While I'm better known for my guide trips on lakes like Lake Travis, LBJ and Decker, sometimes I venture out to Lady Bird Lake. Truthfully, it's not my favorite lake to fish, there's a reason I have a 300 horsepower outboard on the back of my boat... I like to go fast! As you may know Ladybird Lake is electric motor only. Once you get your boat off the trailer you are supposed to only use your trolling motor. With the lithium batteries I have in my boat it gives me more than enough juice to get around the lake all day, it's just slow going.
Despite its inability to quench my need for speed, it does have good fishing. I also have to admit, it's really cool fishing in the heart of downtown Austin. Something about the backdrop of big sky scrapers, tourists watching you fish from the bridge, homeless people yelling obscenities from the bank, joggers running the lakeside trail... it's a special place. In addition to the urban backdrop it has good bass fishing. Keep in mind, the lake record Largemouth bass on Lady Bird Lake is 13.5 LBS... that's a heck of a fish!
If you are looking for a fishing guide in Austin, especially near downtown Austin shoot me a message and let's discuss it! (Parking my F250 with a boat trailer attached near downtown Austin isn't the easiest task. haha If there is a big event going on like Austin City Limits or SXSW I can't offer a trip on Ladybird that day... I simply can't find parking. Any other time shoot me a message for more info on rates for that lake and availability.)
If you are headed out there soon let me share a little info about the dirty bird with you. During my last trip out there water temps were around 73 degrees. We've been having some pretty chilly evening temps so I expect that to keep dropping. Water clarity varies greatly, up around Barton Springs and further up lake there are some places with healthy grass and clear water. As you get further down lake, especially around the I-35 boat ramp, the water is gross. Don't get me wrong, I like the lake and it's cool to fish in, but there is a ton of trash in the water and the water has very low visibility. You get all that run off from downtown, what do you expect?
When fishing I recommend look for a little better water clarity before fishing. Right now there is a significant amount grass in the lake. If you've been wondering "what kind of grass is in Lady Bird Lake?" it's called Cabomba better known as Fanwort. I currently don't know of any other lakes in the area with it, which I find odd. If you know any info on how it got into the lake, please share it with me, I love learning about that stuff.
One benefit to that grass it it provides good habit to the fish and good fishing spots to target. If you have a fish finder, use it to locate grass (which will not be hard to do, it's everywhere) and locate the depth its growing up to. You want to select baits that will get down just to the top of the grass.
I especially recommend finding spots where the river channel drops off deep enough that the grass stops growing, fish these edges. Small paddletail swimbaits, crankbaits, and jerkbaits are all good options. Natural shad patterns will work well when fishing around cleaner water. When fishing around more dirty water try patterns with some chartreuse in them. During my last guided trip out there, I found quite a few fish sitting just off these grass edges. My clients that day were two young boys, so we stuck to some easier to fish baits. But if you're out there with livescope, I don't doubt you could do well trying to video game these fish.
Another solid pattern that produced quite a few bites for us was dropshotting the bridge pilings. I found the grass closest to the middle of the river channel was producing well for us. I also tend to find that when the LCRA is releasing water up river out of Lake Travis, the tiny amount of current it can create causes the bass to position more around the pilings to use it as cover to position themselves to feed. A weedless dropshot with a Zoom trick worm was a fish catcher for sure, we caught quite a few on it. One thing to note was a slow retrieve with LONG pauses was key. We hooked quite a few fish just dead sticking the bait in the grass for several seconds before moving it. Another bait that can be good when the bite requires you to slow down its a light neko rig. I recommend rigging this with a small nail weight in the head of the bait, and a weedless neko hook. Small twitches and pops with your rod tip, followed by long pauses on slack line will get you bit. Colors like green pumpkin, or green pumpkin red have been good color options as far as soft plastics.
Whether you have a boat with a trolling motor, a paddleboard, or a kayak. The Bird can be a great urban fishing option! Get out there and reel in some fish!
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