Fished a half-day “Kids Fish, Too!” morning trip today Andrew T.(dad) and Simon T.(son)of N. Austin. Andrew is a salesman with Dell Computers and brought his 4th grade boy on the water for some Spring Break fishing action. Simon is a wonderfully articulate kid and was just a joy to have aboard.

SIMON NAILED THIS NICE BUCKETMOUTH ON A BOMBER CRANKBAIT

Start Time: 7:30a


End Time: 11:30a


Air Temp: 62F at trip’s start, and warming to near 80 in the afternoon.


Water Surface Temp: ~61-63F

Wind: Winds were flat calm the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were fair.

As we have on most every trip this week, we began today downrigging just to have baits in the water while I got a feel for what the fish, bait and weather had in store for us. This morning, we found some early, consistent action on the downriggers in the vicinity of Area 108 through Area 54. We ran Pet Spoons and White Willows and they produced equally well, giving up a total of 8 fish. After about 30 minutes on the riggers, we passed over Area 143 twice, hooked up both times, and both times saw fish just off bottom on sonar. I buoyed these fish, we cut the motor and trolled in for some jigging action. Although it was short lived, the jigging action was exciting. We landed 11 fish in short order, all right at exactly 11 3/8 inches long. Once these fish shut down on the slab, they no longer responded to the downrigger, either.

We moved wholesale and finished out the trip with a solid flatline regime at Area 405. We ran one white Bomber and one silver Bomber. They both got hit equally and often, yielding a tally of 16 additional fish on the flatline troll in about 90 minutes, including 2 pretty hefty blacks. By 11:30 everything had played out. There was still not a breath of wind and no birds in sight. My hope for a mid-morning deepwater was nil and so we called it a good day right at the 4 hour mark with 35 fish boated for our efforts.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing

Fished a half-day “Kids Fish, Too!” evening trip today with Richard S.(dad) and Paul S. (14 year old son)of N. Austin. Richard is a newspaper columnist and webmaster and brought his son on the water for some Spring Break fishing action. Paul is a very intelligent, inquisitive kid, but I was ready with an answer for every fishing question he asked!!

RICHARD AND PAUL FISHED HARD, LEARNED MUCH, AND WENT HOME HAPPY ON THIS, THEIR MOST SUCCESSFUL TRIP EVER

PAUL WITH HIS FIRST BASS EVER. IT WEIGHED EXACTLY 3 POUNDS. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE …

HE ASK ME TO WEIGH IT 8 TIMES AND TAKE PICTURES FOR EVIDENCE!!

Start Time: 3:30p


End Time: 7:30p


Air Temp: 78F at trip’s start, and cooling towards sunset.


Water Surface Temp: ~62-64F

Wind: Winds were light and ESE the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were fair.

We knew going into the trip this was going to be a tough one. Not only has the afternoon bite been weak all week, but now a primarily E. wind was blowing and that always kills the fishing until it turns back S. and today was no exception.

We spent our entire trip both flatline trolling and downrigging on a circuit at Area 100, Area 888, and Area 290. Only once did we encounter a congregation of fish. This happened at Area 290. When we attempted to jig we came up empty-handed with the exception of a single longnose gar which Paul did his best to land, but ultimately lost at boatside on the fish’s second mighty jump.

In our trolling circuit we picked up both white bass and largemouth bass.

When Richard contacted me about the trip, he stated that his sole aim was for the pair to land a single largemouth bass. Despite a number of attempts to catch bass from the bank on a number of bodies of water, they hadn’t been successful to date. On our 4th fish of the trip it happened … Paul’s rod bent deeply and the hooked fish leaped about 3 feet out of the water. Paul kept cranking. With about 25 feet of line out, the fish leaped again but the hook stayed fast. Finally, Paul brought the fish to boatside. His first bass!! And no wimpy bass, either. It was a 3 pound, 18 inch largemouth (I know this because he asked me to weigh it and measure it about 8 times just to be sure and then to take pictures of the ruler and the scale showing the weight!!).

By trip’s end we had landed 10 fish which made this our slowest trip of the week, but, everything is relative. This father and son were self-confessed novices, really didn’t have a good handle on using any of the equipment prior to the trip, etc. and had a wonderful time together learning and were, in the end, more successful than they’d ever been up to this point in their outdoor development.

TALLY = 10 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing