I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip this morning with 14 year old Jess D. of Round Rock, accompanied by her mom, Jenn. I first met Jess and Jenn when they came out bowfishing with me late in the summer this year. I was very excited and hopeful about the weather forecast for this trip, as the weatherman called for pre-frontal conditions this morning (that is, with winds going from the south, through the west, and to the northwest in advance of a cold front). If you’ve been following this blog this winter, you’ll see significant spikes in our success on trips fished under pre-frontal conditions.
Consistent technique and pre-frontal conditions really added up today. Jess is shown here with her 3.75 pound slab-caught largemouth.
The ladies grip-and-grin with 4 of the 77 we boated this morning.
We met just prior to 7:30am, watched a beautiful sunrise on clear skies, and headed out to the fishing grounds. Based on my scouting trip the day before, we headed directly to Area 546 where I introduced Jess to the spinning gear we’d be using as well as both the jigging and smoking techniques that would be employed this trip.
Jess is a neat young lady — she’s very self-disciplined and very persistent. I knew that once I showed her how to do something I wouldn’t have to keep correcting her or reminding her to watch her form. So, the fact that this wintertime fishing consists of nearly 100% vertical jigging suited Jess well. She very consistently and very methodically worked both the 3/8 oz and 3/4 oz slabs right where they needed to be worked and with just the right cadence to enjoy success from start to finish today.
From the very start of the trip to the end of the morning bite at around 11:20, we caught fish consistently without moving more than 30 yards the entire trip. It is very rare to catch fish from one area for such an extended period of time — but that’s the “boost” that the pre-frontal conditions contributed to this trip.
In all, we boated exactly 77 fish, including 75 white bass and 2 largemouth. Jess’ big fish of the day was a 3.75 pound largemouth. Oddly, none of our white bass exceeded 12 inches, whereas better than 1/3 of my catch of 61 fish taken (and released) on yesterday’s scouting trip were 12 inches or larger. All fish were taken on the TNT 180 slab in both 3/8 and 3/4 oz. Despite ample and extended action today, very few fish were taken via a smoking approach. Most of our fish came via jigging.
TALLY = 77 FISH on this morning trip, all caught and released.
The afternoon trip today, detailed in a separate blog entry, yielded 154 fish for two adult anglers, thus the total number of fish boated today was 231. Pre-frontal fishing is hard to beat!!
TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 7:30am
End Time: 11:45am
Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start..
Water Surface Temp: ~60.9F
Wind: Winds swung from light from the SW, through W, to NW at 11 by trip’s end.
Skies: Skies were clear and blue.