Persistence Paid Off – 54 Fish, Belton, 25 April 2015

On Saturday, 25 April, I was joined by Lance Huhn of Killeen, and his sons, Robert Broadhead, Dylan Huhn, and Jason Huhn.
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Dylan holds our best fish of the trip — a 3.75 pound striper that took a jumbo threadfin shad.

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From left: Robert and Lance landed this double when the action got hot and heavy as the westerly wind increased.
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Jason wasn’t quite sure about sticking his thumb in this fish’s mouth to pose for a photo — dad to the rescue!

Lance is a retired U.S. Army non-commissioned officer originally from east Texas, Robert is a senior at Shoemaker High School in Killeen, and Dylan and Jason are both students at Maxdale Elementary School.

We enjoyed solid fishing at both ends of our trip, with a bit of a dry spell in the middle.
Our first 90 minutes on the water produced well for us as we fished live shad down around 24-26 feet over a ~38 foot bottom.  During this time the winds were calm to light from the west, but the light level was low, given the early hour.  Once the sun climbed higher, the fishing got tougher and tougher as the surface of the lake went glassy calm.
We moved from spot to spot, and I observed that a great number of bass boats were also moving about at this time, too.  It seemed that everyone was on fish early, then, no matter where you were fishing or what you were fishing for, things got tough tor everyone around the same time, sending everyone searching for more success.
Around 11:15, enough of a west wind developed and sustained to allow for occasional white caps to form.  The fish responded within 20 minutes and went on a solid feed.  We were at the right place at the right time when a large school of hungry hybrids felt the urge to feed.  We took our tally from 19 fish up to 54 fish in about a 75 minute window
We finished up with a mixed-bag catch of 54 fish including (mainly) hybrid striped bass, with a sprinkling of white bass, blue catfish, crappie, and largemouth bass.

TALLY = 54 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time:  12:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  62F

Water Surface Temp:  69-70F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE9-16 during the early morning rain event, then going slack under bright conditions after the storm’s passage, with a S. wind picking up around 11:30a

Sky Conditions:  Rainy skies, clearing to 40% clouds on a fair blue sky.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1341 for the early, low light bite

**Area  1557 after the late-developing wind began

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Breaking in the New Kid — 31 Fish, 24 April 2015

This past Friday morning, April 24th, I awoke early to a steady rain on a southeast wind.  My crew for this day was a pretty hardy bunch without much flex in their schedule, so, with no thunder or lightning accompanying the rain, we pressed on with our plans and got out on Lake Belton for a morning of hybrid striped bass fishing, beginning around 7:45am.
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Corey Oliver and his son, Cullen, with one of the hybrid we boated during a steady rain over Belton Lake this morning.
Joe Oliver coordinated this trip and included his father, affectionately called “Pa”, as well as his son, Corey, now working for Nike in Oregon, and Corey’s not-quite-5-year-old son, Cullen.
Joe has been on a wide enough variety of trips with me through the years to know I would have some misgivings about taking a child that young on a live-bait fishing trip, but, Cullen did far better than I expected he would, and I let both his dad and grandfather know that.
The aim today was to give Joe and Corey some overdue father-and-son time, and go get Cullen a bit of exposure to the outdoors, to being on a boat, and to doing a little fishing.
Our best action today came during the steady rain in the first 90 minutes of our trip, and then again just after skies cleared and before the winds went totally slack.  At one point in time during the rainfall, the winds ramped up to 17-18 mph and our results definitely dropped off (likely due to the unnatural movement of our baits thanks to the boat bouncing heavily in the swells) from that time and until we found some more fish at a new location under clearing skies with a gentle westerly breeze (which would die after just 15-20 minutes).
When all was said and done, we boated exactly 31 fish, including a 50/50 mix of hybrid stripers and blue catfish, with 2 white bass thrown in for good measure.
For whatever reason, Cullen was just fascinated with the mouths of the fish we caught, requesting a look inside each one.  Sure, he enjoyed reeling the fish in, aided by his father or grandfather, but, once that fish was in the boat, he asked, without fail, “What’s in his mouth?”.
Now, I am not at liberty to disclose all of the details at this point in time, but, suffice it to say that Cullen was totally amazed when one of the smaller blue catfish we reeled in had a year 2000 nickel in its mouth as I gently used a pair of curved-tip forceps to part its lips and give Cullen a peek.
After enduring a ~75 minute spell of bright, calm weather in the aftermath of the rain, we were invited over to share in some fishing success a friend of mind had gotten in to just as the south wind began to blow and strengthen.  We headed over, boated 2 fish and, no doubt could have stayed for more, but, to their credit, dad and grandpa saw that Cullen had reached the end of his attention span and we agreed it was a good time to call it quits, fish or no fish, so as to keep this a positive first fishing experience for this young man.

 

TALLY = 31 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time:  12:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  62F

Water Surface Temp:  69-70F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE9-16 during the early morning rain event, then going slack under bright conditions after the storm’s passage, with a S. wind picking up around 11:30a

Sky Conditions:  Rainy skies, clearing to 40% clouds on a fair blue sky.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1554 during the rain

**Area  1555 immediately after the rain

**Area 1556 once the wind began from the S. after a period of calm

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Something Decent — 19 Fish, 23 April 2015 (PM)

On the evening of April 23rd I fished with Mr. Dean Renkes from the Dallas area and U.S. Army Specialist Andrew Zills, now stationed at Fort Hood.

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Andrew Zills displays our largest fish of the trip, a 4.25 pound hybrid that hammered his shad bait as the sun, obscured by cloud cover, was about to set.
 
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Dean worked through the circle hook learning curve quite quickly, landing several nice hybrid stripers, as well.  Both men managed this “double” right at sunset.

Andrew’s wife, Megan, is the nanny for Dean’s grandchild.  Dean has been impressed with both Megan and Andrew and simply wanted to do something decent for this young couple.
Dean, himself a Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran, now works as a financial advisor.
I was upfront with Dean, letting him know that afternoon trips can be very tough, but, given both his limited schedule and Andrew’s, we went ahead and put this date on the calendar.
We met up at 4:15pm, planning to fish until dark.  Not 15 minutes into the trip we had to run for cover from some passing thunder and lightning being produced by a small storm cell moving west to east and generally to the south of us.  Once that turbulent weather passed, winds went calm, posing yet another challenge to the fishing.
We kind of pecked at the fish most of the trip, boating 12 fish over our first 3 hours, but, towards sunset, while fishing near a gentle breakline in ~28 feet of water, a nice school of hybrid stripers moved through for a bit of dinner and we were able to put 7 nice keeper-sized hybrid in the boat right in the final minutes of like so as to end on a strong note.
Thank you both for your service to our nation!

 

TALLY = 19 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time:  8:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  85F

Water Surface Temp:  70-70.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE6-7

Sky Conditions:  Rainy skies with thunder and lightning during the first hour, with a turbulent atmosphere following the storm passage

Other: GT=115

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 672

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

SUSTAINING!! – 102 Fish, Belton Lake, 23 April 2015

This morning I targeted hybrid striped bass on Belton Lake with a crew of four.  Ken Wilkins of Tex-Mix Concrete hosted the owner of Landreth Construction, Paul Landreth, and two of his employees, Ray Austin, and Brad Haas.

 

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From left: Ken Wilkins, Paul Landreth, Brad Haas, and Ray Austin pose for a group shot with a sampling of the hybrid striper we caught on Belton today.

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Above: Paul Landreth with a Lake Belton hybrid taken on live shad.

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Above: Brad Haas holds one of the better hybrid stripers he boated today on circle hooks.

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Above: Ray Austin, who guides for catfish on Choke Canyon and other San Antonio-area lakes, left the whiskered fish alone today for some deepwater hybrid.

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Above: Ken Wilkins saved his best for last, and came up with this nice 7.25 pound blue cat just as we were about to wrap up for the day.

Bait gathering before the trip was made a bit easier by spawning threadfin shad which require fewer throws of the cast net for more and larger baits than are typically encountered when “blind throwing” otherwise.

We began the trip at 8:15am and were fortunate enough to find fish at the first area we searched. With live baits in the water and a steady feed of chum, we were able to boat 45 fish at this first area. The fishing there stayed solid until around 10:20 AM and then weakened as the south-southeast wind weakened.

I then moved us to a more wind exposed area, failed to find fish at the first area we checked, and then really got into them well in our last hour on the water at the second wind exposed area we checked. With our bait set at about 27 feet over a 35 foot bottom, we experience the best run of quality fish I’ve seen come over the side of the boat so far this season. We added 57 fish to our count at this area, and roughly half of these were 18+ inch hybrid striped bass.

It seems like there is some little funny thing that happens on most every trip, and today that little thing was the word “sustain”. Before each fishing trip begins, I try to thoroughly explain the importance of going slowly and methodically once a fish grabs ahold of a bait while using circle hooks. Today my word choice was “do not turn the handle until the rod tip is being pulled down in a sustained manner.” For whatever reason, that really stuck in the fellows’ minds, and they chided one another the entire trip by using the word “sustained” in a number of applications (both appropriate and inappropriate!). Regardless, the point was driven home about being methodical with the circle hooks, and this crew kept their learning curve very flat as a result of being disciplined about how they handled the rod once a fish had grabbed the bait. Hey, whatever works!.

For our efforts today we boated a total of 102 fish including white bass, blue catfish, and hybrid striped bass. Today’s results far exceeded any other trip’s results so far this season in regards to the ratio of keeper hybrids to the over all catch.

 

TALLY = 102 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8:15a

End Time:  12:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  68F

Water Surface Temp:  69-70F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE10 for first 2.5 hours, then decreasing to SSE7-8

Sky Conditions:  Grey but bright enough for sunglasses

Other: GT=100

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Shad at Area 185 and 186

**Area  1552

**Area 1553

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com