SPRING BREAK GRAND FINALE — 209 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Saturday morning I fished with 4 generations of Huttos.  Tom and Jeanean Hutto, two of their sons, Don and Frank, Don’s son, Heath, and Heath’s son, Hunter, all made this trip.  This was the tenth and final Spring Break week 2018 trip I conducted.   The conditions for today’s trip were perfect — the warmest water of the spring thus far (62.2F), humid, grey skies, and a manageable southerly breeze with some instability in the weather slowly approaching from the SW.  The fish fed long and hard, thus making this the most productive trip of the spring break week.  209 of the week’s total of 1,102 fish were landed by the Huttos this morning.

 

Four generations of Huttos landed 209 fish in four hours.  From the left, that’s Tom, Don, little Hunter, Heath, Frank, and Jeanean.

We “hung bait” in our last 40 minutes on the water, and put 3 hybrid and several more white bass in the boat.  Heath landed the largest of the 3 hybrid, and the largest hybrid I’ve seen thus far for 2018.  This fish went 23.5″ and 5.75 pounds on a certified scale.  It was a very thick, heavy fish for its length.

Grandma Jeanean landed two fish on the same lure at the same time.  She was full of such tricks this morning!

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 17 March 2018

HOW WE FISHED: Grey, humid, breezy conditions in advance of a change of weather had fish fired up and feeding long and hard this morning.  We had a full 3.5 hour long bite for white bass, then hung bait for a few hybrid for variety’s sake in our last 40 minutes.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  Boats all around us were moving and snap-jigging with next to no success.  Staying in one area and using a smoking tactic really shined this morning.

TALLY: 209 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  62.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:   SSW 18-20

Sky Conditions:   100% light grey cloud cover

Water Level: 2.50 feet low and falling

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0058C / B0056C / B0054C / B0055C

 

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

GO HORIZONTAL, YOUNG MAN! — 68 FISH WITH THE WALKERS

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday evening I fished with Mr. Todd Walker and his 12-year-old son, Rylee.  This was the ninth Spring Break 2018 trip I conducted.  It was Rylee’s interest in fishing that got his dad back into the sport.  The pair typically pursue largemouth bass from the bank in the north Austin area, often hitting 180-acre Lake Pfluegerville, near their home.  We faced tough, bright, windless conditions this afternoon, with an extra dose of recreational boat traffic as folks got of work and tried to cram in a little Spring Break time on the water.  We struggled, catching only a handful of fish in our first two hours using a variety of tactics at a variety of locations, but, finally, downrigging cracked the code allowing a catch of 68 fish when all was said and done.

 

Todd Walker and his 12-year-old son, Rylee, wore out the white bass on downriggers under tough, calm, bright conditions on Spring Break Friday.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday evening, 16 March 2018

HOW WE FISHED:   Our first 2 hours were as slow as they get — only 8 fish taken from 3 areas after stopping and fishing at 6 areas.  Finally, around 5:45p, after going back to the very first area where we’d found (and caught 2) fish, I saw an abundance of fish carpeting the bottom in 26-31 feet along a gentle slope.  We stopped and attempted vertical jigging, using a snap-jigging tactic and got exactly 1 strike, despite the continued presence of fish on sonar.  I had just about decided to leave the segment of the lake we were fishing and go elsewhere, but I thought to give fishing horizontally with downriggers a try before we pulled up stakes altogether.  That horizontal presentation turned out to be the ticket.  Fishing horizontally for inactive fish allows the angler to present the bait over top of a lot of inactive individuals in order to tempt the low percentage that are still willing to make a move toward a bait.  Long story short, we established a pattern of trolling in an ellipse that allowed thorough coverage of the patch of bottom these fish were inhabiting, and we got 1, 2, or 3 fish per angler (x 2 anglers) on just about every pass we made until the fish shut down right at sunset.  In this manner, we put an additional 60 fish in the boat, include a number of “triples” (3 fish on a 3-armed umbrella rig at the same time).

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  The now-stable weather has seen the fish settle into a pattern, doing essentially the same things at the same times and in the same places, thus making fishing very predictable.  Should be solid until our next change in weather.

TALLY: 68 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  60.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:   SSW 18-20

Sky Conditions:   100% light grey cloud cover

Water Level: 2.49 feet low and falling

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  378/380 – white bass via smoking (primarily), blades, and downrigging

**Area  B50056C – white bass on live shad

 

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

Goal-Setting 101 – Chief Ellis & Bryson Catch 113

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday morning I fished with Belton police chief Gene Ellis and his 9-year-old grandson, Bryson.  This was the eighth Spring Break 2018 trip I conducted.  As I welcomed these two anglers aboard, I intentionally asked Bryson how many fish he thought we might catch.  He gave this a little though, then said, “Forty”.  Around 8:30am, after landing our 38th fish of the trip, Bryson realized he set his expectations to low.  I jokingly told him that when just two more fish came aboard we call all reel in and go grab some barbecue.  He asked if he could revise his goal.  I told him that would be fine, so, he reset our target at 60 fish.  About 45 minutes later, went fish number 57 came aboard, I told him, “Well, we can finally quit fishing and go get that barbecue now.”  Bryson once again asked to revise his goal, this time raising the bar to 120 fish.  That turned out to be a good goal — one you have to push yourself to attain.  We didn’t quite make 120 on this morning as things slowed down once the wind let up and the skies brightened, but 113 fish on a day when a 9-year-old thought 40 would be “cool” was just fine with grandpa and me.

Belton police chief Gene Ellis and his grandson, Bryson, age 9, landed 113 fish on Lake Belton during Bryson’s Spring Break.

 

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 16 March 2018

HOW WE FISHED:   Although the bite was such that we could have vertically jigged with slabs successfully for the vast majority of today’s trip, because of Bryson’s age, I added in a few tactics to add variety, including fishing bladebaits horizontally and downrigging.  The bladebaits added a few fish to our tally, and, at the very end, we put out a few live baits, again, mainly for variety’s sake, and put a few more white bass in the boat via that tactic.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  The now-stable weather has seen the fish settle into a pattern, doing essentially the same things at the same times and in the same places, thus making fishing very predictable.  Should be solid until our next change in weather.

TALLY: 113 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  60.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:   SSW 18-20

Sky Conditions:   100% light grey cloud cover

Water Level: 2.49 feet low and falling

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  378/380 – white bass via smoking (primarily), blades, and downrigging

**Area  B50056C – white bass on live shad

 

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