With it being summertime water temperatures on Lake Travis are high right now. I have been seeing temps anywhere between 84 degrees in the morning to 88 degrees in the middle of the day. With water temps this warm if forces the fish offshore or to suspend. You can spend a lot of time graphing, fishing dead water, and covering the lake, but once you find the fish they tend to be stacked up.
Ledges
Fishing ledges is always a productive pattern on Travis when the fish move deep. Largemouth bass love these drastic bottom contours as it provides a great ambush spot for them to sit and wait for food. You can take advantage of this opportunistic behavior by staying way away from the ledge and making long casts on top of the ledge. Fish your bait slowly and work it all the way to the drop off. Pay attention to your fishing line in order to tell when you have come over the drop off. At this point I like to feed the bait more line in order to help it fall vertically down the ledge. Often times you will get bit right at the top of the ledge or at the base of it.
A Texas rigged soft plastic or a Carolina rig can be excellent baits to throw when fishing this way. If I see the bass are suspended when I graph over them, I like to tie on a deep diving crankbait.
Marinas
Marinas can be an excellent place to find fish this time of year. Lately some of the biggest fish we have caught have been out of marinas. There are a couple ways to approach this pattern.
Early in the mornings I like to start out throwing a topwater spook. Certain marinas on the lake will hold schooling fish that you can visibly see hitting the surface. Look for this fish that are chasing shad and throw your bait right into the middle of them. You usually have to be quick, since once they have eaten the shad they will swim back down deep.
Another thing I like to do is run my bow graph and keep my eyes peeled for fish on the screen that are deep under the boat. When you find these schools of fish, try dropping down a jigging spoon and snapping it up and down in front of their face! Sometimes you get lucky and catch a Striper this way. For me 3/8 or 1/2 ounce in silver is the best size spoon.
For this technique it's important to have a good quality fish finder with a bow mounted transducer.
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Points
Points can still be very productive in the summer. What I find though is that not all points are created equal. Wind direction and if there is bait around will be the biggest factor in bass being present. I will often graph the point with several passes of the sonar and if I don't see anything I will move on.
Persistence pays off though! Keep graphing and when you find a point with a school of bass on it, it is typically game on!
If you are visiting Austin or are a local looking to explore the lake right in your backyard, consider giving me a call! I would love to be the fishing guide to put you on the fish!
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