bluegill sunfish

ALL ABOUT EATER CATFISH – 21 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday evening, May 1st, I welcomed returning guests Rick Powell and Ricardo Cisneros aboard.  During the Coronavirus shutdown, I took my wife, Rebecca, and a handful of friends out fishing specifically for blue catfish on Lake Belton.  Ricardo, who regularly follows my Facebook posts, saw this and hoped to duplicate the effort on occasions where he hoped to catch a few “eating-sized” catfish (12+ inches).

He requested I take he and his friend (and boss) Rick Powell out to show them what I’d learned.

No, I’m not starting to guide for catfish and don’t intend to do so in the future, but, as the fishery offers consistency and as the quality of these fish continue to improve on Lake Belton (due to zebra mussel consumption, I suspect), I will no doubt routinely mix in some catfishing in my multi-species trips. Additionally, my 100% C&R policy still pertains to this species.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This is what the methods I’ve pieced together (with a good bit of help from Steve Webb) typically produce – smaller “eater-sized” blue catfish, two of which provide 4 fillets — just enough for a 1-person serving if kept and cleaned properly. Most fish are 12-15 inches, like this one held by Ricardo Cisneros.

WHEN WE FISHED:  01 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: First, I search for blue catfish concentrations on sonar.  Next, I Spot-Lock and chum with range cubes, then get right down to fishing vertically with my “Catfish Plumb” bait holders tipped with fresh, dead shad or non-stink doughbait.  To enhance things, I’ve brought Garmin LiveScope to bear, which allows slightly suspended fish to be targeted.  Otherwise, the default bait position is just inches off bottom.

Concentration is a must, as the catfish typically take only one swipe at the bait, during which time a quick, hard hookset is a must.

In 3.5 hours’ time, some of which was set aside for Humminbird side-imaging explanation and Garmin LiveScope explanation, we put 22 blue cat over the side of the boat with just as many missed on the hookset.

 

TALLY: 22 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: As I searched for spawning shad, a definite, shallow-water and shad-oriented fishery is also ripe for picking, albeit short-lived with the action drying up about the time the direct sun peeks over the eastern horizon.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   4:00P

End Time:  7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation:  0.77′  high, 0.06 foot 24-hour rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  70F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S17 at trip’s start, tapering to S14 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 30% high white haze on blue skies

GT =28

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0073C (fished it at start of trip and end of trip with 2 other non-productive stops in between)

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

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Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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Happy Fathers’ Day — 46 Fish, Stillhouse, 21 June 2014

by Bob Maindelle

This morning I welcomed father and son team Mike and Patton Dean aboard from Round Rock, Texas.  Mike’s wife, Kate, set this trip up as a Fathers’ Day event for the two of them.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Patton and his dad, Mike, with the best white bass of the trip taken on a 3-armed umbrella rig with Pet Spoons attached.

 

Mike is a U.S. Army Medical Service Corps veteran and currently serves as an administrator at Scott & White Hospital in Temple.  Mike’s son Patton is a 9 year old third grade graduate, football player, basketball player, summer camp camper, and, now, fisherman!
The same near-calm, overcast conditions that plagued us yesterday persisted this morning, so, I came prepared to use 4 or 5 different techniques, know that with a 9 year old aboard, we’d have to keep it interesting by transitioning our tactics frequently.
We began our morning fishing live baits over hydrilla beds.  We got two nice pull-downs, but those fish got away before they saw the net.  As we reeled in one of the nearly-dead baits that a largemouth bass had just crippled, I tossed it over the side to replace it.  Several seconds later, a ~30″ long nose gar appeared and snatched that 5″ bait sideways and swam off with his hearty breakfast.
We next headed to open water and downrigged for white bass.  Along a break line in about 37 feet of water as we approached from deeper water going shallower with the balls set at about 32 feet, the bottom just came alive with white bass.  As the ball swept over the bottom-hugging school, numerous individual fish came up off the bottom and swam up to and along with the ball for a short time out of curiosity.  Once they broke off the chase, our baits came trailing behind (were were using one 3-arm umbrella rig on each ‘rigger) and we hooked up immediately.
Seeing that the area these fish were using was quite small, I tried hovering over top of them to use slabs with a smoking technique, but we only got one fish to respond, so, we returned to downrigging and that horizontal motion did the trick.  We wound up catching 13 white bass here before the bite shut down.
Next, it was off to do some sunfishing.  Both father and son excelled at that, quickly amassing a catch of 32 sunfish (bluegill, longear, and greens) on slip floats and Gulp! baits in just 2 stops up shallow.
As we wrapped up the sun fishing, we gave downrigging one more try to attempt to end on a “big” note.  We were able to fool one more white bass into striking a Pet Spoon on our umbrella rig.  By now it was after 11a, the sun was getting hot, Patton’s enthusiasm was waning (not aided by his early-morning wakeup call), and we decided to call it a day.

TALLY = 46 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp.: 77F @ trip’s start
Water Surface Temp.: 83.0F
Wind: SSE3-4
Skies: 100% bright grey cloud cover
Other Notes: GT5
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 863  – 13 white bass
**Area 1257 – 1 white bass
** Areas 1098/1256 – sunfish

Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas