The annual spring hybrid bite tied to the spawning of the threadfin shad is now past peak. One of the signs of this is a reduced occurrence of shad spawning in the shallows, and the appearance of young of the year shad (often pursued by white bass) on the surface of the reservoir. Both of these signs were evident today.
I was able to net enough shad for today’s trip, albeit with more effort required than for any other trip thus far this season.
We fished a number of areas today from as shallow as 18 feet to as deep as 40 feet, but never really experienced a solid feed where the fish got excited and competitive and “turned on” to our live baits well. As often happens when the bite is tentative, we had a rather high number of “pull downs” that failed to result in boated fish. Often this is due to technique, but that wasn’t the case today, as both Tony and Ken are experienced in the use of circle hooks.
We boated a mixed bag today consisting of hybrid striped bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, white bass, blue catfish, and a single spotted bass.
I’m officially closing out the Spring 2015 chapter of live bait fishing for another season and will now begin to pursue fish strictly on artificial baits, spending a majority of the time on Stillhouse.
TALLY = 26 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 1:00p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F
Water Surface Temp: 73.2F
Wind Speed & Direction: Light SE2-3mph for the entire trip
Sky Conditions: 100% cloud cover.
Note: White bass feeding on YOY shad in most of Leon arm.
Other: GT=100
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 691
**Area 1560
**Area 509
**Area 1561-1562
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Salado, TX
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com