Fresh Lago Vista Fishing Reports

As of about a week ago the bass have started making a transition and are post-spawn. This means that due to the warmer weather and us getting closer to Spring here in Central Texas, the bass are moving up more shallow. They'll pull out of their deep wintertime spots or out of the creek channels where they've been suspending and move to the bank. It'll be a few more weeks before the spawn is in full swing, but it's not far off. With the warmer weather the bite has been getting better and better. I was out a few days ago and ended with 31 fish. Small swimbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and the drop shot have all been producing fish. If you book a trip there is a variety of patterns working that we can catch them on. I know everyone's favorite technique is topwater fishing. That will start to turn on here pretty soon. I would recommend booking now and picking a date anytime in March, April or May. Those months consistently produce good numbers, great size, and consistent topwater action, even mid day. Book your trip and let's get out on the water!

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!

Torwick's Guiding Service Fishing Report September 20, 2021 The bite on Lake Travis has been decent lately. With hot weather and warm water temperatures, its pretty typical for the bite to slow a bit. Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen and slows the metabolism of largemouth bass. This doesn't mean that they won't bite, or that you can't have a good day on the water! What it does mean though, is that you have to work a little harder for the fish. During this time of year I tend to move around a lot and run and gun. I am the type of angler who rather move to find fish that will cooperate as opposed to trying a million different baits and colors to get them to bite. Currently Lake Travis is close to 17.5 feet low with water clarity around 8-10 feet on the lower end and 3-4 feet on the upper end. Water temps are around 84-86 degrees, however I did see it as low as 83 degrees the other day early in the morning before the sun came up. Why is that important? Well the end of September is always a transition period here on Lake Travis. This is usually the time of year when the fish start moving and the pattern changes. Those cooler evenings we've been experience are a sign of things to come and tell me that things are about to kick off! I even saw something on the weather channel about the possibility of a cold front next week! That gets me very excited. For this report let's start off with what I recommend fishing if you are getting out there this next week, then we'll talk about what I would have tied on once we start experience cooler fall weather. End of Summer Fishing We are on the verge of fall fishing, but are not quite there yet. Right now the water temps are still warm enough that fish are staying deep. Offshore spots such as secondary points and ledges are a prime place to look. I rely heavily on my graphs for this type of fishing. Schools of bass can still be found in these areas if you put in enough time graphing. I will look for these drop offs and bottom contours that are close to a creek channel. In the case of Lake Travis, being as deep as it is, you could be fishing a secondary point thats around 30 feet deep, but have you boat positioned in 80+ feet of water casting towards the point. Keep in mind places like this attract fish as it gives them the ability to move out to deeper water and suspend, or move up shallower if they want. Weather patterns such as small rain storms, fronts, and cloud cover can all make fish change their behavior on a whim. I keep an eye on the weather and barometric pressure a lot to help me make decisions of how to fish. Here is a helpful website I recommend y'all check out for lake information such as lake temps and the barometer. Lake Travis Test Station Downsizing baits and slowing way down with your presentation can be very effective right now. I have been throwing a lot of drop shots, ned rigs, and small paddle tail swimbaits. For the drop shot and ned rig, fish it slow and make sure you maintain that bottom contact. When the fish are close to the bottom I like these baits since I can keep them in the strike zone a long time and work them subtly to trigger bites from those more finicky fish. Early in the morning, late in the day, or when I find suspended schools of bass, I will throw a small swimbait. A 4" Keitech easy shiner in a shad color rigged on an underspin or a ball head jig retrieved very slowly has been working well. Turn your reel handle slower than you normally would to get more bites. I also like fishing these swimbaits on braid with a long fluorocarbon leader of 8 pound test. Since I am not near the bottom I can get away with the lighter line, and feel it helps get more bites. Just make sure you have your drag set loose enough! (A little tip for you, sometimes I will take scissors and cut off a 1/2 inch of the swimbait head to give it an even smaller profile.) As far as colors of baits go, when it comes to worms I have my staple colors that I rotate through. Green Pumpkin, Watermelon black seed, Red Bug, and Margarita Mutilator are all solid choices. At times I will change things up and experiment with other colors, but start with these if you are unsure what to throw. As for moving baits such as swimbaits, choose baits that resemble threadfin shad. Anything in silver or grey works sell. I use a lot of Keitech baits and they make a ton of great colors that work well. I am not the type of angler who feels you need a certain specific color to get bit. Fishing the Fall Transition As the weather cools and the water temps start to drop into the low 80's and especially the upper 70's, the bite will get good! Did I say good? I meant great! Fall fishing makes guiding a blast for me. Numbers go up, average size increases, its cooler out on the water, and the stupid wakeboard boats aren't out in numbers. If you're really bored, go back through my website and look at previous year's fishing reports from October and November and you'll

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!

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!