Skunked

My wife suggested I go fishing this morning. The weather forecast called for cloudy and drizzly morning with temps in the mid-60s and light variable winds less than 10 mph. This looked fine to me so I drove down to Lago Vista and put in at Arkansas Bend park to fish on Lake Travis. I was really hoping to catch a decent bass on my 5wt.

Since the water is still really low, something like 37' below full level, I drove on shoreline that normally is 10 to 15 feet below the water. I paddled around and looked for fish but it was really difficult finding any. The water temperature was in the low 60s as well so it's likely the fish went deep. I think I saw one large carp the whole three hours I was at the lake but got no bites. It's been a while since I've been skunked. I think I didn't catch any fish maybe one other time this year or maybe two. Still, the weather was mild even with the occassional light shower which made for a pleasant four miles of paddling in the yak. I had no problems casting my 5wt either with the light winds even though nothing bit.

Here is a photo I took of a favorite point I've caught fish from. The water is normally where the dark gray boulders are just below the tree line. Lake Travis has very little underwater vegetation so I key in on structure like the ledges you see in the photo. Baitfish will move along close to those ledges and the bass will not be far from them and occassionally hide in irregular areas along the structure that serve as ambush spots.