This past Friday morning, I finished with Kevin Yuille and Bobby Gordon, both warrant officers serving in Army aviation.
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From left: Kevin Yuille and Bobby Gordon stayed hard after it for four full hours and surpassed the 100 fish mark by 10:45am with a 7:15am start. The combination of warm water and the mild cold front that passed yesterday had the fish in high gear all morning.
The conditions today were near perfect. We had a balmy northeast breeze following the passage of yesterday’s mild cold front, leaving in its wake some thick gray cloud cover. The combination of cloud cover, light wind, and still warm water all worked together to have the white bass in a frenzy this morning.
The frenzy began up shallow at first light with occasional wolf packs of fish making their whereabouts obvious by breaking the surface briefly. This action then slowly moved deeper in the water column and further away from shore as the morning progressed, but the strong bite persisted for a full 3 1/2 hours beyond the obscured sunrise.
While the fish were visible early on, we sight cast using soft plastics and blade baits, and then as the action moved deeper, I searched out consolidated schools of fish with sonar, hovered on top of them with my new #Ulterra trolling motor (love it!!), and we used two vertical tactics – – slabbing and easing – – to continue to put fish in the boat. We wrapped up the morning with exactly 112 fish boated for our efforts.
One of the reasons Kevin and Bobby did so well today was because they were both eager to learn and willing to be coached. When I saw something in their technique that was going to cost them fish, I would point it out, and they would earnestly attempt to correct whatever deficiency I picked up on.
TALLY = 112 fish, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 11:15a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F
Water Surface Temp: 75.5F
Wind Speed & Direction: NNE7-8
Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover
Water Level: ~0.15 feet high and slowly rising thanks to light, area-wide rainfall
GT = 23
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1625-1665-1822-788-1668-164-171 vertical tactics for white bass following an early, low light sub-surface bite in shallow water.
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
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