March 31, 2024 - Lake Travis Spring Fishing Report

Report brought to you by Austin Fishing Guide, Tyler Torwick of Torwick's Guiding Service

Big Largemouth bass from Lake Travis

Happy Easter everyone! I hope y'all have been out on the water tearing them up. Fishing on Lake Travis has been excellent this past March, and I expect April to be just as good! Water clarity is quite good, 6-10 feet on the lower end of the lake, and 2-6 feet on the upper end of Lake Travis, water temps have been between 63-65 degrees lately depending on location and time of day. The past several weeks my trips have been averaging 20-40 fish per trip for half day trips, with some catching even more! During the spring months the fish move up more shallow and feed heavily on threadfin shad.  The combination of the bass wanting to feed and their desire to move more shallow while the water is at those ideal 60-70 degree temps makes them easier to locate and catch. With that said, you can’t just go out to any part of the lake and toss around your favorite lures and get bit. No doubt you’ll catch a few, but there’s a big difference in fishing styles to catch a couple versus 20-40 bass in a trip. Let me give you a few tips on how to improve your catch rate…

First off, you could hire a guide like me! With my trips I will not only put you on a lot of fish but I will teach you how to do it. You’ll learn a lot more than reading an article online. My trips focus largely on education. With that shameless plug out of the way, there are a couple things you can look for when fishing on your own. 

Location is key right now, you need to be around bait. Like I said, threadfin shad are the predominant forage for the largemouth right now. My clients and I have caught a ton of fish that have spit up shad while reeling them to the boat. Shallow flats with grass or cover such as stumps is key. Find areas adjacent to the main lake or the deeper parts of coves where the shad can move to to feed. The second and equally important part of the equation is paying close attention to the wind direction. Target areas getting hit by the wind. Small points and pockets will attract bass as they can use these areas to feed on the baitfish. 

When there is a little wind you’ll do well throwing baits that mimic the shad. Small paddle tail swimbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and flukes are all great options. Play around with this and rotate through these baits frequently until you feel like you’re on a pattern and know what they want. When I fish I always have multiple rods on my boat deck to rotate between as I fish. A 6th Sense 4” Whale in a shad color such as pro shad or clearwater rose are great options paired with a ¼ ounce leadhead. Work this bait on a slow steady retrieve trying to keep it as deep as possible close to the bottom or over the top of the grass. The deeper and closer to the bottom, without hitting the bottom, the better. The bass are very structure oriented, they want to be around something whether it be grass, rock, a ledge, a stump, etc. The closer you can get your bait to that cover the better! Keep that in mind at all times when fishing. The most common mistake I see clients do, is they fish their bait too fast and with their rod tip too high up, this keeps the bait high up in the water column... a simply mistake and one that can be fixed super easily, but one that makes a HUGE difference in how many bites you'll get.

April is the month the shad start their spawn. Not only does this mean great fishing, but also explosive topwater bites. Topwater fishing is just about everyone’s favorite… I mean who doesn’t love seeing a big bass blow up on your bait on the surface! Hop on my website or give me a call to book your trip! You won't find a better bass fishing guide in Austin or on Lake Travis, I promise! With the weather still cool, the bluebonnets around the lake in bloom, and the fish biting, there's no better time to get out with me.