The sunfish bite is on fire at LBL. Fished from 6:45 to 11:30 on Sunday morning and caught 44 panfish, mainly Long Eared Sunfish and Bluegill, and one monster LMB. Water temp is already 69.8 degrees according to my Lowrance.

As usual I put in at Stephen F. Austin High School. Headed up Barton Creek. Almost caught a PB Austin Dip Sh!t, guessing about 175lbs. It was still pretty dark as I headed up the creek. I heard, then saw a huge commotion on the surface. My first thought was bass tearing into a school of minnows, then realized they were too big to be bass, was thinking carp. Before I cast into them, I realized it was two swimmers, swimming down the creek and into the main lake. I stopped to let them pass, one swam straight into my bow and proceeded to get irate. I found it humorous that a guy swimming in a lake where swimming isn't allowed was mad because I was paddling a kayak up the middle of the creek.

Since the Kayak/Paddle Board Rental places are closed there wasn't much recreational traffic, even the rowing sculls weren't out in force like they usually are. I did see one bassboat with a 250hp weight in the bank fishing with the trolling motor. Kind of fun to pass them in my kayak.

Fishing in the creek has cooled off a bit, but I did catch the monster bass pictured below. Moved out to the main lake and found them under over hanging branches in shallow (less than 2') of water by drop offs to deeper (10') water. All were caught with a Strike King Bitsy Minnow on 4lb mono. Most were about 4-6", though caught two over 9" that made the drag sing. All in all, a nice day of social distancing.

The monster bass:



A decent Long Eared Sunfish:


A couple Bluegill:

Solid post and some solid fish. Good job.



Side Note: Planning some trips in the near future. Are the parks along LBL still open?

As of today the parks are still open. The only thing closed in the Austin City Parks are pavilions, exercise equipment and playgrounds.

Awesome pics and post JohnF67

Side note: with this warmer weather now is the time to try the tiny jig

Great post ! Love your photography.

Beautiful high quality photos ...Nice report & excellent fish...

Thanks John! A couple of years back I was fishing fishing a cove by the east side of IH 35 that was holding some mighty nice Rios! I also saw some huge carp on the backside over by the baseball fields.

Nice post and pics!

Great report John. I love fishing Lady Bird. Glad to hear the sunfish have started to bite. Was the water level normal?

Love your post. Great kayaking place to fish for sure. As always thanks for sharing.

great pics

Nice post and fish. Good job. Love those Austin area post.

Thanks everyone. Wish I could claim some talent for photography, but it's just my iPhone and some really pretty fish.

@gar 1970 - I just re-spooled one of my reels with 4lb mono and tied on one of your tiny jigs, hope to hit the lake Sunday and try it out, just hope the weather cooperates.

@ banker - I think I know the cove you're talking about, caught some big sunnies in it last summer, I usually fish the upper end of the lake, need to spend more time learning the part East of I35.

@J- Moe - Water level is normal

Yes Sir there were some nice ones for sure. Plan on going back this summer!