It’s starting to feel like fall! Sort of…. We finally had a few small cooling fronts move through the Central Texas region in early October. This allowed the water temperatures to drop into the low 80, which triggered the shad migration in parts of Lake Travis. Over the past several weeks, we’ve continued to catch a good number of bass at the entrance to major creeks and some offshore structures. However, in recent days we had some very nice cooler weather move in briefly where the daily high was in the 70s and 80s! Combined with a low-pressure system and some good wind, the bait along with the bass moved about half way up the major creek arms of Cypress Creek and Sandy Creek on Lake Travis. The key to a successful trip was targeting shallow points where you could see brush sticking out of the water or shad being chased by bass. I used a variety of baits depending on the wind and depth I was fishing. On these days, 5 or 6 feet was going to be deep fishing. Most of the bass fell for a ¼ oz sexy shad spinnerbait, a ¼ oz Texas-rigged tube in bluegill, or a 1/8 oz belly-weighted white fluke. All three baits could be worked from a few inches to a few feet of depth without getting hung up on the brush or rocks. You can’t be too shallow this time of year. At times, I had the boat sitting in 3 feet of water and was casting a spinnerbait or fluke right at the bank into inches or water. When I came to a ditch, I would switch to a ¼ oz shaky head with a speed craw to go after the bass hanging out a little deeper. This made for some great, fast-action fishing for about two days until the region was once again consumed by another high-pressure system and rising temperatures. Don’t overlook main lake pockets this time of year. Not all bass are going to migrate to the major creeks. A large portion of bass on Central Texas lakes are resident bass. They will live out their lives in a very small area of the lake. The biggest bass of the week was a 3.85# caught on a very shallow, wind blown rock pile next to a catwalk after dark! I threw the ned rig a little too far and it got hung on the rocks. When I popped the lure free from the rocks the rod immediately loaded up with a bass. After several spectacular jumps I was able to get it into the net. I’ve caught some big bass on net rigs up to 6 pounds. Be sure to use the heavy wire rigs if you’re going after bigger bass. A three pounder can straighten the hook on the light wire ned rig hooks. We are expecting another cool front this weekend. Keep an eye on your electronics and look for the bait balls. They will continue to move further and further up the major creeks. As the waters continue to cool, keep that bait moving! You’ll find your trips will be successful! Tight Lines.

For the past month, I’ve been rotating my clients through several offshore spots where the bass have been feeding and hanging out since mid-summer. We are still throwing two or three of my “go-to” baits on Lake Travis: dropshot with a robo-worm, ¼ oz. shaky head with a zoom speed craw, and ¾ oz. structure jig with a big bug bait! I’ve had to double up the weights on the dropshot to get the bait down in the 30+ foot range to trigger good bites. The extra weight helps to make longer casts and the bait sinks like a rock. The quality bass have mostly been on the very edge and sometimes suspended just below the edge of major offshore, ledges, ridges and walls. In order to trigger more aggressive strikes, drag the bait until you feel it fall off the ledge, then quickly let out more line so the bait continues to fall through the suspended bass! Texas anglers look forward to the first cooling fronts as the days of summer begin to shorten. These fronts along with the longer, coolers nights, start to drop the waters from the high 80s down to the low to mid 80s. A change in water temp as little as 5 degrees can trigger the bait to start moving towards the mouth of the creeks and away from the offshore structures. This past week, I started to explore some of the channel swings that lead to the major creeks around the lake. Mostly using the dropshot and shaky head, I had my clients throw as close to the bank as possible. The bait is starting to really stack up in the first few feet of the water column. Within a 50 yard stretch we probably boated 10 bass, with most being keepers! Some of the bigger bass were throwing up tiny shad, which is a good sign for the fall feeding frenzy. Small swimbaits, squarebills and spinnerbaits should start catching good numbers of bass in the next few weeks. Today’s trip began with some welcome cooler weather, along with some rain. We were delayed for about 30 minutes, but I knew exactly where I wanted to start: the first major channel swing just off the main lake. There was a high school tournament going on, so we had to start in the middle of the area, instead of on the point that I preferred. As usual, I started with a demo cast to show my clients the mechanics of using a spinning rod and a dropshot rig. The rod quickly loaded up! It was a 2.85# largemouth bass which I had to lip because the net was still stowed, and I didn’t want to boat flip it with such a small hook. We proceeded to catch some nice largemouth and several fat Guadalupe bass in that very small area throwing both dropshots and ned rigs. The main channel swing going into Sandy Creek was our next spot, which was nearly identical to the first. The position to the wind was identical, but the water is about half as deep. We proceeded to boat a few short bass, another largemouth keeper, and many more Guadalupe bass. The difference from last week to this week was clear. The bait and bass are starting to slowly migrate through the creek channels on the way to their fall feeding grounds. You can still find quality bass offshore, but be sure to spend some time fishing from the offshore hangouts to the secondary points in the major creek arms. Knowledge of fishing patterns, as well as what’s under the water, are key to catching bass this time of the year. Let Captain Randal with Central Texas Fishing Guide help guide you to success in fishing! Tight Lines.

As the heat of summer takes hold here in Central Texas, the water temperature has stabilized near the upper 80s on Lake Travis. In the past few weeks, the largemouth bass have settled down and can be found in their deep-water summertime hangouts. This time of year, it really pays off to have good quality electronics like Garmin PanOptix on the boat, as well as an understanding of seasonal fishing patterns. Bass tend to be more lethargic in the hot summer waters and won’t necessarily go chasing down their food. We have caught some schooling bass recently, but the more predictable bite has been on deeper offshore structures. This week I’ve had the opportunity to guide for a nice variety of clients who have a wide range of skill levels: from seasoned saltwater anglers to youth anglers to everything in between. I rarely have the chance to get my line wet while I’m guiding so it’s a treat for me when the anglers have some skills. In between netting my clients’ catches I can try a few different baits, which is then more knowledge I can share with my clients. Our first stop on Friday was a place I checkout out the night before the trip, and it was loaded with bass. An underwater point in the 25 to 35 feet deep range was holding large numbers of bait and bass, but these bass were slow and not in the feeding mood so a slow presentation along the bottom was critical. I had my clients slow down their retrieve by doing very long and slow sweeps with the rod, then slowly reeling up the slack. They were a bit too quick on the hook set so I had them wait until the rod loaded up, and that did the trick! In the four-hour evening trip, they were about to boat almost 20 bass of up to 3 pounds using a variety of baits. However, the go-to baits were bottom baits that were retrieved very slowly so dragging a Texas-rigged trick worm, shaky head with an imitation craw, or a drop shot were the big producers. Saturday morning’s trip was a close repeat of the previous two days. I had a few youths on board, so I was mostly helping them cast, netting their catches, and giving them a few instructions followed by supporting congratulations as they set the hook! We stuck with drop shot rigs, since I believe they are the easiest for younger anglers to set the hook. They did lose a few fish, but everyone managed multiple catches of both largemouth and Guadalupe bass. Towards the end of the trip we tried a point that was 20 feet on top and had a sheer drop down to 60 feet on the windy side. I could see the bass stacked up on top with my Garmin PanOptix. I positioned the boat in about 60 feet while both boys made casts across the top of the point. That’s when I saw one of the rods bend so hard the tip went into the water. I don’t think he every had a chance to set the hook, but it looked big. We were excited when the youngster threw back in the same spot and hooked up a 3.8# largemouth bass. It was probably the same bass that came back for a second attempt! There are many factors that can make fishing during the dog days of summer a success. Knowledge of fishing patterns, as well as what’s under the water, are key to catching bass when the water temp is in the upper-80s. Let Captain Randal with Central Texas Fishing Guide help guide you to success in fishing! Tight Lines.

July is that time of the year in Central Texas where the water temperature on Lake Travis reaches 80 degrees and usually stays there until September. The post-spawn schooling activity tends to concentrate in a few areas of the lake as the bass push deeper in a migration towards cooler water. For the past week, I’ve been lucky enough to find a few of these concentrations of suspended bass with the help of my electronics like the Garmin Livescope, and I’ve put my clients on some nice largemouth bass “keepers”. Deep water marinas on the main lake are the first places I look when trying to find the deep water suspended bass. I’ve covered about 25 miles of Lake Travis on multiple trips the past week, and the bass are all suspended about 30 feet deep over 60 to 100 feet of water on a few of the key main lake marinas. Depending on the time of day, the schools of bass can surface every few minutes to feed, or only once every 20 minutes. The key to catching is to get the bait down to the schools between the feeding frenzies or entice them to the surface. My top two “go-to” baits that are easy for some of my more novice clients are the weighted fluke and a topwater spook. Cast the bait out where the school appears on the Garmin Livescope and work it back to the boat! I usually let the fluke sink for about 15 seconds before ripping it back to the boat. With the spook, I make pretty aggressive jerks to create some serious commotion on the surface. I believe this really gets the attention of the bass when they are down 30 feet or more. Lake Travis is a super clear lake and these bass can see the surface from 60 feet deep! When the lake boat traffic makes it tough to fish the main lake marinas, it’s time to move to some easier fishing areas. Using a drop shot or ned rig behind the marinas consistently produces good numbers. On an evening trip this past Friday the weekend boat traffic was in full swing. It was impossible to fish any of the schooling areas on the deep-water main lake marinas. We spent most of the trip fishing two productive marinas that were 20 to 30 feet deep on the shallow side and protected from all the wake of the weekend boaters. The first marina produced multiple keepers and about twice as many shorter bass. We ended the trip behind one of the largest marinas on the lake and found one pocket that held a few more keepers. These fish were feeding on the crawfish that are native to most Central Texas lakes. Craws and worms seem to work the best when targeting these bass. There are many factors that can make fishing during the dog days of summer a success. Knowledge of fishing patterns, as well as what’s under the water, are key to catching bass when the water temp is near the mid-80s. Let Captain Randal with Central Texas Fishing Guide help guide you to success in fishing! Tight Lines.