New Yogurt-based Fish Attractant?! – 43 Fish, Stillhouse, 04 Oct. 2014

This morning I fished with Sophia and Andrew L. of Killeen.  Neither had ever caught a fish before, so, we had our work cut out for us!

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Andrew and Sophia both earned their “First Fish Awards” this cool October morning by landing the first fish of their lives!

Sophia was quite cautious about the whole boat concept and tensed up a bit as the boat listed a bit to one side as her brother shifted his weight.  I assured her this was normal and she seemed to be okay with that.

We headed out of the “No Wake” zone and over to an area I wanted to check with sonar.  We found little there, but I began to describe to the two of them how things would come together once we found some fish on the electronics.  Sophia informed me that, “Fish are very slimy and disgusting creatures, and if I ever wind up catching one I’ll most likely head for the hills!”   Wow!  Maybe my work wasn’t cut out for me after all.

At the second area we surveyed with sonar, I found what we were after — baitfish and gamefish all mixed together in the lower third of the water column.  I gave the kids each tasks that contributed to our success, slowly at first, then, as they mastered those tasks, added more tasks until they were fishing fairly independently.

Sophia’s rod went off first and she came up with a double — two white bass caught at the same time on her umbrella rig.  Low and behold, she did NOT head for the hills, but was now ready to catch another!  Andrew followed in short order with a single white bass, and so it went with the kids catching singles, doubles, and even three triples.  Both kids now had landed the first fish of their lives and, in so doing, earned a Texas Parks and WIldlife Dept. “First Fish Award”. We wound up with 18 fish in the first hour and 30 fish in the first 90 minutes.  The morning’s action was definitely front-loaded, as the action began to drop off around 9:15am and was all but done by 10am.  We fished until around 11:15, picking up only a handful of fish in the last hour.

One funny thing happened as we were cruising from one area to another.  Sophia’s mom had packed her a “Go-Gurt” which is like a soft squeeze-tube filled with yogurt, intended to be convenient and packable.  When the “Go-Gurt” was consumed, the empty pouch, resembling an icicle pouch, was flat and ribbon-like.  Sophia discovered that when this pouch was held by one end up over her head as we went about 35 mph, the pouch would flap and pop like a flag.  Unfortunately, as the kids were seated in front of me and Sophia flew the Go-Gurt flag, the opened end was the end flapping in the breeze.  Well, not exactly all of the Go-Gurt was actually out of the pouch, so, when these thick, opaque “raindrops” began splattering up my polarized glasses, I quickly realized what was going on and ordered the Go-Gurt flag lowered to half-mast.

We downrigged 80% of the time, with occasional short breaks used to work slabs through fish we found heavily schooled on the bottom.

We caught a grand total of 43 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 41 white bass.

 

TALLY = 43 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  58F

Water Surface Temp:  78.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NE12 tapering to ENE8

Sky Conditions:  Cloudless, clear “bluebird” skies

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1246-1449 was active for the first 45 minutes of the trip

**Area 1450 lit up for about 45 minutes after Area 1246 got quiet

**Area 1259/1412 gave up a few towards trip’s end

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com