Lake Travis Fishing Guides and Conditions, Texas

About the Lake Travis

Travis is the deep one in the Highland Lakes chain: a long, narrow canyon reservoir on the Colorado River west of Austin with steep limestone walls, clear water and very little natural shallow cover. The Lower Colorado River Authority runs it for flood control and water supply, and Travis is the lake in the chain that absorbs the swings. That is why its elevation is the most discussed number in Central Texas fishing.

The volatility is not a footnote here, it is the fishery. Travis has moved across tens of feet of elevation within a few years, and where it sits changes everything. A full lake floods cedar, brush and the bottoms of boat docks, and the bass go shallow and feed well. A lake pulled far down exposes all of that, strands ramps, and pushes the fish onto bluff ends, main-lake points and whatever rock is left. Most local knowledge on Travis is really knowledge of what a given elevation does to it, which is exactly what the gauge reading below is for.

The fishing is a mix rather than a specialty. Largemouth are what most anglers come for. Guadalupe bass, the state fish, show up in the moving water at the upper end toward Marble Falls. Striped and hybrid striped bass chase shad in open water, and on a good morning the birds will find them for you before your electronics do. Clear deep water rewards light line, small profiles and being on the water at first light.

Recreational boat traffic from Memorial Day onward is heavy enough to end the fishing by mid-morning on summer weekends. Anglers work around it by fishing dawn, or by fishing weekdays.

Access

Mansfield Dam Park: county ramp near the dam with access to the deepest water.
Pace Bend Park: large county park on a mid-lake peninsula, ramps and bank access.
Bob Wentz Park at Windy Point: day-use access on the lower lake.
Cypress Creek Park: north shore ramp near Cedar Park and Jonestown.
Arkansas Bend Park: quieter north shore access toward the upper lake.
Upper lake near Marble Falls: moving water and Guadalupe bass.
Note: ramps go dry as the lake drops. Confirm one is usable before towing to it.

Seasons

Late winter: white bass run up the Colorado arm, and bass stage on main-lake points.
March and April: the spawn, and the most forgiving fishing of the year.
Summer: deep and clear, fish early, expect heavy recreational traffic after nine.
Fall: turnover scatters fish briefly, then schooling stripers and hybrids on open water.