This past Saturday afternoon, December 26th, I welcomed aboard a youthful crew of boys — nearly 9-year-old Pate Palomino, 10-year-old Kaden Lehrman, and 11-year-old Blayne Hoelscher.

From left: Blayne Hoelscher, Kaden Lehrman, and Pate Palomino, each with a nice white bass landed between storms in advance of a big cold front this past Saturday, 26 Dec.  We took this shot on shore as we waited for nearby storms to clear before returning to the water.

Pate not only caught the first fish of his life this afternoon, but also landed the largest fish of the trip — this Lake Belton hybrid striped bass, also known as a palmetto bass.  Fishing on the 26th of December in short sleeves!

Kaden was given a fishing gift certificate for Christmas by his grandparents, Don and Monica Mikeska of Temple. We had planned to conduct the trip during the week after Christmas, but, when I saw the duration and severity of the cold front forecast to enter the scene on Saturday night, I called to see if we could bump things up.

Kaden invited his two buddies, Pate and Blayne, along.  At 1:30p Pate and Kaden’s moms arrived with the three boys in tow and dropped them off at the boat ramp. We agreed to meet back at the same place four hours later.

I covered both safety and fishing basics and then we pushed off and got down to business.

Pate had never caught a fish before and, I quickly discovered, has a flair for the dramatic. So you can imagine, when that first fish hit his line and he connected to the life on the end of it, he about came unglued. He was shouting and panicking and rejoicing, all at the same time. I tried to coach him, but adrenaline drowned out anything I said. We captured that 10 inch white bass pretty smoothly, but you’d have thought a one-ton great white just came over the transom by all the commotion that ensued. That was fun!

The boys all got the hang of the necessary vertical jigging technique that would serve us well all afternoon. Their innate desire to compete with one another created an interesting dynamic. They all understood their technique had to be “spot-on” in order to catch fish, so, when one or both of the “other guys” was catching, the one who was not knew that he had to sharpen up on his presentation. This kept all 3 boys in check and fishing very effectively, as no one wanted to fall behind in the fish catching.

Over the 4 hours we were on the water, we caught fish the entire time, literally, from start to finish. The pre-frontal conditions that led me to invite the boys out early had kicked in and were goading these fish to feed hard.

There were 4 times when we had to stop fishing and go to ground on the shoreline due to the rumbling of thunder in the area as isolated, small storm cells quickly passed from south to north. Despite these brief interruptions, we were able to get right back onto active fish each time.

When all was said and done, the boys caught exactly 120 fish.

That first fish of Pate’s lifetime earned him a Texas Parks and Wildlife “First Fish Award”. That streak of beginner’s luck also helped young Pate to put the largest fish of the trip in the boat, as well — a barely 18″ hybrid striper.

We all got soaked to the bone, we all felt the chill that wet clothes make on your skin, we all caught fish, and we all had a really good time!

TALLY = 120 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  60-61F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE15-16 at trip’s start; winds increased as storm cells passed nearby and eased after their passage

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip, with occasional downpours

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1659/1671 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1660/1673 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area triangulated by 1674/1620/1658  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Saturday morning, December 26th, I fished with Steve Stewart of Georgetown, Steve’s son, Nick, Steve’s son-in-law, Brian Massey, and Brian’s son, Owen — three generations on my boat, all looking forward to catching fish.

Brian Massey and his son, Owen, with our very first fish of the day — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid from out of 24 feet of water.  It fell for a 3/8 oz. silver slab.

From left: Nick Stewart, Steve Stewart (to rear), Owen Massey (in foreground), and Brian Massey with 14″ class, beefy white bass caught on slabs under ideal conditions this morning.

Steve owns his own business in Georgetown, Nick works for the Dept. of Defense in Washington, D.C., Brian is a doctor working at Baylor-Scott & White in Round Rock, and Owen is working his way through elementary school.

I was very encouraged about the weather forecast we faced this morning; so encouraged, in fact, that I moved two trips that were scheduled for the following week up to this date.  What I saw was the final day of a long, stable warming trend, with abundant grey cloud cover, SE winds at a high but manageable velocity, and an approaching wet cold front.  All of these things, added to the still-warm 59-60F water temperature added up to a very promising day on the water.

As we departed the ramp area following straightforward instructions on the fairly simple jigging method we’d employ over the duration of the trip, we headed to our first fishing area.  The sonar lit up with bottom-hugging fish tightly schooled together in about 24 feet of water.  Owen took the first crack at these fish and came up with our largest fish of the trip right off the bat — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid.  This area would give up another 19 fish before it played out, sending us looking elsewhere.

One thing I noted today was how the fish did not really stay fired up very long after the first “icebreaker” fish was caught and the school it came from got active.  In fact, the greatest number of fish we caught on a given stop was 20.  We did a lot of “short hops”, in which I simply moved the boat a few yards from where we’d been previously in order to catch fish which refused to move over to the “commotion” we created by catching fish nearby.

As the trip began I left all of the fellows know that in every one of the past 11 trips conducted since the 8th of Dec. we’d boated over 100 fish.  As 11:00am rolled around, we were right at the 98 fish mark, but, as it often does late in the morning, the feed was tapering off quickly.  Everyone focused so we could take advantage of every one of the strikes we got so as to covert them into landed fish.  Steve hooked one and missed it, then Brian hooked one and it got off, then Steve had another one escape — we were just stuck at 98!  Finally, the 99th fish came in after a good bit of effort, and I think we were all really wondering if 100 was going to happen given all the effort we put into that last fish.  Well, young Owen put that wonder out of our minds as he exclaimed, “I’ve got one!”.  We all stopped and watched to see if the fish was going to stay on the hook and come over the gunwale, or not.  By now, Owen was an old pro landing his fair share of the 99 fish we’d boated, and that newfound expertise now shined through.  He put that 100th fish in the boat, and we all cheered and high-fived him for doing a great job!

Now, with the pressure off, the “big guys” all chipped in another fish or two and we ended up our great adventure with 104 fish landed this morning.

I’m concerned that with the strong, wet cold front due into Central Texas Saturday night into Sunday morning, and the “linger time” of the cold accompanying it, this may be the final day of this awesome run of fishing.  Only time will tell.

 

TALLY = 104 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE14 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE17-18 with higher gusts

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  778/1634 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar under low light conditions

**Area  1670 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1671  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1658-1619  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  327-1672  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)