“Honor your father…” Exodus 20:12 – 119 Fish, Belton Lake, 06 June 2011






Bittersweet would be a good way to describe today’s trip. A few weeks ago Matt W. of Georgetown,TX, contacted me. His 63 year old dad, Mark, had gotten word from the doctors that his time here would soon draw to a close. Matt asked me to help make some memories for his dad and him by putting them on fish.

Matt (L) and his father, Mark (R) with our best fish of the trip. A hybrid downrigged from a suspended school of fish down 29 feet over a 40 foot bottom. It fell for a White Willow spoon.

Matt is a very good fisherman in his own right; he owns his own boat, can interpret sonar, and is consistent in boating fish on Lake Georgetown. However, on this trip he wanted to focus on his dad, not handling the boat, the bait or the gear, nor worrying about where the fish were or were not. So, he left those things to me and got to be attentive to his father, to setting him up for success, and enjoying it with him when it came.

As the day drew nearer, I was concerned given the forecast for bright, clear skies and light winds from the north. What actually materialized was a light SE breeze at 1-2 mph, and some early morning haze that kept the sun’s intensity somewhat reduced until it burned away by 9:30.

I arrived a bit more than an hour ahead of our scheduled 6:45am meeting time to net shad, and, as I looked about for signs of fish and bait as I traveled about for shad, I saw the beginnings of some topwater action between Areas 388 and 726.

I met Matt and Mark, we got all the gear situated, etc. and then headed back to the “scene of the crime” to see if the topwater action was going to continue. Well, continue it did!! For over two hours there was never a time when a school of white bass was not within casting distance. These whites (most smallish) were oriented on the nomadic schools of newly hatched shad just drifting about pushed by the light currents and light winds of late. It was not uncommon to land a fish only to have it regurgitate one or more breakfast items at boatside. Several times we actually had fish we’d landed still holding live baitfish in their mouths. To capitalize on this action we kept our presentations subtle, using small bladebaits and Cork Rigs with appropriately sized shad-imitators tied on the business end. Occasionally, we’d see heavy schools of fish suspended just off the bottom at up to 30 feet over a 40 foot water column. Matt and I dropped 3/4 oz. TNT180 slabs into these fish on a few occasions and came up with better quality fish including larger whites and one short hybrid. The focus, however, was on Mark and his success. He was “in the groove” accurately casting to surfacing schools of whites, and that required that I continuously maneuver the boat to keep us within casting range, thus not really allowing for a vertical presentation. By 9:30am we’d boated exactly 114 fish including 113 white bass and one short hybrid. The topwater bite had nearly completely died, but, we could still see schooled fish suspended down deeper, so we geared up the downriggers and targeted these fish.

We used “White Willow Spoons” in opaque white to tempt these suspended fish. No sooner did we get lines down than we hooked up a double on a pair of white bass. Our 3rd fish was our largest of the day, a ~19 inch hybrid. I saw the rod tip twitch just an instant before the fish tore the line from the release clip and headed north on a tear. Matt reacted, grabbed the rod from the holder and passed it on to his dad. Mark did a great job of fighting the fish, letting the rod and drag do what they’re intended to do, and brought the fish to net handily. We released that fish and continued downrigging. We boated two more whites — one of which came as Matt was rigging his line and as the bait was still skimming along just beneath the surface.

By 10:15 these fish were done and we moved on to give live shad a try for some additional hybrid. We got set up and I was about to put some chum down when Mark let us know that he thought it prudent for us to conclude our trip so as not to push his limits on this hot, dry, windless late morning with the sun now really bearing down on us. So we brought the gear in, cranked up, and made our own breeze heading 30 mph back to the dock to get Mark into the air conditioning.

I had a chance to speak with Matt before he and his dad departed. In my “other life” in ministry, I see a lot of examples of children, including adult children, failing to honor their father and mother and how this failure to follow the Lord’s guidance leads to family problems, hard feelings, and worse. I let Matt know how refreshing it was to see a son look after his dad now that, through life’s circumstances, their roles were reversed. Matt was really selfless, attentive to his dad’s needs, and genuinely wanted this trip to go just right knowing full well it’d likely be the last one they made together. Some days, all goes according to plan … today, it went even better as Mark got in one last cast.

TALLY = 119 FISH, all caught and released


TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:30a

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~83F

Wind: Winds were light at 1-2 SE for ~ 2 hours after sunrise, then went slack and glassy.

Skies: Skies were hazy at sunrise, turning clear and bright after ~9:00am