We are still starting our mornings with top waters or shad imitation swim baits early. Were still experiencing schooling in the marinas early and sporadically throughout the day. A bass eggs will not hatch until the water temps are in the low 60s. The dog days of summer are here and its hot out! Lake Travis is Central Texas' largest water storage reservoir, holding over three hundred billion gallons. 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. Lake Travis Vacation Rentals There are days fishing Lake Travis that you can put on a clinic fishing an Alabama Rig in the wind! Areas such as shallow points or drains outside of spawning areas will hold bass this time of year. The fishing out there has been consistently good and we havent even had a big cold front to cool things off. List Your Business | Login. I hope these tips help you catch more fish! Long casts, subtle movements of the bait, and lots of pauses work well when fishing this way. A good ol Texas Rig has been working great lately. If you do not feel it was worth your hard earned money I will gladly refund your money. Lake Lyndon B. Johnson's water temperature & fishing This year I am making an effort to produce more videos for yall! The water will feel warm (balmy). Its a great joy to get your kids into fishing and into the outdoors. Its quiet, theres less boat traffic, and oftentimes I find myself in sort of a meditative state. My Saturday and Sunday trips book up fast! These average ocean temperatures for Lake Travis are calculated from several years of archived data. Consider booking a trip with me! Right now you have the opposite affect going on. March and April are historically some of the best months to fish Lake Travis. 1. Early in the mornings and late in the evenings there has been a solid topwater bite. Warmer water instinctively tells the fish that it is time to build nests and lay eggs. Overall, the climate of the Lake Travis and Lake Austin area is temperate with mild winters and relatively low humidity. But upon further inspection they are mostly sand and gravel, these areas generally dont hold too many fish. 1 Austin_Native_2 24 days ago For early April, you can expect the surface water temperature to be about 65. Repeated casts to high percentage targets, fishing quick, and rotating baits often will also help get you more bites. Deep boat docks on the main lake will also hold suspended fish this time of year. With water temps this warm expect to find most of your fish out deep once the sun comes out. With these current water temperatures the moving bait bite has been very good. On cloudy days or when the fish are being finicky and I just want to try something different I change to an underspin. Small minnows fished on a 1/16th ounce lead head have also been very productive. (just watch out for those dock cables). Several bass over 8 pounds were caught and a bunch over 4 pounds. Right now we are in the early stages of what anglers refer to as the fall transition. 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. We have found the walking the dog baits have been very productive (Zara spook style). The lake is 63.75 miles long, has over 271 miles of shoreline and its maximum width is 4.5 miles. 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. This is one of the absolute best places to have Garmin Panoptix in your boat. You may see a brief feeding window open up during periods of increased wind or temporary cloud cover. Lake Travis has finally begun what I refer to as the fall transition. Pre-spawn Fish As of right now, I have been doing best targeting the points at the entrance to coves and fishing as far back as about halfway into the coves. During this time of year I rely a lot on my fish finders to help me locate these offshore schools of bass. Coves with creek channel bends, or banks with rocky veins and drop offs will be a good place to start your search for bass. With the gin clear water its very important to match the the size of your bait to the shad. Written by Professional Austin fishing guide, tournament angler and owner of Torwicks Guiding Service, Tyler Torwick. Make long casts with the swimbait around cover and work it over any drop offs you find underwater. If you lack confidence in a jig you can substitute it with a Texas rigged craw style bait with a 3/8th ounce weight. The majority of the fish I have been targeting are still pre-spawn. Austin's Rainey Street revelers weigh in on possible serial killer These baits stay deep where the fish are, but will make bottom contact while moving to try and draw a reaction strike. During the summer most of my focus is out deep. It is not uncommon to graph a point and come across large schools of bass close to the bottom. Lets not forget the night time crappie fishing. For the crankbait, alternate between a crawfish and a threadfin shad colored bait, select a bait that will dive to +/- 15 feet. Each report contains 5+ EXACT spots on Lake Travis where I have been catching fish with my clients. I had the honor of taking a young man fishing on Labor Day and he landed several bass, two being in the 4-5lb range. Those fish may have moved out deep but they still have to eat. During late February bass feed on both crawfish and shad, so I like to mix it up with the colors I throw. Personally I like to use bright colored baits such as white, bubblegum, or chartreuse. This generally clears up pretty quickly though. The top water bite has been exceptional as of late, and will continue to be a major pattern until December. Summertime fishing can be hit or miss for a lot of anglers, but I promise you, if you put in the time and learn how bass behave and why certain conditions make them behave a certain way, you will be more successful. A good starting depth range for an average water clarity could be a break from 15 to 25 ft. It throws off more flash and vibration and at times can make a big difference. I also am a big believer in not fishing spots and fishing a pattern instead. Instead, we have been targeting grass edges and shallow sloping rocky banks close to spawning areas. Keitech, Megabass, and 6th Sense all make a great option. Now on those overcast or stormy days this will change, but lately the weather has been pretty stable. I completely disagree! I prefer the crankbait and Alabama rig when there is a little bit of wind or cloud cover, I find those conditions help. The lower end of the lake feels more like just that a lake. With the end of summer approaching the patterns us anglers are focusing on will start to change. 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. This is when the bass make a migration out of deep water where they have been living during the winter. My biggest piece of advice this time of year is to get out early while its cool, avoid the weekends when its busy, and pack lots of cold drinks! I would love to help you out in doing the same as well with yours so take your kids fishing today Bryan Cotter Texas Hawgs, Thank goodness for the much needed rain that we have been receiving! Ambush points are always good places to look, but sometimes they just relate to structure since its instinctual, not always to position themselves to feed.I approach these the same way I approach ledges as far as baits. When a thermocline is present fish will go as deep as the can without going below it. Largemouth bass are at their heaviest when they are full or eggs but have yet to lay them. Some clients opt to take a lunch break midday and stop at one of the many great restaurants on the lake. You might give one of these a try this month for some good results. I divulge everything I have been doing that week with my paid clients during my guide trips. Overall, the climate of the Lake Travis and Lake Austin area is temperate with mild winters and relatively low humidity. The Pedernales River forks off of the Colorado River at mile marker 37 and winds its way southwest. Until then, get out there on the water and keep fishing! Jul 1, 2009. The deeper you go the cooler the water is and the less it is prone to fluctuating with cool evenings or scorching afternoons. Texas rigged creature baits, football jigs, shakey heads and drop shots are all effective baits. Lets start off with our bottom baits. I have been using my electronics lately to graph for these fish, and have found schools as big as 40+ fish. Lake Travis is one of the most popular lakes in Texas for recreational activities, with numerous people flocking to the lake each year. Conversely, my stained water strategy is to target bass in 7 ft or less. If we have several more cold fronts it could push back the spawn. Points, bluff walls, and offshore structure such as rock piles or brush piles can be especially good. With that said everyday more and more fish are pulling up into their spawning areas to make nests and spawn. I fish this bait around docks and marinas to mimic the schools of bait fish that are also living around them. I offer what I call a coaching trip. Instead, I am looking for the first stretch of deep water out in front of the areas where the fish have been spawning. A little tip for your bass nerds like myself get yourself a crawfish trap from Academy. Zara spooks, buzz baits, and poppers just to name a few. That is a good sign as the post spawners are starting to come out and play. Everybody is saying this, but I rarely see anyone explain why the bass do this. https://www.torwicksguidingservice.com/honeyholes. https://www.torwicksguidingservice.com/honeyholes. February is broken up into two main patterns, winter fishing and pre-spawn fishing. Fish it with small twitches of the rod top and dont be too aggressive with the bait. The bass fishing on Lake Travis has been great, and will only continue to get better throughout April! A wacky rigged senko, a rage craw, or a jig are all good options for this type of fishing. Additionally the White Bass are moving up to spawn, and with the low lake levels I have found them spawning in unusual places. Bass are feeding heavily in pods and corralling their prey. This sonar returns images in real time and you can literally see the fish moving on the screen. Once they go back down you are kind of just blind casting. 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. They move from creek channel to flat, and back to creek channel, constantly. I have been catching bass off both fall and winter patterns. When this happens the fishing gets good! Currently lake temps are in the low 80s but are on the rise. I personally like starting with moving baits in order to cover more water, plus I find it more fun than fishing slow and easier for clients to tell when they are bit. It was a very subtle bite today but a lot of fun! https://www.torwicksguidingservice.com/honeyholes. Spawning Fish Everything during the spring revolves around the water temperature. If this report was helpful and you enjoyed it, the biggest thank you you can give me is to share this on social media! Lately I have been fishing certain areas of the lake following this pattern, targeting bass anywhere between 15-40 feet deep. Not all marinas are created equal, but certain ones are holding large schools of baitfish, which attracts predator fish such as largemouth bass and white bass. The premium is now placed on utilizing electronics to discover condensed groups of fish on select pieces of offshore cover. With that said, some largemouth bass will make a migration to the shoreline early in the morning and late in the evening right before sunset to feed. I like to keep the sinker only 4-6 inches from the hook, this way the bait isnt up above the fishs head. You can cover water quickly, you can trigger reaction baits by choosing a bait that will bump into the rocks on the bottom, and the come in tons of realistic colors. My video covers a lot of great info about selecting a crankbait during the winter, so lets skip to a jerkbait. For the shallow bite, Im pretty keen on the lightweight texas-rigged brush hog. The fishing is only going to continue to get better over the next couple months! On days when the fish dont want to commit to a moving bait bite, slowing down with finesse techniques can be very productive. Weather Forecast Saturday 4/29/2023 88F 51F SW 7 MPH 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 Hourly Wind Sunday 4/30/2023 82F 55F ESE 8 MPH 12 3 6 9 12 3 6 9 Hourly Wind Monday 5/1/2023 Consider purchasing one today! When its like this, backing off the shoreline and picking up a crankbait can produce really well. Lake Travis Marinas For now, focus on these patterns to put more fish in the boat! 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! Freezing temperatures over night can drop the surface of the lake several degrees, whereas a warm sunny day can do just the opposite. There is write up on there I did last year covering this its a long read, but well worth it! We will cover a wide variety of topics including tackle selection, rigging, what bait to throw and why, understanding seasonal patterns and how they affect bass behavior, how to read the conditions to develop a pattern, how to read your electronics more effectively, and much much more. We are catching them on a number of baits such as soft plastics, jigs and crank baits. During increased periods of activity they will move onto the point or flat. Bone or a shad color is all you need. 2. If you are planning on fishing visible cover, look for areas that receive direct sunlight. During the hottest months of the year the bass go deep to offshore points, humps, ledges, marinas and bluff walls. The bite has been good and will only continue to get better until about June. April fool's Day produced the catch of the week. 6,541 Readers. Lake Austin's current water temperature is 62F Todays forecast is, Clear With a high around 92F and the low around 51F. When the water is low I focus more on man-made structures such as docks, staircases into the lake, concrete walkways, etc. I like to use bright colored baits such as white and bubblegum. Central heat wave blamed for at least 4 deaths. With bed fishing you may spend 30+ minutes looking for a nest and trying to get the fish to bite. . 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. 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. Football Jig Schooling Fish Come December through February the fishing will slow down a bit as the fish get more lethargic. If you dont have a boat, or would like to learn more about Lake Travis consider booking a trip with me! There are four baits I recommend you have tied on at all times. Water temps today were up to 55 degrees in the afternoon. With the lake level so low, there is very little isolated cover in the lake such as brush or trees. Bass are instinctive creatures and will hit a fast moving bait not because they are hungry but because its in their DNA. Anything below 18C or 64F is considered to be cold water swimming. 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. Wind breaks up light penetration through the water and causes it to refract making it a little more difficult for the bass to get a good look at your bait. Also, I might focus on very main lake bluff type areas. 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. During the winter they fish slow down due to cold water, then fire back up as it warms in the Spring. New for this season I am running a 2022 Phoenix 921 elite with a Mercury 300 on the back! I mean isnt Lake Travis made up mostly of rock yes and no. As they leave their post spawn homes, the bass will begin moving deeper and relating to steeper bluffs. If you do not have a flexible schedule and have a particular date in mind that you would like to get out on the water, consider booking now, the further in advance the better! I know weve already passed up the first official day of fall, but keep in mind this is Central Texas. There is no central/single point of access. Some days you can even find some good ones on top waters. Lake Austin's water temperature & fishing - LakeMonster.com The fishing on Lake Travis has been decent as of late. Next time you are targeting pre-spawn fish look for these and target your casts along them. If they are higher up off the bottom, the deep crank can work well to get the school fired up. So it begs the questions, why do they do that? What is the Ideal Swimming Temperature? As the water gets colder expect the fishing to slow down a bit for the average angler. This process all has to do with water temperature. Next time you are out fishing Lake Travis give these three patterns a try! Topwater Baits: a chrome pop-r or bone colored spook are great topwater options that will allow you to cover a lot of 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. These are extremely detailed reports where I give you the info on what is working to catch fish right now! As a general rule, Strategy 1 should produce more frequent bites While Strategy 2 should draw a larger bite. I look for areas where bass can move to feed on bait that moves into these areas. Its the same underwater this is what I am referring to, so look for this type of bank! I have a couple dates still open in May so dont procrastinate! Each week I create a detailed fishing report for Lake Travis that offer 5+ pins in Google Earth that show you EXACTLY where I am fishing, what baits I am throwing, how to work the bait, what colors to use, how to position your boat, etc. An underspin is just a swimbait lead head that has a small willow blade attached to the bottom of it. When everyone else is throwing power fishing techniques like heavy flipping and cranking or spinner baits, the finesse presentations can be quite advantageous. Targeting spawning coves can be a very fun and productive way to fish. 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. Its hot out, but so is the bite on Lake Travis right now! This is when they move to the shallows to build a nest and lay their eggs. A watermelon red trick worm on a shakey head has been our ticket the last few weeks. Happy New Year everyone. On days with a little wind, cloud cover, and a falling barometer I like to throw baits that elicit a reaction strike, a jerkbait, an Alabama rig, or a small paddle tail swimbait on a ounce lead head work well. This current can be regulated by the dam and or resultant from the prevailing wind moving through. 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. You are looking for the bait to disappear in their mouth rather than feel for the bite. Please check out my most recent video on fishing Lake Travis in the winter. It is not uncommon to see two or three of these birds sitting statuesque at the waters edge waiting for a shad to swim close by where they can catch it. Lake Travis Fuel Docks Lake Travis in April : r/Austin - Reddit Winter is my slow season here at Torwicks Guiding Service, but one of the best times to get out on the lake with me! Warm water temps drive fish deep in search of more comfortable conditions. What this means is that your typical pre-spawn spots will reload quickly with different fish. In these areas I select a bait that will stay above it and avoid fouling up the hooks. You want to look for places where its convenient for the fish to move out of deep water and still be close to areas they would eventually build a nest in. They do this during the early hours of the mornings, so getting on the water early is your best bet for success. 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. These fishing reports are different from the free reports you get here! If interested in booking a guided fishing trip, please visit my website www.torwicksguidingservice.com. During the late summer some fish will move up shallower and will orient around isolated structure. Currently the bass are spawning on Lake Travis. These trips are geared around education and not running my honey holes. When bass are on a nest they become very territorial. This Year's Turnback (2016) Lake Travis is overfull and could rise (as of late April) so keep abreast of the lake levels, especially due to . 20-35 feet of water is where I have been finding the most fish. 11,847 Readers. I recommend upping your weight if need be in order to maintain that bottom contact. Stick to shad pattern baits until the water temps get down into the 70s, then start throwing some crawfish colors. In low light or more windy conditions, were seeking out chunk rock and other irregularities on the bank. Play around with the cadence, but I find a 2-3 second pause between twitches to be sufficient. Water temperature is one of the biggest factors in understanding how bass behave and where they go throughout the year. Host a fundraising event. (i.e. You need to be wearing polarized glasses in order to bed fish effectively. As of writing this at the beginning of January, water temps are still in the mid 60s! These three baits never leave the deck of my boat no matter the time of year, when fishing Lake Travis. Host a fundraising event like a boat party, boat parade, water sports tournament, charity fishing tournament, or water conservation auction, and donate the proceeds . The upper end of Lake Travis feels more like fishing a river. For some anglers this can make staying on the bottom a little tougher, this long pause helps over come this. Due to this then move out deep seeking cooler water. This technology is incredible. If you have ever considered booking a fishing trip with me, March is the month to do it! During April when the water warms to the right temperature the shad move up shallow on gravel banks and around docks to lay their eggs. Fish this bait over and around cover can trigger some exciting blow ups. Lastly, fishing offshore bottom contours such as secondary points, ledges, and creek channel drop offs are good places to look for fish. When it comes to pre-spawn bass there are a lot of lures you can throw, but I will limit it to my top three baits: a Medium diving crankbait, a jerkbait, and an Alabama Rig. Fishing Lake Austin - Texas Windblown areas can also be great as they congregate bait fish and other prey species. Sometimes you come across areas where there is a lot of it on the bottom, this is when I will switch to a shallow diving crank such as a squarebill in order to avoid it. I fish it kind of as a combination of how I fish the morning and mid day bite. Lake Travis is mostly rock and has a healthy population of crawfish in it. With that said, hot surface temps can cause a thermocline to develop in the lake. For the cost of a couple crankbaits I will show you the patterns and spots I am catching fish on with paid clients. The bass fishing on Lake Travis continues to be good! During the fall there are two main forages the bass prefer; crawfish and threadfin shad. Lately the weather has been all over the place with cold fronts and stretches of warm weather. Water clarity is typical Travis conditions, gin clear on the lower end of the lake and a bit more stained the further up the river you go. Throwing the moving baits is more fun in my opinion, but sometimes the fish get lethargic or the conditions just call for slowing down. Most of the bigger fish are hitting jigs, shaky heads and Carolina rigged plastics. Well, its to follow their food source! I have caught fish from 10 feet all the way down to 35 feet. There are still a few fish on beds and they should be done after this next full moon. I use these bright colors since they are easy for me to visually see on the bottom of the lake. The lake covers 18,929 acres. Keep your trolling motor on low and put on a pair of polarized sunglasses to aid in seeing the beds on the bottom of the lake. We stared seeing action pretty quick with most of our bites coming in the 20-30 foot depth. Keitech makes a ton of excellent colors, so stick with something that looks like a baitfish. Go with as light of a weight as you can and still feel the bottom. 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! A lot of the deep-water marinas on Lake Travis hold schools of baitfish, which attracts the bass. I recommend throwing this on braided line with a fluorocarbon leader. Right now you can get bit fishing around docks on bluff walls in 15-30 feet of water. However, on overcast days or very early in the morning something with some chartreuse in it has been very good. The lake is about to explode though with warmer weather on the way so its a great time to get out and on the fish. As the water temps rise throughout the day the fish tend to pull up shallower to feed. Town Lake, Travis FISHING Annual Weather Averages One fishing fast moving reaction baits and another fishing slow moving finesse baits. The lakes have provided a reliable water supply for Central Texas since Lake Travis was completed in the 1940s. Do you fish Lake Travis often but unsure where to fish? During late fall and into winter it is common to find schools of bass suspended out deep off of these kinds of spots. Their goal is to expend as little energy as possible, burn as few calories as they have to, yet still feed.
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