WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Sunday evening I fished with returning guest ex-Navy SeaBee Mac McElroy of Harker Heights and his brother-in-law, Charlie Walters, a retired U.S. Army judge from the DFW area. I rarely take booking on Sundays, but, due to these fellows’ schedule and the fact that I wanted to avoid the poor weather conditions which were forecast for our originally scheduled trip time on Saturday morning (cold and wet) we went ahead with this Sunday afternoon outing when the forecast showed some improvement. Charlie tried to get Mac’s goat a few times about catching the largest fish of the trip, but Mac kept cool and steadily plucked white bass both snap-jigging and using an easing tactic.
Charlie Walters with a nice 3.75 pound hybrid taken during the first hour of our trip in deep, clear water while we still had fog and low light with calm conditions.
From left: Mac McElroy and Charlie Walters with fish from the 2016 year class. The photo is a bit grainy because it was taken right at dark. The several fish we caught right at dark rose as high in the water column as I’ve seen white bass rise since the lake cooled rapidly in January.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass using artificial lures.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Sunday evening, 18 February 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We fished vertically 100% of the time this evening. We fished 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stingers in deep water for smaller fish when bird activity was lacking, then stuck with these same slabs during some brief bird action, mainly because the bite was tentative most of the trip. Although we were due to have SE winds at 15+, no winds developed, and, as it typical under mild wind conditions, the bite was also pretty mild. We found fish in deep, clear water under grey skies during the first 90 minutes of the trip, experienced a 1-hour lull in the middle of the trip as the skies cleared rapidly, and then took our fish count from just 18 fish landed up to a total of 62 fish with the majority of these caught in the last 75 minutes, right up until dark.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The water is slowly warming due to more mild conditions and increasing day length. 2) The suspended fish we caught at low light rose as high in the water column as I have seen fish go so far in this late winter season — that being just 9-12 feet beneath the surface.
TALLY: 62 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 2:15p
End Time: 6:30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F
Water Surface Temp: 53.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable through 5:30pm, then SSW at <5.
Sky Conditions: Heavy, low cloud cover and fog to the point of limiting visibility to about a mile for the first 90 minutes, then rapidly clearing and warming.
Water Level: 3.53 feet low
GT = 40
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area B0036C – in 45′
**Area B0037C – 2 short hops in 44′
**Area B0039C to B0040C – 5 short hops in 32-35′
**Area B0038C – low light bite for fish steadily rising in the water column to within 9-12 feet of the surface by dark
Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
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