Summertime bass fishing can be a grind. Searching the lake for deep water haunts on a lake that fluctuates can be challenging. This isn’t the case with beautiful Lake Travis! When the daytime temperatures are approaching 100 degrees and the water temperatures are in the lower to mid-80s, there are a few patterns, locations and techniques that are guaranteed to consistently catch fish. Marinas Largemouth bass and other fish species are being caught in good numbers in the mornings and evening around the deep-water, main-lake marinas. The water is significantly cooler under the large marinas that sit in 50+ FOW. Throwing topwater and swimbaits are loading the boat! Once the sun comes up, we continue to catch bass, catfish and some crappie by jigging down to the schools that are chasing shad between 35 and 50 feet deep. Offshore Grass The grass bite has slowed since the water temperature reached 80 degrees. We are still catching some solid 3 to 5 pound bass by dragging a large worm or jig at the grass edges in 20+ FOW. As the summer grinds on, these bass will get lots of pressure. The bait that caught 20 fish last week, may only catch a few the next. Be prepared to throw a few different baits each outing. It’s almost a guarantee that something will work. Remember, these bass are keying in one type of forage. Shad!! If a bladed swim jig isn’t working anymore, try a jerkbait or a flutter spoon. When the bass are chasing shad, they are in the mood to eat. Keep cycling though the imitation shad baits until you find the right bait for the day. Follow @fishingwiththefriz on Instagram and let us know if these tips help you have a successful trip on the water!

My clients caught five species of fish during the morning trip! The bass fishing on Lake Travis has been absolutely phenomenal for the past few months. When the water surface temperatures were in the low 70s and the shad were spawning, we were catching 30 to 40 bass in a four-hour half day trip. The largemouth bass and white bass could be easily found each morning fishing the grass flats off the Pointe Venture peninsula and other grass flats around the lake. This was just one of the many predictably patterns that we were fishing to catch fish from sunrise to sunset. Now that summer is “officially” here in Central Texas the water temperatures have soared to the low to mid-80s. Some of the fish have migrated to cooler shaded areas near deeper water. In the past week, we have added main lake, deep water, marinas to the rotation where we are consistently catching good numbers of bass. For a successful day on the lake, I would recommend starting at one of the main lake marinas at least 30 minutes before sunrise. The feeding frenzy is a sight to see as groups of bass breach the surface knocking shad into the air. A fast topwater bait on swimbait can get the attention of these more aggressive bass. Once the sun comes up and the schooling activity dies down, move to the outer edge of the grass flats. The water here will be around 15 to 20 feet deep. Fish the grass wall with swimbaits, flukes, jigs and other Texas rigged soft plastics. Craws and big worms are catching the better fish in these areas. When the sun is high in the sky, targeting shaded areas on the deep bluff walls of the channel swings. These areas tend to hold quality fish all year round. Follow @fishingwiththefriz on Instagram and let us know if these tips help you have a successful trip 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!