WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I conducted the fourth Spring Break 2018 trip of the week with three generations of the Boyd family. Bryan and John own and operate Centex Flooring in the north Austin area, specializing in ceramic tile. The impacts of the cold front that caused me to postpone Monday’s fishing could still be felt with bright skies and low temperatures, but, even though the winds were northeasterly, they were at least moving the water enough to get the fish going. We enjoyed 2 solid hours of fishing under birds for aggressive white bass, then a third, slow hour spent searching for more fish as the winds died down. In our final hour we found a pocket of hybrid striper which had corralled shad into a cove where we caught 13 keeper hybrid , 1 short hybrid, and 2 largemouth bass on live shad.
From left: Bryan, Drew, and John Boyd, each with solid, 3-year class white bass taken in the first two hours of fishing under birds. Slabs did the trick when worked vertically through the water column at the level these fish were holding at.
We cashed in on some hybrid and largemouth action in our last hour on the water. Both species had herded shad into a small pocket and were feeding in the upper half of the water column with fish occasionally breaking the surface. Live shad did the trick fished between 12-17 feet over a deeper bottom.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip during which we caught a mix of white bass and hybrid stripers
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 14 March 2018
HOW WE FISHED: Fishing for white bass under birds was best with a moderate smoking tactic using 3/8 oz. slabs with the Hazy Eye Stinger attached. Fishing is still spotty and inconsistent for hybrid, with fish taking shad of all sizes, as well as chunk baits; a lot of “sniffs” are still being observed as hybrid race upward to a bait, examine it, then turn away.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Snap-jigging is beginning to lose its appeal, with downrigging or horizontally worked blade baits now producing well when aggressive feeding ends and fish spread horizontally on bottom.
TALLY: 157 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30a
End Time: 11:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F
Water Surface Temp: 58.5F
Wind Speed & Direction: NE6 in the first two hours, then slowing to E at just a ripple for the last two hours
Sky Conditions: <10% wispy, white cloud cover
Water Level: 2.48 feet low and falling
GT = 40
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 692/381 – white bass on slabs under birds
**Area vic 380 – white bass on slabs under birds
**Area B0053C – suspended, small “packs” of hybrid stripers and largemouth took live shad (medium threadfin) set at 12-17 on tightlines
**Area vic 1371
Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide
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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