxygen saturation and open water forage. Lake Travis water temperatures climbing near 70 degrees mean the fish have made their move out of the depths to the clear flats and shallows of Lake Travis. For the A rig and jerkbait stick to colors that imitate a threadfin shad. While its still early in the fall, spend most of your time at the mouth of the coves all the way to about half way back. I like to use bright colored baits such as white and bubblegum. Crankbaits fished in the same places I fish the topwater plugs have also been very productive. As for schooling fish, certain deep water marinas on the lake have been holding large schools of largemouth and white bass. Because of this, you need to be quick to set the hook. 20-35 feet of water is where I have been finding the most fish. (512) 473-3200 or 1 (800) 776-5272. Be quick on that hook set! In low light or more windy conditions, were seeking out chunk rock and other irregularities on the bank. With these moving baits stick to colors that resemble a threadfin shad. When trying to mimic shad though, go with natural colors such as chrome, white and black, or something with a little purple in it. Im looking to those warming trends as the critical hour for big fish potential. The A rig and the crankbait are effective ways to burn the bank and cover water. Watch for a tick in the line or it to stop falling prematurely; if you see anything odd lift your rod tip and feel for pressure if you feel anything weird dont forget hook sets are free. Related Links: It seems the August key depth zone is about 25 ft. If you know anything at all about Lake Travis then you know the lake is quite low right now. You cant go wrong with a shad colored deep diving crank bait and a carolina rigged lizard or ribbon tail worm, in some variation of watermelon or green pumpkin. In this video I cover my top 5 baits to have tied on. The fishing is good now, but the best fishing of the year is still ahead of us! Fish that jig along rocky banks and over rocky veins along the shoreline. Once Fall arrives the fishing will fire back up again since the water will cool again. I like to rig a fluke weightless on a 4/0 hook and fish it similar to a jerkbait. You can catch some of the bigger fish on jigs and shaky heads using trick worms, senkos and craw worms. I had several bass spit up bright orange crawfish last week. During this time of year I rely heavily on electronics to help me find the fish and not waste time fishing empty water. When there is wind I like o throw these baits, especially the A rig. I will usually make several passes over a point or ledge trying to pinpoint the bass location before ever making a cast. Identifying areas close to creek channels, but up shallower are also good areas to look for fish this time of year. There are days fishing Lake Travis that you can put on a clinic fishing an Alabama Rig in the wind! Time of day and wind direction may have a temporary local effect as can water flows from neraby rivers. While not our target species theyre a blast to catch! I like an underspin over a normal lead head since I believe the flash from the blade helps trigger more bites. During the summer months the bass take advantage of the cooler temps in the early morning and late evening. Largemouth Bass are going to start moving up into coves to continue feeding on baitfish. . Pictured below is a healthy Lake Travis bass caught on an a-rig on a deep ledge in February. During the summer most of my focus is out deep. The link above is a great video I filmed last year teaching you how to fish a crankbait this way. In other news, theres been some big changes at Torwicks Guiding Service! This is dependent on 3 factors: Moon Phase, Water Temperature, and Barometric Pressure. Look for schooling activity and signs of life, and youll eventually find the fish. Mammatus clouds over Crosswater Yacht Club on Lake Travis on April 28, 2023 . During the fall, crawfish become a large part of a bass diet. Deep docks with numerous cross members and a low platform are probably the best. That considered, its important to focus on offshore locations near deep water access, where fish can access cool water. Transitional areas are important during this time of the year. 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. Early in the mornings bass relate to marinas heavily on Lake Travis. If you would like to get out on the water and learn way more than the internet could ever teach you, consider booking a trip with me and lets get out there! A deep crankbait and a Carolina rig with a fluke are two things I like to throw through the schools to fire them up. Lee Benton Fishing Guides Austin, As my client found out this morning Lake Travis summer fishing is still strong! Ledges They move from creek channel to flat, and back to creek channel, constantly. This type of transition is the first area deep schools of bait fish will pull up from, moving out of the creek channel toward shallower water. Lake Travis is mostly rock and has a healthy population of crawfish in it. I will typically start with a search bait such as a crankbait, then gauge their interest in it. Fish it with small twitches of the rod top and dont be too aggressive with the bait. Typically it takes several cold fronts and several days of extended cool temperatures before you see the surface temp of the lake actually start to drop enough to have an effect on the fish. In most of the country December means winter fishing. Jul 1, 2009. When bass are suspended the $10,000 worth of fishing electronics I have my boat rigged up with are crucial. A deep crankbait, a fluke on a heavy scrounger head, or a Biffle bug on a swinging jig head fished on the bottom can work well. Anything below 18C or 64F is considered to be cold water swimming. When they are not on the surface, make long casts and let your bait sink 8-12 feet deep before beginning your retrieve. With these baits you want to really slow down and pick apart the structure you are fishing. Areas like this are natural places for bass to congregate since its typically the only ambush spot on the bottom in these areas. In the last few weeks we have been catching fish on surface baits then switching to spoons and drop shots when the schools move deep and suspend. Currently there are three patterns that I am focusing on to catch the majority of our fish. (Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman/USA Today Network) 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. A jerkbait and a swimbait on an underspin head can also be very productive. This is when the bass make a migration out of deep water where they have been living during the winter. If the water appears to be more clear, you might move deeper. On days when we have weather moving through or some cloud cover, that deep crank bait can work well to fire up a school of hungry bass! Purchase a Honey Hole Report Shad patterns work well too, but something about a crawfish colored crankbait bumping along the bottom kicking up sand and silt just triggers those bass into biting. Trooper said on April 29, around 11:56 p.m., a 2003 Suzuki . If you fish Lake Travis but struggle to consistently catch fish, consider booking me for a coaching trip I encourage you to Google my guide service, as I am confident my online reviews will speak for themselves! It is not uncommon to graph a point and come across large schools of bass close to the bottom. Once you have located an area with fish, I recommend either fishing very very slow, or rather quickly. I recommend throwing this on braided line with a fluorocarbon leader. Current conditions, warnings and historical records . With that said you typically dont start seeing fish actually on nests until the very end of February. Boating, scuba diving and swimming are popular activities enjoyed at the lake. This is the first time seeing the lake so low for a lot of Austins new residents, so get out there and fish it! During the summer the warm water and sunlight provide ideal conditions for plankton blooms and an ample food source for these hungry shad. A Picasso School-E rig is my favorite Alabama rig to throw this time of year. A Strike King 6XD or 10XD, depending on the depth, is a great bait to cover water and get down to these schools of fish. 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. Once you see the water temps get warmer here further into March the bass will commit to the spawn and they can be found up shallow. Strategy 1: Throw small baits and retrieve at an average speed. Hit them with a fast moving reaction bait, they follow up with a more subtle plastic. If you luck out and get on the lake when there is little wind, bed fishing is a blast since you can see the fish very easily. This isnt to say they wont feed, but they do become more selective and less aggressive. During the fall bass eat a lot of shad, however they still continue to feed on bluegill and crawfish. Winds are out of the SW at 8mph, with wind gusts of 13mph. A good mess of white bass and crappie make for a great fish fry and table fair. The biggest fish want the best possible combination of cover and favorable environmental conditions. (Remember, arms of the lake such as Sandy Creek or Cypress Creek are as large as some small lakes!) I do know that access to freshwater and sunlight are important for the spawn. If you have ever considered booking a fishing trip with me, March is the month to do it! With all these baits, slow down and give the bait long pauses. Really, its times like these when Im able to hoan in and focus, making my time on the water count. You can usually see these super shallow fish blowing up in schools on the bank. Water temperature is one of the biggest factors in understanding how bass behave and where they go throughout the year. Polarized sunglasses are a must! Get your casts back in there ASAP as its not uncommon to hook another fish when you get one from the school to bite. Alternate between these baits and target points and drains outside of areas bass spawn. If this report was helpful and you enjoyed it, the biggest thank you you can give me is to share this on social media! Finally, its not only about focusing on a specific target. I recommend rigging up a ounce jig in a brown or green pumpkin color and working banks with large rock. Drop shots and shaky head worms have been doing well for me. Repeated casts alongside structure like this can often lead to a few extra bites. Lake Travis Fishing Report - April 2019 These three rigs are very effective at getting down deep, being fished slow, all while presenting a smaller easy to eat meal for those sluggish bass. I caught a bass November 30th in 61 feet of water on a drop shot! 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. For these trips the focus of the trip is to teach you to be successful on your own. My video covers a lot of great info about selecting a crankbait during the winter, so lets skip to a jerkbait. Once you start seeing these temps the bass start to get more active and move up out of their deep summertime homes. When they move offshore they usually are not super active even though they are schooled up. These feeding windows are often short lived, so dont waste time taking selfies, measuring the fish, or Face Timing your fishing buddies, get back to fishing! Despite the fish getting a bit more active, I still recommend fishing these slow. April 23, 2022. When scouting I recommend utilizing tools like the Navionics web app or Google Earth to find new areas like this. Knowing when a thermocline is present can help significantly in figuring out how deep to fish. Also, the timing for fishing these locations is important, as the heat will cause the fish to suspend and become inactive. If you lack confidence in a jig you can substitute it with a Texas rigged craw style bait with a 3/8th ounce weight. It is part of the Colorado River and is fed by overflow from Lake Travis. Lake Travis Test Station | Weather - University of Texas at Austin The bite is still good during the summer, but its hard to beat springtime fishing! A ounce brown and orange football jig with a speed craw for a trailer is a deadly combination. If they are higher up off the bottom, the deep crank can work well to get the school fired up. For the slightly deeper bite, instead of the texas rig, I may focus more on the drop shot and perhaps a standard-sized carolina rig. A swimbait- I like to throw a 4 paddle tail swimbait rigged on a ounce lead head a lot. Weve experienced sporadic schooling the last few weeks with these fish targeting 1 inch shad. I like to catch crawfish from time to time and see what color they are, in order to get a better idea of what color baits I should be throwing. It throws off more flash and vibration and at times can make a big difference. I recommend this style hook as opposed to a lead head in order to prevent snags. Its no secret the tournament was won on surface baits (see video). The well-known vertical speedboat at Lake Mead is now surrounded by water after the lake rose four feet in May, 2023. The bigger fish are still out a bit deeper in 15-30. But honestly my favorite fishing comes in April when the shad spawn. Current weather 15C / 58F (clear sky) Wind 13 mph Humidity 65% A small spoon or swimbait works well to target these fish. So it begs the questions, why do they do that? Overall, the climate of the Lake Travis and Lake Austin area is temperate with mild winters and relatively low humidity. A thermocline is essentially a divide down deep in the lake between the cooler dense water and the lighter warm water. The ones up tight to the bank are chasing shad so a small swimbait/swimjig, shallow crankbait and even a spinnerbait can get you bit. I can literally pan the transducer around and see exactly where the schools have moved to in order to make a more accurate cast. Secondary points are points underwater further away from a primary point, often separated by a flat. ARL:UT Lake Travis Test Station Real-Time Weather Data Lake Travis Test Station 04/28/2023 08:50:00 PM Once again, these lures would be most effective when color matched to the predominate prey species in your fishery. They are not trying to feed, rather they are just trying to get your bait to go away. These arent community holes, these are spots I am catching fish with paid clients. Look for docks in 20-35 feet of water that have metal staircases under them, use your side scan sonar to find the schools of Crappie and drop your baits down into the middle of the schools. Tight lines! For the Texas Rig and Carolina Rig I like a Green Pumpkin Zoom speed craw or senko. When the bite is slower I will rotate between what I like to call the holy trinity of finesse fishing. Which are a drop shot, a Ned rig, and a Shaky head. April Temperature Lago Vista TX, Rusty Allen Airport (5 miles) 2023 March April. If you are not seeing any baitfish activity, keep moving. Largemouth bass prefer cooler water which also contains more dissolved oxygen. I recommend getting on the water at gray light, Im talking about being launched and ready by 6AM. The same locations as before apply, however you are trying to get this bait down to the rocks and get it to bump into the bottom. You will also find a population of fish that stays out deep, even when its getting closer to sunset. For the cost of a couple crankbaits I will show you the patterns and spots I am catching fish on with paid clients. Historically some of the biggest bags I have caught on Lake Travis have been in the fall, so dont be afraid to book in advance if you dont have a flexible schedule and want a certain date! You can catch several fish up shallow but not too many big ones. These are typically the first areas bass move to in order to make their way to where theyll ultimately build a nest and spawn. For this I like to fish it on a bait casting setup in order to use heavier line and have more control when I pitch this bait into the fishs nest. Currently the thermocline on Lake Travis is around 40 feet deep. Expect to see water temperatures anywhere from the low 60s to the mid 50s. Conditions like wind, a drop in barometric pressure, or a drop in temperature can often get fish active. The process begins with the fish finder, your underwater eyes. Keitech, Megabass, and 6th Sense all make a great option. *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. The fish will move up shallow early in the mornings. There is no central/single point of access. Orange Spike-It dye is a must have in your boat for dipping your soft plastics in. The measurements for the water temperature in Lake Travis, Texas are provided by the daily satellite readings provided by the NOAA. Lately the weather has been all over the place with cold fronts and stretches of warm weather. Lake Travis is a gorgeous manufactured reservoir on the Colorado River, northwest of lively Austin, Texas. June marks the beginning of summer, and with the warm weather lately the fish know that! I recommend downsizing to a 3/8th ounce jig, trimming the skirt down and using a smaller profile trailer. The lake covers 18,929 acres. I offer what I call a coaching trip. Texas rigged craw style plastics work well too, but a personal preference of mine is a jig.
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