Today was an awesome trip on Lake Travis! I had two clients, Camille and Ryan who were in Austin on vacation. Ryan was excited to get out and do some Texas bass fishing since its finally spring time!
Lake Travis has been getting better and better, we had that little cold front the other day, but yesterdays warm temps in the 80's really spiked the bite today. Water temps got into the upper 60's by around 2pm.
We started off the trip throwing flukes with a very small belly weight. I like to throw the small weight with the flukes to help clients cast it further. With the warmer temps and active fish you can actually get away with working the fluke pretty fast. I also find the small weight helps get the bait down a little deeper when fishing it fast.
Camille caught the first fish right off the bat! We kept with this pattern for a little while and had a few more bites that got off. We stopped at one deep spot just to check things out. We ended up catching a few but it was a little slow and I really felt the better fishing would be up shallow. I stopped into a couple coves around the Cypress Creek area and stumbled upon a few more bed fish!
That warm weather yesterday seemed to push more fish up and make the magic happen! The usual baits worked today... bubblegum trick worms and white Senkos worked well. Rigging those trick worms on a drop shot really helps keep the bait in one spot while being able to twitch the bait and get the fish's attention. I have noticed that some fish really react better to a bait that you work violently... constant shaking and even bumping the fish with it work well. You can gauge how fast you should work the bait based off how glued to the bed the fish is. If the fish is spooky and keeps swimming away when you drop in the bait be a little more subtle. When the fish is stuck to the bed and won't leave you can get away with being more aggressive.
We ended up catching some really good fish, but there was one big one that eluded us! We found a big fish who was very territorial of a certain bush. We tried to catch her for a long time but ultimately decided to move on and find other fish. My client today had a job interview he had to get to, so we stayed out as long as we could but eventually I had to drop them off at the dock.
I headed back out after dropping them off to see if I could catch her. It took a million casts, but I was persistent and finally got her to bite! I had to switch to a natural colored senko, but a weightless wacky rigged senko did the trick.
Check out the video of the catch!
If you are looking for an Austin fishing guide, look no further! Lake Travis, Lake Decker and Lake LBJ are all fishing well with good numbers and size. The fish are about done spawning, but you will find stragglers on beds for another week or two. If you would like to learn how to sight fish (and trust me, there is soooooo much more to it than just casting in a bait on the bed) give me a call and book a trip!
Tight Lines!