Off to the Races — 108 Fish, 08 April ’17

This past Saturday morning, April 8th, I fished with Mr. Steve Niemeier of Temple, his grandson, Caleb Fowler, and his great nephew, Tevin Gilmore, both from Belton.

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From left  — Steve Niemeier, Tevin Gilmore, and Caleb Fowler with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fish of the morning, all of which were landed in a 45 second span just minutes after we got to our first fishing area.

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Tevin Gilmore with our largest fish of the trip, a long 23.75″ fish which is the third fish of this length we’ve taken on my boat so far this season.

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Tevin and Caleb with a nice pair of hybrid that struck our baits simultaneously.

The forecast this morning called for manageable winds up through 10 AM with winds then ramping up to over 18 mph beyond that point.

As we met up right at 7 AM I explained my game plan was to pursue hybrid striped bass using live bait out over open water as long as the winds would allow for that approach, and then, if necessary, to retreat to the protection of the tributaries, and most likely finish out the trip by jigging for white bass.

As we made our way to our first stop, we were passed (at high speed) by dozens of bass boats launching out of Temple Lake Park.  There were due to be 125-150 boats in this particular tournament.  Fortunately, they all holed up protected areas while we chose open water for plying our trade, so, despite it being Saturday AND a large tournament going on, we never had another boat fish within a half-mile of us while we were on the hybrid.

We enjoyed nearly nonstop action from the first bait that went into the water until 10:15 AM when the winds forced us off of open water. During this time we landed exactly 80 fish, and easily half of these were solid, keeper hybrid ranging from 21 to 22.75 inches, with one exceptional fish measuring 23.75 inches.

The remainder of our catch caught on livebait consisted primarily of two-year-old class white bass, with a sprinkling of blue cat, drum, and smallmouth bass thrown in.

By 10:15 it was necessary to move to more protected waters due to the wind. We headed upstream into one of Belton’s tributaries and looked over the white bass situation on windblown points and deep breaklines. In about an hour’s time, fishing over two such areas, we were able to put 27 additional fish in the boat including 26 white bass and one hybrid striper.

We decided to call it a good trip right at 11:25 AM at which time Steve and the boys were headed off to Chuck’s Restaurant for lunch.  I hated to turn down the invitation to lunch they extended to me, but there was a good bit of doing that needed attention after a trip, and the Saturday morning crowd makes those chores take a bit longer than normal.

TALLY = 108 FISH, all caught and released

Wx Snapshot:

09APR16

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:25a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Water Surface Temp: 68.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11-13 for the first 3 hours, then increasing quickly to SSE17+ by 10:15a

Sky Conditions: Clear and bright

Water Level: 0.93 feet above full pool

GT = 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 081/1545 – 75 minutes solid hybrid action

**Area – 1556/1557 – 2 hours solid hybrid action

**Area – 1917 – 28 white bass in last hour

 

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

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

Everything’s Bigger in Texas — 80 Fish, 07 April ’17 (PM)

This past Friday afternoon, April 7th, I fished with Mr. Michael Apodaca and his wife, Jane, of Salado, Texas, as well as Jane’s brother and nephew, Jack and John Durstock, of Florence, Kentucky.

 

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Michael and Jane Apodaca of Salado with a pair of hybrid caught just seconds apart on livebait while fishing Lake Belton.  Jane works for the Killeen Independent School District and Michael is a part of the Operational Test Command (OTC) at Ft. Hood.

 

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Brothers-in-law (from left) Jack Durstock and Michael Apodaca, each with a hybrid going over 4 pounds which fell for large, lively threadfin shad.

 

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John Durstock of Florence, KY, with one of the first two hybrid of many he would land over the course of this 4+ hour trip.  He commented on how much larger these fish were than the hybrid he’s accustomed to seeing come from the waters back home.  His dad, Jack, looks on in the background.

This was the first time I had fished Belton in the afternoon since the middle of March, but, given the fair skies and south-southeasterly breeze, as well as my positive morning results, I felt our chances were very good this afternoon.

When all was said and done, we fished three areas. The first area produced just two keeper hybrid, and as they were being reeled in, I did not see other fish activity stirred by that commotion, therefore we moved on.  Regardless of the scarcity of fish at this first area, it provided John with his first taste of Texas hybrid stripers.  He commented a number of times about how much larger these fish grew than did the hybrid he’s accustomed to seeing in Kentucky.  I chided him that, as the old saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Texas!”

The second area we fished produced a majority of our fish. We stopped at this location in 43 feet of water because I saw tightly grouped and bottom hugging white bass which I felt we could jig for using light spinning tackle. As we begin to catch white bass after white bass, I noted that multiple small “wolf packs” of hybrid stripers were moving in to check out the action at mid-depth, between 25 and 33 feet above the white bass. I sampled this opportunity by suspending a single livebait down amidst these arches showing on sonar, and immediately came up with a nice hybrid. We quickly put away the spinning gear, hung bait, and as Jane put it, enjoyed Hybrid–Palooza for about two hours.

Eventually, the bite at this area softened and we moved on.

The last area we hit produced the best run of quality hybrid I’d seen come from one area thus far this season. Everything we caught was right at 21 to 22.25 inches, and there were no white bass in the mix.

By the time the sun set and the bite died, we’d boated a grand total of 80 fish.

TALLY = 80 FISH, all caught and released

Wx Snapshot:

07APR17

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Water Surface Temp: 67.4 – 69.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11-13 for the first 3 hours, then tapering to SSE7 by the last hour

Sky Conditions: Clear and bright

Water Level: 1.30 feet above full pool

GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1749 – 2 hybrid and moved on with little showing on sonar

**Area – 1751 – hybrid on live shad in 43′ which showed up after we’d begin vertical jigging for white bass with slabs; best producer of the PM; 2 hours of catching here

**Area 081 – hybrid on live shad in 38′; consistent quality fish all right at 21-22″

 

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

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle