Hardcore Texans Drink Dr. Pepper — 143 Fish on Belton, 25 Nov. 2016

This past Friday morning, November 25th, I fished with 3 generations of the Deuser family, including James (Jim) Deuser of Georgetown, Texas, and his son and grandson, Dan Deuser  and 15-year-old Jacob Deuser, both from San Antonio, Texas.

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With raindrops still beaded on his shoulders from one of our three dousings of rain, Jim posed with this freshwater drum which, size-wise, looked more like a black drum from saltwater!!

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All smiles!  From left: Dan, Jacob, and Jim with a sampling of the 143 fish we landed today, most of which were 11-12 inch white bass with a few larger ones like this thrown in for good measure.  The Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig accounted for numerous doubles as it often does this time of year as the water temperature begins to drop.

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Dan landed our largest hybrid of the trip, also on a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig, anchored with a 3/4 oz. silver slab with a chartreuse teaser fly hung just above it.

Jim and his wife retired from a career in retail sales with J.C. Penney’s, Dan is a veteran who served as an infantryman in the US Army, and who now works for a company that does electronic climate control in large, commercial properties; and  Jacob is a high school student currently learning to drive.

A very slow moving cold front, complete with heavy cloud cover and light rain began making its way into central Texas in the early morning hours this morning. The timing on our trip was quite fortunate, because as soon as the skies brightened sufficiently through the clouds for the gulls to see what was going on, they lead the way to aggressively feeding fish for the last three of our four hours on the water.

Once the feeding began, it only slowed down around 10:45, the same time at which we planned to wrap up anyway. During this peak time, we used single slabs, and slabs in combination with a teaser fly on a Hazy Eye Shad rig to catch singles and doubles nonstop.

During our first, slowest hour on the water, we were fan casting blade baits and covering ground horizontally in shallower water, and still catching a fish or two every few minutes.

Once the bite turned on, it developed in 30 to 33 feet of water with fish congregated very thickly in the last 4 feet of the water column closest to the bottom.

Despite a pretty miserable start in which we got downpoured on three times and then chilled by the north wind, all turned out well in the end. It’s funny how catching a few fish at the right time sure can warm you up.  My favorite memory of this trip, strangely enough, didn’t have to do with the quantity or quality of the fish we caught.  Rather, it was of Jacob, cold to the point of shivering occasionally, gulping down an ice-cold Dr. Pepper in a short break in the fishing as we traveled a short distance from one flock of feeding gulls to another.  A true Texan!

When all was said and done, the Deusers landed 143 fish!

TALLY = 143 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW12 at trip’s start, increasing to NW14-15 in advance of several storm cells that passed over, then settling down to NW10-11 after the rainfall ended

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1733 fancasting bladebaits in ~15′ for scattered, disinterested white bass

**Area 1855 – vertical jigging slowly with a single slab for white bass in a neutral mood in ~17″

**Area 1856 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 748/1343 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1856/753 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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