The sunfish are finally in their summertime spots at Lady Bird (4-6 feet of water, under overhanging branches or around laydowns).

Sunday I put my Kayak in at Stephen F. Austin High School at 6 am, headed up Barton Creek. Due to all of the rain the creek is flowing pretty quickly and is deep enough that I can get almost all the way to the swimming pool. Fished my way down the creek, then headed down stream on the main lake to fish the railroad bridge (where I caught a few pretty decent 7-8" Blue Gill), before heading back upstream and fishing the south bank. The lake is a few inches high, and both the up and downstream spillways are open, the current is running about 2 mph. Water is warm, 78 F according to my Lowrance, and so was the air (79 when I hit the water at 6am, 96 when I finished up at 11:30).

Was a great day of fishing. I caught this big old girl in an eddy all the way up the creek by the Barton Springs Pool. Caught her on a Strike King Bitsy Minnow, in less than 3' of water, with 6 lb test mono, on an ultralight rod. She pulled a lot of drag before tiring out. My bump board is only 20" long unextended and I didn't have enough hands to extend the board, hold her, and take a picture. My best estimate is that she was about 24" and between 5 and 6 lbs. The biggest bass I've caught in a long time. (My picture doesn't do her justice, since my hand is between the camera and the fish it's the opposite of those 'make a 6 lb fish look double digit photos'...my hand looks bigger the fish looks smaller, but take a look at the size of her mouth compared to my hand.)

Of course I caught a few other typical (for me) LBL bass who's eye's are bigger than their bellies, like these two:


A nice blue gill caught by the railroad bridge:

And a decent long ear, caught under one of the private docks north of Mopac-


Overall a great day, caught 82 assorted sun fish, and six bass, all on either a Strike King Bitsy Minnow or Gulp Alive Minnows (Watermelon Pearl) on a 1/64 oz jig head. A nice day to be on the water.

Great report and great fish as usual. Now I know where I can catch a 6lb. bass in Barton Creek I've only fished Barton creek once, beautiful little creek.

Nice fish!

Thanks J-Moe. You're right about Barton Creek being a beautiful spot to fish. Until the rental place opens up you forget you're in the heart of downtown Austin. I'm not a tournament fisherman. Heck, frankly I'm not that good of a fisherman, I live up to my favorite T-Shirt:



So I'm not too secretive about my spots (especially on a forum like this where folks have been more than generous with advice, lure suggestions, and techniques). There are a lot of five and six pound bass in Barton Creek...the hard part is catching them, they're so lure shy that I think the only way to catch them is by trying to catch sunfish. (There are some big carp as well, but have no idea how one goes about catching a carp.) This one hit my lure before I even closed the bail on my spinning reel, so it was a pure reaction strike.

I caught this one on 6/7, a little further downstream, but same thing, reaction strike to a lure thrown at the edge of an eddy.


There are some big sunfish in the creek by the bridges and laydowns in the creek. Like these:



The one secret I'm keeping is where on LBL I caught this one, I didn't realize she would have been a lake record until Chuck told me and I'm hoping to catch her again (not looking hopeful since it's been two years since I saw her last, but maybe her kids haven't strayed far from where I caught her.

Awesome post and fish. Good job.


Side Note: Super Bass!

awesome pics and post! thanks for sharing

I like that coppernose!

Congrats, nice catch!
I just wish they were safe to eat, but I guess home owners have to spray chems on their lawns to keep them free from insects.
My best friend (now passed) told me his dad was full of stories of the crowds of people who used to camp, swim and fish from the banks back before WWII and when the water was still clean.

Great stuff I only fish with a fly rod and small flies so that sounds like a good combination for Barton. Thanks for sharing.

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

Always love those Austin area post. Nice fish and thanks for sharing.

Thanks everyone...not embarrassed to say I was thrilled to catch that bass, especially on 6 lb test and an ultralight rod. Pretty sure she's in the top five I've ever caught. (I grew up in Rhode Island, big trout, big pickerel, small bass.)

Chasdev- unfortunately there's still a lot of camping on the banks, the only catch is it's homeless people now.

J-Moe- I don't see him often, but there's a gentleman who fly fishes LBL out of a PA-14. We've chatted a few times in passing and he seems to have some luck, though I don't think I've ever seen him in Barton Creek, and almost no one fishes as far upstream as I do.

Awesome post and some super nice fish. Good job JohnF67!


Side Note: Love fishing the LBL!