To say it’s been a hot summer here is Central Texas would be a huge understatement of the relentless heat we are experiencing. The first 100-degree days starting in May this year and continued through June and July. I been running mostly early morning trips for the past month so we can get to the first marina by 6:15 am when the sun is just starting to come up and the bass are starting their morning feeding frenzy. We are usually off the water by 10 or 10:30 when the temperature is just getting into the mid-90s. Even with the water temperature pushing 90 degrees on Lake Travis and in the mid-90s on Lake LBJ, I’ve been able to have a very consistent bite for my clients and catching 15 bass on average in a four-hour trip. With the low lake levels (33 feet low at the time of this report) the shoreline has exposed new layers of limestone to the wave action. This is given the lake a very nice lime green stain and reduced the visibility from 15 feet down to about 3 feet from the dam to Lago Vista. (25 miles). This is helped the bite tremendously in the past few weeks. A dropshot worm and a shaky head craw continue to put up to five Guadalupe bass in the boat each trip. There are about three 100 yard stretches around the lake where I’m able to rotate through throughout the week and catch several Guadalupe bass and an occasional largemouth bass. These areas are all deep bluff walls on the main lake where the boat is sitting in 50 to 70 feet of water, and we are throwing the bait right at the bank. The strike usually happens in just a few sweeps of the rod as the bait falls down the various ledges on the bluff wall. This bite is supper soft, and even experiences anglers can miss the bite. When I doubt, set the hook!! Fishing the bluff walls is not something I focus on during the trips. It’s more of a spot along the way from marina to marina. The first spot and last spot of each trip have been one of three marinas that hold several hundred bass. Yes. Hundreds. During a few brief periods throughout the day, you can see 40 to 50 bass breaking the surface in a feeding frenzy. This is the time you want to have your bait in the water and not looking at the bass in amazement! This happened a few weeks ago when I was reeling a solid bass on a whopper plopper. My clients were from up north and have never seen such a site. The stood there holding their rods which has the little swimbait dangling just inches away from the tip of the rod. “This would be a great time to make a cast!”, I said. I ended up boat flipping my bass just in time to grab the net to haul in their catches. It’s always nice to triple up!! The whopper plopper is such a simple bait for beginners. I’ve had youths as young as 9 years old catch some pretty good bass the past month on it. That bait tends to call the fish up from the depth where they are suspended around the marinas when they are not feeding. At time, it can even get a lethargic school fired up into a brief feeding frenzy. This is the time of year you always want to have your favorite topwater bait on deck and ready to cast. The marina bite should continue through summer and into early fall. Once we start getting some really cold night and there is fog on the lake in the morning, I’ll start looking for bait transitioning to the major creeks. When this happens, the bass aren’t far behind. 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 pushing 90 degrees. Let Captain Randal with Central Texas Fishing Guide help guide you to success in fishing!

Winter is typically a very predictable time of year for fishing a specific pattern to catch deep, lethargic bass in Central Texas. You can usually find some deep offshore structures and throw a drop shot, structure jig, or Carolina rig to entice the lethargic bass to strike. However, this late fall / early winter has been a little different with the record-breaking heat wave covering the Central Texas region. Instead of the water temperatures dipping into the 50s, they have been steady at 65 degrees from the surface down to 50 feet. For the past month we’ve focused our attention much shallowed in the 5 to 12 foot range and catching good numbers of bass by fishing the grassy coves around the Pace Bend area of Lake Travis. Since the last big flood in October 2018, the grass has slowly been growing in the sand that was washed down from the lakes above Lake Travis. This factor, along with a consistent lake level, has allowed the aquatic grass to take hold and flourish. Grass is an absolute bass magnet when it’s not the main cover on the lake. The grass seems to pull the bait fish away from the closer docks where they would normally hang out. Where the bait fish goes, the bass tend to follow. We’ve been seeing huge pods of bait fish shallow in the top two feet of the water column near the grass. This isn’t typical in the winter when the water has been historically much colder. The two baits that have been catching 20 bass in a half day around the grass are the soft jerkbait and a whacky stick bait. If there are clouds and a little wind, ripping a soft jerkbait over the grass has been eliciting very good strikes from the active bass that are chasing down the bait fish. Following up in the same area with a finesse bait such as a whacky rigged stick bait tends to catch some of the bigger bass. The weather has produced many high-pressure systems sitting over the regions since September, making it the hottest September on record. These systems have continued through December, which also makes it the hottest December on record. Most of the days on the lake have been high-pressure days with very little wind and absolutely no clouds. If you can’t fish the grass in the first few hours of the morning or the last hours of daylight, it’s been extremely difficult to pull any bass out of the grass during the day. Once the sun gets high enough in the sky to cast good shadows around the docks and bluffs, we’ve switched over to the drop shot and shaky heads to load the boat with bass. Lake Travis has really become a finesse fishing lake for numbers with such clear water. A drop shot rig is probably the most frequently thrown rig on the lake because it reliably catches lots of fish. Many of my clients have caught lots of five, six, and seven pounders on the drop shot rig in 2021. Lately, I’ve been working some of my old favorites back into the line-up, like a weighted whacky rigged stickbait and a Texas rigged baby brush hog. Getting these baits down to the depths of 25 feet has been successfully catching the bigger bass. So even with the warmer weather the days are getting shorter, which may be driving the bigger bass into deeper waters out of habit. So if you’re hitting the lake this winter and the bite is getting tough, a simple change in depth can make a huge difference. Start on the main lake points or the bluff walls with a jig or drop shot and move further into deeper water until you find them. With good electronics you can quickly find where the bass are orientated in the water column. No need to fish the entire point if you’ve located bass suspended off a ledge in 30 feet of water. I hope you find this information helpful as we enter the winter months! Just remember, the bass will move deeper in the winter but may come up to feed if the bait moves shallow. Follow @fishingwiththefriz on Instagram and let us know if these tips help you have a successful trip on the water!

Bass fishing in Central Texas during the fall can be challenging when the bass aren’t exactly where you expect them to be this time of year. Ask any angler; fall fishing is working fast baits in the backs of coves where the bass are chasing shad and you’ll load the boat! Well, that may have been true in past years when September cold fronts signaled the beginning of fall, and the water temp drops to the lower 70s and stays there. However, 2020 has been the hottest year on record, and the water temperatures on Lake Travis are still pushing 80 degrees in mid-October! During my morning trips, we have been throwing a wide range of moving baits such as spinnerbaits, poppers and spooks with limited success. We’ve been focusing on the smaller coves that are located very close to deep water, right off the main lake. After catching a few smaller bass where the bass should be feeding, we can quickly troll to the point or main lake walls to catch the bigger bass that are still hanging out close to deeper water by throwing one of my top three baits: drop shot, ned rig, shaky head. This is been a consistent pattern since late summer. The key has been to fish very slowly and to not overwork the bait. You really want to feel the bait pulling through the brush and bouncing off the rocks. For my afternoon trips, we are pretty much fishing deep water main-lake docks. The boat traffic has died down significantly since Labor Day, and we can easily get behind these docks to fish without having to battle the wake of dozens of other boats. If the sun is up, the bass are under the docks and walkways behind the docks. We’re able to pull two or three bass off each dock and move to the next one, doing this without ever making contact with privately-owned docks. For our best run a few weeks ago, we pulled twelve bass off a series of six docks with several bass pushing four pounds! So why are the bass still hanging out close to their summertime locations, and not feeding in the backs of the coves? Bait and water temperatures are the two key factors that drive bass behavior. The bait is still suspended off the bluff walls and marinas in 40 to 60 feet of water. I’ve seen very little bait in the backs of coves on days that I scout around for new water to fish. However, you can pull up to any deep bluff wall on Lake Travis and see thousands of glass minnows and bluegill hiding in the shadows. Until the water temp drops below 75 again, the bait isn’t going to commit to move back into the coves. Once they do, the bass will surely follow. This time of year, it’s good that have a good lineup on deck. I’ll have several reaction baits ready to go: a spook, a medium diving crankbait 5 to 8 foot, and a spinnerbait. These are the baits I’m starting with around the bluff walls, points, and the brush that leads into the coves. I’ll work one side with reaction baits then switch over to finesse baits on the way out. My top three go-to finesse baits are: the drop shot, ned rig, and shaky head. We may catch one or two bass on the way in, but we’re catching 5 to 10 bass on the points and bluff wall just outside the cove. At some point, the patterns will switch, and you’ll be able to figure out pretty quickly what the bass want to eat with the approach. Follow @fishingwiththefriz on Instagram and let us know if these tips help you have a successful trip on the water!

It’s going to be another hot summer here in Central Texas! We’ve already had several days where the temperature nearly reached the 100-degree mark, and the water temperature has been hovering around 80 degrees. Summertime fishing is here folks!! With the annual shad spawn nearing its end, the morning bite has substantially died off as the bigger bass remain offshore overnight. For the past few weeks the late afternoon and early evening bite have been very predictable on Lake Travis. The hot days and high boat traffic have pushed the bass deeper than they have been earlier in the month of May. My clients have been catching bigger bass in the 4 to 7-pound range by slowly dragging their baits off steep bluff walls to the depth of 30 to 40 feet. The steeper bluffs next to the spawning areas seem to be the key in finding the bigger fish! Some of the bigger fish have been very skinny and are clearly in recovery mode after the recent spawn cycle. However, the Guadalupe bass population is very healthy with several 14 inchers caught in the past two weeks. A good portion of my trips are with beginners, and I’ve had quite a few clients this past month with 7 and 8-year-old youth anglers. The key to success for these new anglers has been working with them to make sure they let out plenty of line and let the bait sit long enough to reach the necessary depth or strike zone. The light gear and light line take time to reach the target depth 25 to 30 feet. With the super clear waters of Lake Travis, you really want to give that bass time to inspect the bait. Dead-sticking a ned rig has been deadly this past week for the young ones. When I see the bright yellow braid start running for deeper water it’s time for them to set the hook! Usually my go-to baits have been a Texas rigged baby brush hog with a ¼ oz worm weight or a speed craw on a ¼ oz shaky head this time of year, but the baits with exposed hooks like the drop shot and ned rig have a better hookup rate with the beginners. Surprisingly, the ned rid has been out fishing the drop shot this week!! For a good fish or two around the shallow side of the marinas, the ned rig and neko rigs have been consistently putting keepers in the boat. For targeting the deeper bass, I’ve added extra weights to get the drop shot down to the right depths. With the weekend boat traffic already in full summer swing, some areas to target during the day include main lake marinas, bluff wall just inside coves like Devil’s Cove, Rough Hollow, and Little Rough Hollow. These are areas you can load the boat with bass without battling the wind or boat traffic. Early in the morning and later in the day, I’ve been targeting the main lake bluffs in the basin around Oasis and Hippie Hollow as well as main lake points around Starnes Island. I hope you find this information helpful as we enter the dog days of summer! Just remember, the bass will move up and down the areas throughout summer. You can find them in the same areas day after day for the next several months. Big fish for the month goes to Omar T. with a beautiful 6.74 pounder caught on a drop shot in 25 feet of water!

While many anglers are scouting the pockets and coves for bass beds, they often overlook some interesting bass behavior that is happening around the bed area. Even though the beds may be empty, and the bass have spawned in certain areas, the bass are still protecting the fry and are very aggressive towards their #1 predator and forage: bluegill! Bluegill love to feed on the bass eggs and newly hatched fry. You can see largemouth bass hiding around the spawning area and ambushing the bluegill as the come in to pray on the baby bass fry. It’s amazing to see just how fast these fish can move and how shallow they will run. With the super clear water on Lake Travis, you really must make long casts into these areas, so you don’t spook the fish. In the same areas where I’ve been plowing through the brush with my boat to flip the beds, I’m staying in deeper water and making long casts to the very back of the brush lines. My go-to bait for the past few weeks has been the much-underrated tube! This is something I can throw on a bed if needed or I can cast to the clear shoreline waters and work it slowly back to the boat. I’ll drag the tube it along the bottom and hop it over the laydowns and brush that lies between the shoreline and the boat. 9 times out of 10 the tube gets smashed within a few feet of the shoreline!! Don’t be afraid to make long casts over 50 feet of brush. I use 20-pound braid with a short 15-pound fluorocarbon leader and haven’t lost a fish yet. The brush on Lake Travis grew around 2011 to 2015 when the lake was in a drought. Collectively, they make for excellent shelter for baitfish and bass alike. However, they are very brittle and break apart easily when reeling in bass that just smashed the bait. After you set the hook, keep you rod tip high and get the bass in a quickly as possible. If the bass does manage to pull you down into the deeper brush just troll over to brush and the bass will usually come up along with the brush! I had a bass wrap my dropshot with a 12-pound fluorocarbon leader wrap me completely around some brush in 20 feet of water. I was able to push the brush up out of the lake bottom once I was directly over it. The bass was still on the other end too! The top water bite is just around the corner, so check back soon for another fishing report focusing on how we are catching them on topwater and why we are fishing certain areas!

Spring Break is in full swing here in Central Texas, and that usually means bass are spawning in the area lakes. Bed fishing is a fun way to catch bass, especially on ultra-clear lakes like Lake Travis, Canyon Lake and Lake Belton. When bass are locked in on to the bed they are very catchable. Sometimes you just need to keep pitching the bait until the bass gets angry!! So what exactly is a “bed” and what does it mean that a bass is “catchable?” Male bass start making beds around December and January in Central Texas. A bed is a cleared-out area that is mostly protected from the wind that a male bass can guard once a female lays her eggs. “Buck Bass” are juvenile males that start making beds very early in the season. Their beds are typically small and don’t draw in any female bass. The bigger males make bigger beds and will usually be enough for a female to lay her eggs. Once the female lays her eggs the bass become “catchable.” I’m not saying that you cannot catch bass before this period. However, once the male is guarding the eggs you can sit right on top of the bed and catch that bass!! If you pitch your bait on a bed and the male doesn’t get spooked, it’s most likely guarding eggs. Now for the fun part! You need to figure our where on the bed the female has laid her eggs. Usually, once you find that spot the male will either nose up to the bait or hit it. Repeated casts to the exact same spot will anger the male enough that it hits the bait! Where do you go to find beds? This can be a complex answer and really depends on the lake. Constant level lakes like Lake Austin and Lake LBJ will have very defined spawning coves or areas. These are very shallow areas of the lake and protected from the winds. On lakes where the water can fluctuate 40 feet the bass will spawn on a shallow ledge right next to a drop off. Most creeks and main lake pockets in Lake Travis and Lake Belton will hold beds that may be right next to water that is 30 to 50 feet deep. On Lake Travis, I’ve had the boat in 20 feet of water while pitching to a bed that was in 2 feet of water. You can use a variety of baits. I like to throw a white Zoom ultra-vibe speed craw on a ¼ shake head. The pinchers have great action, and I can see the bait when the water is stained. The bait isn’t as important as finding the magic spot on the bed that will entice the bass to hit it! Keep these tips in mind if you are our fishing for bedding bass. You’ll find your trips will be successful! Tight Lines.