Yeah, You Can Put that in Gumbo! — 44 Fish, Belton Lake Fishing Guide’s Report, 30 Nov. 2013

This morning I fished on Belton Lake with father-daughter anglers Kevin M. of New Orleans, LA, and Lauren V. of Temple, TX.

  

Lauren’s
hybrid went 3.50 lbs. and Kevin’s went 3.75 lbs.  These fish were taken
minutes apart around 10:50a when a small flock of terns dove on the
shad these fish and their schoolmates were pushing to the surface.  Both
came on 3/4 oz. slabs.

Kevin
is a geologist working in the oil industry and Lauren is investing her
life into helping veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder and
related-issues in her work with the Veterans’ Administration.


Coming
off a really good day yesterday, the winds were a bit more easterly
this morning, with 100% grey cloud cover the entire morning.  Both the
fish and the birds were a bit “funky” today.  We enjoyed the presence of
active, flying, feeding birds for the last 3.5 hours of our 4.5 hour
trip, but, the birds rarely stayed over one area very long.  They would
circle, dip down after a few shad, then move 100 or 200 yards and do the
same thing.  Likewise, the fish we found were also scattered and “flighty”; we rarely encountered more than a few fish at at time.


To
be sure, we caught fish, but the fish we encountered were scatted both
horizontally and vertically.  We jigged for fish on the bottom, “smoked”
for suspended fish, and even downrigged a bit for fish that were spread
horizontally and on the move.


When
all was said and done we put together a catch of 44 fish including
short and keeper hybrid up to 3.75 pounds, white bass up to 13″, and 2
largemouth bass thrown in for good measure.


Kevin’s
past experiences have primarily been in saltwater in both the
Chesapeake Bay complex, and in the Mississippi Delta region of
Louisiana.  Never before had he targeted or landed either white bass or
hybrid striped bass, so, today was a day of firsts for him.

As the fish and bird action wound down, our conversation turned to food, specifically Louisiana fare.  Having spent some time at Fort Polk, LA, as a young man in the military, I was able to compare notes with Kevin and Lauren.  We joked that with a good roux as a base, it really didn’t matter what you put in gumbo, which led my two guests to volunteer some of the stranger ingredients they’d witnessed.  Topping the list: black birds!!

TALLY = 44 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:35a

Air Temp: 50F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 57F 
Wind: Winds were SE6.
Skies: 100% cloudy and grey.

Other Notes: GT=55

Areas Fished with success:
**  1141/835/1144 (30T, 15 G)
**  838 (12T)

The Sonar Just Lit Up!! 118 Fish, Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report, 29 Nov. 2013

This afternoon I fished on Stillhouse Hollow with long-time clients Jim S. and his daughter, Shena, who traveled up from near Lake Travis to fish with me today.

 

Jim and Shena with just a sampling of the 118 fish we boated this afternoon  –  a catch which included white bass, largemouth bass, freshwater drum, and crappie.


Seeing the sheer number of fish down below us, is it any wonder why we caught so many??  This is a down-looking StructureScan image.


Here is a similar screenshot take with high definition colored sonar.

Jim just retired after a career as a university professor, while Shena just launched out in a new pursuit as a high school math teacher.

After fishing a morning trip on Belton, I gauged the end time of the fishes’ morning feed there (around 11:15) and decided I’d better go with Stillhouse in the afternoon.  Although I was sure the fish on Belton would feed in the evening, I couldn’t imagine them turning on again just two hours or so after they’d fed long and hard and then quit.  I’d fished Stillhouse on Wednesday evening and again on Thanksgiving morning just to scout things out, see where the fish and the bait could be located, and to check for any helpful bird action.  The results of those scouting trips gave me confidence that we’d get on fish this afternoon.

We started out the trip by ironing out any kinks in Jim and Shena’s jigging techniques. After just a few minutes’ review, they were looking good. 

We looked for fish in 4 areas today, and were blessed to find fish in 3 of them.  Jim and Shena have fished with me so many times, they already had the essentials of jigging down, and they did well attracting and hooking a lot of fish.  I noted, however, that many of the hookups did not result in boated fish, so, we worked together to “polish” an already solid technique.  For Jim, slowing down his reeling speed when playing hooked fish was something that we noted could use some improvement, and, by trip’s end, he had definitely improved, thanks to lots of opportunities to practice.  Generally speaking, the problem of reeling a fish in too fast is that too much strain develops in the system, and the force generated by the fisherman’s gear pulling against the fish can cause a marginally buried hook to come out of the small bit of tissue it is buried in.  Slowing down the retrieve keeps this amount of force below the “critical” level.

For Shena, I noted she initially had a tendency to reeling a hooked fish up a bit too closely to the rod tip.  This resulted in a few frustrating losses of fish right at or near the water’s surface, or as the fish was being swung into the boat from out of the water.  This never typically was a problem back when everyone used monofilament.  Now, in spooling up with braided lines (I use Sufix 832) there is much less stretch and therefore much less shock absorbing capacity.  When a fish gets near the surface or out of the water and shakes its head, a hook is easily torn out or dislodged by the back and forth “flopping” of the heavy slab,  To combat this, I urge all of my guests to leave at least 3 feet of line from the tip of the rod to the snout of the fish.  As she worked on this, her hook-to-land ratio definitely went up.

This points out an important consideration — being teachable/coachable.  In this situation both Jim and Shena were willing to take some suggestions and give these suggestions an honest try.   I run into others (typically men who have fished for largemouth bass for many years) who are the proverbial “old dog” which can’t be taught “new tricks”.  Despite their experience, they’ll go home less successful than a novice who listened well out of a sense of need.

TALLY = 118 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p
End Time: 5:45p

Air Temp: 55F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F 

Wind:
Winds were S8.


Skies: 80% cloudy.

Other Notes: GT=0


Areas Fished with success:

**  074
**  947 (4T)

**  1005



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

Wanna Bet?? — 136 Fish, Belton Lake Fishing Guide Report, 29 Nov. 2013

This morning I
fished
with Uncle-in-charge Rodd L. visiting the Belton, TX, area from Reno, Nevada, with his son, Nick.  Uncle Rodd also brought along four of his nephews who reside in Morgan’s Point, TX, — Kris, Josh, Merrill, and Orland E.

I thought I’d post this photo first to use as a name directory to the crowd that came aboard this morning. From L. to R.: Merrill, Josh, Nick, Rodd, Little O (Orland), and Kris — all with white bass landed in the fog.


Josh landed our largest hybrid, a 19 3/8″ beauty that went for a white slab.


And of course, you can’t mention one kid without mentioning the other (Nick)…


And the other (Kris)…


And the other (Merrill)…


And the other (Orland)…


And the biggest kid of them all (Uncle Todd)!!

Rodd is a professional engineer (P.E.) with background in both civil engineering and geology.  He makes the trip to Texas every so often to visit with his sister and brother-in-law, and their family.  The whole bunch was a fun bunch to be with — clean cut, good attitudes, articulate, and well-behaved.

Our conditions were tough as we launched at 7a — just below freezing, with a dense blanket of fog coming off the cooling water.   With a total of 7 of us aboard, the elbow room was going to be a bit limited, so, we did a “rehearsal run” after getting out away from the launch site, showing everyone how important it was to wait to drop their slabs only when the boat had come to a stop, and then stay in their “lane” to avoid tangled lines.  I made sure each person was vertically jigging just right before got underway. 

Evidently, before the trip, Uncle Rodd put together a pool — the ante was $3 per person:  $1 for first fish, $1 for biggest fish, and $1 for most fish, thus yielding a total pot of $18 up for grabs.

Nick scored early and often, boating the first fish of the day and staying in the lead with most fish caught for the entire trip, although Kris gave him a serious run for his money.  Josh opted for quality over quantity, and landed our single largest fish of the trip, a 19 3/8″ hybrid striped bass.  Every last fish we caught today came on a TNT180 slab, white color, in 3/4 oz.  We boated 14 legal (18+ inch) hybrid striped bass, and a mix of 122 white bass and “short hybrid.

Fishing was tough during the time we were fogged in — we had to find fish with sonar, and when we did, they were reluctant to strike and were glued to bottom.  This was strictly a vertical jigging affair. After the fog cleared, birds began to lift and feed, and the fish could be found feeding throughout the water column.  We did a good bit of “smoking” during this time to score well, especially on the hybrid, which seemed more apt to be suspended than did the bottom-dwelling white bass.

TALLY = 136 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 30F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F 

Wind:
Winds were SSE6-8, tapering to SSE3 after fog lifted.


Skies: 100% fogged in conditions until 9:45a when skies cleared to10% clouds on a fair sky.

Other Notes: GT=25


Areas Fished with success:

**  499/1137
**  1187

**  1296 (9T, 1 G)
**  843 (20T, 10G)
**  1177 (12T)



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

My Coffee Cooled Quickly!! — 37 Fish, Belton Lake, 27 Nov. 2013

This morning I fished
with father and son Wayne and Mike B. who traveled to Central Texas to camp at Lake Georgetown for Thanksgiving with their extended family.

Mike (aft) and Wayne (fore) came aboard already knowing how to work a slab which helped us score in some very tough conditions today.

We’ve had some rough, cold weather these past 5 days with temperatures never leaving the 40’s, no direct sunlight, and strong NNE winds, plus some locally heavy rains.  Belton Lake rose slightly and the water was a bit cloudy with a lot of small floating debris.  The water temperature surface temperature fell 7 degrees in this short period of time, so, we were looking at an uphill climb today, not to mention that high pressure was building in.

In a pre-trip phone call Mike, who is a very good fisherman and knew full well that the weather forecast today would make it rough, asked what I though our chances were.  I left a little wiggle room saying we wouldn’t get skunked, but we wouldn’t knock the ball out of the park, either.

When the rubber hit the road at 7am, we got off to a slow start.  There was abundant bird activity, but it was not fish-related.  I suspect shad were simply near the surface, perhaps feeding on the flotsam, and the birds were picking them off from above.  We fished 3 areas unsuccessfully, seeing fish on sonar at all locations but getting nothing to respond.

We finally hit into a reluctant school of mainly small white bass around 8:15 and “short hopped” on this area 3 times making moves of just a few yards each time.  Our first stop was the most productive — but, just catching fish bolstered our confidence that at least some fish were willing to feed and helped us concentrate.

By about the time these fish had given up, we spotted some helpful bird activity after the birds had rested for about 45 minutes following their initial sunrise search for food.  As we went to head toward the birds, Wayne reached down for a warming swig of coffee, only to find that the lidless styrofoam cup was no match for Mother Nature.  Without any real hint of disappointment he said, rather matter-of-factly, “My coffee cooled quickly.”   That was such an understatement that Mike and I both chuckled.

From around 9:45 to 11:15 we stayed on fish consistently, boating fish both while jigging on bottom (mainly average to above average white bass) and while “smoking” for suspended fish (mostly legal hybrid taken this way).   I was using my tried and true TNT180, as was Wayne, while Mike used a tandem rig with a slab of his own making, coupled with a leadhead jig.  He did have one double hooked — a pair of just-short hybrid — but, as double hybrid often do, they both got off right before bringing them to net.

When all was said and done, we’d managed 37 fish, including 7 “keeper” (18+ inch) hybrid stripers.

It was good to have good fishermen aboard on a tough day.  Mike and Wayne regularly fish Lake Livingston specifically for white bass, and prefer jigging, so, they came already familiar with a lot of the skills that I must otherwise teach.  This helped us take advantage of the light, tough bite and put together a fair catch given the hand we were dealt.

TALLY = 37 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 33F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F 

Wind:
Winds were NNW13-14 at trip’s start, falling back to NNW10-11.


Skies: Clear bluebird skies.

Other Notes: GT=40


Areas Fished with success:

**  1297/1298 (2T)
**  1187 (12T)

**  1299
**  1296 (12T)



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

Happy 29th Anniversary! — Belton Lake Fishing Guide Report: 116 Fish, 21 Nov. 2013

This morning I fished
with George and Sharon F. of Temple celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary on this day!

We enjoyed a nice mix of quality and quantity today with several legal hybrid striped bass boated on jigging spoons in addition to great numbers of white bass and short hybrids.

29 year of wedded bliss or not, Mrs. Sharon did not give George any slack.  If he was going to land nice hybrids, so was she!!!

George is a retired U.S. Army Aviation NCO who now works in the Veterans’ Administration, and Sharon is a retired CPA who worked for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture out of the Temple, TX, office.  They were a really pleasant couple to fish with and enjoyed every fish they caught, whether big or small.

Our morning started off slowly under a blanket of fog as the dewpoint and ambient temperature hung together for the first 2 hours following our “delayed opening” at 7:30 which was 30 minutes after sunrise instead of the usual 15 minutes before sunrise.

As the obscured sun brightened the sky ever so slightly, I used GPS to navigate to areas which have been productive lately.  As I did, we would arrive at an area, take a “look and listen” stop observing both sonar and for any bird or fish activity, and then respond accordingly. 

We fished 3 different areas today and at each area had to “short-hop” at that locale to keep up with the action as the gamefish pushed the shad around fairly aggressively.

Vertical jigging was the name of the game today, with ample easing and smoking variations thrown in with good success.  As usual, the TNT180 (white, 3/4 oz) did the best job of matching the forage we observed the gulls snatching out of the water and the fish regurgitating.

We got to talking about George and Sharon’s previous fishing experiences and they told me about a memorable trip they’d taken on Richland-Chambers Reservoir in May during which they caught 101 fish.  We’ll I just couldn’t let that slide, so, we stuck with it until we’d surpassed that previous personal best and sent them home with 116 fish under their belts.

TALLY = 116 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a
End Time: 12:00noon

Air Temp: 67F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 65.3F 

Wind:
Winds were SSE7 at trip’s start, building to SSE14 by trip’s end.


Skies: 100% fogged in until 7:30a, then gradual clearing to 90% cloudy by 10a.

Other Notes: GT=5


Areas Fished with success:

**  187/294/098 (30G/12T)
**  1293 (30G/20T)

**  1294 (15T)
**  1277/683



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

Are You Teachable? — 94 Fish, Belton Fishing Guide’s Report, 16 Nov. 2013

This morning I fished
with father and son duo Bill and Larry B. from the Canyon Lake area west of San Antonio.  Larry’s brother bid on a gift certificate I had offered to the Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society during their annual fundraiser, and then gave the certificate to my two guests.

Although making up a small percentage of the overall catch over these past 3 weeks, nice hybrid are certainly catchable on artificials.


The majority of our catch consisted of typical Belton Lake white bass running right at 12″, mixed with short hybrid stripers.


Bill is a retired teacher from the Edna, TX, area who also served 2 years as a Texas Game Warden back in the 1960’s.  He is 79 years old.  Larry is a road builder turned stay-at-home dad to two special need children he and his wife adopted later in life.  The men spent the night at the family farm in Bertram, TX, to make this morning’s drive a bit shorter.

We enjoyed balmy temperatures and abundant cloud cover, but also had to endure the high winds today, all caused by compressional warming as the atmosphere over us began to get “squeezed” by tomorrow’s approaching cold front.

The fishing was consistent today for our middle 2.5 hours, with a start that tapered up nicely, and a finish that tapered out over the last 50 minutes.

We vertical jigged all day today, adding in very little “easing” or “smoking” tactics, as the active fish were primarily glued to the bottom.

As they did yesterday, the fish showed a leaning toward short feeding spurts, then shutting down, thus requiring that we move regularly to stay in touch, although the fish did go a bit longer on average during these feeds than the 5-6 fish spurts of yesterday’s trip.  We fished 4 general areas today, but made a number of hops at each location to stay on the fish, each time moving a few yards and stopping when sonar lit up with a new batch of fish.

I was concerned a bit when I learned that both men had a long black bass fishing background, as that usually means counterproductive habits that are hard to break and which cost us fish, but, to their credit they were both able to follow the gameplan, present their slabs well, and they were rewarded for their attention to detail.

We worked white, 3/4 oz. TNT 180 slabs near bottom today, occasionally assisted by birds, starting up shallow early in 18-20 feet of water, and ending the day out deeper in ~35 feet of water.

If you are thinking about booking a trip, as always, I recommend a weekday morning for your best shot at fish without the weekend pressure.  My “pick of the week” for this coming week (18-23 Nov.), based on tonight’s forecast, would be Wednesday, as we see a return to southerly winds following the cold front due in tomorrow.

TALLY = 94 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a
End Time: 11:15p

Air Temp: 63F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 65.0F 

Wind:
Winds were S12-19.


Skies: 100% clouded for the entire trip.

Other Notes: GT=40


Areas Fished with success:

**  1286 
**  973/1292 (12G)

**  472 (6G)
**  150/1012/714



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

A Bit “Fin”-icky Today, Belton Fishing Guide’s Report — 54 Fish, 15 Nov. 2013

This morning I fished
with Alan D., a professional engineer who recently relocated with his company from east Texas to Austin.  Alan has been here since May and, after getting established, is now trying to sample the fishing a little at a time.

Kind of an average “between the fronts” fall day today.  The fish were a bit sluggish and we had to hop around to put together our catch.  Vertically jigging with slabs was the ticket.


The fish didn’t really put on a show for us today, but, that’s not unexpected for these “lull” days in between fronts.  The “cycle” on fishing the cold fronts usually involves spectacular fishing as the winds shift (typically very quickly, maybe 2-3 hours’ time) from the SW to the NW.  The fishing then crashes in the calm day or two following the front, then picks back up to “average” on the several days of S wind prior to the next front.  We were in the S wind period today.

We caught fish consistently from start to finish, but had to move around a lot to do it, and never caught more than a dozen fish at one area before the fish either moved on or lost interest and shut off.  There was a bit of helpful bird activity, but, the bird activity simply mimicked the fish action.  The birds would get “frisky” for a few minutes, perhaps grab a shad or two, then have to continue searching as the fish only fed briefly in a given area.

For our efforts, we landed 47 fish up until the time of Alan’s departure around 11:20 (he had to get back to the office to finish a proposal), however, we spotted a few birds on our way back to drop him off.  Once Alan was safely on the shore and headed home, I returned to the ‘scene of the crime’, found 2 cormorants and 4 gulls working, and picked up 7 more fish here.  They, too, then turned off rather quickly as the rest of the fish had all morning.

Everything we caught today came on white, 3/4 oz. TNT 180 slabs fished vertically, save 2 whites we took on tailspinners up shallow, and 2 whites we took on downriggers when we found some scattered fish late in the morning. 



TALLY = 54 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a
End Time: 11:25p

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.0F 

Wind:
Winds were SSE7-10.


Skies: 100% clouded for first 2 hours, then clearing rapidly to fair.

Other Notes: GT=25


Areas Fished with success:

**  1286 (6G)
**  083/963 (8G/3T)

**  714
**  834 (12G)
**  294
**  1294 (2C, 4G)



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

Quick Limit before the Big Chill — 25 Fish, Stillhouse Fishing Guide’s Report, 12 Nov. 2013

We had a hard cold front due to arrive this morning, and, unfortunately, the wind shift that typically brings great fishing took place in the overnight hours, so, there would not be enough time to put clients on fish as the front moved in.  I did a quick scouting trip on Stillhouse and then got off before it got dangerously rough.

This is the “arsenal” of slabs I like to keep to enable me and my clients to match the size of the forage fish we see the fish feeding on as the gamefish drive forage fish to the surface and/or regurgitate the baitfish as they are fought at boatside.  The size gradation is 3/8 oz., 3/4 oz., 1.0 oz., 1.5 oz., and 2.0 oz.  Quarters have been placed in the photo for the sake of scale.

I hit two areas today and found the fish so tight to bottom that although significant number of fish materialized once I began jigging and then hooked and played fish to the boat, these fish were scarcely visible on sonar.

Both areas I worked today were in 26-28 feet.  Due to the impact of the cold front, I went with a light, small slab, opting for the white 3/8 oz. and it did the trick.  I boated 10 fish at the first area, and 15 at the next, then headed on in as the wind chill was kicking in and the wind speed continued to increase in to the mid-20 mph range.



TALLY = 25 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 8:15a

Air Temp: 51F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 67

Wind:
Winds were N18-22


Skies: 100% clouded

Other Notes: N/A


Areas Fished with success:

**   186/1058
**   074




Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

179 Fish on Belton Today — Care to Join in? Here’s How!

This morning I fished with returning guest Greg U. of Temple.  I encouraged Greg to avoid the calm winds yesterday and to book with me today instead, when the winds were due to be out of the south at around 7-12mph — as it wound up, we were both glad he agreed!!

Greg boated this jumbo 14.00″ white bass — one of the largest white bass I’ve seen come out of Belton in 2 years.

The slabs we’re using closely match the size, shape, and color of the threadfin shad the white bass and hybrid stripers are pursuing right now — just like the one in this white bass’ mouth!

One quick “commercial time out” (which you’ll know I don’t do often if you read this blog regularly) — the fishing on Belton is just incredible right now.  4 of the last 5 trips have yielded catches between 127 and 242 fish!  This sort of frustrating thing happens every year around this time — the fish are easy to catch and consistent in their location, yet it’s tough to find people interested in pursuing them.  Between football, hunting, and the occasionally cool, damp weather, interest just seems to drop off.  So, I’m running a little special on the “Buy Texas Deals” website.  4 hours of weekday fishing for 1 or 2 people will cost just $145 thru Nov. 22nd If you are interested, call me first to check dates before you try to book online.  This is a great value and at a great time in the season … commercial over!  Remember, I’m all catch & release to preserve the future of our sport and excellent local fishery.

Greg works in logistics at Scott & White Hospital in Temple where his wife is now in her residency as a physician.  They both came out with me on their first trip back in January this year when we vertical jigged for white bass on Stillhouse.

Today, we got on fish and stayed on fish on Belton Lake from start to finish — a full 4+ hours of non-stop fish catching.

The fish started off shallow, around 24-28 feet, and we ended the day deeper, in 39-42 feet, as was the case this past Thursday, as well.

There was really no magic or finesse or trick to catching the fish today, other than locating them in the first place, and thanks to some helpful bird activity, this was taken care of for us early on in the trip.  Some manner of bird action lasted until around 10am.  After that, we were “on our own” to find fish with electronics, which we were successful in doing.

When all was said and done, we caught fish from 3 distinct locations, and a single, white, 3/4 oz. TNT180 slab was the top producer in all of these areas.  This is the “go to” bait for me right now because this slab is very close to the size of the medium length threadfin shad that the fish are consuming.  Occasionally, when the fish got “thick” beneath the boat, we’d switch over to a tandem rig, but, the single far outproduced in the long run.

We finished the day with exactly 179 fish including a mix of white bass and hybrid striped bass.  We did not land any “keeper” hybrid (those over 18″) today, but we boated some quality white bass, including the one shown above which taped exactly 14.00″.  By way of comparison, this is the largest white bass I’ve had come over the side of my boat on Belton for nearly 2 years. 

Although Greg grew up fishing the skinny waters of coastal Louisiana, he’s quickly adapting to the deep, clear waters of Central Texas.  He took away two lessons today: you’ve got to have quality sonar, and you got to maintain position over the fish with your trolling motor. 




TALLY = 179 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:35a
End Time: 11:05p

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 67.0F 

Wind:
Winds were S7-12.


Skies: 100% clouded..

Notes: BA=25G; 4T; GT=5


Areas Fished with success:

**  1284/1289
**  1285/083/963

**  1012/1290



Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas

Another Banner Day on Belton – 146 Fish, 07 Nov. 2013

Today was the 2nd day of NW wind following a cold front’s passage yesterday.  Typically, the post-frontal fishing is excellent until the winds begin to subside, and today was no exception to that rule.  In under 5 hours of fishing I boated 146 fish.




Strangely, this scenario played out in several areas I fished today … the large hybrid were in the top 1/3 of the water column (they show up as the light green and yellow arch shapes around 10-20 feet), and the white bass and juvenile hybrid kept their distance, hugging the bottom (the much more numerous blue and red arches near the brown bottom).

Today’s action was consistent from start to finishSince I had no clients aboard to please, I made good use of the extended feeding window today to “run and gun” to find as many concentrations of fish as I possibly could for revisiting when I have clients with me over the next several weeks.  I found fish in 6 distinct areas today, and at each area, I fished both small lures and large lures to see if that impacted the size of my catch and my ratio of keeper hybrid.  The general conclusion is that the large bait does account for larger (but fewer) fish.

As the sun was still low in the morning sky, there was a fair amount of topwater action where gamefish were driving shad to the surface.  This is not the extended, obvious, splashy sort of topwater feed that happens in the summer, rather, it is very subtle, as the fish feed near the surface, not on the surface. 

I had the good fortune to watch a juvenile bald eagle sharpening its fishing skills trying to snatch these gamefish from out of the water as they fed for about a 10 minute span.

As I fished, as was the case yesterday, a small slab got lots of small fish (I used the 2-inch, 3/4oz. white TNT180), whereas a larger slab (I used a 2.75 inch white and silver Kastmaster) got fewer, but larger fish.

On numerous occasions the action was so intense and the fish so aggressive that my slab never made it even 10 feet below the boat before a competitive schoolmate tried to outrun his buddies and be the first to the groceries.  On even more numerous occasions the slab was hit before striking the bottom (in 28-40 feet).


If you follow this blog/Facebook and have been waiting to pull the trigger on a trip, NOW IS THE TIME.  As my 21 years of recordkeeping have shown, between now and at least Dec. 10th the fishing is typically fantastic, if you have schedule flexibility and let me put you on the water as a front arrives or just as it passes.



TALLY = 146 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:35a
End Time: 11:05p

Air Temp: 43F at trip’s start; 61F at trip’s end. 

Water Surface Temp: 68.0F 

Wind:
Winds were NNW10 at trip’s start, increasing to NNW14 with slightly higher gusts through 10:45a, then tapering to NNW6 or less remainder of day.


Skies: 100% clouded with 2 rain bands passing over during our time on the water.

Notes: BA=40G; 15T; GT=N/A


Areas Fished with success:

**  1284/972
**  1285

**  1286
**  1287/1288
**  1012/717
**  953




Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas