Warm and sunny weekends in Central Texas means everyone makes room for outdoor activities, including spending time at our area lakes. However, a few residents are concerned about a new visitor to Lake Travis: green algae.

A local fisherman, Ron Torrey, is one who always enjoys a great day at Lake Travis, but he says the algae blooms are interfering with his fishing.

“I noticed about a month ago that stuff was growing pretty good, my baits would start picking up all that junk,” says Torrey. “Usually, you can go shallow against bluff walls but they’re not there anymore. It just makes the area you want to fish just lousy.”

Turns out, algae blooms in the spring are quite common at Lake Travis. However, our unseasonably warm winter is the main reason these blooms are happening earlier than usual.

“Lake Travis is experiencing a green algae bloom,” says Bryan Cook, manager of Water Quality Protection with the Lower Colorado River Authority. “The algae certainly likes to grow in the spring and with the warm conditions, the lake has a little extra nutrients in it from when it filled last year, so all of the conditions are just perfect for it to grow right now.”

Cook says the amount of algae in the lake isn’t harmful to people, wildlife or water quality.