Lake Travis Fishing Report - March 2020

Water Temp: 65.0 degrees

Bass are in the middle of their annual spawning ritual all over the lake right now.  Targeting spawning flats in the backs of creeks and cuts are high percentage areas to find spawning fish, but the temperature out in the main lake has warmed well above 60 degrees so there will be some bass spawning out there as well.  Sight fishing for spawning bass is a unique way to catch them.  There is something truly special about locating a bass on a bed, studying the mood of that fish, and presenting your lure in just the right spot to trigger a defensive strike and get him or her in the boat.

I often hear anglers talk about how they found HER locked on the bed and got HER to bite.  9 times out of 10, the bass that you see on a bed is a male and not a female.  Females typically only get on the bed to lay their eggs, which usually takes less than 12 hours.  If you did find a female on a bed, chances are that she was in the process of laying her eggs.  However, on occasion she will hang around to help protect the eggs for a day or two but most of the protection is done by the male.  I’ve caught male bass on beds in Texas up to 6 lbs, so males can get big and can make you think that they’re females.

If you do get lucky enough to find a male and female paired up on a bed, I always fish for the female first or the bigger of the two (yes, I have seen instances where the male is bigger than the female).  If she stays put or doesn’t completely vacate the area after making presentations to her, she is probably catchable.  Last year on Lake LBJ I got lucky and found a 2 lb male paired up with a 7 lb female.  The male was locked on the bed and the female was about two feet away just hanging out. Since he was locked on, my guess was that she had just dropped her eggs.  I could have caught the male easily by pitching directly to the bed and aggravating him to bite but that might have caused her to completely vacate the area after catching him.  So I decided to target her exclusively.  After repeated pitches to her, I got her aggravated enough stay stone cold still just off the bed.  After more pestering with my jig (about 30 pitches), I could tell she was close to biting.  I finally made a pitch just past her right eye and was able to work my jig up on top of her head and inch it between her eyes and down her nose.  As soon as my jig cleared her top lip she inhaled my jig and was in the boat shortly after.  Of the 100’s of bass that I’ve caught off beds, this remains one of my most memorable.

All bass don’t spawn at the same time and some are already done.  As we turn the corner into April, the post-spawn bite will get better as we get deeper into the month.  Targeting schooling fish with topwaters and crankbaits will become the deal shortly.

Due to the COVID pandemic, my availability for April is good and I am still accepting bookings.  Please call if you would like to book a trip! 

Tight Lines!

Ray Tomasits - Hill Country Bass Coach

www.hcbasscoach.com

Hill Country Bass Coach (@lake_travis_guide)
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