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.

Today was another fun trip with Brent and his father Robert out on Lake Travis. This father son duo loves to fish, but don't get out there very often these days. We set out from Cypress Creek Park and ran up towards Sandy Creek to start the trip. There is an area in Sandy Creek that I have been finding schooling fish lately. Robert had a little trouble with casting, so the goal was to give him a cork with some live bait under it and let it drift. I got to the ramp an hour early before my trip to play around with my cast net... turns out I remember how to throw it haha within about 20 throws of the net I had more than enough juvenile Bluegill for the trip. For the rest of the day we bounced around the lake going as far up as the Gnarly Gar. The fishing was very consistent all day long. There really wasn't one magic spot, just a steady pick of fish throughout the day. Typically after lunch time you get that mid day lull, not today. Even after noon the fish kept biting... they certainly weren't eating the paint off the boat, but we finished the day with over 25 fish. The key was good casts though, once the sun peaked out those fish liked the shady side of docks. If you can place a cast close to the dock then you are good! Be patient with your casts since you're drastically more likely to get bit up tight to the docks. Rain was in the forecast for us, but the weather man got it wrong. It ended up being a nice day out. Mostly cloudy which kept us cool! Around 3:30pm we finally got rained on, so we headed to the barn. If you are looking for a fishing guide in Austin I would love to get you out on the water. The bite this year has been very consistent, so let's get out there before the deep summer pattern sets in.