105 Fish Day on Belton — More Sure to Follow as Water Temps Drop!!

On Saturday morning, 01 Nov., I fished with father and son team Norman and Fred Peterson.  Norman now resides in Round Rock, TX, and Fred in Austin, TX.  Fred is a former saltwater fishing guide out of the Galveston area, and Fred has been in the semi-conductor business in Austin for over 20 years.

01NOV2014

This was the scene beneath the boat as hundreds of frenzied white bass and hybrid stripers went on a strong feed with the shift of the winds from north to east late this morning.

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(L to R) Norman Peterson and his son, Fred, were the first clients this autumn to enjoy a 100+ fish trip for white bass and hybrid striper that annually accompanies the fall of our water temperatures out of the 70’s and into the 60’s following turnover.  More such 100+ fish days are sure to follow in the next 3-4 weeks.

Norman and Fred share birthdays in October, and have made it a tradition to do a father & son fishing trip in October each year to celebrate.  Unfortunately, our first scheduled date for that trip was a rain-out with high winds, thunder and lighting back on Oct. 11th.

The weatherman significantly missed today’s forecast which, on Wednesday called for the arrival of a cold front (which actually came in on Friday), and was then revised calling for E to ESE winds at 7 for the morning hours today.  What we actually experienced was continued northerly winds at 13mph+ through about 10:15 with a fairly quick shift to the east and a wind velocity reduction to around 11mph at that time.

We struggled in our first 3 hours on the water, landing only 2 drum and missing 2 other fish during that time.

Once the wind shifted to the east, the fish put the feedbag on and we went right to work to take advantage of the window of opportunity now opened to us.  We encountered fish at 3 distinct areas, but each was within 80 yards of the other in 42-56 feet of water.

The go-to tactic was smoking with slabs, and the go-to slab was the silver, 3/4 oz. TNT 180.  Anticipating some fast fishing like we experienced, I swapped out the original beaked hooks with straight-point #5 Gamakatsu trebles in order to make unhooking fish go as quickly as possible.  When you encounter large schools of fish like this (as is common in November), you really need to be prepared to make hay while the sun shines.  When the bite starts, you’ve go to do all you can to keep the fish coming over the side or else they will slack off and be very difficult to get interested again.  So, no snacks, no peeing, no photos, just fishing until the bite dies off on its own.  I even have backup rods ready to go in case a big tangle or snag occurs.

For our efforts today we boated exactly 105 fish including 2 drum, 1 legal hybrid striped bass, and a mix of 102 short hybrids and both keeper and short white bass.

November is the normally the 2nd most productive month of the entire fishing year.  If you’ve been thinking about getting on the water, do it now before our water temps slide into the 50’s and the fish get sluggish.

 

TALLY = 105 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  12:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  46F

Water Surface Temp:  71-72F

Wind Speed & Direction:  N13 at sunrise, shifting and tapering to E11

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal, bluebird skies

Other: GT=30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1383/297 – reluctant white bass and 2 caught drum

**Area 1464/512/1403 – 103 of 105 fish caught here

**Area 1465 – worth a future look — lots of fish, just not turned on when we got to them

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com