This morning, Monday, 31 July, I fished with the Kropp family of Temple, including Paul and his wife, Dawn, and two of their three daughters, 11-year-old Rebekah, and 17-year-old Danielle. The trip was in celebration of Rebekah’s 11th birthday.
The Kropp family celebrated Rebekah’s 11th birthday on the water today. From left: Danielle, Paul, Dawn, and Rebekah. We landed 44 fish this morning, primarily via downrigging.
The morning got off to a fast start with singles and doubles coming readily under low light conditions. We picked up 18 fish in the first hour, but, once the direct sun hit the water after rising above a grey cloud bank in the east, the fishing quickly tapered off.
We struggled for about 75 minutes, fishing 3 areas and picking up only 4 additional fish.
Around 9:30 we got back into them over top of a submerged channel and worked this area for all it was worth, putting another 15 fish in the boat and taking our tally up to 37 fish.
Around 10:30 I suggested we hit one more area to see if we could make it an even 40 fish trip. Upon our arrival, sonar revealed good signatures showing white bass suspended near bottom in groups of 5-10 fish per school. In about 20 minutes we were able to put a final 7 more white bass in the boat, finishing the morning up with 44 fish caught and released.
There were a number of times where I saw strong congregations of fish which we stopped over top of and vertical jigged for, but none of these scenarios worked out. The fish not only wanted a horizontal presentation, but they were pretty finicky even about chasing and striking at that.
We did experience a wind shift today with winds out of the ENE versus the southerly winds we’ve had for the better part of June and July. Winds are due to have an easterly component all week with a moderation of daily high temperatures in conjunction with the wind shift.
TALLY: 44 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:30a
End Time: 11:15a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F
Water Surface Temp: 84.9F
Wind Speed & Direction: ENE breeze under 10 mph the entire trip
Sky Conditions: 30% cloud cover
Water Level: 0.05 feet low and slowly falling with only evaporative losses of ~0.02 feet per day; 0 cfs release at dam
GT = 10
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 485-1239 – strong fishing for the first hour under low light and cloud cover; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
**Area 040 – sparse results; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
**Area 1499 – sparse results; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
**Area 329 – sparse results; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
**Area 453 – solid fishing; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
**Area 1971 – solid fishing; downrigging a 3-armed umbrella with Pet Spoons
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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