Today I fished with perennial guests Mr. Steve N. of Temple, and two of his grandchildren, 8 year old Caleb, and 5 year old Macy.
The fish activity rose and fell with the winds today, but everyone caught fish.
I just love the consistency of summer fishing in Texas. Yes, it’s going to be hot, but the conditions that typically bring that heat — southerly winds in combination with a high pressure system sitting on or near us — make summer fishing from early June to at least mid-September the most predictable period of the year.
Today we went right to where the fish were and fed them exactly what they wanted and we enjoyed success from start to finish catching quality white bass the entire time with a largemouth bass or two thrown in for good measure.
We found a few fish scattered around at Area 040 in the low-light, low-wind period following sunrise. We pulled a few fish from among the many still disinterested using downriggers and Pet Spoons, and then moved on.
At between Area 851 and Area 1250 we encountered more scattered white bass in the lower 1/3 of the water column and a ton of bait fish. We downrigged until we found heavily schooled white bass on sonar and then stopped to fish “in detail” for those schooled fish at both Area 851 and Area 1250. This action coincided with increasing winds and light. This summer I’ve found the fish have preferred a white blade bait (Reef Runner Cicada) over the slabs that I usually use for this duty. I really don’t have a good theory for why that is, but, it definitely is!
During the peak of the bite, there were literally hundreds of white bass showing in the cone of sound being put out by my sonar unit. These fish were chasing shad everywhere in a real frenzy. Several times we boated fish that regurgitated multiple (as many as 4), whole, undigested shad, and were gunning for more when they smacked our lures. As these whole and partial shad sank down beneath the boat, it acted like our own little chum spread, keeping the other fish active and local.
By 10:15, the fish action was tapering off, the winds had gone to nearly dead calm, and, with the kids in their mandatory life jackets, they had about all they could take after three and a quarter hours.
One thing Steve has always been good about is being okay with ending the trip a bit early for the kids’ sake, being content with what we’d been blessed to catch, instead of insisting that we stay to the bitter end, thus making it an endurance test for the grandkids he always brings along. I wish more men would follow suit — they’d wind up with a fishing buddy for life that way.
In the end, we finished up with exactly 60 fish including 57 white bass, 2 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.
TALLY = 60 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 10:15a
Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 86.1F
Wind: Winds were SE6.
Skies: Cloudless fair sky.
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas