22 | March | 2016 | Fishing Report

This windy afternoon I fished with old college buddies Ben and Bryan Uy (pronounced YOU-wee), and their friend Xerxes Pascua. Ben is now an Austin attorney, Bryan is an engineer, and Xerxes works at a state-level savings and loan regulatory agency.

From left: Xerxes, Bryan, and Ben with a sampling of this evening’s catch. Fish typically continue to bite during a cold front right up until the winds let up. Fortunately, the winds stayed up sufficient to fuel feeding behavior for our entire 4 hours on the water.

As the cold front that roared in around 6:45p yesterday began to blow itself out, the winds which blew steadily 20-22 and gusted higher on occasion, began to slowly scale back. As we began our trip at 3:45p, the winds were at NE18 with temps in the high 50’s thanks to clear skies and direct sunshine. The winds would continue to taper down to about 11 mph by trip’s end at 7:45p.

We had some factors working both for us and against us. In the “Pros” column: warmer than normal water temperatures, wind-moved water, clearing water, hungry post-spawn fish, some natural “sign” in the form of gulls and ospreys working over the water here and there. In the “Cons” column: northerly wind direction, bright skies, winds impacting boat control to some extent.

As we motored to the area I wanted to try first, I really wasn’t sure what sonar might or might not reveal. I was therefore quite relieved to see a nice, tight cluster of fish on a breakline that produced earlier this morning. As we got baits down to the fish to sample their activity level, they responded, but were pretty subdued about it all. We managed a few fish here and on a few short-hops in this general vicinity, then moved on with 8 fish landed from out of ~34′.

Our next stop came in right at 40′ of clearer water. Sonar revealed fish closely packed together on a breakline. As soon as the slabs went down, the fish came up. We fished over these fish for just over an hour and 20 minutes, boating an additional 61 fish for our efforts until they played out.

Our third stop was a bust, but, our final stop (at around 6:45p) would be our best stop of the trip. We had more manageable winds and decreasing light levels working in our favor. We nearly doubled our catch in right at an hour’s time, finishing the trip with 122 fish.

TALLY = 124 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:55p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Water Surface Temp: 65.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Hard NE winds at 17 tapering down to 12

Sky Conditions: Clear blue skies thanks to incoming high pressure

Water Level: 625.10 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1143 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.13 feet in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 50

Wx SNAPSHOT (a graphical look at the forecast that faced us today):

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 108/1049 – vertical jigging with slabs

**Area 128 – vertical jigging with slabs

**Area 780 – vertical jigging with slabs

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

I love how the Lord provides! As I was on the water Thursday evening, a call comes in from the fellow who was scheduled to fish with me this afternoon. Since he had made the reservation just that morning, it took my by surprise. He was to drive in from Dallas, saw Friday afternoon’s weather forecast, got cold feet, and wound up canceling on really short notice.

From left: James Powell and Ricardo Cisneros each with a 14″ class white bass taken from a school of white bass numbering in the hundreds that turned on strong just in advance of an incoming cold front.

As a small businessman, cancellations on short notice are really a lose-lose which I try to avoid at all costs. Not only does the client lose their deposit, I lose out on the opportunity to earn the balance of the trip’s fare by putting people on fish.

With less than 22 hours to respond, I put out a Facebook post advertising the opening and sharing this week’s excellent fishing results. As my Friday morning trip came to a close, I had two “nibbles”, but no takers.

As my Friday morning clients headed to the parking lot, I was by myself cleaning up the boat. Another boat came in to load up and go home and one of the two passengers overheard my phone conversation with my wife lamenting the missed opportunity for putting people on fish.

Long story short, after struggling a bit to catch fish all morning, this man, Ricardo Cisneros, his friend, Rick Powell, and Rick’s brother, James, decided to take advantage of the opportunity. We agreed to meet back at the same location at 3:45pm. I had a good feeling about the trip, as pre-frontal conditions were quickly developing and I knew the fish were going to feed hard.

At 3:45p, we headed out and I began sweeping with sonar thanks to a lack of bird activity (which is now almost ended for this season). I found a few fish in 40′ adjacent to the river channel, and we jigged for 1 white bass and 1 crappie.

We checked a second area — nothing.

We moved a bit shallower, and there they were — a strong concentration of fish numbering several hundred individuals.

We began jigging and the fish started coming over the side. The nearly calm winds went NE3-4. The breeze slowly increased to 6, then 7, then 8 mph. Then came a noticeable cool down. All this time the fish fed hard and the fellows kept right on jigging and catching. We boated 65, then 75, then 85, then 95 fish.

When that 95th fish came over the side, right at 6:50pm, the skies darkened suddenly. I told everyone to batten down the hatches because the cold front was about to roar in.

In minutes, the lake went from docile to a whipped froth with the wind blowing 20+. My guests took a (very!) quick poll amonst themselves and everyone decided they’d caught enough for this day.

We skidaddled!

The winds would continue to increase and blow strong right through 2pm Saturday afternoon, but, it sure was fun while it lasted.

The Lord took those lemons and made some lemonade! Thank you!

TALLY = 95 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 6:50p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 66.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: See report above

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover the entire trip

Water Level: 625.10 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1143 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.13 feet in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 20

Wx SNAPSHOT (a graphical look at the forecast that faced us today):