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Lessons from Lake Travisby Rick Latta
I always learn something when I go fishing. And sometimes the lessons are painful. Such was the case at the recent FLW Tour contest on Lake Travis just outside of Austin Texas, in which I participated as a co-angler. Hopefully someone will benefit by learning from my mistakes.
To set the stage, Lake Travis is a canyon lake with deep clear water, and rocky banks dominate the landscape. Vertical cliff walls abound and are jagged enough to offer hiding spots for bass. (see this link for picture: http://flw.flwoutdoors.com/image.cfm?id=22082 ). Surface water temperatures were in the low 50's. FLW had set up a large white tent (where the weigh in would take place) on the rocky shoreline. Normally, the area where the tent was staked is underwater. But Lake Travis water level was around 35 feet below full pool. This is Pro Angler Clark Wendlandt's home lake, but with the lake level so far down, he described Travis as "a new lake to me". As a fishery, Travis is known to have good numbers of largemouth, spotted and guadalupe bass, but the average bass runs small. There are some large bass of course. Scott Martin pulled in an 8+ lb. hawg as proof. But large bass are far outnumbered by the "peedads". Catching a limit didn't seem to be a problem, but as often happens, Mother Nature throws a monkey wrench into the equation. A cold front hit the area just in time for the tournament start. Austin would see the coldest temperatures so far this winter season. Fishing would still be good for that first day of competition, but the second day would be brutal as boats went flying from spot to spot trying to find a bass that would bite.
The first day saw frost on the boats with temps in the low 30's. I had to lug my gear from the parking area to the dock where I was to meet my Pro for that day. Although I had made a good effort to cut my gear down to fit in a soft tackle bag roughly 13" square, I still found it hard to carry 4 rods, the tackle bag, a canvas bag with lunch and a bottle of water, another canvas bag with heavy gloves, toboggan and ThermaCare heat wrap (God Bless whoever invented those) and a lighter pair of gloves, and still another bag containing a Fish HedZ mask, all the way to the dock, which was a considerable distance from the car. I realized I needed to lighten my load even more. Trudging through the darkness along the rock strewn lake bottom now laid bare by drought, I make it to the dock which is the mooring point for a "party barge". At 5:45am I joined a number of other co-anglers who are trying to find their partner among a flotilla of boats bobbing and jockying for position, and of course it's pitch black except for one dim light on the dock. It's a bit chaotic. Luckily I told my Pro that I would be waving a flashlight at my feet so he could pick me out in the darkness. It wasn't until I was in the boat and preparing for the cold run up the lake that I noticed I didn't have the Fish HedZ bag any more. DRATS! Here is where it helps to have a "Plan B". For me that meant relying on a windproof toboggan, the hood on my BassPro bad weather suit and my sunglasses which have a felt padding which fits against my face and does a great job of sealing out the wind. One thing to watch out for - this hood has two flaps which velcro together to cover your face. This is good, until you hit high speed in a bass boat and the wind pressure seals that flap over your mouth. You'll find it very hard to breathe with all that pressure pushing on the flap. Better to duck your head behind the console - if you have one - or sit on the floor with your back to the wind. And if you have any openings in your cold weather armor that frigid air can get into, it will be painfully obvious when you're in a boat that's hitting near 70mph.
The boat finally stops at a marina and the fishing begins. The Pro almost immediately hooks a keeper and yells "NET" while I'm still getting myself situated. Time to drop everything and help a brother out. It's not exactly fun to fish behind a human vacuum cleaner by the way, but it helps to realize that other co-anglers are fishing in similar circumstances. The Pro was throwing a shakey head jig with a short finesse worm attached. I tried swimming a curly tail grub. I had removed a ziplock bag of short worms the night before from my tackle bag so the shakey head wasn't an option. I had never even used a shakey head before so I wasn't concerned. BIG mistake! The shakey head is becoming bread and butter for these guys. I did catch a keeper on the grub, but the guy up front was well on his way to a 10+lb. limit good for 16th place. When he realized I had left my bag of short worms behind, he looked at me and said "are you CRAZY???". Another hard lesson learned. To his credit he offered to let me use some of his worms but I declined. There seemed to be a sweet spot at this marina as both of the largest fish were taken from a particular area. I was slow rolling a spinnerbait through that area when I hung it up on one of the cables which anchors the covered boat dock to the lake bottom. Since it was in the sweet spot and money was on the line, I had no choice but to break off. You have to hope that you catch enough fish from that spot to get a check and buy replacements. We continued fishing the marina dock and boat slips but we also fished points. I ended up catching 4 fish but only two keepers. When time was up we headed "full tilt boogy" to the check-in boat, tossed our check-in float into a net and grabbed two weigh-in bags. The boat was beached on the shore alongside the others and because we were in the first flight, we proceeded to the weigh-in. Day One was over and I was tired.
I met my partner for the next day and it was decided that he was going to pick me up at my hotel at 5:30am. I made it back to the car and as luck would have it, an honest co-angler found my Fish HedZ bag (lying behind my car) and gave it to me as I was about to load my gear back up. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
The next day was really cold... 22 degrees cold! As each boat launched, the water left on the launch ramp would freeze and it was a bit treacherous over time. There was a bit of slippin' and slidin', but everyone made it with out mishap as far as I know.
I wasn't too concerned with the cold... I had my Fish Hedz mask! Well let me tell you, at those temps, any air that gets around the Fish HedZ mask will still be painful. Nothing takes the place of a full-face motorcycle helmet in those conditions. Another hard lesson learned.
My partner went straight to yet another marina area and like the guy before, on his first cast caught a keeper. It was looking like another good fishing day, but it was not to be. He didn't boat another keeper for 7 hours. The cold front finally took it's toll and many fish had turned off. We noticed more boats were zipping from spot to spot trying to find bass that would bite. The Pro would go back to places were he had caught fish before, sometimes visiting the same spot three times, hoping they would start biting. All the while we constantly had to break ice off our rod guides as it built up from each retrieve. In the last hour he finally caught three keepers on shakey heads and/or dropshots while pitching with spinning tackle between the boat slips. I only caught one keeper on this day but I actually had a better day than the first. I had the bag of short worms this time and I was doing pretty well with a Spot Remover jig and a 4" Yum Dinger in Green Pumpkin with chartreuese tail. I lost one at the boat which would have kept. I should have either let my partner net him (he offered), or just swung him aboard. Instead I went to lip him - forgetting I had the light gloves on - and ended up knocking him off because I couldn't get my thumb fully into his mouth. Another hard lesson learned. I caught two bass which would not keep, lost one halfway to the boat and had several other bites which I missed on the hookset. I was still pleased because this was my first time using the shakey head rig and now I feel like I added something new to my arsenal.
I spent the last 10 minutes of the day holding the net, counting down the minutes displayed on the console GPS equipped Depth Finder so the Pro would know how much time he had left. He was firing casts into a stiff wind trying to get that last fish which would fill out his limit and possibly get him a better check. It was my decision to do this as I was done for the day. These guys don't stop until the last second. We headed back to the boat check-in and beached the boat. We were in the last flight this time and we waited quite awhile before we were called to weigh in. During this wait time, the guys had a chance to talk and share their stories. I watched a number of anglers put their boats back on the trailers. It was good to see a lot of the guys you read about, Anthony Gagliardi, Joe Thomas, Larry Nixon. I watched with amusement as Charlie Ingram in the boat next to us tossed used plastics from his boat into the other boats when the other guys weren't looking. Now that was funny, I don't care who you are! Day Two was over and I was tired.
Things I observed:
Casting accuracy is very much a part of the game. Those guys could make little pitch casts with spinning gear such that the lure would travel underneath the ropes which anchor the boats in the marina slips. It's very much like pitching with baitcasting gear but you have to limit the arc swing of the rod sometimes due to the ropes. Don't ask me for a detailed description - I can't even do it, but I will be working on it.
As for lures, you might want to show 'em something different or try to cast to places the Pro missed. However if bass want a shakey head or anything else, and the Pro offers to give you something you don't have, take him up on it and say "Thank You".
If you get hung up, particularly in the "honey hole", be prepared to break off. It hurts but it's the right thing to do.
Both guys I fished with didn't take potty breaks, and one said he tried not to drink anything so he wouldn't have to stop fishing. And they weren't willing to take the time to eat. Every minute fishing was time better spent.
You'll hear anglers complain about the cold but the fact is they are prepared for any kind of weather.
Preparation, or put another way - anticipating conditions and being able to adjust to them - is a GOOD THING!
Both Pro's I fished with relied on finesse tactics, using spinning gear with light line, and shakey head jigs with small finesse worms attached, or Dropshot rigs with a small worm rigged wacky style. Some guys were catching fish on more conventional baitcasting gear and heavy jigs (3/4 to 1 1/2oz) in water anywhere from the shallows to very deep (60ft) ledges, but in my observations, finesse was the bread and butter technique for these clear water bass.
When fishing points, both guys I fished with seemed to concentrate on the sides of the points, not the ends of the points.
2007-02-21 19:50:30
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