Supermoon and bass fishing

I've never fished a Supermoon, have you? I think I'll try hitting Lake Austin Saturday night from late afternoon until midnight or so. Lake Austin in Central Texas is very popular with wake boarders and water skiers so when it gets warm outdoors, it is very difficult to fish and some might say dangerous during the day. I prefer to fish it at night in summer.

This is one lake where the trophy potential is really high, but the number of fish you catch (at least for me) is not very high. I really struggle there. I think I'm fishing in the right areas, but I'm doing something wrong.

Is it my presentation or lures or both? I know some big fish are taken on Senkos there, but my biggest L. Austin bass has come with my favorite lunker lure, the 10-inch Power Worm. I caught that one last summer about 3 a.m. (See my post from May 3 on how I rig the Power Worm.)

I've had some good L. Austin fish on that I've lost while using Senkos, but I am working on refining my technique; and I'm thinking I'm getting close to finding the right hook for those too. Lately, I've been experimenting with 6/0 and 7/0 wide gap Owner hooks for 6-inch and 7-inch Senkos; and my landing rates are going up.

I think the bigger Senkos ball-up more when a bass inhales it, so the bigger hook gets better results. Again, I'm thinking big fish when I go to some of these lakes so I don't want to chance losing one when it does hit. Big baits = big bass, or as we say here, Go Big or Go Home!

For 5-inch Senkos, the 5/0 Owner or Gamakatsu hooks are working well for me.

I switched to the big hooks last fall on one of my trips to Falcon, and I was really impressed on how well the bigger hooks worked. Best part is they are the same hooks I'm using with Zoom Magnum Flukes so I don't have to retie, if I switch plastics. This time of year and until fall, I'm fishing at night a lot, so the bigger hook does not effect the way the fish react to the Senko.

Last summer I lost several good bass on L. Austin at night because I was using 5/0 hooks on the 6- and 7-inch Senkos. I'm sure I wasn't getting a good hook set.

I fish these Texas rigged, weight less. I patiently wait for the bait to get down to the depth I want rather than putting on a bullet weight. If I feel a need to put on a big weight, I'll fish the Power worm.

And I've gone to heavier line and heavy-action Kistler rods for big throwing Senkos. (By the way, it is amazing how far you can cast a 7-inch Senko — even with 20-pound line.)

A few days ago, I posed a question on a fishing forum of what month Texas anglers have caught their personal-best bass. Every month was mentioned multiple times (and there were many replies), so it is encouraging. Normally, we think once the spawn winds down, the chance of getting a big bass diminishes too. Not so, at least not in Texas.

This summer I plan on fishing Lake Austin and Choke Canyon at night much more. When I get on a good pattern, I'll keep you in the loop.