Camping Loop Cove has the most productive eel grass on the lake right now. Personally, I always fish South Point Cove because of the numerous eel grass patches, but I never catch any fish in there.

Went Wednesday and water temps are moving up pretty quick. Water temps were around 58 - 60 early, but it got up to 82 degree Wed and by noon most of the areas I fished were in the mid 60's water temps. Fished 7:30 to about 2:30. Caught 19. The jig bite is on!! 13 or 14 of them came on a jig and they were thumping it. I couldn't get much of a bite in the reeds. I think I caught 3 or 4 in/around the shallow stuff in less than 3 feet. Most of the jig bites came in around 8 - 10 feet of water. Typical Strop bass though. Biggest was about 2 3/4. Most were around 2 pounds with a couple of real dinks. And the two smallest came on the jig as well. Did hook into one that looked to be close to 4 on a ned rig in 18', but she pulled off at the boat. I'm really just learning Bastrop and found a really cool drop off with a very small defined hard spot. Got 3 or 4 bites on it, but it looks like it will be more of a summer time pattern hole. All in all a beautiful day and nothing better than a jig bite!

We went today. It is a 2-hour 15-minute drive from our house, so we didn't get on the water until 8:30am. With the full moon and clear skies, we could have been fishing at 6:30am. I was wondering if the beautiful weather and low winds would bring out the boaters, and it did. We wound up with 27 LMB and got off of the water at 2:00pm. High water temp was about 65 degrees. Water was silted from last week's high winds. Still do not see any eel grass in about 2/3's of the lake.

because no one ever takes any fish from the lake. everyone is catch and release. makes for a TON of fish in the lake. now, in defense of those that dont take fish, who wants to filet a 12" bass and its illegal to take 14-21" ad you can only take one over 21" (which are rare anyway).

many moons ago tpwd was surveying anglers for ideas how to make bastrop a better fishing lake. as far as i know they considered all ideas and did...nothing except move it to a 14-21 slot. several recommendations to make the lake a 18-24 or even a 16-24 slot for a few years to decrease the population and competition for food were completely ignored.
more evidence of overpopulation - they havent added fish of any species to the lake since 1997 (catfish) and no bass have been added in 30 years.

it says something that the lake record has stood (and not even been sniffed) since 1991.

i fish bastrop regularly and have since the early 70s. 5-6# used to be, well not regular but common. the largest fish i've boated since 2000 went 5.5# and other than that ive always called it a big bastrop fish if it is over 3.5. i've seen the lake survive heat, cold, flood, algae bloom, choking hydrilla, lmb virus (which actually helped the health of the bass population greatly) and other "catastrophes". the lake is indestructible as far as fishing goes, but it isa numbers lake and not a heavy fish lake anymore and never will be until tpwd decides to do something about it.

This is a great post. In the last 15 years, I too have seen all types of bad things gang up on Bastrop. This obviously includes extreme cold and heat. Nothing has EVER wiped out the eel grass. These temperature extremes don't and won't eliminate the eel grass over half of the lake. SOMEONE SPRAYED THIS LAKE.

I was on the water on 2/16 and there was a very nice officer checking all the boats. When leaving the park ranger was outside and stopping boats. Apparently they just found tilapia in the lake and found some guys were taking them out of Fayette and were caught stocking Bastrop.

They already have concerns about the destruction cast netters do to the beds (their words not mine but I tend to agree)

Im new to this lake first year fishing this area not sure how valid this new is but they came from the park attendant directly. With the officer out there makes sense they were doing some sort of survey too.

We saw and talked to the same guys and heard the same story and I believe it as I saw a bunch of tilapia. The bad thing is those things can reproduce every 3-4 months.
I 100% agree with the points made about the slot allowing too many small fish to survive and it turning into a numbers lake.

Any chance this new forage could increase the bass size by providing more food or now is this just competitor for food source...

I did a solo trip on Bastrop today. Got on the water about 8:15am, with overcast skies and cool temps. Started fishing Camping Loop Cove. Couldn't see a dang thing in the water. Although I have been catching fish there and just about there only, I never got a bite. Decided to go "grass hunting" around the lake. I found very, very few areas that had any. The West Wall produced 5 bass in a 30-minute stretch, then nothing. Caught 1 here and 1 there for a whopping grand total of 12 fish.

I clobbered em Tuesday on LBJ before the front. My best 5 was around 21 pounds. (saw Media team results this morning...that would have put me in 2nd. But again, post cold front yesterday.)Started to go to the Strop yesterday, but went to Decker. Bad decision. Water temps backed down into the upper 50's and fish moved back out some. Saw a few up shallow but just cruising. Lake was packed. I fished from 8 til noon and only caught 3. All around 3 pounds. Some days you're the hammer...some days the nail.

This Saturday may 4th is the cast for kids event at south shore park. We will be taking kids out with disabilities to show them the joy of the outdoors and boat fishing.

Please be mindful if you see a boat with a disabled child and if possible share any fishing tips so we can try our best to give these kids a good experience.

I suggest if you are not taking part to launch out of North shore park to help with parking and keeping the docks open.

ShaneTX, that is awesome to hear! We do something similar at Fayette County in October with the Kids Unlimited Foundation.