This April 10th morning I welcomed back Brian Olds and his father, Mr. Ransom Olds. Joining me for the first time was Brian’s sister, Brandi. Brian and Brandi teamed up to take their dad fishing in celebration of his 64th birthday.
From left: Brandi Lujano, Ransom “Birthday Boy” Olds, and Brian Olds.
Brian works for Dell in Austin, Brandi teaches 5th grade, and Ransom is now retired. The whole family does a good bit of fishing in both freshwater and salt — it is their way of celebrating and reuniting.
After a night of wind and brief, intense rainfall accompanied by a significant temperature drop into the high 50’s, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Cold front fishing is always a big question mark, but, as I’ve remarked many times in this spring season, the fishes’ increasing metabolism tends to trump environmental conditions that would otherwise shut down a bite in other times of the year.
Fishing was once again very straightforward. We found ’em, put down baits, put down chum, and proceeded to reel in the fish. In fact, the very first shad I dropped down this morning got hit during my “circle hook demo”!!
The cold front definitely did make a negative impact, but there were still plenty of fish to be caught. The two behavioral things I observed that were different today than during the past week of fairly stable weather with southerly winds was that 1) fish would mouth the baits more frequently, feel the pressure of the rod, drop the bait and not return whereas during the stable weather, they would regularly return for the bait and take it until they hooked themselves. 2) I noted that as the bite began to fade around 11am, cut bait got more attention than live bait. I think the fish were willing to eat, but not necessarily chase hard after a healthy live bait to do so.
A classic sibling rivalry burst forth at about fish number 2 with Brandi and Brian constantly (albeit good-naturedly) comparing stats and accusing one another of fudging.
Our “fish count” stood at around 53 fish by 11am, with a tentative end time of noon. We all agreed it would be pretty cool for the group to land 64 fish in honor of Ransom’s 64th birthday, so, we made that our goal. By 11:50, we’d cleared that hurdle. Brandi suggested we add “one more to grow on”, so, we put fish #65 in the boat. Then, as we were clearing lines and reeling in to head back to the dock, Brian coaxed one to strike, making it an even 66 fish boated today.
TALLY = 66 Fish, including 1 white bass. 4 blue catfish, and 61 hybrid striped bass
GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 8:00a
End Time: Noon
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F
Water Surface Temp: 65F @ lower lake, 68 @ upper lake
Wind Speed & Direction: NE9-11
Sky Conditions: Grey and overcast @ 100%
Other: GT = 40
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1543
**Area 346
Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)