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.

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.

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.

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:

 

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

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