This past Saturday morning, March 25th, I fished with Steve Springer and three clients of his, all from the Martinka Brothers Farm operation in Bartlett, Texas.
Steve Springer spent some time on the water this morning with several of his clients from the Martinka Brothers Farms near Bartlett, TX.
Jacob Martinka with one of several hybrid of this class that took our lively, medium-sized shad late this morning.
After feeling his first hybrid pull like it did, Jordan Martinka was wishing his brother, Matt Martinka, could have made the trip, too.
Justin Young, one of the Martinka Brothers Farms part-time employees, and a full-time HVAC repairman put his fair share of white bass and hybrids in the boat this morning.
Steve sells agricultural supplies like seed and fertilizer, and the folks at Martinka Brothers farms are clients of his. Two of the five Martinka brothers, Jordan and Jacob, joined us this morning, as well as one of their employees, Justin Young. The family raises grain crops and cattle on over 4,000 acres near Bartlett on a farm that has been in the family for 3 generations.
We got out on the water beginning right at 7:15 and I explained the two options we had before us today: hybrid fishing with live shad and slabbing for white bass. Thus far this season, white bass showing up in the live shad spread intended for hybrid has been a bit of an issue, so I made the fellows aware that we may need to move away from the white bass if we were going to specifically pursue hybrid.
At the very first location we tried, I spotted hybrid on sonar at 24 to 28 feet deep, but as we let our baits down to these fish, the more numerous white bass we saw on sonar at this area pulled right up off the bottom and attacked our baits. Instead of using up a bunch of shad and catching these white bass on the heavier rods intended for hybrid, we just tucked away the hybrid rods for a while and used lightweight spinning gear to enjoy the action these white bass offered. In under an hour’s time we put 52 white bass in the boat and I then presented the fellows with an option of leaving these still-biting fish behind to try again for hybrid.
A second location, this one a bit more windblown, produced the same as our first stop – – more white bass immediately attacking our live shad spread.
The third area we tried produced the same exact results – – more white bass attacking our shad.
Our fourth stop was a charm. With our tally now around 70 fish, we got live baits down to what appeared on sonar at 42 feet on bottom to be larger fish. When the first rod went down, the suspicions I had from looking at sonar were confirmed. We were officially on top of a nice school of hybrid. From this final location we put another 40 fish in the boat, of which 75% were hybrid stripers. Of those, about four of every five were of legal size.
By 11:15 the bite at this area was quickly waning. With both quality fish and a quantity of fish landed, the fellows were ready to call it a good morning and so we headed to the dock with exactly 110 fish landed for our efforts this morning.
TALLY = 116 FISH, all caught and released
WX Snapshot:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F
Water Surface Temp: 66.1.0F
Wind Speed & Direction: Post-frontal, but still breezy conditions on the heels of a mild coldfront that passed thru around 11am yesterday; winds WNW14
Sky Conditions: Cloudless, fair skies and bright conditions all morning
Water Level: 0.78 feet above full pool
GT = 100
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 1624 — 52 white bass on 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks attached fished with easing tactic — moved on in search of hybrid
**Area 618/1909 – 8 white bass on live shad — moved on in search of hybrid
**Area vic 1482 – 10 white bass on live shad — moved on in search of hybrid
**Area 1299 – At our 4th stop of the AM, found bottom-oriented school of hybrid in 42-43′; caught 40 fish of which 75% were hybrid and of which 4 in 5 were legal 18+” fish.
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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