WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday afternoon, December 29th, after fishing a morning trip, I turned right back around and fished with Wes Stearns, his 5-year-old son, Knox Stearns, Wes’ father-in-law, Richard DeArmand, and Richard’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Cameron Kimball. Richard and Cameron are from western Kentucky and Wes and his family live in the north Austin area.
5-year-old Knox Stearns and his grandpa, Richard DeArmand, with our largest fish of the trip — a hybrid striper the pair tag-teamed.
From left: Wes Stearns, Knox Stearns, Cameron Kimball, and Richard DeArmand, each with one of the 100 fish we landed in just 3.5 hours this evening on Lake Belton using slabs in deep water.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday evening, 29 December, 2017
HOW WE FISHED: We used slabs 100% of the time today, either via snap-jigging or with a slow smoking tactic. As was the case in the morning, we had to move around a good bit as we found the fish would initially express interest in our presentations and give chase, but would cool off quickly and, after a short while, flat refuse to strike. We wound up fishing 3 area, but “hopping” around a bit at each. Also similar to the morning was the great number of smaller fish that showed up in our catch, despite fishing in several very different areas. We landed our 100th fish right at the 3.5 hour mark and my crew decided to call it a day and head in before the (obscured) sun set and it got even colder for the lengthy ride back to the boat ramp. Once again, no birds fed over active fish, so all of the fish finding was done via sonar this afternoon.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) No helpful bird action today. 2) We had to gear down on the speed of our smoking retrieve to get bit consistently today. 3) When slow-smoking stopped working, we “mopped up” with snap-jigging. 4) We had a lot of smaller fish in the catch today.
TALLY: 100 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 1:30p
End Time: 5:00p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 49F
Water Surface Temp: 53.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE4-6
Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds
Water Level: 2.88 feet low
GT = 70
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area B0021C
**Area B0017C
**Area B0018C/B0019C
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
