Lake Travis 2/27 – 28/17.

FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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The White Bass Project – Day 1

The Boss was needing clothes and shoes, you know how it is, you can’t travel in those old clothes, especially to Australia.  So wanting to increase her closet (and decrease her bank account)  she wanted to know if I wanted to go to Austin for a couple of days.  I said yes, as long as we can stay somewhere with a dock for the boat.  So after a little research on her part we ended up at Lakeway Resort.  After we dropped the boat in Sunday night I had a hard time sleeping.  As the Pedernales white bass run was on my Texas bucket list I was excited to give it a go.

Other than a prior trip with the grandkids I had never fished the lake.  But it is as close to my old stomping grounds in Arkansas as you can get.  Super clear water, miles of river, plenty of coves, I was pretty sure I knew what to do and how to catch them.  Monday morning started off with a big hiccup.  I had removed the boat key when I left the boat in the dock and when I went to fish no key.  We looked everywhere, and she finally found it under the edge of a cabinet in the room, it must have fallen out of my pocket.  A 2 hour delay but I was saved!  I was already thinking about finding a Mercury dealer.  The good thing, that was the last hitch in the git-along for 2 days.

The GPS on the flats boat had the coastal chip in so no definition, but I had done my map study, so Day 1 was can I find some white bass?  I had no reports and not much to go on other than they run up the Pedernales in the spring.  The dock was 25 miles from there and since Cow Creek was on the way it looked like a possibility.  So that was the first stop.  I trolled Rapala Shad Raps and the Bagley Honey B crankbaits.  The water was super clear, with no color in the back, and the best I could do was one crappie.  One thing I did learn is no wonder this lake is full of crappie, I found some really big piles that looked great.  I gave it about an hour and a half before I gave it up there and headed to the Pedernales.

You just never know what you will catch trolling, along with a ton of little bass.

Once I got up there I went almost all the way to the bridge and started trolling once the depth of the creek got to less than 30 feet, a good starting point when trolling for whites up the river.  It only took about 100 feet and I caught the first one, then another, and it went on from there.  I trolled for about 3 hours and caught a dozen, easy.  Since I have not caught them on Travis couldn’t tell you if these are small, medium, or big ones for the lake.  I trolled the area from about a mile below the bridge to a little ways above it and there were fish in that whole stretch.

                                        About a dozen this size in 3 hours. 

They were not all that big, but they were willing.  In fact at one point I was fighting one when the other rod went off and almost made it out of the boat.  I love it when it is that good.  And just like my trip to the Nueces, as the clouds left and it cleared and warmed the bait started coming up I switched to the shallow runners and the whites came with it.  It was just like I would find in Arkansas, white bass are white bass no matter where they reside, and I accomplished exactly what I wanted to.  I did no casting, but above the bridge they were in 15 foot of water, easily reached.  I went no further then a couple of hundred yards above the bridge, and was still getting them so no telling how much farther up they are.

The Rapala diving and shallow Shad Rap.  The Bagley Honey B and shallow Rattlin’ B, all you need trolling up white bass.

About 3:00 the wind came up so I decided to try for a bass or two.  As I headed back to the main lake there was a nice big cove on the left with the wind blowing in it.  With 200 of the best bass fishermen in the world here last week there was no way of telling whether the fish had recovered.  Well they had, and they were smashing, and I mean smoking the spinnerbait.  I think I put 5 or 6 in the boat there.  So I stopped at the next cove I saw and did the same.  With about a 25 mile run back to the dock I called it a and headed back about 4:00, job well done.

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                                         This got my blood going for day 2.

Catch a Bass Limit – Day 2

Thinking about day 1 it finally hit me like a brick – the Bang O Lure!  If I could take the Arkansas knowledge and catch some whites, time to replicate 20 years of guiding with a bunch of tourneys thrown in.  This pattern was setting up as the perfect storm.  Super clear water, fish headed to the beds, it had the makings of a great day, and that is a perfect description of how it went.

The next morning I was gone at 7:00 and ran up to Cow Creek again, it had some good looking places that I saw the day before, shallower banks with cover.  It did not take to long to catch one, then another, and it did not stop until I called I a day at 5:00.  I stayed in Cow until about 10:00 and then started fishing my way back.  First up 3 flat coves covered with buck brush across from the entrance to the creek.  And boy were they there.

                                                       The bite was on!

One of the pros at the weigh in last week said you all need to have a fish fry, and I could not have said it better.  This lake is absolutely full of fish.  The day went just like all mine have gone the last month and a half.  I caught them one after the other all day.  Whether in the flat coves, or in the brush on the main lake between them, there are enough small bass to fill a tanker.  And the one real deep cove I fished the better ones were way in the back.

The biggest of the day.  A good fish anywhere.

From that point on I just kept hitting coves with brush, and there were fish in every one.  Some places that were way off the bank in only 6 foot of water with buck brush, it did not matter.  Got brush, got fish.  But there was a clear difference in positioning – The better fish were half way back and further in the coves, the smaller fish were freakin’ everywhere.

                       I think these are the 5 best, I had a ton of pictures.

Spinnerbait was working too, but the Bang O Lure twitched along was clearly better.  So it was spinnerbait in the wind and Bang O Lure everywhere else.  The biggest one I caught above had a bigger one trying to take the bait out of his mouth, to bad he did not hook up.  And barely twitching it under you saw almost every one, and if they missed it they would often come back for it.  The Cocoons were invaluable.   Some barely pulled it under, some blasted it.  It was text book topwater fishing, and by time I quit at 5:00 my back hurt, my hands were tore up, and I had a new found respect for Travis.  So many of the reports and writing talk down about the bass fishing.  I do agree there are to many small ones, but heck, when you catch bass for 10 hours everywhere you go there is not much to complain about.

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I got this comment from an Oklahoma reader.

I say Amen to your comment about Bass on the bed. I will not pull one off a bed intentionally unless I can release Her right back on the bed right then. If you take much more than 5 minutes. the perch will be all over the eggs. Also surprised you have not tried the Alabama Rig. I have friend, a diehard White Bass addict ( we call then Sand Bass here in Okla.) that throws them a lot. White Bass here in Okla. are going crazy, they don’t know which to run up or down, we are having such a early spring weather here in February one day in the 80’s then in 20’s, water temp running up and down also right now in 60″s and slow fish go figure, The trick is to be there when they are, Right?
Thanks for keeping us fired up and ready to go with your articles.
Bill

Few subjects will incite more cussing and discussing than fishing for bedding bass.  Some folks love it, some hate it, and some are like me, middle of the road.  I always go back to the law, guess that is the attorney in me, if it is legal then it is not my business if you do it.  I just think that if your rational like that bass pro’s is “we” should not disturb the spawn so we can have more little fish, but you do it for money it just makes you a big hypocrite.  It goes back to sharing the water and resources, they belong to all of us, not just guides and tournament fishermen.  So no matter where you come down on the argument, don’t like something that is legal, change the law, but don’t rag on us when we practice legal outdoor activities.

As far as the Alabama Rig, I just had not fished it before last year.  The lake I primarily fish, Coleto, was weed choked until 2 years ago and it was impossible to fish it.  But my buddy Clyde in North Arkansas has been using it for probably 10 years now and got us to fishing it a couple of years ago, and boy did those Lake Norfork bass, whites, hybrids, and stripers like it.  I will be real interested to see how it works the next couple of days on Travis, stay tuned for that.  Lets see if I can transfer that knowledge to a highland lake in South Texas.

And I can only imagine what the fish are doing up your way.  Our fish are a solid month ahead this year and have hit the beds in mass down here.  So it is not surprising your whites don’t know whether to head up or down, just have to see how your weather goes.   As I well know about your part of the country, you could get a foot of snow tomorrow or it might be spring.  Thanks for the comment, we will all be waiting to hear and see how your trip to Lake of the Woods goes this summer.  Keep in touch.

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You know where I am going with this.

I actually have a rant written on access.  Past of it deals not only with the failure of Game and Fish Commissions around the country failing to act as access for the common man dwindles, but the “money” that has taken over the good places and locked out the common man.  That is a story for another day, but this goes to the heart of the problem.  This sign was posted back in a creek in front of a palatial estate.  I try not to use profanity on the blog, but “blank you.”  “Near the shoreline?”  ON OUR WATER!  Just who does this guy think he is?  This is the kind of stuff that chaps my butt.

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I haven’t even got stuff put back in proper order from the fishing but I wanted to get this up.  It really was a good trip.  The whites cooperated and I could have loaded the boat.  So the run is starting, on, or over.  Guess that will be for the Travis guys to figure out, but they are catchable.  And the pressure from last week on the bass had me wondering, but whatever it might have been was gone by time I fished.  And being able to follow my own advice and get with the topwater was a thing of beauty, even if I did have to wade through dozens, and I mean literally dozens to catch a nice limit.  I was pleasantly surprised at my 5 bass limit, I can live with that any day on most any body of water.  No clue what is next, but this is a fishing frenzy and I have those new Controlled Descent Lures to try so I will be on the water ASAP.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines 

About Redfishlaw

I am a retired attorney who just loves to fish. I was a freshwater guide for about 20 years and now have moved to the salt. I am not the greatest fisherman, but I am committed. So if you love fishing, and want to learn what little I have to offer, stop by anytime.
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