I had a short trip last weekend on Lake Dunlap (Guadalupe River) but nothing worth reporting. Caught a few small bass trolling a crankbait in the middle of the river. I enjoyed the setting which made me decide to finally head to Lake Austin this weekend. Launched from 360 bridge ramp. Weather was forecasted to be 47-59 degrees with a light NNE wind. It was indeed cold with light winds. Reports were saying the fish were hanging around on offshore structure in deeper water. Since I didn't have any electronics, I decided to troll crankbaits to find the fish. Headed off to the left from the boat ramp trolling a deep-diving baby bass crank bait. This side of the lake was pretty shallow. Noticed a few bass boats on the other side of the lake fishing the rock ledge bank. After a while of trolling I headed across the lake. Found a nice little reed patch that looked fishy. Saw a big fish hit the surface but didn't get a good enough glimpse to determine if it was a largemouth. Worked the shallow area with no bites. Switched to a Bandit purple and white crank bait once I hit the transition to deeper water. Had a nice hit on this out in deeper water but the line got slack when I reached up to turn on the go-pro resulting in a lost fish. A remote is absolutely necessary when bass fishing. Hope to get one before my next bass trip. Fished this bank all the way down to the creek on the other side of the bridge with no bites. Other boats seemed to not have any luck either. I fished shallow and deep, with crank baits/drop shot senko's. The number one bass lake in the state sure didn't live up to its name on this day. Spoke with a gentleman in a bass boat who confirmed what I had read before this trip. The vegetation in the lake has declined or even disappeared resulting in less water clarity. I thought the water was nice and green but apparently it used to be clear. This would explain all the sharelunkers (13# +) caught sight-fishing that I have read about. He also stated that Towne Lake still had vegetation so I may stop a couple miles short this spring and fish Towne Lake instead. Sharelunkers can be caught there as well. I will say that Lake Austin is a beautiful lake and I made a video just to share the scenery. Included the previous trip as well. If only I had footage of catching fish. Maybe next time. Until then, enjoy the video report.
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July 2019
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