This afternoon, 10 March, I fished with brothers Kim and Keith Herald, originally from Nebraska.

Keith Herald of Nebraska took this nice 6.50 pound bluecat from amongst a school of deep white bass in 63 feet of water.

Keith also caught this largemouth within feet of the same area that gave up the large catfish.

Kim Herald of Killeen shows one of the 133 white bass we caught this evening on a combination of slabs and bladebaits.  This is a 2-year-old fish from the 2014 spawn.

Kim and Keith are both retired from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad where Kim served as a conductor, and Keith as an engineer.  The pair cut their teeth hauling coal out of the Powder River area during that “boom” time, back when as many as 6 men worked a single train.

After doing his homework, Kim decided to retire to the Killeen area about 6 months ago, and Keith just made the 13 hour drive down to see him.

Given such turbulence in our weather and such rapid change in our weather conditions, I was uncertain about what to expect today.  I did do a recon in advance of our trip to see how far the mud plume extended downlake from the Lampasas River mouth.  Discolored water can be found all the way down to Union Grove, which means I would be fishing even farther downlake than than.  I just do not like fishing muddy water.

We found two significant concentrations of fish today.  The first was in deep, clear, open water along the river channel in 63 of water.  We located these fish after 3 previous unproductive stops.  We found a variety of year classes of fish here, from 1 to 3 year old fish, along with a single largemouth and a single blue cat that went 6.50 pounds.  We stopped fishing here after catching exactly 100 fish in order to roll the dice to head shallower for the final low-light bite of the evening.

This gamble paid off well.  We were fortunate enough to find about a dozen Forster’s terns working over an 80 yard stretch of water on a day when few birds were working anywhere, and those that were working were working over loons.  Anyway, these birds put us onto a strong concentration of fish in 25-27 feet of water, allowing us to work bladebaits along the relatively flat bottom for another 35 fish boated here before the birds and fish quit at the same time, right around 6pm.

We went on to catch only one more fish after this shutdown — a small white bass that took a flatline-trolled crank in ~16′ of water.

We wrapped up the trip with exactly 136 fish, including 133 white bass, 1 blue catfish, and 2 largemouth bass.

TALLY = 136 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time:  6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F

Water Surface Temp:  60F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNE16, steadily tapering to NNE9 by (obscured) sunset.

Sky Conditions:  100% grey skies with a light mist or drizzle falling most of the trip.

Water Level: 624.11 and rising with 622.0 being full pool.  0.01 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours due to heavy releases from other Brazos watershed lakes.  Water discolored to downstream of Cedar Gap.

Other: GT= 40

 Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   946-1165 – exactly 100 fish taken here in 63′ on slabs

**Area  1710-758 – Casting blades for mid-depth whites under birds.

**Area 888 – one white bass via flatline trolling

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This Saturday morning, 05 March, I was joined by Hank McKnelly, his daughter, Brenna, and his brother, Stew, from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Proud papa Hank McKnelly with his 8-year-old daughter, Brenna, displaying the 5.00 pound largemouth bass she caught out of 25 feet of water on a horizontally worked bladebait.

From left: The McKnelly crew: Hank, Brenna, and Stew with 14″ class white bass culled from among the 109 fish they boated this morning.

Hank pinned on his full-bird colonel wings this past week and so the trip was a celebration of sorts, and a way for Hank and his brother, who recently retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, to spend some time together.

Our trip actually played out better than I anticipated it was going to, thanks to some unexpectedly thick and long-lasting grey cloud cover.  The forecast showed light winds and light cloud cover, which is always a tough combination.

As has been the case for weeks now, the gulls fed hard right at first light, pointing the way for us as to where to begin our trip.  After the low-light feed ended, fewer birds continued feeding over mid-depths (20-30 feet), so we followed them.

Once the birds quit, we used sonar to search out a handful of areas where the white bass have been consistently gathering as they make their way into the Lampasas River to spawn.

We used bladebaits a majority of the time today, with some vertical jigging thrown in for about 30 minutes at mid-morning when the sun was at its brightest and the wind was at its slowest.

We had a real treat watching 8-year-old Brenna tussle with a 5.00 pound largemouth which struck her bladebait out in 25 feet of water.  The fish was very pale, indicating it has lived out in that deep water for quite some time.

With about an hour remaining, our fish count stood at 68 fish.  Stew wondered aloud if a 100 fish day might be possible.  I was a bit doubtful, given how strong the bite was so far along in the morning.  I suspected the “window” would shut at any time.  As it turned out, the S. wind kept puffing and enough thin clouds kept passing over to sustain the bite, thus allowing us to boat a grand total of 109 fish, including 107 white bass and 2 largemouth.

As I policed up the boat and cranked the outboard to head back to the dock, Brenna stated, “I’m very satisfied.”   Dad and Uncle Stew just shook their heads  … 8-years-old going on 28!

TALLY = 109 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  59.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light S. breeze under 4mph all morning

Sky Conditions:  Fully grey skies at trip’s start, clearing to 40% white clouds on a blue sky as the front rolled in.

Water Level: 622.12 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.01 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   531/1701 – Casting blades for shallow whites under birds at first light.

**Area  vic 1159 – Casting blades for mid-depth whites under birds.

**Area  1358-1160 – Vertical jigging @ 33′

**Area  092 – Sustained late morning action on bladebaits along slope.

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Tuesday, March 1st, I fished with Mr. Tom Griego who lives out near Bastrop, TX.

Pre-frontal weather conditions kept the white bass biting for a full 4 hours this morning, allowing Tom Griego to catch fish on bladebaits and slabs from 17 to 35 feet deep.

TALLY = 58 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp:  60.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S9, shifting through the W and increasing to 16, to NW17 by trip’s end in advance of a mild, dry cold front

Sky Conditions:  Fully grey skies at trip’s start, clearing to 40% white clouds on a blue sky as the front rolled in.

Water Level: 622.18 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.07 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 10

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   531/1703 – Casting blades for shallow whites under birds at first light — slow action due to a slow brightening of the skies

**Area   103 – Solid action vertical jigging slabs in 25-27′ under birds

**Area  419/985 – Moderate action on slabs out in deeper 30-35′ water as the shallow bite died and just before the birds quit

**Area  092 – Moderate action on slabs in 20-25 feet — had to move frequently to go to fish that refused to move even short distances to come in to the commotion we created

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle