OLD HIGH SCHOOL BUDDIES HIT BELTON – 75 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday evening, March 8th, I fished with high school buddies Steve Murphy and Ted Tilley.  The men, now both retired, went to high school up in Wisconsin.  Steve retired from the U.S. Army where he worked for over 20 years in food service, and then worked another 18 years for the Killeen Independent School District where he focused on nutrition.  Ted, now residing in Colorado, retired from the paving/asphalt industry.

A big thanks to George Van Riper for referring these fellows my way.

ABOVE: From left: Steve Murphy and Ted Tilley managed to catch fish when they weren’t razzing one another about past peccadilloes.

ABOVE: Steve landed a “two-fer” out of a school of smaller white bass that fired up and bit as soon as we got our slabs down to bottom.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 08 Mar., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: After launching right at 2:00p, we found our first fish around 2:30pm and these were scattered, suspended fish over ~42 feet of water.  We used the Garmin LiveScope to track our lures and fish movement simultaneously and successfully connected with white bass, hybrid striped bass, drum, largemouth and crappie holding about 12-15 feet off bottom and slowly meandering about in search of the shad also in this area.

The next three areas we fished found us probing progressively shallower water, finding fish on bottom in 34’, 27’, and as shallow as 17’.  The last area at which we found fish on bottom saw us fishing in 32’.  Each stop produced fish, but no area was really “on fire”, thanks to the still-low water temperature.  Around 5:50p, we made a final move.  Once again, in about 42’, we found abundant suspended fish in a horizontal band from 25-30 feet deep.  Using the LiveScope, we zeroed in on these fish using a slow-smoking tactic with the 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab/Stinger combination.  We landed 20-25 of our total catch of 75 fish in this last 35 minute run.

OBSERVATIONS:  We seem to be right on the cusp of the normally very productive spring fishing.  There are currently no days on the extended forecast during which day or night temperatures are due to fall below the temperature of the water, thus, a net warming will take place over this time.

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time: 6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.3 feet high, with a 0.05 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 52.8-53.1

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were SSW12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Light grey skies with 90% coverage and little direct sun showing through for the entirety of the trip.

GT = 30

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0136C

**Area  B0137C

**Area  vic 1736

**Area  vic 097

**Area  B0138C

 

Bob Maindelle

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

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