WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I welcomed a tight-knit family out in celebration of George McLaughlin’s birthday. Celebrating with him was his wife, Debbie, his son, George, and one of his daughters, Tori McClosky.
George is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, from the Class of 1965, so we had a bit in common and gave each other some ribbing about the upcoming Army-Navy football game.
This family had fished a bit in years past, but, we started with the basics on how to hold and use spinning equipment, then layered in techniques and small refinements over the course of the morning until everyone was confident and was pulling fish in independently and routinely, leaving me to just keep us on fish and to unhook and release those fish my crew caught.
No one was particular about a given species or tactic, so, we caught what sonar revealed in the way of white bass up through around 10:45, then left a bit of time to try to help everyone get a catfish, as well.
PHOTO CAPTION #1: From the left, that’s George McLaughlin, his daughter, Tori McClosky, George’s wife, Debbie, and George and Debbie’s son, George, all with some of the better white bass we landed today on tailspinners.
PHOTO CAPTION #2: Tori landed our best fish of the morning. We managed several legal hybrid on artificial baits this morning, as well as a number of drum nearly as large, and a few short, but still stong-pulling hybrid stripers. These fish were mixed right in with the smaller young-of-the-year white bass which made up the majority of our catch.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 16 November 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: The fish are solidly in cool-season mode now. Their locations and habits have become very predictable once again. The weather is the big variable. Changing weather and a moving barometer mean fish will be more aggressive, higher up off bottom, easier to spot on sonar, and more willing to bite and stay biting. On the other hand, days, like today, in between fronts see fish in the same places but less active, tighter to bottom, more difficult to spot on sonar, and willing to feed as soon as lures are dropped amongst them, only to throttle back quickly giving anglers a choice of staying and working for more, or running and gunning for more “easy” fish at a new location.
Today, with water temperatures still in the low 60’s, we kept right on using tailspinners and they yielded well for us.
We found white bass willing to bite well through about 10:15am, then, with calm winds and the brightest sky of the morning, the fishing slowed a bit. We headed in for a restroom break, caught a few more white bass after that, and then refocused our efforts on catfish to try to add to the variety of species my crew landed.
George (the elder) is a fan of Jeremy Wade’s “River Monsters” TV show, and was fluent on some of the habits of some of the species we took. He asked good questions, as well, to help expand his knowledge while we were on the water.
TALLY: 84 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:20A
End Time: 11:45P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F
Elevation: 2.47 feet low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: Calm under fog for about an hour, then the lightest of SE breezes blew until around 11a, when the breeze picked up to SE8
Sky Conditions: Clear and cloudless for the first 3+ hours, then wispy, high clouds beginning to build in the final hour.
GT = 135
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Areas 1618, B0188C, 327, and vic 163 – for white bass
**Area B0171C/382 for 5 cats in the last half-hour
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