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

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