WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, April 22nd, I fished with MJ Linder of Belton, his 80-year-old dad, Gene Linder of Abilene, Justin Hall and Justin’s 13-year-old son, John Hall, both from Gatesville. MJ owns Mobility Therapies, his dad is a retired college educator, Justin is a youth pastor in Gatesville, and John is in middle school in Gatesville where he’s currently playing 7-man Spring Football.
PHOTO CAPTION: MJ Linder (right) and his dad, Gene, age 80, scored early on live shad. Our best bite came in the first two hours this morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: Justin Hall and his 13-year-old son, John, took these fish just moments apart as an aggressive pack of hybrid passed into our bait spread and grabbed what we were offering.
PHOTO CAPTION: Gene Linder landed our largest fish of the trip. This blue cat went for a cutbait we had put out for variety’s sake. It went 8.50 pounds on a certified scale.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was my first trip of the season devoted strictly to fishing for hybrid striped bass with live shad.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: 22 April 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was fair this morning, although I expected a bit better based on the wind speed, wind direction, and cloud cover. We fished live shad all morning and found the same scenario as I did last Friday — that when we pulled up on an area, we’d essentially catch what was there, but would not see fish pulled in from adjacent areas attracted by the commotion we made by thumping, with chum, nor by the frenzied movements of hooked fish. Thus, it was necessary to move soon after the bite tapered off. My conversation with one other Lake Belton angler confirmed this was happening elsewhere, as well.
The first 2 hours of the morning was best. We got a lot of “lookers, not takers” in the last 2 hours of the morning; and this observation was confirmed by a fellow guide I checked in with after my trip had concluded.
OBSERVATIONS: The later it got the more frequently we had disinterested fish inspect our baits without committing.
TALLY: 34 fish caught and released – 15 legal hybrid, 3 short hybrid, 12 blue cat, 1 largemouth bass, and 3 white bass.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 11:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 0.7′ above full pool with a 0.09′ 24-hour rise
Water Surface Temp: ~64.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11, increasing to SSE14 by trip’s end
Sky Conditions: 100% thin, grey cloud cover
GT = 50
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area B0090C thru 344 – best hybrid action in first 2 hours after sunrise
**Area 151 – abundant, but finicky, fish here; a few hybrid mixed in
**Area 966 – encountered bluecat with baits close to bottom; a few hybrid mixed in
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