Past few trips have been phenomenal on Walter E. Long Lake (aka Decker Lake). The topwater action is GREAT on schooling fish in the mornings.

Bass have moved up to spawn on all of our Austin area lakes and will continue to spawn all the way through April. Sight fishing for bedding bass is whole different kind of "hunt" and one that I love to teach my customers how to do. If you want to learn how to sight fish for bedding bass, now is the time to book your trip. Not all bass spawn at the same time, so if you weather conditions or water clarity aren't favorable for sight fishing, there are plenty of pre and post-spawn fish to target!! Top waters, swimbaits, jerkbaits, and crankbaits have all been productive for preand post-spawn fish. A texas-rigged craw, worm, jig, or drop shot accurately placed on a spawning bed have been the keys to triggering spawning bass to bite. Let's go fishin'!!!

Surface Temp: 58 degrees While Lake Travis water levels are up almost a foot since last month, at just 38% capacity the lake is still 49.3 feet below full pool. With the lake being so low, all but one public boat ramp is closed. The one ramp that is open is the low water ramp at Pace Bend Park (aka Tournament Point). They close the concrete ramp at/around the -50’ mark, but you can still launch off of the dirt directly next to it. They have put some gravel down to help with traction but I still recommend you not launch there unless you have 4 wheel drive. If you can get on the water, the bite is really good right now and will only get better as Spring nears. Above average temperatures have kept water temperatures in the high 50’s, which has helped fishing. A number of patterns are productive right now with some being more prevalent than others. On sunny days, jigs and Texas-rigged soft plastics worked slowly on the bottom around docks and marinas have been producing some of my better fish. On warm, overcast days medium diving crankbaits fished around submerged stumps, boulders, and rock have been getting bit. If you come across a good piece of cover, be sure to make multiple casts to it from different angles. Making your crankbait hit and deflect off of the cover you are targeting will increase your likelihood of triggering a strike. With each passing day, our photoperiod is getting longer and longer and will ultimately trigger the annual migration of bass shallow to spawning grounds. With suitable water temperatures and enough available sunlight, bass have everything they need from Mother Nature to successfully spawn. My general rule of thumb is 60 degrees as the ideal water temperature for spawning, but I have seen bass paired up on beds in water temps as low as 56 degrees before. On light wind days, some of my “go-to” baits for pre-spawn bass are weightless flukes, wacky-rigged Dingers, and shaky head finesse worms. In breezy conditions, I will target pre-spawn “Stagers” with crankbaits, jerkbaits, and swimbaits. The key to maximizing your success this time of year is to cover a lot of water, make as many casts as you can, and keep a bait in the water. For those of you wanting to get out on the water, I would love the opportunity to take you fishing!