This past Saturday morning I fished a multi-species trip on Lake Belton, primarily targeting white bass with returning client Mark Herzer and his 14-year-old son, Zach.  Mark brought along a colleague, Alfred Brice, an Austin-area architect, and his 14-year-old-son, Paxton.

From left: Alfred Brice, Paxton Brice, Zach Herzer, and Mark Herzer.  White bass caught on a variety of tactics (bladebaits, slabs, and downriggers) made up the lion’s share of our catch this morning.  We also landed drum, hybrid, and largemouth bass.

Mark Herzer’s hybrid, landed on a white 3/4 oz. slab around 10:30am, anchored our stringer this morning.

I came into this morning’s trip having had a bit of a tough go of it the evening before under calm, bright conditions.  This morning’s forecast called for continued bright conditions, but, a NW breeze was due to push at 10-11mph, and, just after sunrise, that breeze, thankfully, did materialize and worked its magic on motivating the food chain to come alive.

Once the wind began to push, the bait began to stir, the gamefish began to feed, and the second helpful episode of fish-eating bird action of this fall season played out in front of us, letting us know exactly where the fish were.  I maneuvered the boat to within casting distance of the action and had four rods working for 75 minutes before the action slacked off and we had to change tactics.  During this time, working Binsky bladebaits in water under 14 feet deep did the trick for white bass in the 1, 2, and 3 year class.

Brice and Paxton had never used spinning gear before, but learned very quickly and, in no time were cashing in right along with everyone else.

After the shallow bite died, we did some downrigging and caught fish consistently, including doubles on the tandem rig and 3-armed umbrella rig.  Eventually, this bite which occurred out deeper than the bladebait fishing but in the same general area, also died out.

By now the sun was high and bright — a sure sign that we’d need to move our operation out to deeper water.  Fortunately, several deepwater area were also being impacted by the nice breeze that was blowing, and we found them to be productive, too.  The bite definitely began to wane in the last hour, as we had to frequently “jog” and “spot hop” in order to stay on top of fish that were rapidly losing interest.

When all was said and done, we’d managed to boat a grand total of 103, the largest of which was a 3 pound class hybrid striped bass which Mark handled very aptly on the light spinning gear we were all using.

TALLY = 103 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time:  10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  71.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW10-12

Sky Conditions: Fair and cloudless

Water Level: ~0.22 feet high and slowly falling at ~0.11 feet per day

GT = 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1634 and 1665 – shallow bladebaits for fish under birds

**Area 1573 – downrigging

**Area 1672, 1679, 1827 –  deep vertical jigging for heavily congregated fish

 

 

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline/

This past Friday afternoon I fished a second trip with Father Brad St. Romain, the rector at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Temple.  We targeted primarily white bass in deep water using artificial lures.

Although the majority of our catch consisted of white bass, Brad managed several hybrid, including this, our only “legal” hybrid, which measured just over 18″.  It came on a slab in 27 feet of water and was “ghosting” along within a school of white bass.  This hybrid was the first fish from out of that large school to strike our baits.

The morning conditions today were to be avoided.  Dead calm, very sunny, and unseasonably hot conditions persisted until around 10:30am.  These difficult conditions moderated a bit as a light SE breeze began and a high, white haze began to form thus moderating the temperatures a bit.  The forecast called for these winds to continue to build up to 6-8mph from the SE and for the cloud cover to reach 40%+.  This, unfortunately, did not materialize.

After the first 90 minutes or so of our trip, which we began around 1:45p, had slipped by, the winds quit and the skies brightened and thus we experienced a lull through the middle of our time on the water.  Fishing picked back up again in the last hour as the sun’s intensity lessened as the sun moved towards setting.

Although we found and caught fish this afternoon, the combination of bright sun and calm conditions really put the “dampers” on the fishing.  Active fish, which typically show on sonar as tightly grouped schools close to bottom with some of the individuals in the school up higher in the water column, were in short supply.  When we did find fish, they often failed to respond as we tried everything from a slow, dead-stick tactic to a fast, attention-getting retrieve.

We experienced our most productive fishing at the front end of the trip, which is unusual for afternoon excursions.  We had more cloud cover and more breeze at the beginning of our trip, and the fish reacted somewhat positively to that.

All of our fish today came from 25-32 feet of water up until within 40 minutes of sunset, when fish moved into shallower water, thus allowing us to catch a few between 16-20 feet.  Every fish we caught this evening came on slabs used vertically.

TALLY = 36 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p

End Time:  6:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp:  72.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light & variable

Sky Conditions: Slowly building thin white “whispy” cloud cover in the western sky on an otherwise fair, bright sky

Water Level: ~0.35 feet high and slowly falling at ~0.11 feet per day

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1624-1637 – deep jigging

**Area 153 – deep jigging

**Area 812-1186 – deep jigging

**Area 1824 & 1825 – deep jigging

**Area 1826 – low light jigging in 16-20′

 

 

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline/