This past Thursday morning, March 23rd, I fished with Mr. Jeff Stump of Lexington, TX, and his brother, Randy Stump, who is visiting from near Columbus, OH.
Jeff Stump with his best hybrid of the morning.
Randy Stump with one of several hybrid of this class that took our lively, medium-sized shad late this morning.
Jeff works in the semi-conductor industry in Austin, and Randy is retired from a career in the battery industry. Randy flew down for a week-long visit which will include several additional fishing trips in Jeff’s Bass Tracker.
This morning the winds had the fish stirred up right at first light, although they really were not interested in our first offering, which included horizontally fished blade baits. However, when we switched over to a vertical presentation, the fish just couldn’t get enough of it. We “eased” with small, 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks affixed to them and just wore the white bass out as long as they stayed shallow (under 25 feet) and tightly grouped (as witnessed on sonar). By 9:15a, we’d landed 90 fish and decided to devote the remainder of the trip to targeting hybrid striper with live bait.
Our first stop for hybrid didn’t go so well, as the white bass beat the hybrid to the baits and then just kept on coming. Our second stop for hybrid proved a whole lot better. We used large live baits at first, and suspended them way up off bottom to try to prevent immediate detection by white bass. This seemed to work well, as we immediately got into hybrid and they stuck around suspended beneath the boat. We found that medium sized (2.75″) shad got hit much more quickly and aggressively than larger baits. The larger baits got approached more slowly, and often got mauled without resulting in a hookup.
By trip’s end, we’d managed 15 “legal” hybrid of 18″ or greater in addition to the boatload of white bass we released to fight another day. By trip’s end, the Stump brothers walked away with a favorable impression of Lake Belton’s fishery.
TALLY = 116 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:25a
End Time: 11:55a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F
Water Surface Temp: 67.0F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE15 at sunrise, increasing to SSE21 by trip’s end with higher gusts; stronger winds came in the afternoon
Sky Conditions: Cloudless, fair skies and bright conditions all morning
Water Level: 0.67 feet above full pool
GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 172/1573 and 1670/164 — 72 white bass on 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks attached fished with easing tactic
**Area 1667 – 18 white bass on 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks attached fished with easing tactic
**Area 1916 – live shad intended for hybrid but caught white bass only
**Area 1915 – live shad for hybrid striper — caught 15 legal fish in last 70 minutes on the water, along with several shorts and some white bass
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
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