Fall fishing on Lake Travis continues to be outstanding! Many of the surrounding area guides have moved their trips from other lakes that haven’t been fishing very well over to Travis. This makes for a crowded weekend full of bass boat running from spot to spot. Luckily, you can pretty much fish your strengths and catch quality bass nearly everywhere on the lake. For my midday trips, we’ve continued fishing the same patterns that have been successful for the past two months. You can see my previous reports for a deeper dive into the last summer and early fall fishing patterns on Lake Travis. The late day bite is consistently bringing in the numbers for my clients. 40 bass in a four-hour trip is common.
For my morning trips this week, my normal go-to spots had boats on them already. I didn’t want to reveal the offshore brush piles that nearly all the boats overlook as they fish the banks. So, we left and fish some “special” spots that exist in most of the main lake marinas. We fished fast using a 3/8 oz underspin with a 3.5-inch Keitech swimbait trailer. It didn’t take long so find a hungry bass!
I went out scouting around more marinas Saturday morning using the same underspin with a swimbait trailing. I found a few more “special” spots in some main lake marinas. After a few casts along the marina’s attenuators, a fish smashed it. It surged away from the marina, and I could feel it rolling over and over. Ugh. A 3-pound channel cat had inhaled the underspin. I was able to get the lure back and the cat was on its merry way. I hit six marinas in three hours and was able to pull multiple keepers out of most of the marinas using the underspin. The key was letting is get about 4 to 6 feet deep. I could see on the PanOptix that the bass were handing down in the shadows at the corners and along the attenuators.
Fall fishing can be exciting for anglers of all experience levels. It’s a great time to try new things and explore new areas of this 65-mile-long Central Texas gem. Fish your strengths and you’ll catch fish!