Lucky Red Sox Hat, 242 Fish, Lake Belton, 31 Oct. 2013

This morning I fished with Mike M., his son-in-law, Keith D., and Keith’s son, Alex (age 7).

Keith and Alex pose with one of Keith’s legal hybrids.

Mike’s wife has been nice enough to get him a fishing gift certificate
for Christmas for the last few years and today was “cash it in day”.

Mike phoned
me last week when the 10 day forecast called for rain, wondering what
we should do about our trip. I encouraged him to hold off on making a
decision until at least Sunday when the forecast was a bit more
accurate. Long story short, I told Mike we could either have a pretty
average day if we scheduled him for Tuesday (given the forecast for
clouds and a mild SSE wind), or roll the dice on the timing of the front
which was forecast for today (and which arrived during our trip). If
the gamble paid off, I told him it would pay off handsomely; if it
didn’t, we’d likely go home with just a handful of fish caught.

As it turned out, Mike’s willingness to take a risk paid off and we
nailed it!! We got on the water as the last of the humid, cloudy, wet
weather was clearing from W to E following a night of flooding rains in
Austin up though Bell, Milam, Hill and Limestone counties, and as the
winds began to shift from the S through the W. As they are apt to do
this time of year, the fish went on an aggressive feeding binge that
lasted from 8:45a to 10:15a.

During this time, we used ¾ oz.
TNT 180 slabs (white color) on spinning gear and boated an amazing 242
fish out of anywhere from 28-34 feet of water. Fish were found
throughout the water column from bottom up to within 4 feet of the
surface during most of this time with occasional, light surface action
visible in the heavy chop on the water.

Keith had the hot hand
today, catching all of the keeper-sized hybrid that we boated. Did I
mention he was wearing a Red Sox hat? Did I mention the Red Sox won the
World Series later this same day?

We kidded how we were going to send young Alex home “spoiled” with results that would be hard to beat for a long while to come.

TALLY = 242 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:25a
End Time: 12:15p
Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 71.1F
Wind: Winds were S8 at trip’s start, with a full swing thru NW18 by trip’s end as a cool front hit.
Skies: 100% clouded at first light through 8:45a; then clearing with
the beginning of the wind shift that accompanied the incoming front.
Notes: BA=30G; GT=50

Areas Fished with success:
** 1273
** 1274
** 835
** 787

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

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