The Fish Manager — SKIFF Trip #6, 35 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow Lake

 This morning I conducted the sixth SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard 8-year-old Jackson Browning of Harker Heights, TX.  and 9-year-old Kaden Lehrman of Zabcikville, Texas, located in rural east Bell County.  Kaden’s grandparents treated him to this outing while Jackson’s adventure was a SKIFF-funded outing courtesy of the Austin Fly Fishers.

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Kaden and Jackson show the best of the bunch after we culled all but our largest two white bass.  Guess which one has a dad in the Army.

Jackson is the son of Major Chris Browning and Mrs. Terri Browning.   MAJ Browning is currently deployed to Kosovo as a U.S. Army military intelligence officer assigned to the 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade.  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.
I picked Jackson up for this trip as 1) it was pretty much on my way to the boat ramp and 2) he has a younger sister, so, we let her and mom skip the early morning drive and got acquainted on our way to the boat ramp.
Kaden arrived punctually with his mom, Michelle, and, within a few minutes we were pushing back from the boat ramp onto Stillhouse Hollow to hunt for fish.
Because it was fairly calm this morning, we conducted a few “listening stops” where we turned off the outboard, remained silent and just looked and listened for natural signs — fish splashing, birds feeding, nervous water caused by bait movement — anything to help crack the location code for the fish we were pursuing.
After observing little, I began our search where we’d contacted fish about this time of the morning yesterday.  This turned out to be a good call, as we found abundant, schooled white bass holding tight to the bottom in 41 feet of water.  There was not much of an indicator that these fish were present, but, as we downrigged over them, fish came screaming up off the bottom 5-7 feet to inspect the downrigger weight as it moved over top of them.  Whenever this happens it is as close to a sure thing that these fish will hit the baits as they pass by as anything is going to be in fishing.  Sure enough, on 2 separate passes made in close succession, the fish hit our presentations shortly after the fish rose up to the level of the ball.  I threw out a marker buoy on these fish so as to capitalize on what we’d found by vertically jigging for these fish instead of settling for just a few on the downriggers.  We sat over these fish and caught 10 with plenty of fish still showing when, out of nowhere, the wind shifted nearly 180 degrees and the bite just shut down.  Although we still observed a few fish on and near bottom, we couldn’t even get them to hit live bait.
Kaden is quite an experienced fisherman for a kid of only 9.  He attended a “fishing summer camp” last summer and is headed to the saltwater version of that camp this summer.  He knows all the lingo, all the native species in our Texas waters, and he’s got a lot of persistence.  He let me know he was really looking forward to fishing for sunfish in a way he’d never tried before, as I had mentioned it to him earlier this year when his grandpa brought him out for some live shad fishing for hybrid stripers on Belton Lake.
Seeing that white bass bite die so quickly gave me the cue to go ahead and get the boys transitioned over to  fishing for sunfish.  We rigged up our slipfloats, baited up with Gulp! maggots and got to a healthy hydrilla patch just as some manner of insect hatch was beginning.  This brought the sunfish out of the hydrilla in force and got them in the feeding mood.  We caught fish after fish until the novelty wore off for Jackson, at which time he assumed the role of “Fish Manager” (he came up with that).  As Fish Manager, he would keep a damp minnow net “at the ready” behind Kaden and I as I worked the trolling motor and he continued to boat sunfish.  When we caught a sunfish, I’d place it in Jackson’s waiting net and he’d either release it, or place it in the livewell for observation and later release.  All I know was that both boys were having a good time, so, I didn’t make any changes to the arrangement that was working so well.
In the end, we wound up with 35 fish for our efforts.  We never did see or hear any manner of topwater schooling activity.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45am

End Time: 10:45am

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 80.4F
Wind: W9 at sunrise & until 8:15a, then shifting ENE5 thereafter and tapering to near calm by trip’s end
Skies: Fair with 10% clouds
Other Notes: GT20
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 231: sunfishing
** Vicinity of Area 1396: downrigging/smoking for white bass

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Look for the Positive — 27 Fish, SKIFF Trip #5, Stillhouse Hollow

This morning I conducted the 5th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season with youth from two military families joining me, including 8-year-old Antonio (Tony) Butler, 12-year-old Jayden Koop, and 15-year-old Khayman Koop.

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Here was my crew for today:  L to R: Jayden Koop, Khayman Koop, and Antonio Butler.

 

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Jayden caught 3 fish at one time (a “triple”) as we downrigged for deep, suspended white bass holding at 37 feet over a 42 foot bottom.

 

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Khayman served as my “first mate” today, taking care of everything I could not, all to make sure the younger 2 kids had a good, safe outing.

 

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Antonio was very squeemish about holding his fish for a photo, even with the fish-gripper, but, he was brave enough long enough for me to snap this photo.

 

Antonio is the eldest of the two sons of U.S. Army Sergeant Terrence Butler and his wife, Elizabeth.  SGT Butler is currently beginning a 30-day rotation with his nuclear/biological/chemical unit at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, taking him away from home during the time when Antonio was to celebrate his 8th birthday.

Jayden and Khayman’s father, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jeremy Koop is now just several weeks into a 1-year unaccompanied tour as an Army paralegal to Camp Casey in South Korea.  Jayden and Khayman previously joined me in 2009 on the 7th SKIFF trip ever conducted while their dad was deployed to Iraq.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

I coordinated this trip specifically to pair Jayden and Khayman up with Antonio when I learned that Antonio was taking it hard about his dad not being present for his birthday.  Jayden and Khayman have both faced such things several times with their dad away serving during holidays, birthdays, and other special events, and I knew that they would be willing to befriend Antonio during our time on the water.  During a transition from fishing in one area on our way to another, I asked Jayden and Khayman to give Antonio any tips or advice they had for dealing with dad being gone.  Jayden didn’t have to think long at all to offer that, “You have to look for the positive.”  When I asked her to explain that, she said that you have to think about the good things you have to look forward to spread out over the time that your parent is away, and that you can’t just sit in the house an be sad about it.  Evidently, Antonio “got it”, as he then mentioned several things that he then realized his mom had planned for him to do to help pass the time — including going fishing and swimming.

The fishing was just fair today which was to be expected with our very turbulent weather and the fact that the thermocline has not yet set up strongly lake-wide.

We ensured a “quick score” for Antonio by parking on top of a sunfish colony right after launching, and putting 17 sunfish of all sorts and sizes in the boat in our first 30 minutes.

We then headed out to open water and downrigged for white bass.  Jayden scored first and scored big on this method, boating a bona fide “triple”, catching 3 white bass at the same time on an umbrella rig.

We wrapped up our trip on a midlake hump in about 25 feet of water fishing live bait near bottom.  We picked up 5 more white bass here.   Fortunately, the fish stayed active up until the last 20 minutes or so, so even though the action wasn’t red-hot, it was consistent from start to finish.

TALLY = 27 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45am

End Time: 10:45am

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 81.4F
Wind: S14 at sunrise, tapering back to S5 by trip’s end
Skies: Overcast grey
Other Notes: GT0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 200: sunfishing
** Vicinity of Area 1245-1246: downrigging

**Vicinity of Area 803: white bass on bottom

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Good Grief — 21 Fish, SKIFF Trip #4, Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

This morning I conducted the 4th SKIFF Trip of the 2014 season and welcomed aboard Mrs. Nancy Phimmasone and her 3 children, Asia (13), Qwentin (10), and Aiyana (6).  The kids and Nancy lost their father and husband on the 29th of April, 2013, while he was serving on active duty in the rank of Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army with the 1st Cavalry Division as a mortarman.

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Asia holds the larger of the 2 fish she broke the ice with as she reeled in a “double”, catching 2 fish at a time on an umbrella rig this morning.

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Qwentin liked the fishing, but loved the gadgets.  I upgraded to Cannon Digi-Troll 10 electronic downriggers this season and he LOVED pressing the buttons!

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Unable to convince Aiyana at first that holding fish was safe, mom helped out a little to capture her prize on film.

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An hour later, as confidence grew, Aiyana held this one “all by herself”!

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

This week the family returned to Ft. Hood to allow the kids to participate in the “Good Grief” Camp, put on specifically for military kids whose parent lost their life while serving the nation.
This (Super-) mom departed the DeSoto, TX area near Dallas around 3:30am for a timely arrival at the boat ramp for our 7:00am push back.
The morning was very pleasant for June in Texas — calm, dry, and around 67F in the wake of a mild cool front’s passage yesterday.
With a 6-year old on board, we split the trip into 2 distinct halves: downrigging early for white bass and casting up shallower later in the trip for sunfish.
Things are still a bit slow as we transition from a slow-developing spring into summer, as the thermocline has not yet set up.  Regardless, we managed 11 white bass fishing with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs.  Of these 11, 6 came in the form of “doubles” when the kids pulled in fish two-at-a-time on these rigs.
Around 9:00am the novelty wore off the downrigging, so we turned our attention on shallow sunfish buried down in the blossoming hydrilla beds.
Asia and Qwentin hung with the program, but the early wake-up was starting to take its toll on little Aiyana.  We used slip corks baited up with Gulp maggots to fool another 10 sunfish before the Texas heat and calm wind let us all know it was time to call it a morning.
Nancy and her family headed on to a hotel in Killeen awaiting check in at the Good Grief camp tomorrow.  She was looking forward to a few days of down-time without kids as the camp runs Thurs. – Sun.
She expressed her thanks to me and all of you who make SKIFF happen for giving her and her kids some time to unwind before what will be an emotional but necessary few days ahead.
We caught 21 fish today and enjoyed one another’s company while doing it!

 TALLY = 21 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time: 11:00am

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 79-80F
Wind: Calm
Skies: Bluebird
Other Notes: GT0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 1395 to 862 downrigged for white bass
** Vicinity of Area 1394 slipfloats for sunfish

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

That Was Really Fun! 33 Fish, Stillhouse, 08 June 2014

This morning I fished with husband and wife John and Michelle Stapleton of Killeen, Texas.  John is in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, and Michelle works in the procurement department at Metroplex hospital.  The couple has 3 young adult children.

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Michelle holds our best bass of the trip.  This one went just a shade over 3.00 pounds and took a lively 6″ bait.

 

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Michelle’s first big fish of the day came off shallow hydrilla beds.  This one was just shy of 3.00 pounds.

I first met John when he was invited along on a guided fishing trip with me by his old Army buddy, Rob Stubblefield, who has since transitioned into civilian life operating underwater ROV’s (remotely operated vehicles) in the oil industry.
We fished Stillhouse today, as my last morning trip on Belton under murky skies and with a SE wind made for some very tough fishing.  Indeed, even on Stillhouse we struggled a bit for the first 2 hours while the winds were from the SE and the skies were grey, but, by around 8:30 or 9:00am, after boating only 6 fish up to that point, the skies began to clear and the winds shifted just west of south and the fishing immediately picked up, staying solid through 10:30am.
We fished up shallow over hydrilla beds using large baitfish and targeting largemouth bass while it was still early, and before the sun began to shine through the clouds.  We managed to boat 3 largemouth bass, 2 sunfish, and 1 white bass while fishing along a deep edge of hydrilla, topping out at 12-15 feet below the surface.
I searched a number of deeper areas, down to 30 feet, some with only sparse hydrilla and some with no vegetation at all, to no avail.
We made a move to a different section of the lake and, on a moderately defined hump topping out in 22-25 feet of water, we graphed some fish holding both together and near bottom (this is a feeding posture).  We got into a hover over these fish using i-Pilot technology and put baits down. Our largest fish of the trip, a well-proportioned 3 pound largemouth, hit our bait before we could get the fourth of our four rods down in the water.  This was just the tip of the iceberg, as fish continued to use this hump for the next 90 minutes, allowing us to consistently boat largemouth bass, freshwater drum, and (mainly) white bass.
As we allowed the bait to do its job, I suggested we also work artificials.  Soon, John was putting on his own show on the starboard side of the boat catching white bass in the 11-12.5″ range consistently on his silver blade bait worked very near bottom.
When all was said and done we’d boated 33 fish.  Michelle said at least three times from the time we reeled in the last rod in preparation for our travel back to the ramp and the time we said goodbye in the parking lot, “That was really fun!”.  And it was!!
The fishing is not “off the charts” right now as we just now beginning to transition to summer fishing with the formation of the thermocline, but, we worked at it and put together an enjoyable morning with several nice largemouth bass to show for it.

 TALLY = 33 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 11:00am

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 79-80F
Wind: SSE5-6, shifting to SSW12-13
Skies: Grey skies for first 2 hours, then fair skies with 30% white clouds
Other Notes: GT0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 1394 – 6 shallow fish of hydrilla beds
** Vicinity of Area 803/805 – 27 fish off mid-depth hump

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Just Rub His Head for Good Luck! — 61 Fish, Belton Lake, 06 June 2014

Today I fished an evening trip on Belton (my first non-morning trip in quite a while) with the Linder Family.  Joining me was MJ (dad), Gene (MJ’s dad), Elliot (MJ’s son), and Audrey (MJ’s daughter).  Given the very tough fishing of the past week, I was pleasantly surprised by our solid results.

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L to R: Gene, MJ, and Audrey with several of the larger fish from a school of hybrid of mixed sizes.  These larger fish hit first, then the smaller ones moved in after that.

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Grandpa Gene caught our largest fish of the trip on a large gizzard shad fished within 5 feet of bottom.

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Elliot (after head rubbing?) persisted and landed his first legal hybrid just as the sun was setting.

MJ is a “mobile physical therapist”, providing PT support to patients in their homes.  Gene is retired from the computer software business and from the administration at Abilene Christian University.  Elliot just graduated high school and is headed to Abilene Christian, and Audrey just wrapped up her sophomore year of high school.    The occasion for the trip was Gene’s visit from Abilene for Elliot’s graduation.

In preparation for this trip I netted sufficient live shad (~120 baits) including a mix of threadfin and gizzard shad.

As with most evening trips, the first 2 hours was slow, giving up only 6 fish.  The final 2+ hours is when things really began to happen, and in the last 45 minutes of that final 2+ hours the fish bit nearly non-stop.

Our first area fished was at the top of a deep breakline where the fish were oriented near the bottom in ~30 feet of water.  The more productive second area we fished saw fish suspended at 15-20 feet down over a gently tapering 30 foot bottom.

As often happens when larger and smaller hybrid are mixed together, the larger hybrid in the mix at this second area attacked our baits first, then the smaller, more numerous fish got their turn.  Once the smaller fish began to feed we encountered lots of fun action, with an occasional larger (18″ legal sized fish) being caught just every so often.

The Linder’s were a fun family to fish with — they were all out to catch fish but also to enjoy the reunion and one another’s company, as well.  Towards the middle of the slower first half of the trip, Audrey, who knows Elliot has a quirky aversion to having his head rubbed, suggested everyone rub Elliot’s head “for good luck”.  Now, Elliot was the last of the 4 to catch his first fish, and also the last of the four to land a “keeper-sized” hybrid.  Now, I could be mistaken, but, as Elliot was intently watching his rod waiting for that big strike indicating a large hybrid had taken his bait, I though I saw him ease his left hand up under his hat and rub his own head — I could be wrong on that — you’ll have to ask Elliot, I guess.  Either way, his rod went down and up came a nice hybrid of the sort he was waiting for.

We wound up with 61 fish including 14 legal hybrid striped bass, 4 largemouth bass, and with the balance consisting of a mix of white bass and short (<18″) hybrid striped bass.  Due to the number of smaller hybrid in the mix, our smaller gizzard shad and threadfin shad produced best, as the larger gizzard shad typically got “thumped” and killed by the smaller hybrid with “eyes bigger than their belly” as they attacked and killed the baits without being able to swallow them sufficiently to allow the hook to do its job.

 TALLY = 61 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 4:45p

End Time: 9:00p

Air Temp.: 92F
Water Surface Temp.: 79-80F
Wind: SSE12-13
Skies: Fair skies with 20% white clouds
Other Notes: GT50
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 953 – 6 fish off bottom
** Vicinity of Area 1393 – 55 fish suspended at 15-20 feet

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Breaking Him in Right; 26 Fish, Stillhouse, 05 June 2014

This morning I welcomed U.S. Army Captain Sean Hayball and his son, Joshua, aboard for a trip focused on making Joshua successful.

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Joshua caught his personal best big fish today with this 14.25″ largemouth bass.

Joshua has accompanied the family on previous fishing excursions before, but those efforts tended to devolve into wet-wading, rock throwing and “souvenir” collecting.  So, now at the age of 6 1/2, it was time to try again with a little more intentionality.
Before we got going, I shared a few things with Sean about the approach I would take, which was to focus on instant gratification, include plenty of transitions, and monitor for signs that the novelty was wearing off whatever we were currently engaged in.
The white bass bite has been “funky” as I explained in my previous post.  So, having observed this early in the week and having seen no significant change in the weather to bring about a change to this situation, we focused on sunfish and dabbled with largemouth bass on bait.
We found plenty of sunfish in and along the edge of the shallow hydrilla which was just placed an additional 1.8 feet underwater by our recent incoming runoff, and boated exactly 24 of them in just two stops on slipcorks and maggots.
Once the appetite to boat and handle a few fish was satisfied, we’d ease out into open water to gun for some white bass and largemouth.  We only picked up on white bass by sight casting to a surface-feeding school, and we missed another early on the downriggers.  We also only picked up one largemouth bass after missing our first 3 opportunities due to some rookie mistakes.
Long story short, even in a very tough fishing period Sean and I worked together to make a very positive, successful, memorable event for Joshua.  Then, when we saw he was about mentally checked out of the fishing mode for the morning, we called an end to the trip, thus finishing on a strong, positive note.  This kind of experience makes kids eager to return for more and it the kind of thing that assures dads of having a fishing buddy for life.
Thank you, Sharon, for setting the guys up for success, and, “Good job, Joshua, on your big fish!”.

 TALLY = 26 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:20a

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 78-79F
Wind: SSW6-8
Skies: Fully greyed over the entire trip.
Other Notes: GT5
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 1098 and 189 for sunfish
** Vicinity of Area 124/125 for largemouth

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Fishing through the Funk; 6 Fish, Belton Lake, 03 June 2014

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know I have a “no sugar-coating” policy and tell it like it is, good or bad.  Well, it was bound to happen sometime.  The nice ride we’ve been on since early April coinciding with the spawning of the threadfin shad finally came to a crashing halt over the weekend with the last significant schools of shad being seen spawning this past Saturday, 31 May, on Belton.  If history is any teacher, fishing for white bass and hybrid will be tough for the next 7-10 days or so as the thermocline further develops, the water warms quickly through the 70’s and into the 80’s, and the fish get into their summer patterns.

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Fishing was tough today for father and son pair Steve and Hunter Crawford of Beaumont, Texas.

Riding out this tough bite with me was father and son Steve and Hunter Crawford of Beaumont, Texas.  Hunter is a 2nd year business major at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX.  His mom and dad came in for a visit before he starts the summer semester which he’s chosen to take to lighten his spring and summer semester course load, given that he works nearly full time at the local Schlotzsky’s restaurant in Belton.
Based on some early morning scouting yesterday, I suspected things would be tough, so, I came loaded for bear, bringing bait rods, topwater rods, jigging rods, and downrigging rods.  As it turned out, we caught 3 fish on live bait and 3 fish on the downriggers.  The bite was just off.  We found only a few fish hanging in areas where hundreds had been less than a week ago, and even those fish we found were hard to convince to bite.
Nearly everywhere we went I found actively feeding schools of white bass on the surface staying up for anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes at at time, but these fish were totally focused on the barely visible young of the year shad and would simply not strike anything we threw despite many accurate casts being worked right through the schools.  These fish were so obstinate they reminded me of fishing for wild trout locked in to a certain sort of fly during a major hatch on the northeastern rivers I used to fish.
Just because we didn’t load the boat didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy the day.  Steve was glad to be with his son and be away from his job at the refineries in Beaumont, and Hunter was enjoying the downtime between semesters and having his folks around for a few days.
I suspect this tough fishing will endure for another week or 10 days.  Typically, once we get some clear, truly hot (98+F) weather and a true southerly or southwesterly wind for a few days, things begin to straighten out and the fish get predictable once again.

 TALLY = 6 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 77-78F
Wind: SE8-9
Skies: Fully greyed over the entire trip.
Other Notes: GT35
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Shad activity was non-existent this morning
** Vicinity of Area 835  – 2 largemouth on bait
** Vicinity of Area 717  – 1 white bass on bait
** Vicinity of Area 214 – 3 white bass on downriggers

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas