We have just dipped into February here in Texas and that brought some very cold weather. January saw air temps all over the place from the 30's to the 80's and the water temps from the upper 40's to upper 50's. Fishing continued to hold very steady throughout the entire month. There was a good window of opportunity on the largemouth bass where it was pretty common to secure a nice bag of fish along with good numbers. My client groups were more interested in targeting the massive schools of stripers and white bass than focusing in on largemouth and I'm completely ok with that! I mean its really hard to turn down 50-100 plus fish providing consistent and fun action for groups of all skill levels. The Lake Buchanan water level continues to be very low. At time of writing this the lake is about 18ft low which hasn't affected fishing at all just the stock fishing areas have shifted slightly. We are all hoping for some much needed rain to raise the lake level but even if that doesn't happen I'm confident that fishing will be great to incredible as which happens when the lake is low. Most of the ramps are closed on the lake and burnet county park which is my standard launch and pick up ramp offers the only dock accessible to be able to load and unload clients safely. There is also some very dangerous hazards on Buchanan from exposed rock plies to large trees exposed just below the surface of the water an easy way to destroy your boat or hurt someone. Some of these hazards are just adjacent to deep water so I don't recommend navigating before first light. We are currently in the back half of a major freeze and ice storm which we have experienced the past few Februarys here. Which is going to drop our water temps which means we will have to change up our tactics and presentations slightly. By that I mean slowing down your retrieves. When its cold the fish are not moving fast and they want an easy meal that they don't have to work too hard to catch. A jigging spoon with a very slow retrieve or a simple smooth light of the rod can trigger bites. Along with the dead stick method. Which involves using a bright colored fluke on a heavy lead head in a 3/4-2 oz size and dropped down to where we see fish on electronics and just leaving it there still with a slight twitch every once in awhile. Dead sticking has its time and place and can be a deadly technique. Fish have been all over the lake from the north end to the south end. Channel swings and road beds have all been holding fish. Don't be afraid to look a little shallow also I have been finding fish in 30-35ft out to 60ft deep. I am starting to book up my prime spring trips so if you'd like to book and trip and come out and catch fish and learn some new techniques give me a call at 512-927-9500.
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