WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning I fished with Matt Laakso, his son, Mitch Laasko, and Matt’s friend, Matt Beauchene, all from the Austin area. This spring has been plagued with cold, unstable weather, and this morning was no exception, with yet another late April cold front pushing winds from the north west, making the skies cloudless, and dropping the ambient temperature to 48F at launch time, well below the already low lake surface temperature of 65.3, which is well below average for this time of year by a full 5-6 degrees. We caught fish, but it certainly wasn’t fast or furious.
Matt Laakso with one of his birthday trip hybrid striped bass from Lake Belton. Despite poor conditions, we still caught a few quality fish.
Mitch Laakso had consistently good technique, especially when it came to taking the rod out of the rod holder without lifting upwards using the circle hooks we had on.
Matt Beauchene with a stocky one.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was focused strictly on hybrid striped bass in the first 2/3 of the trip, then we saved some time at the end for vertical jigging for white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 23 April 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We fished live shad in a variety of locations, putting 18 fish in the boat in the first 3 hours of the trip. We then closed out the trip by vertical jigging with slabs, putting another 15 fish (all white bass) in the boat. Even the white bass were buckled down pretty tightly thanks to the post-frontal, high-pressure conditions.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The lack of stability in our weather and the repeated, frequent cold fronts have prevented any consistency in the fishery up to this point this spring.
TALLY: 33 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 1;30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Water Surface Temp: 65.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: NE6-11
Sky Conditions: Clear blue, cloudless skies
Water Level: 2.11 feet low and slowly falling
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 187 – mixed bag with legal hybrid
**Area vic 1743 – – mixed bag with legal hybrid
**Area vic B0073C – – mixed bag with legal hybrid
**Area vic B0079C – white bass via smoking with slabs & Hazy Eye Stingers
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