C.A.S.T. stands for “Catch A Special Thrill” and is an annual event sponsored by Outreach Health Services. It is a fun day of fishing for kids with various disabilities from our local community.

Today I served as “captain” to two great kids — Johnny and Phalerie. I was ably assisted by my “Boat Buddy”, Charlotte (who is also my mom AND a Registered Nurse!).

Phalerie with a keeper white bass she caught on a Pet Spoon.

Johnny with a hybrid striper that was fooled by his Thin Fin lure.

We launched out of Temple Lake Park on Belton Lake at around 8:30am. Unfortunately, it was VERY windy today which limited both access and techniques we could employ.

We just kept it real safe and real simple today and downrigged for suspended white bass and hybrid stripers today with Pet Spoons and Thin Fins between Areas 738 and 592.

We fished for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and over that period of time, both kids caught 3 fish. Our total of 6 fish consisted of 4 short hybrid stripers and 2 white bass.

By 10:30, the wind had increased to 20+ mph and we slowly made our way back in for an 11:00am wrap up time.

Once back at the dock, a photographer shot photos of all of the kids with their “captain” and “boat buddy” and we all headed to the Pavillion for a cookout and entertainment (rescue helicopter, K-9 units, para-surfers, and crafts).

The whole event ran very smoothly, and everyone there had a positive, upbeat attitude. This was a great volunteering experience!

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 8:30a

End Time: 10:40a

Air Temp: 72F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~67.0 F

Wind: Winds were stiff from the S at ~17, increasing to 20+ by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were fair with a light haze.

After a strike-out attempting to flyfish for white bass on the Llano River this morning, I took a very quick “stay in contact” trip on Stillhouse to keep up with fish and bait movement.

I headed up the Llano River with friends today, but the river is low and without current. There was no evidence of white bass activity whatsoever. If they were there, we’d have seen them, as the water is clear and shallow allowing good visibility of all that swims when polarized glasses are worn.

On Stillhouse, I found 2 distinct groups of active fish today, one at Area 638/640 and another at Area 529.

Both groups of fish behaved the same — they perked up as soon as I got a slab down among them the first time, and when the first fish was hooked, many schoolmates followed it off the bottom, but then the schools cooled off immediately and were very reluctant to follow or strike after that first fish was hooked.

I boated 10 fish (9 whites and 1 largemouth) at Area 638/640 and moved on. I boated 8 fish at Area 529 before the wind died (all white bass). Once the wind died, the fishing died with it.

I noted today that these white basses’ feces were black colored, indicating they are feeding heavily on insects instead of shad.

TALLY = 18 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 5:25p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp: 83F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~65.8F

Wind: Winds were SSE at 12 and calm by sunset, with a distinct decrease in speed at 7:10.

Skies: Skies were hazy.

We had a great family outing on Belton Lake this evening with a clan from Arlington, TX.

Tim (L), Mason (C), and Andy (R) … three generations aboard for some frenzied temperate bass action tonight!!

Mason, age 9, with his biggest fish of the evening.

Tim M. contacted me about the possibility of booking a trip after he’d decided to travel to Temple to visit a family friend in the hospital at Scott & White. When I was able to accomodate him, he worked his son, Mason, his dad, Andy, and his mom, Nancy into the plan and so at launch time it was we five versus the fish population of Lake Belton. Actually, the fishes’ odds were a bit better, as Mrs. Nancy was not a license holder and chose to just be a spectator and chief commentator.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect today as we had a mild front push through in the morning hours, turning the skies grey and humid and the winds very light and easterly (bad fishing!). This afternoon’s weather was definitely an improvement with winds up to 14mph, and from the SE. It’s that easterly component that is always a wild card. Too far east and the fishing tanks; a few degrees further south and, especially following poor conditions as we had this morning, the fishing can take off. Well, we got the latter and had a blast.

We began our trip around 4:30p and, under bright skies and SE winds found ample suspended white bass and short hybrids holding in a band from 13-17 feet deep over ~40 feet of water between Areas 574 and 753. We geared up with twin downriggers and at first had a ThinFin and a Pet Spoon in the spread. The fish showed a definite preference for the metallic Pet over the opaque Thin Fin, and once this trend emerged, we switched over to an all-Pet spread. From 4:30 until just shy of 6pm, we boated a mixed bag of 24 white bass and hybrid stripers with Mason and Andy doing most of the rod-work and Tim and Nancy cheering them on.

At around 6p, we began to see some bird activity — birds were just coming off the surface from a resting posture to a flying/searching mode. I should note here that the bird population is dropping off steadily, as it normally does with the progression of the Spring season. Anyway, we kept our eyes peeled and, in less than 15 minutes or so, began to see some coalescing of bird action right on top of Area 755.

We packed up the downrigging routine, got carefully on top of these fish by motoring near them, then closing the final 40 yards or so with the trolling motor. Once I found the center of mass of the feeding fish, we hovered in place and I gave some quick reminders about our technique (which we’d covered earlier so we’d be prepared). Mason, Tim, and Andy all did well right from the start using the smoking retrieve that I’d instructed them on. We very quickly boated 20, then 30, then 40, and eventually, a total of 85 fish from this area as the boys kept their technique consistent, their fish out of one anothers’ way, and their lines out of the trolling motor’s path.

As all three settled in to the technique, Tim observantly noted that Mason, the least experienced, was having the best results, despite the fact that all 3 fellows were fishing with identical gear and lures and were literally side-by-side. I explained that I often see this and have analyzed it. My conclusion is that, due to a lack of experience, kids tend to follow the pointers on the techniques I provide much more closely, AND have no pre-existing habits to overcome. Those more experienced, on the other hand, must often surpress or overcome natural tendencies in order to follow the techniques we use to a “T”. This evening, I pointed out to Tim he missed proportionally more of the fish he initially hooked because he was very fast and reflexive on his hookset. I noted that Andy lacked just a bit of smoothness and speed in his retrieve, thus making his lure a bit less easily overtaken by the gamefish beneath us. This resulted in a few less fish, and fish that were more deeply hooked than the lip-hooked fish that Tim and Mason were boating. These were in no way grievous errors, they were just slight variations from person to person that made a difference in how the fish responded. Mason had no “pre-existing conditions” and never set the hook, nor did he have any problem imitating the cadence of the retrieve speed I asked him to use once I showed it to him and reminded him from time to time. All three did very, very well, but the point is that minor variations in technique DO matter. These techniques get refined and revised as light, weather, and water temperature change and it is important if you desire to maximize your catch to recognize and respond to these variables.

Tim, a very good-natured fellow, took all of this in stride, “confessing” that he also had nagging habits in golf, and a tendency to dip his shoulder when at bat playing softball. He jokingly asked if there was any way I could fasten a knife or other pain-producing device to him to provide negative reinforcement each time he set the hook too quickly! For purposes of staying on the good side of my insurance carriers I will not disclose how that conversation ended!!

By around 7:30, the birds decided to call it a night early and headed to roost. The wind speed was picking up as well, and I knew anything else we may find in the way of fish would be anticlimactic compared to the feeding spree we’d just experienced.

We took advantage of the not-quite-setting sun to take photos with the natural light that remained and then headed back in with exactly 109 fish boated for my guests from Arlington.

TALLY = 109 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 4:20p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp: 83F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~66.7F

Wind: Winds were stiff from the SE at ~13, increasing to SE16 by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were fair with cloud cover increasing from 10 to 25% over the course of the trip.

Happy Birthday, Dalton!! Dalton B. and his family (Dad-Duane, Mom-Cristy, little sister-Delanie) all came out this evening for a birthday fishing trip in celebration of Dalton’s 14th birthday.

Dalton turns 14 this Sunday but started the festivities a bit early!

Little Miss Delanie held up her end of the bargain boating a big mess of white bass tonight.

We moved this trip from its original time of the morning of 02 April (tomorrow) due to the fact that our late-week weather forecast showed a mild cold front dropping down overnight, shifting winds to the east for most of the morning that day. Fortunately the family was able to flex and come out this evening as we enjoyed a bit of pre-frontal action.

Dalton has a quiet determination about him — I think he’d have hung with me no matter how long we fished and no matter how good or bad the fishing or weather was. Miss Delanie, who is 9, is a cute, cheery young lady who didn’t mind getting her hands a little slimy on account of her big brother! Mom and Dad were along for the ride and loving that their kids were having a great experience this evening.

Tonight we boated fish from four areas — the first three by way of jigging vertically, and the last area by way of flatline trolling.

Our first encounter with active, bottom-oriented fish came at Area 103. Sonar lit up with fish from 28 to 25 feet deep here on this breakline. We set the boat in a hover with the Terrova on Spot Lock and went to work. Since the kids were both athletic, I used a sports analogy and told them this game is ours to lose — meaning we would catch a bunch of fish here if we didn’t goof anything up like making excessive noise or tangling lines in the trolling motor, etc. Well, none of those things happened, and we boated exactly 51 fish here in about 90 minutes’ time. At first we used a smoking tactic with TNT 180 slabs, and then used a lift-drop tactic to reach horizontally beyond the boat giving 1/2 oz. Sand Blasters a workout.

As these fish softened, I searched the immediate vicinity with sonar finding little else, so, we cranked up and expanded the diameter of our search. We again contacted fish at Area 746, this time finding the fish cooperative for a much reduced period of time. We all caught fish on the initial drop as the fish turned on quickly, but then they turned right back off and only responded half-heartedly from that point on. We boated 18 fish here including 1 drum, with most taken via TNT 180 in a smoking format and the balance Sand Blast’ed.

Our last bit of vertical jigging came a bit shallower from 13-15 feet deep between Areas 731 and 728. Again, the fish were most aggressive right at the beginning and quickly tailed off. We smoked and blasted here for 20 additional fish, the majority of which were short.

With sunset now knocking at the door, the kids’ wrists hurting, and the fish about to shut down, we changed the pace a bit and flatline trolled off Area 999 for the last 15 minutes of light. We put out twin Rip Shad 200’s and boated a final pair of whites and a nice 12.125 inch crappie.

By now we’d amassed a catch of exactly 92 fish and headed to the dock. I was very pleased that this trip worked out well, as Dalton and his dad had come out with me once before when the weather did not cooperate and I did all I could to keep this from being a repeat performance of that tough day on the water.

TALLY = 92 FISH, all caught and released

CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 7:55p

Air Temp: 84F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~64.6F

Wind: Winds were SSW11-13 the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were fair with building clouds to the N in advance of a mild cool front due in overnight.