WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, April 6th, I fished with Jim Downing, Coby Whiteside, and Gary Hannemann. Jim has been out with me on a number of occasions. In fact, he and his crew had the single most productive trip of the 2017 season this past December. One of the fellows on the boat with Jim for that spectacular day was Coby on his then-first trip with me. Gary joined me for the first, but hopefully not last, time. He’s an easy going retired pharmacist who now runs a hunting lease in Coryell County.
Coby Whiteside with our longest hybrid of the trip
Gary holds our heaviest fish of the trip. Today’s hybrid bite was slow but steady from 8:45 to around 11:00, then tapered off.
The circle hooks did their job today, not just catching fish, but catching them in the upper left or right lip, thus making for a clean, quick release. Fortunately, Jim, Coby, and Gary got the hang of not setting the hook early on and got to hook and land a majority of the hybrid which struck our baits. And, yes, Jim got it all on camera!
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip targeting hybrid early and white bass in our fifth and final hour.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 05 April 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We fished five different areas targeting hybrid striped bass using live bait suspended near bottom. We found slow but steady action at the middle three of these areas visited. At each location, the bite took some time to develop and, once the first fish came, things never got frenzied as I anticipate they will once the water warms a bit more. After the hybrid fishing had run its course by around 11:15, we spent some time in more turbid water vertically jigging for white bass. Given the favorable wind speed and direction, as well as fair amount of cloud cover, I felt our chances were still pretty good for getting on some schooled fish in deeper water. Indeed, we were able to find two distinct populations of white bass, both eager to feed. We found 1, 2, and 3-year class fish in both groups and enjoyed fast-paced fishing right up until around 12:40p when the bite settled.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Once again, no spawning shad after seeing the first spawning activity Monday, despite a warm day yesterday and balmy overnight conditions.
TALLY: 64 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 12:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F
Water Surface Temp: 65.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-12
Sky Conditions: ~70% cloud cover
Water Level: 2.12 feet low
GT = 60
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1934/1916 – mixed bag on bait
**Area 1749 – hybrid on live shad
**Area 1284 – hybrid on live shad
**Area vic1384 – hybrid on live shad
**Area B0057C – white bass on slab/Hazy Eye Stinger
**Area B0066C – white bass on slab/Hazy Eye Stinger
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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