The Whole Truth — 61 Fish, Belton Lake, 28 May 2014

This morning I fished with father and son Micky and Brian Boettger of Nolanville, Texas.  Micky is a polygraph expert with Fort Hood’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), and Brian works at the AT&T store in Killeen.

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Micky Boettger with a nice, shad-caught Belton Lake hybrid.

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Brian saved the best for last, landing our largest fish of the trip in the final hour.  This one hit right at 4.50 pounds on the certified Boga Grip scale I keep aboard just in case we tangle with a record-book candidate.

There has been a lot of environmental change since the last time I was on the water this past Monday.  Nearly 3 inches of rain has fallen.  We’ve had winds from all points of the compass and from calm to over 20mph, We’ve had temperatures ranging from 64 to 85F, and the water is rising on both Belton and Stillhouse with much color and debris coming in from the tributaries.

With water temperatures slowly rising into the mid-70’s, faint stratification lines are beginning to show on sonar, indicating that the thermocline is developing which will usher in summer patterns before much longer.

 

There was no shad activity today, although this was not surprising given a stiff northerly breeze persisted at sunrise this morning.  I suspect the annual threadfin shad spawn is nearly done given what I’m now observing, the water temperature, and past history.

 

As has happened over the past 6 trips now, we did very well in our first hour (roughly 7-8am).  And, as happened this past Monday, we did very well once again in our last hour (roughly 10-11am).  The middle two hours have been pretty slow.  We caught all of our fish from off of two areas of the four areas we fished.

 

Like most folks who have never experienced fishing with circle hooks before, Micky and Brian went through a bit of a learning curve.  Using circle hooks effectively is a bit difficult for those who have previous fishing experience, and is especially difficult for those who are accustomed to using soft plastics for black bass where a powerful hook set is commonly employed.

 

With circle hooks, the idea is to slowly pull the hook from inside the fish’s mouth toward the outside so the hook “cams” around the bony structure of the lips and jaws and finds a grip there where it is easily removed and does not “gut hook” the fish.

 

After a bit of coaching they got the hang of things and we upped our hook-to-land ratio pretty well.

 

By the time 11:30 rolled around we were still seeing and occasionally catching short hybrid from out of a large school of fish that had schooled beneath the boat after being drawn in by chum and the commotion all of the previously caught fish caused as they struggled while being brought to the surface.

 

 TALLY = 61 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp.: 68F

 

Water Surface Temp.: 73.6F

 

Wind: NNW11-12 at trip’s start, shifting to NW and tapering down to 8-9 by trip’s end

 

Skies: Fully greyed over the entire trip with occasional brief sprinkles from 10-11:30a

 

Other Notes: GT0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Shad activity was non-existent this morning
** Vicinity of Area 835
** Vicinity of Area 717

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Between the Storms, 61 Fish, Belton, Memorial Day 2014

This morning I welcomed 3 brothers-in-law aboard including Phil Moore of Killeen, Texas, David Norwood of Colorado, and Garvon Golden from the Dakotas.  These three fellows married “the Watkins sisters” from east Texas and had a bit of a reunion over this long weekend.

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Phil took big fish honors today with this nice 5.75 pound specimen which came out of 39 feet of water on a large threadfin shad.

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Garvon hadn’t fished much before, but made up for lost time once he got the basics of using circle hooks under his belt.

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David came on strong at the end when his rod got hot in the closing 30 minutes of the trip as the bite intensified with the approaching storm.

 

We originally had this trip scheduled for Tuesday, May 27th, but the NOAA weather forecast as of Sunday showed a “window of opportunity” for Monday morning in what was otherwise to be a very wet 3-4 days to follow.  So, the fellows scrambled and got their licenses on Sunday evening and we made it happen on Monday instead.

The rain was actually a blessing as 1) we needed the rain badly, and 2) it kept the fair-weather fishermen, boaters, skiers, etc. home, making for uncrowded conditions on what is normally a very high traffic weekend.  We only had two boats come within shouting distance this morning.
For the fourth trip in a row, the first hour on the water proved to be the most productive and give up the best quality fish.  We boated 24 of our 61 fish in the first hour, and caught more keeper hybrid during that window than during the entire remainder of the trip.
The fishing was fairly straightforward — we found ’em with sonar and fished ’em with shad, catching white bass, hybrid striper from 11″ up to 5.75 pounds, and a few blue catfish thrown in.  The wind and cloud cover of the passing overnight storms aided our early bite; the fishing was tough as the skies cleared and the winds calmed in the middle two hours of the trip, and then we ended with a bang as the bite got hot again in the last hour.
It is a great help to have the various weather forecasting and weather radar “apps” now available on today’s “smart phones”.  The prudent guide doesn’t get surprised by weather nor jeopardize safety when using these tools to his advantage.  I checked radar every few minutes so we could avoid any high winds or lightning.  As we brought our lines in in advance of the approaching storm, the winds were just ramping up to 13+, and the temperature was dropping.  After getting everyone safely back to shore, the first rain drops fell and the first peals of thunder could be heard overhead before I left the boat ramp area after getting the boat, etc. squared away for travel and for my next trip.  We threaded the eye of needle today with a full 4 hours on the water between the storms.

 TALLY = 61 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:35a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp.: 68F
Water Surface Temp.: 73-74F
Wind: SW5-6 during first hour, calm during middle two hours, W11-12 last hour
Skies: Fully greyed over first and last hour; sunny skies with 40% clouds during middle two hours
Other Notes: GT0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Shad activity moderate at Area 502
** Vicinity of Area 835 produced well early for legal hybrid in first hour with winds and cloud cover and before calm, bright conditions set in
** Vicinity of Area 717 / 1204 gave up a mix of short & legal hybrid and white bass in last hour with storms approaching from the west

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Team Bagliore Puts One in the “Win” Column — 51 Fish, Belton Lake, 24 May 2014

This morning I welcomed aboard Tony Bagliore, Scott Kearsing, and Greg Graham for a morning of hybrid striped bass fishing on Lake Belton.

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(L to R) Greg Graham, Tony Bagliore, and Scott Kearsing with three fistfuls of hybrid striped bass taken in the opening 20 minutes of our excursion.

It was a pleasure to fish with this great bunch of fellows today.  They all serve the Lord together in ministry to lost and hurting people, and they all serve their customers together as co-workers at Bagliore Concrete.  You could tell right away that these guys all got along well and enjoyed being on the same team.

I provided a bit of “water taxi” service today by beginning our trip by picking this trio up at Tony’s houseboat located on Lake Belton.  We then went over the basics of safety and of handling the hybrid-specific gear I had prepared for this trip.  We then got down to business, covered down over top of a good school of aggressive hybrid, chummed them into action, watch sonar begin to light up, and proceeded to boat fish for 45 minutes straight coming right out of the chute this morning.
I’ve observed that the last 3 trips (Monday AM, Friday AM, and this morning) there has been a very strong bite in the first hour between about 7a-8a, and then things have settled down very quickly to a very moderate or even slow pace.
We are definitely approaching the end of “Shad Spawn 2014” with fewer and fewer spawners showing up in the shallows now despite ideal wind conditions and direction.  With this, the annual 6-8 week peak of hybrid fishing will also come to a close.  Today we once again saw an increase in the proportion of blue cat showing up in our catch, as well.
Tony recently bought a center-console with the intention of learning to fish Belton, so, I tried to point out as much useful information as I could as we progressed through the trip today, focusing on sonar use and on seasonal trends in the fishery.
When all was said and done we boated a total of 51 fish including ~22 legal hybrid.  The remainder of our catch consisted of mainly blue cat, with a few white bass a few “short hybrid”, and 1 smallmouth thrown in for good measure.

 TALLY = 51 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp.: 68F
Water Surface Temp.: 73.0F
Wind: SSE9-11
Skies: Fully greyed over but bright entire trip.
Other Notes: GT70
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Shad did not materialize today
** Vicinity of Area 835 produced well early for legal hybrid
** Vicinity of Area 1204 gave up small fish at mid-morning
** Area 1209/1277 produced a few more fish at trip’s close

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Get Ready, Freddy! — 37 Fish, Belton, 23 May 2014

This morning I welcomed Freddy Mize and his wife, Cindy, aboard for a trip targeting hybrid striped bass using live shad on Belton Lake.

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Freddy Mize with a pair of nice “keeper” hybrid on his first ever guided fishing trip.

Freddy and Cindy are from the rural outskirts of Conroe, Texas, and were inspired to do some traveling outside of their locale by the TV show “The Daytripper”.  They rented a nice cottage near Arrowhead Point on Belton Lake, and planned to due a few things here in central Texas including visiting the Texas Ranger Museum, going to the suspension bridge over the Brazos River, eating at some locally popular restaurants, and fishing with me.

Although Freddy has fished since he was a kid, he’d never taken a professionally guided trip before.  By the time our half-day on the water was over, he caught more fish than he had ever caught before in a single outing — 37 to be exact.
Cindy was a spectator to all of this.  She’d been fishing before and kind of assumed you just sat … and waited … and got bored.  Not 12 minutes into our trip when 3 of our 4 rods were being pulled down by 3+ pound hybrid stripers she declared, “Well if I had known we were going to catch fish like this I would have gotten my license!”.   I am confident she’ll have her license when they return in November to fish with me once again!.
Today’s bite was best in the first hour, average in the middle two hours, and went cold in the final hour.  As the shad spawn tapers and the water warms, the hybrid begin to spread out and head shallow to get above the developing thermocline.  I have also noted over the past several years that the incidence of blue cat being caught on shad increases sharply as the hybrid bite begins to soften.
Cindy stayed seated on the rear bench seat of my center console.  From that position she could observe all four rods.  Once she got the hang of what a rod looked like as the shad began to get nervous just before a gamefish swallowed it she would warn us, “Get ready, Freddy!”.  Having Cindy on board was better than having reels equipped with bait clickers!
We had a good time today, although thanks to the stronger-than-expected pull of so many hybrid, Freddy said he was going to have to factor an unplanned nap into his schedule before heading out to lunch over at Sol de Jalisco on FM2271.

 TALLY = 37 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp.: 68F
Water Surface Temp.: 72.6F
Wind: SSE10-12
Skies: Fully greyed over but bright entire trip.
Other Notes: GT0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Shad were abundant at Area 1387
** 1388/1389 produced well early for legal hybrid
** Vicinity 1204 produced fish of all sizes during mid-morning


Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

A Little Enthusiasm Goes a Long Way — 37 Fish, Belton Lake, 19 May 2014

This morning I welcomed 9-year-old Kaden Lehrmann of Killeen aboard, accompanied by his grandpa, Don Mikeska.

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Kaden with one of nine legal (18+ inch) hybrid striped bass he landed today.

With STAAR standardized testing now behind him and his two remaining academic projects well under control, mom and grandparents agreed that missing school wouldn’t do Kaden much harm, so, today was the day for a bit of outdoor education.

Kaden is a bright, eager, articulate boy who stayed engaged in the task at hand from the moment he arrived in the parking lot to the time he jumped off the bow and back onto the concrete boat ramp at the close of our morning.  I don’t think there was any aspect of what we did that he wasn’t enthusiastic about … from my safety briefing, to understanding why the fish were doing what they were doing today, to chumming, to netting, to fish-fighting techniques … you name it, he was really into it!  Kaden shared with me that he actually attended a fishing camp held near Lake Bastrop last summer which he really enjoyed and where he learned a lot of practical fishing lessons.

The day played out just right for us.  At our first of four stops we immediately got into a big school of short hybrid.  This provided “instant gratification” with lots of action and exactly 20 fish caught.  In catching these smaller fish early on in the trip, it allowed Kaden to understand how the reel (with bait clicker and line counter) worked, what the fish felt like on the rods we were using, how to avoid getting hooked fish caught in the other lines and in the trolling motor, etc.  Later, as we encountered larger fish, the lessons learned on these smaller ones caught earlier paid off.

Our second and third stops both produced quick results, but, at the second stop, the fish were few and far between, although of good quality; and, at our third stop we caught fish well, but, by 10am the wind was up over 20mph and it became a bit too dicey to stay there any longer.  Once swells develop (which caught the bow of the boat to rise and fall sharply) the baits get moved up and down very unnaturally thus reducing strikes and causing many strikes to turn into missed fish as the fish feel the bait being pulled away from them very unnaturally as the boat rises.

For our final stop, we retreated to a more protected area and picked up our final 3 fish there — all smaller white bass or short hybrid.  As it did all last week, the bite played out by around 10:45am.

We fished live shad on downlines exclusively by hovering over top of fish we’d found on sonar using the Spot-Lock feature on my trolling motor.  We boated 1 blue cat, 2 white bass, 9 legal hybrid striped bass, and 25 short hybrid stripers.

 

 TALLY = 37 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:10a

Air Temp.: 64F
Water Surface Temp.: 70.9F
Wind: SSE12-20
Skies: Fair w/ 20% clouds
Other Notes: GT20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

** Shad were abundant at Area 1386
** 152 (abundant small fish)
**1209/489 (fewer, but larger fish — all legal hybrid)
**1204 (solid mixed bag fishing)
**1076 (wind protected 2nd choice)

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Dan the Man from Қазақстан (that’s Kazakhstan), 51 Fish, Belton Lake, 16 May 2014

This morning I welcomed international guest 16-year-old Daniyar Irgaliyev aboard my boat for some hybrid striped bass fishing on Belton Lake, accompanied by one of his sponsors, Michael Apodaca of Salado, Texas.  Daniyar (nicknamed “Dan”) is from Kazakhstan.

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Dan with his largest hybrid of the 37 legal hybrid we boated today.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADan and Michael hold 3 hybrid we caught in rapid succession at our last stop of the day.

 

Kazakhstan borders both Russia and China and has a population of about 17 million.  Dan initially came to the U.S. back in September 2013 as an exchange student at Salado High School and will be heading back to Kazakhstan this June. Dan enjoys robotics and speaks 3 languages — Kazakh, Russian, and English.

 

Michael is a veteran now working as a civilian with the Operational Test Command (OTC) on Fort Hood where new equipment is put to the test to ensure functionality, durability, etc. before being placed in the hands of our troops.  Michael and his wife, Jane, live in Salado.

 

Today’s fishing rose and fell with the winds, as it often does.  For the first 75 minutes of the trip while the winds were light and variable, we only caught 4 fish despite chumming heavily and seeing fish glued to bottom continuously.

 

Around 8:30a, a light but steady breeze began to push from out of the south and the feed began tentatively, then built to a peak between 9:00 and 10:15, then, as the winds slacked off around 10:30, the bite went soft.

 

We fished live shad on downlines by hovering over top of fish we’d found on sonar using the Spot-Lock feature on my trolling motor.  We caught 2 smallmouth bass, 4 blue catfish, 2 short hybrid, 6 white bass, and 37 legal hybrid striped bass exceeding 18 inches.

 

 TALLY = 51 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 7:10a
End Time: 11:00a
Air Temp.: 64F
Water Surface Temp.: 69.0F
Wind: SSW3-11
Skies: Fair and cloudless
Other Notes: GT0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

** Shad were abundant at Area 502
** 1384/835 – 2 hybrid and 2 smallmouth
**1385 – 27 Fish
**1204/717 – 20 Fish

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

She Fished ’til She Dropped! — 67 Fish, Belton, 15 May 2014

This morning I was once again joined by Steve Niemeier who had fished with me last week with his grandson, Caleb.  This time it was Caleb’s little sister Macy’s turn to miss a few hours of school and spend a few hours with grandpa.

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Steve and Macy pose with Macy’s first hybrid.  We fished live shad today in 35 to 47 feet of water.

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After reeling in at least half of our catch of 67, Macy’s battery wore out in the last 35 minutes.  She literally fished ’til she dropped!

 

Today we saw the south wind return after 2 full days of cool northerly winds.  The spawning shad returned to the banks and the fish got back into a solid groove today, feeding well from sunrise through 10:30a.

We made 3 stops today finding abundant, but small fish at our first stop including white bass, short hybrid stripers, and a few blue catfish.  At our second stop, we picked up several nice hybrid right off the bat, but no bite continued thereafter.  Around 9:15a we got on what would be our last area fished and found legal and sub-legal hybrid sprinkled with a few white bass holding “thick” at about 36-39 feet over a 47 foot bottom.

At this last area we never got a full compliment of 4 rods in the water, and could barely keep up with 3.  Then, things really took off and we scaled back to just to rods.  I could no sooner put a bait on, hand it off to Steve or Macy and have them put it down to depth than a fish would grab it and go.  I was baiting, netting, and releasing — baiting, netting and releasing.  This peak lasted about 25 minutes and began to taper out around 10am.

Macy did a really good job today for her age and was not afraid to try new things.  In addition to the fish catching, she also handled and released our fish, she cut up and put out chum by hand, she set her baited rod up in the rod holder at the correct depth without assistance, she learned how to use a Boga Grip, and she dipped shad out of the bait tank with a bait net in order to assist me.

 TALLY = 67 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:50a
End Time: 11:00a
Air Temp.: 48F
Water Surface Temp.: 69.0F
Wind: SSW10-12
Skies: Fair and cloudless
Other Notes: GT40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

** Shad were abundant at Area 502
** 1281/1269 – 20 Smallish Fish
**151 – 19 Fish
**1204/717 – 28 Fish

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Birds of a Feather! 49 Fish, Belton Lake Hybrid Fishing, 14 May 2014

This morning I was joined by father and son team Doug and Clark Bird for a morning of hybrid striped bass fishing on Belton Lake.  Doug is now 74 years old and is a retired saltwater fishing guide originally from Canada.  Clark lives in Jonestown, Texas, near Austin and works for AT&T’s cell phone division.

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Clark hoists two of our larger hybrid taken today on live shad.  These two both hit in our final hour of fishing.

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Doug (L) and Clark (R) each boated these fish in our first 40 minutes on the water.

 

After a full day of a hard,cooling, drying north wind and pressure rising to its high point following our recent cold front’s passage, the weather took a bit of a toll on the fishing today.  For starters, there were no spawning shad to be had for bait (I used previously netted bait to avoid disaster), and our trip definitely got off to a slower than normal start.

We fished two areas through 9:30am, and, although we caught fish at both, the bite was hard to get going and never did sustain.  Typically, once we have been on an area with baits down and chum in the water, once a fish or two is caught, the rest of the nearby population of fish gets excited and begins to turn on, as well.  We did not see that happen early this morning.  By 9:30, we’d only boated 14 fish.

I made a move to deeper water near where I’d encountered a strong bite yesterday, only today we found the fish in 46 feet of water, suspended heavily at 36 feet, but also holding on the bottom.  This action provided a mix of keeper hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, and a few blue catfish.  We were able to catch fish on both shad and slabs, with the slabs accounting for more numerous, smaller fish, and the shad accounting for fewer, but larger hybrid stripers.

 TALLY = 49 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:55a
End Time: 11:00a
Air Temp.: 52F
Water Surface Temp.: 69.2F
Wind: NNW13-17
Skies: 10% clouds on clear sky
Other Notes: GT35

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

** No Spawning Shad observed today
** 835 – 11 Fish
**151 – 3 Fish
**1204 – 35 Fish

 

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

First Hybrid Ever!! — 49 Fish, Belton Lake, 13 May 2014

This morning I fished with Mr. Kim Dietmeier of Lubbock, Texas.  Kim took a few days of vacation to accompany his wife, Heidi, to a church secretaries’ training session being held in Salado, Texas.

 

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Kim holds one of our two largest hybrid stripers caught today.  This one went right at 5.00 pounds even.  The fish we caught today took large threadfin shad fished on circle hooks in 35 to 42 feet of water.
I wasn’t real sure what last night’s wet cold front’s arrival was going to do to the fishing, but I did know there was only one way to find out — to get out there and fish!  I have found over the years that weather which would normally kill a bite (like a wet coldfront) will scarely impact fish in the late spring as water temperature are rising and the fish population’s metabolism is increasing.  With high winds, damp conditions, and a cool 57F temperature at 7am, we had the lake to ourselves, literally.
Although Kim is an experienced fisherman, most of his recent experience has been in tournament fishing on Lake Alan Henry for largemouth bass and spotted bass.  Kim had never caught a hybrid striped bass before today.

 

As we got going the windspeed was pegged at 17-18 mph from the NNW with higher gust.  At our first area, we had occasional swells breaking over the bow forcing me to manually bail water from time to time, but the fishing was hot for the first hour.  As soon as we got in position, got baits down, and got chum working for us, the fish responded well.  After we hooked the first fish and got the resident population of fish stirred up, the entire school fired up and we were catching so many fish so quickly that we had to drop back to 3, and occasionally 2, rods.

 

The first two hours of fishing were the best today with a lull from 9 to 10am, then a little resurgence from 10 to 11am as we moved to a different area.

 

We wound up catching a total of 49 fish today.  We had a mixture of legal and short hybrid, white bass, and blue catfish.  The first 24 fish we boated were all keeper hybrid.  After the initial strong bite at both of the areas we fished today, we found smaller fish would feed after a “run” of the larger, more aggressive hybrid were done feeding.

TALLY = 59 FISH, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
 
Start Time: 7:a0a
End Time: 11:15a
Air Temp: 57F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 70.4F
Wind:  NNW17-18 with higher gusts to 23mph
Skies: Greyed over entire trip.
Other Notes: GT20Areas Fished with success:**502 Netted shad here in the AM
 
** 1384 – caught 34 fish here
** 717 – caught 15 fish here
 
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas