This past Thursday morning, September 15th, I fished with Ron Phillips of Killeen and his oldest son Ronald Phillips. The two work together in a family-owned auto repair business, All Tune and Lube on Business 190 in Killeen, but today left the two younger brothers in charge and came out not just to catch fish, but also to try to learn how fish are caught.
Killeen-based All Tune and Lube owner Ron Phillips set the wrenches aside this morning and gave the local fishery a good going over. Here, he hoists a 4.25 pound blue cat.
We had fish in the boat before the sun was in the sky. Ron and Ronald landed this pair of hybrid seconds apart.
I am always thankful when clients can express exactly what their expectations are, so that I can let them know if the expectations are realistic, and if so, work to fulfill those expectations.
Ron was very clear that he wanted to learn how I go about catching fish. So, I came prepared today to demonstrate for Ron and his son four different late-summer tactics that I depend on to put fish in the boat from the start of August through to the end of October.
My day began well before I met these two fellows as I captured an ample quantity of live shad so I could demonstrate one of the most effective tactics for catching hybrid striped bass, that of tight-lining directly beneath the boat with live shad. We had lines in the water and fish on the deck nearly an hour before sunrise and caught legal sized hybrid striper right on through to 8 a.m.
By the time the aggressive, low-light hybrid action had run its course, plenty of blue catfish had found their way to our position. So, the next technique I demonstrated was that of using fresh dead shad as cut bait for blue catfish in deep, open water.
We began our cat fishing segment with 21 fish already in the boat, and added a mix of 11 blue and channel catfish to the tally before moving on to instructional segment number three.
For our third demonstration, I relied heavily on sonar to find tightly grouped white bass and hybrid striper along structural irregularities in deep open water. I then used a combination of waypoints and trails to go back over and fish on top of fish we had successfully identified using sonar. We found a concentration of mixed whites and hybrids numbering in the hundreds, and were able to excite the white bass into biting using a vertical presentation with three-quarter ounce slabs, while also taking an occasional hybrid while using one or two down rods baited with live shad.
As the sun got higher and hotter, and the winds remained nearly calm, I decided to close the trip out by showing the fellows how to downrig. Between 10:30 and 11 AM we got geared up with tandem rigs equipped with Pet Spoons and caught numerous singles and doubles from the same concentration of fish we had been slabbing for previously.
Back when our fish count was still in the 20s, Ron commented that we had already caught more fish at that point in the trip then he and Ronald had in the past year. As we wrapped things up, our tally stood at 66 fish, and both fellows were beyond excited to understand what it takes to put fish in the boat during the heat of a Texas summer.
TALLY = 60 fish, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:30a
End Time: 11:00a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F
Water Surface Temp: 84.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: WNW under 4mph
Sky Conditions: 10% cloud cover in the western sky.
Water Level: ~0.03 feet high. Lake is at full pool with only evaporative losses and no water being released.
GT = 30
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1808 – tightlining live shad for hybrid in <30′; then bluecat on cutbait in the same area
**Area 651 – brief topwater action
**Area 1807/1809 – tightly schooled white bass with a few hybrid mixed in on a breakline — smoking & 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
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