The bass fishing on Lake Travis has started to pick up! These past couple of days have been the first "cool front" we have had in a long time. I saw temps in the morning as low as 71 degrees! Burrrr!
With the cooler temps at night and the rain we have been getting, water temps are down to 84 degrees on the main lake. As temps cool you will see a migration of more fish back up to the shoreline feeding up shallow. The last two days have been very good fishing with good sized fish and great numbers. I attribute this to the big drop in barometric pressure both days as well as the cooler weather.
If you are getting our there this weekend I would recommend either fishing super shallow or really deep. I have found there are fish at a variety of depth right now. You have those more adventurous fish moving up to the bank looking for food. You also have more lethargic fish still hanging offshore. Right now you can take your pick whether you want to graph for them and set up on deep schools, or pick apart the shoreline.
If you are wanting to fish shallow there are two rigs I recommend having tied on. A ned rig has been killing it! A lot of these bass are feeding on crawfish and this compact little bait is a perfect morsel for them. Green pumpkin is always a safe bet, but today I was dipping the tail of the worm in red dye and it was working very well. If you ever turn over some rocks and find a crawfish in Lake Travis, they are usually a light brown color with some red and orange in them. Keep this in mind when selecting baits.
The second bait I would recommend is a small round ball finesse jig tied up in a craw color. This will be better when you get around those rocky snag prone shorelines.
We are also getting to the time of year when they should start eating crankbaits well. With that said I did fish one today while my clients were fishing plastics since I wanted to experiment and see if I could get bit. I did not get any bites, but I only fished it for 10 mins. I have a hunch these fish will start eating plugs soon, so you may give that a shot.
As for the deep fish, there are still schools of bass out deeper off points and ledges. I have not found any really big schools in a while, however you will find plenty of small schools of 3-5 fish. A drop shot is always a fish getter on Travis, so that should definitely be tied on. The other rig you should try is a Carolina rig. A zoom speed craw or a 7" power worm are good options for plastics.
Lake Travis Striper Fishing Update
So to be honest I have not been posting much about the Striper bite on Travis. There Striper bite is on, but I have been so busy bass fishing I have not been offering as many Striper trips. I may open up a few in the coming weeks, so feel free to message me with your contact info if you would like to be notified when I have an opening. Please note, these trips will likely all be on weekdays, I won't be offering them on the weekends.
If you happen to catch a Striper and need to ever fizz it, check out the video below with some tips on how to do it!