Failing Wind Let the Wind Out of Our Sails — 25 Fish, Lake Belton, 23 Nov. 2016

This past Wednesday afternoon, November 23rd, I fished with Mr. Mike Duecy, his eight-year-old son, Jacob, and Mike’s father, Pat. Mike and Jacob live in Buda, Texas, and Pat resides in Waco.

img_0185

From left: Mike, Jacob, and Pat Duecy with some hard-earned white bass — post-frontal conditions plagued our efforts on what was forecast to be a solid, breezy day.

img_0180

Jacob landed this large freshwater drum on a small, live threadfin shad we put straight down under the boat in about 27′ as Pat and Mike worked their slabs.  Note the cast on Jacob’s left arm — he didn’t let that stop him any!

I had big hopes for our results Wednesday evening after looking at the NOAA weather forecast early that morning.  According to the forecast, after the passage of a mild cold front, and the band of showers on its leading edge, we were to enjoy continued winds at 12 to 14 mph into the evening hours, around 7pm. Typically, the time between a cold fronts passage and before the winds begin to slack off, are excellent fishing conditions.

Unfortunately, not long after we began our trip, the winds began to slack off after they had plateaued toward the end of my morning trip, around 11am. As the wind subsided, so did the bite we were experiencing, leaving us facing a very difficult final two hours on the water.  Calm, bright, post-frontal conditions are among the toughest you can face, and that is exactly what we were facing at this point.

In our first two hours we found fish that were fairly cooperative given that it was still early in the afternoon. We used tandem rigs to jig vertically for fish that were holding very close to the bottom. Most of these fish struck the slab, and not the fly on the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs we had on. The fishing stayed consistent until right around 3:15pm when the winds began to go alternately calm then would puff a bit then would go call him again, and so on. At this point, the only fish activity we saw was from very sporadic, and nomadic schools of white bass that would randomly pop up in open water very briefly.

Long story short, we put only three additional fish in the boat following the cessation of the winds. The final three fish came from shallow water as a small pack of white bass pushed shad towards the shore in a final, lowlight feed. We wound up with only 25 fish on a very slow afternoon following a fantastic morning. Today, timing was everything, and we got on the wrong side of nature’s “timer”.

The last thing I’d ever want to do while on the water with a youngster is have him or her leave bored and with a negative impression of fishing, so, I tried to introduce a number of transitions by showing Jacob how to fish with shad, having him catch the bait out of the tank, have him press the buttons to raise and lower the ball when we did a bit of downrigging, tap on the bottom of the boat with my thumping stick to try to interest some fish below us, steer the boat a bit, and so on.  These things (plus snacks!) I’ve found help keep kids’ interest in the event of slow fishing.

TALLY = 25 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  67.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW12 at trips start, tapering off to NW9 by 3:00, then going calm to puffing after that time

Sky Conditions: Bright, clear skies following a cold front’s passage

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 10(R40)

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1627 – vertical slabbing for whites ~45 min.

**Area 1827 – vertical slabbing for whites ~45 min.

**Area 1827 to shore – shallow last light bite on blades

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

Leave a Reply