WHO I FISHED WITH: Today I fished with Tearanie (pronounced like the word “tyranny”) Hoyle and his girlfriend, Angela Smith. Angela treated Tearanie to this trip on the occasion of his 40th birthday. Tearanie recently retired from the U.S. Army after 20 years of service, primarily as a mechanic supporting logistics units. Angela, a Killeen native and Killeen High School grad, is a nursing professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) in Belton.
BAD EXAMPLE! This 3-year old hybrid was not setting a good example for his 1-year old cousin and wound up getting them both in trouble. Hybrid see, hybrid do!!
Although we caught plenty of white bass smaller than these, some quality white bass did show up in today’s catch under ideal breezy, grey sky conditions.
Umm, Angela. I don’t think you’re supposed to catch the largest fish of the trip when you take your boyfriend out fishing for his birthday. Just sayin’.
Catchin’ two-at-a-time! That’s Crazy Town! (a little inside humor there)
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 04 November 2017
HOW WE FISHED: The fish began feeding around 8:00am and didn’t stop until about 11:45a. All of our fish were caught on gently sloping terrain in 36-43 feet of water. We simply let the Spot Lock feature on the Ulterra do its thing, hovering us over top of these fish, and worked single slabs for slower, less aggressive fish and tandem rigs for more aggressive fish for a grand total of 150 fish in just under 4.5 hours. We caught all of these fish from just 4 locations.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) I saw the first gulls of the fall today — only 8 of them (and they didn’t help us find fish), but, it’s a start. 2) All of the fish we caught stayed in the lower third of the water column in 36-43 feet of water; even fish chasing hooked schoolmates would not rise above this level. 3) The school size of white bass is increasing as smaller schools merge and form into fewer, larger schools. The schools I encountered on sonar today easily numbered 200+ individuals as clearly seen with down- and side-imaging technology on the Humminbird Solix 15.
TALLY: 150 FISH, all caught and released (1 crappie, 1 largemouth bass, 3 drum, and a mix of 145 white bass and hybrid stripers of various year groups)
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30a
End Time: 12:00 noon
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F
Water Surface Temp: 70.9F
Wind Speed & Direction: S8-11 the entire trip
Sky Conditions: 100% thin, grey cloud cover – enough light coming through to force you to squint.
Water Level: 2.15 feet low
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 1008 – caught 90 fish here by 9:45a in 2 “short hops” in same general vicinity
**Area 2033 – 20 fish
**Area 930/717 – 18 fish
**Area 1392 – 22 fish
Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide
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
Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle