WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with the Oliver family, including “Paw” Oliver who turned 88 that day, his four sons, Jamie, Jack, Joe, and Jeff, and Joe’s son, Thomas. Thomas, who is expecting his first child in mid-May, sat next to Paw at one point in the trip as we moved from one place to another. Paw knowingly said to Thomas, “Well, your life is about to change,” referring to the arrival of the baby. I always enjoy fishing with this very close-knit family. Today’s fishing was not as enjoyable as the fisherman from my perspective. Once again we were plagued with light winds and clear, bright skies in that normally most-productive first 2 hours of the day, then, when the wind did begin, it came suddenly from the northwest instead of slowly ramping up from the west and swinging northerly. The fish reacted negatively, as evidenced by the majority of our fish being caught at our very first stop of the trip.
Expecting dad Thomas Oliver had the “hot rod” today, landing several hybrid on live shad.
Jeff Oliver (with fish) with his brother, Joe, standing by. Jeff had two nice pulldowns in our last 15 minutes on the water, landing the second of them from out of ~30 feet of water..
Paw celebrated his 88th birthday on this trip. The fishing was to be followed by lunch, then all hands were going to pitch in to do some yardwork for him while the weather was cool and the sun shone.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was focused strictly on hybrid striped bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 25 April 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We fished live shad in a variety of locations, putting a mixed bag of 28 fish in the boat.
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: 37 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 12:20p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F
Water Surface Temp: 66.5-67.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW breeze under 2 at trip’s start, ramp up rapidly from the NNW with the arrival of a mild, dry cold front. Winds were 20, gusting higher as we departed.
Sky Conditions: Clear blue, cloudless skies
Water Level: 2.13 feet low and slowly falling
GT = R
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 1482 – mixed bag on live bait
**Area vic 1079 – mixed bag on live bait
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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