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
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