WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, November 23rd, I fished with first-time guests father-and son team Frank and Marcos Sumner. Frank is a retired U.S. Army veteran residing in the Ft. Hood area where he now serves active duty soldiers by helping improve their eyesight by providing various medical procedures, just as he did while on active duty. Marcos, who, while in college aspired to be a writer, now works for J.P. Morgan in the finance industry based out of San Antonio.
PHOTO CAPTION #1: Frank Sumner with a Lake Belton hybrid striped bass which fell for a 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Shad with stinger hook in the first hour after sunrise.
PHOTO CAPTION #2: Marcos Sumner with a Lake Belton largemouth bass taken from 22 feet of water. As the water cools, the number of largemouth showing up as bycatch has increased sharply over the past week and a half.
PHOTO CAPTION #3: My 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye slabs were a spot-on match for the forage (threadfin shad) the gamefish we encountered this morning were feeding on. This shad was regurgitated by a hybrid striped bass as I unhooked it and prepared to release it. The lure and the shad are both 2 1/8 inches in length. Many slabs have a more slender, minnow shape versus this sway-bellied shad shape. I find the fish respond to this shad-shaped lure much better.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 23 November 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: The post-frontal fishing with a NW breeze this morning was nothing short of spectacular. We caught fish from sunrise at around 7:20, right up until we departed around 11:30. The fish fed well this entire 4-hour stretch. We enjoyed the first episode of widespread bird action leading to feeding fish thus far this autumn. The birds worked, sometimes more aggressively and sometimes less, continuously for the entire morning.
Fishing was super simple. We found fish on sonar assisted by bird action; we focused on bottom-dwelling fish as those fish we found suspended were “fast movers” and hard to pin down; once we found a concentration of fish on bottom, we Spot-Locked, activated the thumper, got our slabs down where the fish were and commenced to catching them until the school we were over dissipated. We wound up hopping about seven times over the course of the 4 hours.
Although the majority of our catch was comprised of our target species (white bass), we also caught numerous hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum.
TALLY: 184 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:10A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F
Elevation: 2.57 feet low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 59.2F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW8 the entire trip; tapering down as we departed around 11:30A
Sky Conditions: Bright, clear post-frontal bluebird skies
GT = 35
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Areas B0194C
**Area bounded by 1923/1804/840/1791
**Area bounded by 496/1866/837
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