Austin Bass Fishing

Austin’s Blowing Up

Attison with a nice one on Lady Bird

It’s no secret Austin’s blowing up in just about every way imaginable.

New skyscrapers seem to pop up every day, new sprawling condos replace restaurants and bars, and companies from Tesla to Google, Facebook, and Oracle have all set up shop.

For better or worse, Austin’s now known for its tech scene as much as honky tonks and live music.

Source: KVUE

The secret’s out—Captain’s hometown of Austin is the place to be, and people are flooding in from other parts of Texas, the US, and the world.

Getting away from it all

It’s getting tougher and tougher to dodge the crowds of bachelor and bachelorette parties hoarding Rainey Street and the party barges on Lake Travis and Lake Austin.

But, if you’re looking to return to Austin’s true roots to unplug from it all, just go fishing.

Bass Fishing in Austin

Bass fishing in Austin couldn’t be more accessible.

The Colorado River system runs right by the doorstep of downtown Austin’s erupting skyline, and big bass abound.

Fishing right at the base of the new Google building on Lady Bird Lake

But beyond Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake), Lake Austin just to the west also offers up plenty of pigs, and a quick drive further west gets you to Lake Travis.

Fishing Lake Travis, with Jake Kennamer, another one of our Austin-area bass guides

And don’t sleep on Decker Lake (aka Walter E. Long) just 20 minutes east of Rainey Street’s bar scene. The secret is officially out on Decker’s bass scene.

Fishing Lady Bird Lake

But in this go-round, we’re talking Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.

We took a break from the grind, got on the water with one of our top Austin bass guides, Carson Conklin, to see what Lady Bird had to offer.

Fishing with Carson

Carson runs a badass bass operation. Known to cover some ground from Lake Travis to the lower Colorado River, Carson stays on the bigguns.

We headed out to fish the spring spawn and weren’t disappointed.

We met Carson at the S Congress bridge, the main north / south street in downtown Austin that runs right up to the State Capital (hence the name).

South Congress Ave (right) leading up to the State Capital

Carson scooping us under the South Congress Bridge

Within minutes, we were fishing the bridges and were hooked up.

Fishing the Lady Bird bridges is no secret—bass love structure, and the giant concrete bases of the bridge pack em in.

Fishing with Carson

From there, we kept cruising. Carson spotted a nice largemouth on another bridge pillar and called his shot. Calling “bank”, Carson dinked one off the bridge post, pinged his bass on the nose, and the fight was on:

More Austin Bass Fishing

Attison and I got in on the action from there, and our quick half day trip was full of nonstop action:

More Austin Bass Fishing

Lady Bird Lake fishing is red-hot during the spring spawn, but the action is great year-round.

I love getting out there on my paddleboard, and while I’m yet to pull a Lady Bird share a lunker worthy bass, I’ll keep trying.