This evening I fished with Nate R. of Academy, TX, and his three kids, Eliza, Ben, and Sam. Nate works at Scott & White hospital in Temple, TX, where several of his co-workers (some with kids of their own) had fished with me in the past and suggested he give me a try.

Eliza walked away with big fish honors tonight … a 6.25 pound largemouth which threw up a 9 inch white bass in mid-battle.

Little Sam held his own today with a channel cat caught during our “practice round”. It tipped the scales at 5.50 pounds.

Ben was steady as a rock … he had the best form and most consistency and caught the most fish independently today.

Nate’s kids all had very limited fishing experience prior to today’s trip, so, we started with the fundamentals … how to hold a rod, what the parts of the rod and reel are called, how to work a lure in a way attractive to the fish, and so on, so that when we encountered fish, we could maximize our potential. This would pay off later in the trip.

Before even leaving the boatramp area (Area 797), as we work on adjusting our lure height relative to bottom and on the proper jigging tactic, we got a “big bite” and Sam (the youngest sibling at 6 years old) was fast to a very large channel cat. As he cranked and cranked on the reel’s handle for all it was worth, the drag did its job and buffered any rookie mistakes that might have been made. In a few moments I slid the net under our first, and what I assumed would be our largest, fish of the trip … a 5.50 pound channel cat. Wow! What a start.

From there, we made our way to progressively deeper water finding a few fish suspended under birds in the vicinity of Area 1053. We ran downriggers staggered at 12 and 15 feet and boated 2 white bass and a short largemouth before the action died.

We then headed to the deepest water that we would fish this trip — 38 feet around Area 1042. We found schooled (but not heavily schooled) white bass on the downwind side of this bottom feature and hovered over them while working our TNT180 slab spoons. The older two kids, Eliza and Ben, did great once they got the hang of adjusting their lure depth in this “non-practice” scenario. Sam required a bit of help from me and dad, but, that’s what we were there for. In all, the kids boated 28 fish from this small patch of bottom including Eliza’s 6.25 pound largemouth shown above. As this fish first breached the surface, a partially digested 9 inch white bass was thrown from its mouth. Eliza’s hook held through that above-water headshake and she stayed pretty cool and eventually brought the fish to net for a quick photo and weigh-in on my certified scales.

As the time pushed near 7p, the light level decreased as the setting sun fell behind some clouds to the west. We headed back shallow and finished up doing some flatlining in the vicinity of Area 995, boating 2 final white bass for the evening.

TALLY = 35 fish, all caught and released.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 8:05p

Air Temp: 73F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58.4F

Wind: Winds were SSE 6-8.

Skies: Skies were partly sunny to mostly cloudy.

This morning I fished with the Mayberry family currently stationed at Ft. Hood. The Mayberry’s oldest child, 12 year old son Keaton, actually did all the fishing, the rest of the family (Dad, Mom, and baby sister) all just came along for the ride.

Keaton got tickled while looking at the minor movements that the white bass’ eye was making as he held this fish, our largest white of the trip, up close for the photo! This fish went 13.5″.

I met the Mayberry’s two weekends ago at the “Captains’ Weekend” event hosted by Cabela’s in Buda, TX. At this event, 25 guides from all over the state of Texas (both fresh and saltwater) were invited to set up booths to advertise their services, as well as to be present to answer questions, give guidance on gear, do seminars, etc. David is in the military, so we had that in common and began talking. As it turned out his son was about to go on his first wild turkey hunt and David thought a fishing trip would be the perfect Spring Break vacation addition to round out the outdoor experience, so, he booked a trip for the whole family.

I liked our conditions as we started off this morning — balmy, breezy, and grey.

I introduced Keaton to both flatline trolling and downrigging gear, and we ran one setup of each on opposite sides of the boat. The downrigger got us 3 fish with a White Willow Spoon attached to the business end, while the flatlining rig picked up a single on the Shad Rap. After the first two fish came on the downrigger, we buoyed a small concentration of fish, then backed off and cast Cicadas at them in ~13 feet of water. We boated 6 fish out of this school before they scattered. We then continued with the flatline and downrigging program for two final fish off this area (Area 1048/108) before moving on as the skies began to clear and the winds began to go slack.

We checked a few areas coming up with just 1 white bass and 1 crappie at Area 986/789. We continued to struggle for about 90 minutes as bright, calm conditions prevailed.

Finally, around 10:30a, a light S. breeze began to come up and we headed to open water where its effects would be most felt. We got on fish at Area 1052 and boated exactly 23 white bass here, all on a TNT180 slab, and all with a jigging technique.

TALLY = 35 fish, all caught and released.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp: 63F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58.0F

Wind: Winds were S6 until 9:15a, then went calm, then picked up at S8-9 after 10:30a.

Skies: Skies were 100% overcast when the wind blew, and partly sunny during the calm mid-morning time.

This morning I fished with returning guests “Grandma” Joyce W. and two of her six grandsons, Nate (8) and C.J. (12). This is the fourth year in a row the trio has made the drive from the Dallas area to camp out in a Salado hotel and then fish with me during Spring Break.

C.J. was “Mr. Consistent” today, keeping his vertical jigging technique just right when it counted and he enjoyed consistent success as a result.

Nate, we joked, was like the blind sow that occasionally found the acorn! He sang, told jokes, listened intently to my war stories, snacked, and, oh yeah, caught a fish now and then, too!!

Over the years we’ve encountered some crazy Spring Break weather, and this year was no exception. Over the weekend a cold front, followed by a slow moving Pacific low pressure system dumped rain over all of Central Texas. We got 2.2 inches on the south shore of Stillhouse, but the lake didn’t take on much runoff. However, a heavy blanket of fog awaited us this morning but, fortunately, began clearing as we got out on the water.

We started early doing some trolling to find fish and then cast Cicadas to them once we found larger concentrations and buoyed them. We boated 15 fish in the vicinity of Area 995 in 15-17 feet of water during the time that some lifting fog obscured the sunlight.

We struggled a bit during mid-morning as the fog lifted leaving us with bright, calm conditions (among the toughest for white bass fishing).

By 10:45, a light S. breeze at 6-7 picked up and the skies went from bright to fair. We hit some deepwater areas (40-45 feet) and found congregated white bass ready to feed. We stayed atop Area 1042 for ~2.5 hours steadily boating fish with a jigging retrieve, an easing tactic, and, occasionally, with a slow smoking tactic. We put 41 fish in the boat at this one location over this time frame including 40 white bass and 1 drum, which Nate was enamored with (hence the photo above).

One of the lighter moments of the trip came when a kind of quiet had fallen upon us … Joyce was enjoying being outdoors, C.J. was concentrating on jigging for his next white bass, I was focused on reading sonar, and Nate was (suspiciously) quiet. For no reason whatsoever, Nate states, “I’m adorable.” Joyce and I just looked at one another, smiled, shook our heads, and went back to enjoying the quiet.

TALLY = 56 fish, all caught and released.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58F

Wind: Winds were calm at (obscured) sunrise and until around 10:30, turning S6-7 for the remainder of the trip thereafter .

Skies: Skies were fair.

This morning I fished with Father Pedro Garcia-Ramirez, his brother, Jose, and his nephew, Isaac. This trip was presented to Father Pedro by the Knights of Columbus on the 25th anniversary of his ordination into the ministry

Father Pedro boated the largest fish of the trip today, a 3.25 pound channel cat that hit his Cicada bladebait in an area otherwise holding a large concentration of white bass.

Isaac caught the largest white bass of the trip today. This 15 3/8 inch long specimen qualified him for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Big Fish Award for exceeding the 15″ threshold.

Fr. Pedro is the pastor of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Pflugerville. With a congregation of over 4,000 parishioners, a man can get spread very thin. So, today was a day to relax in God’s creation with family.

Our day began bright and windless — pretty tough white bass conditions — so, we started off flatline trolling in the vicinity of Area 995 to tempt the few interested fish among the many still disinterested fish. In our first 30 minutes or so, we boated 4 fish in this fashion using Shad Raps. Then, around 7:45, as we continued trolling, we went over a 50 foot stretch of bottom loaded with fish. These fish were just about glued to the bottom and not a single one rose up the 2-3 feet required to nail the crankbaits we had working behind the boat as those baits came overhead. But, I suspected they’d be catchable if we got down to their level and fished bladebaits more thoroughly right amongst them. So, I maneuvered the boat so all 3 of my guests could hit the area I’d buoyed and we began to work our Cicadas over the fish. The fish were sluggish at first, but, as the first breeze of the day came up, the action increased, then later fell off again as that gentle WNW breeze died. By the time the action here played out we had spent nearly 3 hours in this one area and boated 65 fish with a number of others hooked and missed. Father Pedro caught the best of the bunch — a 3.25 pound channel cat that was mixed in with our white bass school. Isaac boated a very large white bass that measured 15 3/8 inches. This school of fish we were over consisted mainly of 3-4 year old fish. Nearly every single one was over 12 inches, with multiple fish exceeding 14 inches.

A funny thing happened amidst all of this action that taught me a great cultural lesson. It so happened that Jose had brought along soft tacos to share. He told me he brought 4 just for me. I asked what was on the tacos. He replied “puerco” (pork) and “frijoles” (beans). I happened to like both, so, I unwrapped the taco and bit right in. What happened next I can only describe as an amazingly intense oral scorching sensation. Without permission, I helped myself to Jose’s cooler full of Cokes and water. After downing one of each of these, the lake water surrounding us also looked amazingly refreshing. After but a short 70-80 minutes or so the sensation began to subside. The cultural lesson? Don’t ask, “What’s on the taco?”. Instead, ask, “What is the taco seasoned with?” To him, it was a given that the taco would blister the lining of one’s mouth and one’s tongue, but, that did not occur to me.

Back to fishing … after Area 995 played out and a S. wind began to pick up suddenly at about 8 mph, we headed to deeper water, this time just to the NW of Area 074. I had not found fish in this area since the day before our big rain 3 weeks ago, but, today the fish returned here in force. In 45 minutes of fishing here my three guests boated an additional 42 fish, all taken on the TNT180 slab in 3/4 oz. via both vertical jigging and easing. These fish averaged a good bit smaller than the first bunch we got into, going around 10.75 to 11.25 inches on average.

At this final spot we fished, and as we approached our 100th fish boated, I let everyone know that it is customary for the person who catches the 100th fish to buy the others lunch. This brought some interesting responses. The best was when uncle Jose (who went on to catch the 100th fish) jokingly(?) accused nephew Isaac of having the 100th fish hooked, but not reeling it in until someone else beat him to it, just to avoid paying for lunch.

This was a great morning of fishing with some great men who clearly cared for one another and valued the fact that they were family. I’m honored that the Knights of Columbus entrusted me with making this trip a good one for Father Pedro.

TALLY = 107 fish, all caught and released.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 61F

Wind: Winds were calm at (obscured) sunrise, turning NW8 for about an hour, then going calm, and finally picking up S8-9 for the duration.

Skies: Skies were bluebird clear.

This morning I fished with north Austin angler Pat W. Pat works for the University of Texas and chose to spend a part of some much needed down time on the water with me.

Pat caught a personal best today. This 6.25 pound largemouth hit a shad pattern TNT180 slab in ~30 feet of water.

We had a little oddity occur on board — this white bass regurgitated a freshly swallowed log perch. Evidently these cigar-shaped and tiger-striped members of the darter family are fair game when white bass are on the prowl!!

You’ve heard the basketball phrase “nothing but net” when a shot goes perfectly — not even touching the rim as it goes into the basket. Today we experienced the fishing version of “nothing but net”.

Pat and I met up just as the sun was peeking over the cloud bank in the east. He was easy-going and willing to listen and learn. Over the next 5+ hours we would catch fish from start to finish using a variety of tactics in shallow water and deep.

We had flat calm conditions at first so, I started us out flatlining Rapala Shad Raps in the vicinity of Area 995, expecting sluggish, scattered fish holding tight to the bottom until the winds picked up. We picked up two white bass in short order here and, as we did, noted a concentration of fish holding on a slight breakline in this general vicinity. Since it’s difficult to run crankbaits on the face of a slope, I buoyed the fish, backed off a cast’s length, and began horizontally casting bladebaits (Reef Runner Cicada’s) to these fish. The fish jumped all over these baits!! We e-anchored in one spot and pulled 37 white bass up to 14 inches from this area, of which, only one fish went less than 10″. We stayed on this area until the bite died at around 9:30a. We resumed flatline trolling while checking adjacent areas out on this same feature. We caught one more white bass, but saw nothing leading me to decide to stay here any longer.

By now the skies were brighter, but still overcast, and a nice pre-frontal NW breeze came up around 8mph. We searched a number of deepwater areas until finding fish at Area 1047 (BA:6T, 3RBG) in approximately 32 feet of water. We used a combination of jigging and easing tactics here to boat exactly 39 fish over a two hour span. These were larger than average fish, with most going 12.75 to 13.25 inches, and several going 14.00″ to 14.125″. Every last one of these fish came on the tried and true TNT 180 in 3/4 oz. size.

By just after noon, things began to slow as they typically do. We hit one more location, just E. of Area 176. Much like our first area this morning, we found fish gathered along the face of this short, gentle breakline. This time, I hovered us over the break and we jigged for these fish at first. Pat put two fish in the boat before I could even get my lure to hit the bottom, then we both began catching fish (and missing them as these fish began short-striking as sluggish fish about to turn off often do). When the vertical approach gave out, we went horizontal with bladebaits, allowing us to land our final 2 fish of the day to top us off at 86 fish.

It was great to have success from start to finish. This is typically not the case and I was quick to point this out to Pat. I told him I didn’t want him to go home spoiled thinking it was always like this — most days involve more “hunting” than “pecking”.

TALLY = 86 FISH, all caught and released, including 2 largemouth, 1 crappie, and 83 white bass.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 59.7F

Wind: Winds were calm at (obscured) sunrise, turning NW8 for the duration as of ~8:00a.

Skies: Skies were overcast the entire trip.