29 | November | 2016 | Fishing Report

This past Saturday morning, November 26th, I fished a multi-species trip on Belton Lake with Dave Hanlin, his 82-year-old father, Dick Hanlin, Gary Pretzsch, and his 11-year-old son, Griffin.

From left: David Hanlin, Dick Hanlin, Griffin Pretzsch, and Gary Pretzsch with a sampling of the better sized white bass we landed, in addition to numerous hybrid striper, largemouth, and freshwater drum — 186 fish in all.

Griffin landed our largest fish of the trip with this nice hybrid striper, although several of the drum we boated came very close to this size, too.

The same ideal conditions that provided two 140+ fish trips yesterday continued into the first half of this day. Although the northwest winds lightened a bit, the nice grey cloud cover persisted with winds that at least rippled the surface at the beginning of our trip, and then built to about 7 to 8 mph for the remainder of the morning.

We fished only two areas this morning, both under ample bird activity, and “spot – hopped” quite a bit at both of these areas in order to keep up with the birds/active fish.

Our go-to techniques were using a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig, as well as a single, small, 3/8 oz. slab. We used the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig when the fish were more aggressive, and switched over to the single slab whenever the fish became more lethargic.

The fishing was very simple, and very straightforward. My four anglers boated a total of 186 fish in exactly 4 hours.

Things had really begun to slow down in the final hour, but then a small storm cell began to move in from the west, and just as the outer band of sprinkles begin to ever so lightly dimple the surface, the fish went on another rampage, accompanied by a resurgence of the gull and tern activity. We quickly hopped on top of this action, and put our last few fish in the boat, wrapping up right at 10:45 AM and beating the rain by just minutes.

TALLY = 186 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp: 67.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW5-8 all morning

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level: 0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1643- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1654-1804 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1642- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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This past Friday afternoon, November 25th, I fished with Mr. Mike McLaughlin, his son-in-law, Keith Duncan, and Keith’s 10-year-old son, Alex. Mike’s wife presented him with a fishing gift certificate for Christmas, and today was the day he cashed it in.

Grandpa Mike landed the largest of our 151 fish this afternoon under ideal grey and breezy conditions. This Belton hybrid striped bass struck the teaser fly on Mike’s Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig.

Keith Duncan and his son, Alex, hold another nice hybrid that fell for the Hazy Eye Shad rig. Using this tandem rig, Alex landed 9 sets of doubles over the course of our 4 hour afternoon trip.
The very strong white bass bite fueled by an incoming cold front and the accompanying northwest winds and gray cloud cover allowed for a nearly identical afternoon trip following a spectacular morning trip in which we boated 143 fish.

In contrast with the morning bite in which we caught the vast majority of our fish at just two locations at which the fish “hunkered down” and allowed us to catch from just a handful of locations, this afternoon’s bite was quite different. This afternoon, we primarily followed birds which were on top of active fish pushing shad to the surface, and we spot–hopped based on where the birds indicated the fish were.

In all, I used the Spot Lock function on my Ulterra trolling motor to hover over approximately nine different areas in order to put together our catch. The go-to bait this afternoon was the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig anchored with a three-quarter ounce silver slab. Depending on how thick the fish were, and where in the water column they were located, we would present the Hazy Eye Shad rig accordingly.

Young Alex led the way on catching doubles with a grand total of nine doubles.

All species, it seemed, were feeding up as this cold front slowly rolled in. We caught numerous drum, largemouth bass, hybrid striper, and, of course, plenty of white bass.

When all was said and done we had landed 151 fish this evening. The fish quit right at 5:10p, and at the same light level at which they began feeding this morning.

TALLY = 151 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:00p

End Time: 5:10p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Water Surface Temp: 67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW10-12 all afternoon

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level: 0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1137 – smallish whites on a deep breakline during brief pre-trip scouting

**Area 1188- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1187 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1808- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1728- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1519- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 302- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1574- casting blade baits horizontally for low-light fish in water under 14′