The Spirit was Willing, but the Flesh was Weak … 22 Fish, 30 Aug 2013, Austin Fishing Guide Report






This morning I fished with 11 year old Jackson B. of Round Rock, TX. He was accompanied by his mom, Judy.

Even a smile takes effort when you’re fishing on a queasy stomach!! Though a little “green around the gills” Jackson kept fishing as long as he could.


We finally had a nice SW breeze kick in and the fish were in high gear, feeding aggressively on topwater for a full 2 ΒΌ hours, but, poor Jackson was stuck in neutral. He’s been battling an ear infection for several days and this morning between the antibiotics, the sun, the waves, and the heat, something had to give. The young man spent about as much time with his head hung over the side as he did with rod and reel in hand.

I just hated to see that happen to him because he was super excited to be coming out on this guided trip for over 2 weeks now. Between bouts of nausea we did get him on some solid white bass action. Where the largemouth fed on top, the white bass could be found at mid-depth down to the bottom. We cast bladebaits and worked them in a lift-drop fashion catching the fish as they came off bottom in hot pursuit in the vicinity of Area 860/866/859.

We boated 15 fish before enough was enough and Jackson made the call to head back in early. Since he and his mom often fish from the bank together I offered that on the way in we could make a quick stop at a hydrilla bed (at Area 200) so I could quickly demonstrate how they might be more successful in catching sunfish. I used a slip float rig to land one small sunfish. This got Jackson’s attention and he asked if he could try to catch one of his own. Of course I obliged and was glad when he enjoyed some instant success. As sunfish are apt to do, this population “wised up” soon after we yanked a few relatives out of the neighborhood, and so we prepared to head back in.

I asked Jackson for an assessment of his situation at this point, and he said he was actually feeling better. I gave him another opportunity to head back out after more white bass and he gave the “thumbs up”. We headed back out to where we’d caught our white bass earlier and found a few fish still feeding on top, albeit less aggressively.

He went back to throwing a bladebait for white bass as largemouth erupted all around. I demonstrated the use of a topwater plug and was on to a school-sized largemouth in short order. Jackson thought he’d give this a try, too, but his stamina to stick with it when it didn’t work the first time or two just wasn’t there as a result of feeling so poorly. Soon after, we decided to call it quits.

We wound up catching 17 white bass, 3 sunfish, and 2 largemouth. I have a feeling I haven’t seen the last of Jackson. He was determined to catch fish no matter what and persisted until he was successful despite feeling as poorly as he did. You get an “A” for effort, Jackson!!

TALLY = 22 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 84.1F

Wind: Winds were SE6-8.

Skies: 100% greyed over sky with occasional drizzle/light rain.

Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas








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