The bass fishing continues to be consistently good on Lake Travis right now! Clients ask me all the time my favorite time to fish, and my answer is always the same... spring and fall. Both of these seasons trigger bass into feeding for a variety of reasons. Water temperature is a huge factor in bass behavior, and these cooler temps in the mid to high 60's is optimal for them to feed. Essentially what they are doing is preparing for winter when their metabolisms will slow down and they will become less active. While the fish are behaving this way is a great time to get out on the water. If you are a new angler or are introducing someone to the sport of fishing now is the perfect time to fish! We have been averaging 20-30 fish each trip consistently. You can't catch fish just anywhere right now, but let me give you a few tips to help you find them. Once you understand seasonal patterns and the feeding behavior of largemouth bass, they can become more predictable and easier to find. With these cool water temps as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the bass in Lake Travis have made a push up to the shoreline. You can catch fish at a variety of depths, anywhere from a foot of water to 35 feet of water. To start with, let's discuss two predictable places I recommend you target these fish right now. 1. Bluff Walls Bluff walls on Lake Travis are good almost year around. There are times when they won't be here in large concentrations, but in general they just move up and down the water column to a depth they like. As of this past week we have had quite a few days with very little wind and not a ton of cloud cover. When you get bluebird days like this it creates high barometric pressure. This affect the fish's swim bladder. When fishing these conditions I find that the fish tend to move deeper. Target bluff walls near the entrance to large coves. If the weather is like I described earlier, focus your casts anywhere from 15-30 feet away from the shoreline. You will be working the 20-35 foot range by doing this. I recommend keeping your bow graph on and familiarize yourself with how far away from the shoreline 35 feet is. Some bluff walls are near vertical, others are more sloped into the lake. Keep this in mind when working your bait away from the bank. On cloudy overcast days I tend to make long casts and start up shallow. This is not to say all your bites will come shallow, but it is a good idea to start there since this time of year the bass will move shallow to feed if the conditions allow. A drop shot is an excellent bait to use when fishing bluff walls. A 1/4 or 3/8th ounce cylinder weight with a 1/0 drop shot hook is all you need. I favor the lighter weight when there is little wind, and on more gusty days I go with the heavier weight to help me feel the bottom better. A Zoom trick worm in green pumpkin or watermelon red has been a consistent producer. 2. Points Inside Coves Points in general are always good places to fish. A point is a natural ambush spot for a bass to sit and wait for prey to come to them. Largemouth bass are very opportunistic, so they prefer places where they can sit and wait for dinner to be served to them, not where they have to go out and chase it down. When you enter a large cove, try fishing the first or second point inside of it. Below I have annotated a screen shot of a cove on Lake Travis as an example. This is the cove just up river from Crosswater Yacht Club. Here you can see how there are several points as you go further back into the cove. As fall progresses and the water cools, you will start to find more and more fish further back into the coves. My last fishing report discusses this in detail and explains why the do that, so if you missed that report go read that one before continuing. What to Expect with this Cold Weather- Lake Travis Fall Fishing Report 10/27/2020 Since my last report we have had some very nice warm weather. This has warmed the water temps back up since that last cold front. Due to this I have not been finding fish all the way in the backs of coves, but there are plenty of fish closer to the main lake. These points as illustrated by the red arrows are close to creek channel bends, when fish move back in these creek channels, these points are the first places they will pull up on. Think of them as staging areas for the bass to hang out before deciding where they want to go next and feed. Points closer to the mouth of the cove will be better early in the fall. The points in the back of the cove will be better later in the fall. There are a variety of baits you can throw around these areas but a drop shot, a ned rig, or a football jig have been my baits of choice lately. As the weather cools the locations bass hangout will change, but you can expect this pattern to last several more weeks until the weather gets a lot colder. Fall is a great time to fish so book now!

The bass fishing on Lake Travis has started to pick up! These past couple of days have been the first "cool front" we have had in a long time. I saw temps in the morning as low as 71 degrees! Burrrr! With this recent rain you should expect to see water temps continue to drop slightly more. With the cooler temps at night and the rain we have been getting, water temps are down to 81 degrees on the main lake. As temps cool you will see a migration of more fish back up to the shoreline feeding up shallow. The last two days have been very good fishing with good sized fish and great numbers. I attribute this to the big drop in barometric pressure both days as well as the cooler weather. If you are getting our there this weekend I would recommend either fishing super shallow or really deep. I have found there are fish at a variety of depth right now. You have those more adventurous fish moving up to the bank looking for food. You also have more lethargic fish still hanging offshore. Right now you can take your pick whether you want to graph for them and set up on deep schools, or pick apart the shoreline. If you are wanting to fish shallow there are two rigs I recommend having tied on. A ned rig has been killing it! A lot of these bass are feeding on crawfish and this compact little bait is a perfect morsel for them. Green pumpkin is always a safe bet, but today I was dipping the tail of the worm in red dye and it was working very well. If you ever turn over some rocks and find a crawfish in Lake Travis, they are usually a light brown color with some red and orange in them. Keep this in mind when selecting baits. The second bait I would recommend is a small round ball finesse jig tied up in a craw color. This will be better when you get around those rocky snag prone shorelines. We are also getting to the time of year when they should start eating crankbaits well. Having a medium diving crankbait tied on when you get around rocky shallow shorelines is a good idea. As for the deep fish, there are still schools of bass out deeper off points and ledges. I have not found any really big schools in a while, however you will find plenty of small schools of 3-5 fish. A drop shot is always a fish getter on Travis, so that should definitely be tied on. The other rig you should try is a Carolina rig. A zoom speed craw or a 7" power worm are good options for plastics. If you book a trip with me these are some of the things we will be doing! If you are interested in leaning more about bass fishing le'ts set up a "coaching trip" and we will approach the day as if we were practicing for a tournament. Once you book shoot me a message and we will set up a time before your trip to discuss this in further over the phone.

It may be December but with our weird Texas weather these fish are still in a typical fall time pattern. For those lucky enough to fish on a day with a warming trend, finding fish up shallow along the bank is a pretty consistent pattern. Moving baits such as crankbaits have been producing very well... the two large fish pictured were caught this way. On cooler days or days with blue bird skies a deeper approach with a drop shot, jigs, Neko rigs etc have been the ticket. You can consistently catch good fish right now, but knowing where to look is key. They are not stacked up on any ol bank right now, so understanding the conditions and being out there often help a lot with knowing where to go to maximize your time on the water. I would love the opportunity to earn your business and give you a memorable fishing trip!

So I have been slacking big time... In the last month I have only NOT been on the water 4 days. The lack of reports isn't due to a lack of fishing... its due to a lack of time! Lately I have been fishing Lake Travis and Lake Decker the most. I have hit a few other lakes, but I've got more info for y'all about Travis. Lake Travis Fishing Report Lake Travis is pretty warm right now, I've seen surface temps during the day as high as 88 degrees... those warm water temps will push fish offshore and make them hangout in deep water spots as well as suspend in some areas. Here are my tips for you... Ledges: ledges are almost always good on Lake Travis, however in the summertime they can be especially good. This time of year I want to see fish on the graph before I make a cast when ledge fishing. Use your side scan and downscan and cruise down the ledge with your boat positioned right at the edge. Most of the time those fish will either be right on the top of the the ledge at the edge of it, or suspended right along side it. Pay attention to the depth of it, often times if you find fish at a certain depth, they will favor that depth in other parts of the lake. This all goes into my philosophy of finding a pattern and not fishing "spots". This can also help you decide on where to fish next after fishing that first spot... find other ledges that are similar in depth. I LOVE fishing with electronics, if you have a graph and want to learn how to use it better, book a trip! Another thing this time of year to pay attention to is wind and bait fish. Wind till play a big part in finding where fish are concentrated. Remember, 10% of the lake holds 90% of the fish. Locating those high percentage areas will increase your catch rates. During the summer you will find warm winds coming out of the south. But look at last week, we had that brief cold front come through and the wind direction changed. I pay attention to this and look for bluff walls and points with wind hitting them. With that said, main lake points near really deep water have also been productive. There are two main techniques here. First, position your boat near the bluff wall, but far enough away that your boat is sitting in 50-60 feet of water. Make long casts in front of your boat at about a 45 degree angle. You are trying to maximize the time your bait it fished along the terraces of those bluff walls. A drop shot is a great bait to cover water here. Be patient and let that bait sink... You will catch fish in 40 feet of water all the time. Travis is a deep lake, get used to it. There are plenty of other baits like a jig or a swimbait that will work, but in terms of numbers a drop shot will produce. The next way to fish these bluff walls is to keep your 2D sonar on as you work your way along side them with the drop shot. Periodically I will come across small schools of bass suspended off the deep edges. Typically it seems like they are between 3-10 fish, nothing huge. Keep a jigging spoon tied on. I like a very very small Cotton Cordell spoon in silver. Replace the hook with a slightly larger one in order to help catch those fish swiping at it, and add a swivel. These things will twist up your line bad. I actually prefer fishing it on a spinning rod when over open water that way I can get it down to depth quicker than having to hand line off a baitcaster. Topwater: If you get out on the lake right at first light you can still get on a topwater bite. The topwater bite has been poor this year in my opinion, but it's still there. I see guys posting on Instagam about this great topwater bite... I'm sorry but 2-4 fish in a morning is not a great bite. I want a dozen fish or more! I won't like, nothing beats that surface explosion though. Find those points within coves and throw a bone colored spook. Cover water... I will throw half a dozen casts across the point, then pick up a different bait. Those bigger fish will be the first to hit often times, so be ready! After hitting those points, I will pick apart isolate cover with a Berkley Bullet Pop... it has a good popping and walk the dog action unlike a Pop-R. Cast next to isolated cover and work that bait as close to the cover as you can. Rocks, underwater brush, the corners of docks, stair cases, anything like that is worth a cast and is more likely to hold a bass than just an open stretch of shoreline. Video Gaming: Right now the best bite has been video gaming fish. Bass suspend during the summer and will live around the thermocline. If you adjust your sensitivity up, turn up your colorline, and put your ping speed to max you can usually make out the depth the thermocline as at. I'll save you some time... 30-35' has been the hot spot on Travis. You will find fish above and below it, but this has been the best. Turn your bow graph on and select the bow transducer built into your trolling motor. Adjust your settings to see those fish below you. Marinas, points, break walls... places l

I have been so busy its not even funny! But I wanted to take a sec to at least throw one new Travis report up for yall. I fished Travis Saturday PM, Sunday AM, and Sunday PM with different half day trips. While skill level of the anglers fishing with me does make a big difference, the PM evening trips are by far the best bite lately. Saturday's trip was fantastic, we probably had 20 fish with one around 5.5 lbs. Seemed like everything we were catching were chunks! I bet our best 5 would have gone 15 LBS. Right now you can get on some schooling fish, but there is definitely a little luck involved. We happened upon a school of bass busting shad off a windy point that was SUPER busy... like boat wakes from all directions. If you know where to look you can find some schoolers, but again its not a consistent game plan. On the other hand, throwing drop shots and wacky rigs along wind blown bluff walls has been money. Those walls that get pounded by the wind and boat wakes are prime right now. With that said, all bluff walls on Travis are not created alike. Knowing what the bottom is like beneath the waterline is very helpful in finding the ones holding fish. If you would like to learn a little more about what I look for and how I fish them give me a shout. Also, if you are reading this and want to catch some Striper, send me a message. I'm not joking at all, book a trip asap. I have not started advertising this since I simply have been too busy guiding for bass, but I am on an AMAZING Striper bite. I am refraining from posting any photos in an effort to avoid any competition on the lake. Last year I had several boats follow me to where I fish and park right on top of me... don't want that again. If you are looking for one of the top fishing guides in Austin and one of the best on Lake Travis give me a shout! The fishing has been good and there is some much I can teach you!

Lake Travis is showing off again! The lake is currently making that transition from the spring shad pattern to the summer pattern where bass move out deeper. Early in the mornings we have been chasing schooling fish that are busting on shad around marinas. This only lasts for the early hours of the day, after that it has been more productive to fish deep. Ledges, points, and underwater humps are the best spots. Mike and his some came out with me and caught a bunch of fish! But the highlight of this trip was this 5.15 pounder Mike caught on a custom football jig I pour. Lake Decker is also fishing well right now, the topwater frog bit early in the morning is especially good this time of year.