Fishing Lessons — 51 Fish with the Johnsons, Belton, 17 April ’17

This past Monday morning’s trip was a bit out of the ordinary. Instead of just going out to catch fish, Kyle Johnson had a number a very specific things he hoped to accomplish during our time on the water. Fortunately, he was able to clearly communicate these things well in advance of our trip, so I had time to prepare to try to accomplish these goals.

 

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From left: Kyle Johnson, his daughter, 8-year-old Mazzy, and his wife, Myka, all celebrated Mazzy’s big catch of this Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken on live shad in 25′.

The first thing Kyle desired was to understand a few kid-friendly techniques I routinely use so as to help keep his own eight-year-old daughter’s interest during their father-daughter fishing trips.

To accommodate this, I planned to show him the basics of downrigging, using an “easing” tactic while vertical jigging with slabs, and the use of a slip float rig for fishing shallow and targeting sunfish. Additionally, Kyle wanted to be sure to catch some fish, especially for his wife and daughter; and his third request was that I simply point out what I was perceiving on sonar as he sat next to me in both motoring from place to place and then while searching more intently for fish once we arrived at prospective areas.

Once again, bait was super easy this morning. With ample bait on board, we started out in search of hybrid striper in water under 25 feet in depth while the light level was low. At our first stop, we landed both short hybrid and white bass, but the pace was just moderate and so I moved us before long. The next area at which we found fish produced all of the hybrid striped bass we would catch during this trip, as well as a handful of white bass. These fish, too, were in less than 25 feet of water. By the time this hybrid bite died down, Mazzy had just about reached her limit on bait fishing, and so at this point, I began to search for areas with heavier concentrations of bottom hugging white bass which would allow for us to vertical jig using an easing tactic.

When this did not immediately work out, I transitioned right into showing Kyle how to use the downrigger, and letting Mazzy enjoy the fruits of the explanation as she was able to reel in the rather easily caught, but fairly small, suspended white bass that fell for our tandem-rigged pair of Pet Spoons.

As we downrigged, we discovered what we were looking for earlier – – a big, bottom hugging school of white bass. I used the Minnkota Spot Lock function to hover over top of these fish, and allowed Kyle and Myka to wear out the white bass using slabs worked with an easing tactic. This was good on-the-job training for Kyle who typically uses a snap jigging or ripping tactic in conjunction with slabs — a technique more appropriate for falling water temperatures.

Once this school of white bass stopped responding to our slabbing, I provided one more demo up shallow using a telescoping bream rod with a slip float to target smallish, very shallow water species, like sunfish.

When all was said and done today everyone caught fish; we landed a total of 51 fish, including some very nice hybrid striper, and Kyle had a grasp on the several kid-friendly tactics I came prepared to demonstrate.

 

TALLY = 51 FISH, all caught and released

Wx Snapshot:

17APR17

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp: 70F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6-7 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 80% clouds

Water Level: 6.72 feet above full pool and falling; 3800+ cfs release

GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1920 for early white bass on bait

**Area 1635/1628 for hybrid on bait

**Area 1677 for whites on slabs discovered via downrigging

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

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