This report is brought to you by Torwick's Guiding Service, a professional licensed and insured fishing charter/ fishing guide on Lake Travis, located in Central Texas.
The bass fishing on Lake Travis continues to be good! With summer approaching the water temps are in the mid 70’s and rising. Water clarity is great as always; expect to find visibility 5-10 feet on the lower end of the lake, and slightly less as you get further up river, especially past the split. With all the recent rain expect some areas to be slightly more stained and more debris in the water. This generally clears up pretty quickly though. As water temperatures increase, you will find a change in the fish’s behavior. There are a couple key patterns that I recommend you try.
Mornings
Early in the morning I like to start out looking for schooling fish or throwing a topwater bait. The tail end of the shad spawn is still going on, so pay attention to the shorelines early in the morning for signs of this. If you are not seeing any baitfish activity, keep moving. A topwater plug such as a bone colored spook, or a pop-r in chrome or a baitfish pattern are good options. Personally I love throwing topwater since it is so much fun seeing the fish hit it on the surface! To cover water more quickly a paddle tail swimbait such as a 4.2 Keitech Fat Swing Impact rigged with a belly weighted hook can be deadly. I recommend this style hook as opposed to a lead head in order to prevent snags. The fish will move up shallow early in the mornings. With the lake having risen recently due to the rain, there are a lot of weeds on the edge of the lake. To prevent snagging those I like this way of rigging my swimbaits.
As for schooling fish, certain deep water marinas on the lake have been holding large schools of largemouth and white bass. You can find them hitting the surface on and off, live sonar such as Garmin’s Pantopix is also very useful to find these fish. A small spoon or swimbait works well to target these fish. If you find them jumping, get your cast as close to the fish as possible as quick as you can.
Mid Day
Once the sun comes up and the morning bite slows, I like to back off the bank. Steep shorelines that bottom out before going to the river/ creek channel, ledges, and points have all been great places to look for bass. As they leave their post spawn homes, the bass will begin moving deeper and relating to steeper bluffs. Areas with a lot of rock attract the fish as it provides habitat as well as hold forage they feed on.
Ned rigs and drop shots are a staple on Lake Travis. These two baits are perfect for putting numbers in the boat. If I am targeting a little better grade of fish, I like to throw a Texas rigged senko. For these baits stick to natural colors like green pumpkin or watermelon. Fish slow and really pay attention to the feel of the bait hitting the bottom. The bites can be very very subtle.
Evenings
The evening bite has been very good. I fish it kind of as a combination of how I fish the morning and mid day bite. Fish will move up shallow again to feed so moving baits like topwater and crankbaits can be productive. You will also find a population of fish that stays out deep, even when its getting closer to sunset. Shallow areas near deep water are especially good places to look as this is the first place fish will move out of that deeper water to in order to hunt for food.
Towards the end of this month I would expect more and more fish to be pulling offshore. I have been catching fish out deep on deep diving crankbaits, and as the water gets even hotter, more fish will begin that migration.
If you are visiting the area, want to try your hand at fishing Lake Travis, or want to book a coaching trip to get better at fishing, I would love to take you! Torwick’s Guiding Service is a full time licensed and insured fishing charter and specializing in guiding on Lake Travis.