Day: January 5, 2019

FULL DAY TRIP YIELDS 174 FISH & NEAR-FLOOD CONDITIONS

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday I fished a full day trip with Belton, TX, native Eric Martin and a friend of his since the 8th grade, Christian Hunter.  We fished lake Belton from 7:15 am until 5:00 pm with an off-the-water lunch break from 11:45a until 1:00p (a typically very slow time fishing-wise).  Eric works at Grime Fighters based in Harker Heights, TX, and had good things to say about his boss and co-workers there; Christian works at Wright Tree Service and has his eye on real estate investing in the future.

This trip was presented to Eric as a Christmas gift from his grandmother, Sandra Gehler.

Eric Martin with the largest of the several hybrid striped bass we landed while focusing on white bass.  The winter months, through to the first part of March, always seem the toughest for consistently landing keeper-sized hybrid.

 

Longtime friends Christian Hunter (left) and Eric Martin cashed in a Christmas fishing gift certificate and then cashed in on a 174 fish day on Lake Belton just as rising flood water threatened to shut down lake access for the second time in just 3 months.

 

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.  

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday,  January 4th, 2019

HOW WE FISHED:   Snap-jigging was the foundation of today’s trip.  We were using spinning gear geared for white bass with 20 pound braid, 25 pound fluoro leader, and white 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks attached.  Once Eric and Chris got the hang of snap-jigging, I introduced another layer of complexity by turning on the Garmin LiveScope sonar gear and showing them how to tempt fish that presented higher up in the water column than the fish we were snap-jigging for on the bottom.  Eric really got the hang of this quickly, and, once Chris overcame his too-powerful hooksets, he, too, became successful at “sniping” for these fairly lethargic high-riding fish.

OBSERVATIONS: The morning bite was very solid today.  The 4 areas we fished required no short hops.  Once we got on fish, we stayed on fish as they continued to be active and filter in beneath the boat.  As the winds decreased in the afternoon, fishing was much tougher.  Thanks to a 40-fish spurt from ~4:20 to 5:00, our afternoon tally was good, however, the period from 2:30-4:30 was slow, with only a few fish right away each time we stopped at a new area, but with no bite duration at these areas.

TALLY: 174 fish caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 5:00 p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Water Surface Temp: 49.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: WInds blew at WNW10 through 10:30, then decreased to under W6 for the rest of the day.

Sky Conditions:  Bright, cloudless blue skies

Water Level: 9.31′ high with an overnite rise of 1.81 feet and no flow from the dam  

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 565/1659 (AM)

**Area vic 691 (AM)

**Area vic B0112C (AM)

**Area vic 211 (PM)

**Area vic B0121C/B0124C (PM)

**Area vic B0116C (PM)

 

Bob Maindelle, Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

 

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