This is a decent bass I caught on Lake LBJ last summer. I was using a chartreuse yamamoto senko worm in about 15 feet deep near a sandy offshore hump. The wind was blowing about 10 mph out of the southeast, and there was a slight current in the water from the power plant intake nearby. The water was slightly stained. I had caught about 5-6 smaller bass in shallow water around the hump earlier in the morning, but as the sun came up and the bite declined, I decided to move deep and anchor down. I was downwind from the hump, where a underwater ridge intersected with a submerged brush pile. It was about 11:00 am. The water temperature was about 85 degrees, and the air temperature was about 95. I cast deep, and drew the worm about 45 degrees toward the ridge. The bass hit about 10 feet from the boat.

I have had lots of success at this location throughout the seasons, which I dubbed 'honey hump' on my lake map. The hump is about 100 yards offshore from a secondary point. There is a shallow ridge that runs parallel to the shore and bypasses the hump. The bait gets backed up against the hump, and bass patrol the ridge to ambush the bait. I can fairly consistently catch fish here, so I usually stop here on the way out, and on the way back to the dock.

The little camera on my cell-phone doesn't do the fish much justice, but I only had one hand free. This one was about 6 lbs, and looked like he swallowed a baseball!

I regularly fish lakes around Central Texas, including (but not limited to) Travis, Inks, Buchanan, Stillhouse Hollow, Georgetown, Austin, and Bastrop. In my opinion, LBJ is by far the best fishing lake around. The beauty about LBJ is that it is a relatively constant-level lake, with large populations of various fish species. I have caught everything from channel catfish, crappie, largemouth, Guadalupe, spotted bass to white bass and striper. You can't just drop a lure in the water and expect to catch fish, though. There are lots of variations to the lake features, including granite shoals, sandy bottoms, muddy bottoms, grass, stumps, bluffs, and it has river and large lake qualities. If you are willing to burn a little fuel in your boat, you can eventually find the conditions you are looking for. Half of the lake is highly developed, while the other half has no development at all. You can spend half the day fishing stumps, and the other half pitching docks. There's not too many pleasure boaters or jet-skis, but where there are you can find ways to use them to your advantage.

One of the things I like best about LBJ is that it helps me to be a better bass fisherman. I have found that bass set up on strong seasonal patterns, but they are far from predictable. Once you have learned the pattern though, you can easily catch 15-20 fish in a morning. I strictly practice catch-and-release, and I hope that anyone who reads this article and decides to try out LBJ based on my advice does the same.

Once small piece of advice -- (I don't want to reveal all of my tricks) -- keep a 1/2 once chrome and black rattle-trap rigged up on light line. If you see a school of white bass in a feeding frenzy (common in spring time), cast beyond the school and quickly reel in the lure, while pausing and popping every few seconds. Once you get the rhythm, you will catch a fish on every cast. Guaranteed.