Gone to the Dogs! — 15 Hybrid Stripers at Walter E. Long Reservoir

This past Saturday morning, July 2, I fished at Walter E. Long Reservoir with Whitney and Andrew Hartman of Sugar Land, Texas.  This couple met at college (Oregon State University) and now both work in the insurance business in the Houston area.

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Twice this morning Whitney and Andrew scored a triple-header with one fish biting on Whitney’s 3-armed umbrella rig, and two fish biting on Andrew’s 3-armed umbrella rig.

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Whitney landed our largest hybrid of the trip.  This hybrid just nipped the 20″ mark and went 3.25 pounds.

Whitney and Andrew are dog lovers, and have five dogs of various sorts and sizes. This couple tries not to travel without the dogs, and so at times, those venues excepting dogs drive the agenda for their long weekends and vacations. So it was for this Fourth of July weekend. The two of them found a rental home on VRBO that not only allowed dogs but was okay with all five of them. Once lodging was established, Whitney did some digging to find out what activities were in the area and came across my website and gave me a call.  This took me down to meet them at Walter E. Long Reservoir (formerly known as Decker Lake).

A funny thing happened as we were getting going.  After covering some safety considerations, I went over how to cast a spinning outfit (which Whitney had not done in about 12 years).  Whitney actually did really well, launching a nice cast on her third attempt, but, her two initial “not so pretty” attempts stuck with her.  As I like to do before each trip, I prayed with the Hartman’s.  As I finished, Whitney asked if I prayed with all my clients, or just the ones who don’t do very well casting!!

We began our fishing trip around 6:30 AM under murky gray skies with a 9 to 11 mph wind already blowing before sunrise. Since I do not fish Walter E. Long regularly, I had to spend a bit more time this morning figuring out where the fish were then if I had been on my “home” lakes of Belton and Stillhouse. We wound up boating only one fish in our first hour and 45 minutes on the water. However, once we found fish, we were able to capitalize on what we found and make up for some lost time.

When we found them, the fish we found were hybrid striped bass in fairly shallow water, suspended between nine and 15 feet over an 18 to 25 foot bottom. The first fish we encountered were suspended in aggressively feeding schools, and as the sun continued to rise higher in the sky and burn off the cloud cover, the fish pushed downward ending up on bottom.

The fish showed a very definite preference for small, horizontally moving baits. In fact, despite the fact that I had ample livebait of various sizes, the fish refused live bait on three separate attempts, and bit only on artificials. The artificial bait they preferred was a small silver Pet Spoon with a white feather dressing, fished on a three-armed umbrella rig.

Using this rig, we landed singles and doubles and put together a total catch of 15 legal hybrid striped bass up to 3.25 pounds until we wrapped up around 11:30 AM.

 

TALLY = 15 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  87-89F

Wind Speed & Direction:  ESE11-13

Sky Conditions:  100% low, grey, murky cloud cover until around 9:00am, then quickly clearing to just 30% white clouds on a fair sky.

Water Level: Lake was at full pool.

GT = 105

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1773 downrigging with balls at 12′  for 1 hybrid striper just after sunrise

** Area 1774 – 1775 – 1776 – wolfpack of like-sized hybrid were suspended and working this windblown area and responded well to downrigged Pet Spoons set between 10-14 feet

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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