The bass in Lake Travis are slowly starting to show up a lot shallower! The cooler weather as of recent has slowly started one of my favorite times of year to fish... the fall transition! What is the "fall transition" you ask? Well, during the summer months when the water is at its warmest, bass move offshore in search of stable cool water.
Come early fall as we begin to experience cool fronts, then cold fronts, often accompanied by rain, the lake temps start to drop. Once you see surface temperatures down in the upper 70's you will start to see a slow migration of some fish living shallower along the shorelines. This is due to the fishes desire to feed as well as their preference for cooler water temps.
Not all fish will move up at the same time. Right now on Lake Travis the water temps have been fluctuating up and down based off these little cool fronts we have been getting. As it gets colder though more and more fish will move shallow.
So what does this mean in terms of locating fish? As you probably know from reading my other articles, bass love creek channels, they use them like highways to move around in the lake. So when fish are deep offshore they will drop down into these creek channels to move back into the coves. They don't bolt for the very back of the coves yet though! When looking at a lake map look for the first change in topography you find up shallow near a creek channel. Often times this could be a primary point, a secondary point, a ledge, or a drain near the mouth of a cove. Changes in the bottom like these are attractive to fish, so depending on what part of the lake the fish call home, moving out of deep water to areas like this will be attractive.
If you know lake Travis well you may be able to tell where I have been fishing. If not then head on over to Lake Pro Guides and check out my fishing report! This Thursday (Sept 17th) I will upload a new report with the places I have been catching these fish. One spot in particular has been very productive and each time I have fished it we have caught at least one fish over 3 pounds. The beauty of this spot too is that since it is a ledge near deep water and a creek channel, it replenishes itself with different fish throughout the week.
Points are also going to be holding fish... the nice thing about main lake points though, is that 75% of the time they will hold fish. Sometimes a lot better than others. This picture of my Humminbird was from Monday, and you can see it was loaded!
If you are out on the lake this week try looking for places like this and start mixing up the baits you throw! Drop shots and ned rigs will always work, however you can start experimenting with heavy spinnerbaits, crankbaits, Alabama rigs, Carolina rigs, and jigs. As the water cools the fishing is going to continue to improve!
Speaking of Carolina Rigs, check out this video I recently made discussing the type of spots mentioned in this article, as well as an in depth look at how to fish a Carolina rig.
If you are interested in getting out on the water and learning some more about fall fishing, I am booking trips now! I would love to be the Austin fishing guide who gets you out on the lake. My weekends are booked up for the next couple weeks, but I have lots of week day dates open!
Hit me up or click that Book Online button!