Happy 86th Birthday!! — 106 Fish, Belton, 25 April

This past Monday morning, April 25th, I fished with the Oliver family in celebration of Pa Oliver’s 86th birthday.

 

Present for the trip were Pa’s four sons: Joe, Jamie, Jack, and Jeff, as well as Joe’s daughter, Amber.  After a word of prayer and before my fishing instructions we took a moment to present Pa with a loaf of banana bread with a blue candle in it and then we all sang Happy Birthday to him.

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From left: Jamie, Jack, Pa, Joe, Amber, and Jeff all celebrating Pa’s 86th birthday.

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Jeff Oliver with one of two 6.75 pound hybrid we landed today on lively threadfin shad caught less than an hour before the start of the trip.

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Jamie Oliver with the second of the two 6.75 pound hybrid striped bass we landed today.

All but Joe fished this morning — good thing, too, because the action was such that I relied on Joe to perform first mate duties on a regular basis including netting fish, baiting hooks, untangling lines, and more.

 

I was excited to get going this morning because all the natural signs pointed to good fishing — a southerly wind at a manageable velocity, grey cloud cover, and a very strong shad spawn at first light.

 

The fish did not disappoint.  In fact, this was the single best trip I’ve ever conducted on Belton Lake in terms of the quantity of keeper hybrid and the percentage of keeper hybrid we caught as compared to the whole catch.  As we prepared to leave the first area we anchored in 2.75 hours after arriving there, we had boated 67 fish, and of those, exactly 64 were keeper hybrid stripers.

 

As that incredible bite wound down, we located a school of smaller fish on another underwater feature and fished for them with spinning rods and slabs.  After adding another dozen fish to the tally, and with about 45 minutes remaining in the trip, we decided to take one more crack at the big hybrids, and succeeded in finding them despite the late hour.

 

We finished up by taking our tally to 106 fish landed.  This last area gave up about 40% keeper hybrid with the balance of the catch consisting of short hybrid and white bass of all sizes.

 

All of this took place with the water pushing over 10 feet above full pool and still rising thanks to recent heavy rains.  So far, none of this water has been released because other reservoirs on the Brazos River have been more critically flooded and the priority for release has gone to those bodies of water.

 

An excellent day with an excellent family!

 

TALLY: 106 Fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Water Surface Temp:  68.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were steady at SSE10-11

Sky Conditions:  Light grey cloud cover the entire trip.

Water Level: Rapidly rising thanks to recent heavy rainfall; 604+ feet with 594.00 being full pool. No water is being released due to more severe flooding downstream (0cu. ft./sec.)

Other: GT= 25

 

 

Wx Snapshot:

25APR16

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

**Area 1742 — 67 fish by 10am of with 64 were keeper hybrid taken on live shad

**Area vic 1747 — jigged with slabs for smaller fish and baited up for larger fish with live shad

 

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

“Fish is what fishing’s all about!” – 195 Fish, Moore Party, 23 April

This past Saturday evening, 23 April, I fished with Garry Moore, his two sons-in-law, and two grandsons on Stillhouse Hollow targeting white bass with artificial lures.

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From left: Garry Moore, Sean Looney, Eric McMaster, and Connor Looney in the foreground.  Young Rivers McMaster was a bit camera shy.

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Grandpa Garry got the biggest fish at the very last stop, and within 5 minutes of the bite coming to an end.  He saved the best for last.

Garry’s son-in-law, Sean Looney, brought his 6-year-old son, Connor Looney; and Garry’s other son-in-law, Eric McMaster, brought his 3-year-old son, Rivers McMaster.

I’m normally a bit reluctant to take younger kids in this still-cool water season because the variety of tactics are limited, thus not allowing for much variety.  In the summer months, as sunfish invade the shallows, many more options open up.  Regardless, between fishing, snacking, and tending to a variety of chores that tend to be of interest to kids, both boys lasted for the full 4-hour length of the trip in good shape.

After a morning with calm winds and bright skies, this afternoon’s conditions improved with some SSE winds at a manageable speed and some high, thin clouds to take the edge off the bright sun.

After searching 4 areas without success, we checked out a deep ridge and there, at 60 feet on a sloped bottom, was a large school of white bass numbering in the hundreds.  And what was even better, these fish were already up off bottom, indicating an active, feeding posture.

We got right down to business working 3/4 oz. white slabs in the midst of the congregation of fish and spent 2.75 hours doing nothing but catching.  When the action slowed, I just did a “short hop” a few boatlengths away and we got right back into the fish.

The action finally slacked off right at 7:00p.  We cranked up, headed to a similar area sitting in about 40′ of water and kept right on catching until the failing light level finally brought the fishing to an end.

At some point while Garry, Eric, and Sean were regularly encouraging Rivers to try reeling in a fish or two aided by his father, Connor chipped in with his own words of wisdom telling his cousin that, “Fish is what fishing’s all about!”  Simple, but true.

When all was said and done today, we’d landed exactly 195 fish, including 5 largemouth bass and 190 white bass.

TALLY: 195 Fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time:  7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp:  71F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were steady at SSE7-9

Sky Conditions:  Fair skies with increasing white haze forming as sunset approached.  ~15% white cloud cover.

Water Level: Water still rising to ~3 feet above full pool.

Other: GT= 125

 Wx Snapshot:

23APR16

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1042/1059 – deep easing and smoking with slabs

**Area  803/805- deep easing and smoking 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