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

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