WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, April 30th, I fished with 3 fishing buddies/co-workers including Chris Lester, Chris Holle, and Mike White. All of them work at the Blackland Research Center in Temple and have been out fishing with me twice before during the cool season as we vertically jigged for white bass. This was their first time fishing with me for hybrid striped bass.
PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Lester with our single largest hybrid of the trip, weighing in at just slightly over 5.00 pounds. This morning’s strikes at the live shad were very aggressive, with fish rocketing off bottom to take the baits, then swimming off with the baits rapidly.
PHOTO CAPTION: Mike White managed one hybrid a piece on the two rods he was keeping an eye on. These fish were landed just seconds apart. Chris Lester kept on fish submerged on the Rapala Fish Gripper to keep it healthy as Mike landed the second fish. We then did a quick photo and turned them both back quickly.
PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Holle shows one of his better fish caught this morning.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid striped bass using live shad.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: 30 April 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: Once again, we fished strictly live bait in pursuit of hybrid striped bass this morning. This morning’s action took place between 7:00am and 9:38am. After this time the bite died hard. Due to excessive wind, the locations which have produced well in the late morning were inaccessible. I noted that one other boat of typically successful recreational anglers arrived in the same vicinity I was fishing around the 9:30a timeframe, and later discovered they moved because their bite had died at this same time, as well.
All three men I had aboard did well at holding off on turning the reel’s handle (using circle hooks) until the fish moved off with the bait in a sustained manner, hence, they hooked a high percentage of the hybrid which struck out baits.
OBSERVATIONS: Three quick throws provided all the bait needed for a full trip at SHAD014 although no motion could be seen for the wind blowing pre-sunrise. The take of the baits by the hybrid was more immediate and aggressive this morning; I expect this will only get more so as the water temperature climbs and the fishes’ metabolism continues to increase. 3 of the 29 hybrid we landed showed clear signs of having been caught and released previously.
TALLY: 41 fish caught and released – including 29 legal hybrid
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F
Elevation: 2.15′ above full pool with a 0.15′ 24-hour fall and a 2706 cfs flow
Water Surface Temp: ~67.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: S11-18
Sky Conditions: leaden grey skies with drizzle or light rain ~25% of the time.
GT = 62
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1012/1552 – caught 39 of our 41 fish at this location, all by 9:38am.
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
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