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