This Spring Break afternoon I fished with the Janysek family of Cedar Park, TX. Earlier this week Mr. Don Janysek e-mailed me thinking a fishing trip for his 3 kids would do them some good on this week away from school. So, today I met up with Don’s mom, Rose Janysek of Leander, and Don’s 3 children, 14-year-old Taylor, 13-year-old Luke, and 11-year-old Emma to make some memories.
From left: Luke, Taylor, Emma, and Rose Janysek with a few of the white bass that fell for bladebaits up shallow today.
As we met in the parking lot at the boat ramp, I could see Taylor was my fisherman — he had on a long-sleeve Livingston Tackle logo fishing shirt, polarized sun glasses, a fishing cap, and he started pointing out and naming items on my boat he was familiar with. Emma was the tourist, just along for a good time and very much enjoying being out in nature with family. And Luke was my jovial book worm — he actually brought a novel about as thick as the Bible to read while out on the water. Instantly I made it my personal mission to keep the trip engaging enough that Luke wouldn’t pull his book out.
As we got going, I did my standard safety briefing and then we headed out to the fishing grounds. As is often the case on afternoon trips, the bite starts slow and increases towards sunset. Morning, on the other hand, typically start strong and then soften as the morning progresses.
About an hour into the trip, after picking up a few fish on flatline trolled baits, we got into a nice bunch of white bass herding shad both against the bank and against the surface. We did some casting lessons for Rose, Emma, and Luke while Taylor looked after himself up on the front deck. After a few minutes everyone was regularly reeling in white bass that fell for our Cicada blade baits kept just off bottom.
This action died about 45 minutes before sunset, as a low cloud bank in the west obscured the setting sun a good bit. We returned to more open water and used a combination of downrigged lures and flatline trolled crankbaits to pick off 3 more white bass that were suspended between 7-15 feet below the surface in the warming surface waters.
The kids and grandma did great today, were good learners, and were rewarded for following the guidance I provided. Dad, who remained behind at the boatramp working on his laptop was briefed excitedly about the trip’s highlights as soon as the kids reached his truck.
Best news of the day: Luke’s book never came out of the bag!!
TALLY = 34 FISH, all caught and released
GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 4:00p
End Time: 8:00p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F
Water Surface Temp: 60-61F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-7
Sky Conditions: 40-60% cloud cover on a fair blue sky
Other: GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 100/744 casting blades
**Area 1182 flatline trolling and downrigging
Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)