WHO I FISHED WITH:  Yesterday evening, Saturday, December 14th, I fished with 10-year-old Jet Black of Temple, and his 9-year-old buddy, Karson Gallion.  Accompanying the boys as non-fishing chaperones were Jet’s parents, Dave and Mandi Black.

We’d had this trip all planned out to coincide with the Saturday closest to Jet’s actual birthday, but, last Saturday afternoon’s weather looked like a disaster waiting to happen with cloudless skies and a totally calm wind forecast.  As it turned out, the weatherman got that right, and we did well to bump the trip to this weekend where we enjoyed a consistent 8-9 mph SE breeze the entire trip.

A third young man was supposed to join us, but, he fell victim to the flu, so come trip time it was down to Jet and Karson.  Mandi explained during the trip that Karson is one of a set of quadruplets, and the only boy of the four — so, I gathered Karson was really looking forward to some “guy time”!!

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Dave Black, Jet Black, Mandi Black, and Karson Gallion with a few of the white bass the boys took in an afternoon of fishing on Lake Belton.

WHEN WE FISHED:   Saturday, 14 December 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED:  I was a bit concerned going into this afternoon’s trip about the boys hanging in there the entire time.  As good as fishing can be this time of year, it is also very limited when it comes to variety.  I’ve fished with kids long enough to know that even on a day when we’re knocking them dead, kids can get bored with success if that success comes via just one method.

The boys did well today on a day where technique was very important because the fish were not all that enthusiastic thanks to post-frontal conditions.

Once we got through the learning curve on using the easing tactic, the boys caught fish at each place we located them.  To their credit, there is a lot of steps to get the hang of including correct amount of slack in the line, lift speed, drop speed, hook-setting method, not reeling a hooked fish in too far, etc., and this is all in addition to the fundamentals of spinning reel use: proper grip, use of the bail, handle turn speed, etc.

We landed 45 fish at our first location, spent a while looking for a solid second location to fish, then fished a second location at which we “short hopped” a few times, moving gradually shallower with each hop as the light dimmed with sunset’s approach.  We added exactly 30 more fish to our tally at this location.  It was here where Jet had a “big one that got away” encounter with a largemouth bass that I’d estimate at ~3 pounds.  This fish hit high up in the water column and was still very green when it got to the surface just seconds later.  Jet was reeling madly, so, I had him slow down as the fish took drag and dove deeper.  As I prepared the net, the fish simply got off the hook.

Dave and Mandi were super-supportive and helped the boys every way they could to be successful.  They tried to reiterate and reinforce my guidance to the boys, helped keep them focused, and laid on the praise when the boys got firing on all 8 cylinders by executing the technique well and consistently hooking and landing fish.

 

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  No bird activity this afternoon.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    1:45P

End Time:  5:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  66F

Elevation:2.85′ low, no 24-hour change, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   58.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE8 and steady the entire afternoon

Sky Conditions:  High blue skies in the wake of a mild cold front’s passage yesterday

GT = 40

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Between 1291 and B0103C

** vic 1882-B0188C

 

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH:  Yesterday morning, Saturday, December 14th, I fished with returning guest Oscar Leal, accompanied by two first time guests, Terek Brown, and Alton Hill.  Prior to the trip Terek and Alton did not know one another, but were both friends of Oscar’s.

Terek, himself a gymnast, runs Journey Gymnastics in Georgetown, Texas, and Alton works with Oscar in Austin’s tech industry.

On Oscar’s previous trips, all taken this fall, we’d focused on the high numbers of smaller fish prevalent on Lake Belton.  This morning, by request, we fished Stillhouse in pursuit of larger white bass.  I wanted to be very upfront with Oscar, and therefore let him know that we would not see the kind of numbers I have been racking up on Belton.  He was okay with that, and so we went forward with our plans to venture onto the 6,400 or so acres of Stillhouse Hollow, an impoundment of the Lampasas River.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Terek Brown with a 4.75 pound largemouth bass taken on the tried-and-true 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook.  As with nearly all largemouth caught on this lure in the winter months, this fish was caught on the stinger hook.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  From left, that is Terek Brown, Oscar Leal, and Alton Hill with a mix of 2 and 3 year class fish we took on slabs under less-than-desirable weather conditions.

WHEN WE FISHED:   Saturday, 14 December 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: The weatherman’s forecast was hard to get excited about.  We were to experience the near-calm winds and bright skies consistent with post-frontal weather, after a very mild, brief, dry cold front moved through the day before with northerly winds.  We were fortunate to lock onto some pre-sunrise bird activity in two locations.  The fish in these locations stayed active through around 10:15, after which the already tough bite died hard.

As we relied on sonar to show us exactly where heavier concentrations of fish were holding in the vicinity in which the birds were working, I noted that what fish were present were organized into small groups of perhaps 5 to 20 fish each and that these wolfpacks were really holding tightly to bottom.  We also noted that our best success came immediately after Spot-Locking on fish and dropping down on them.  The fish would immediately and positively respond to the novelty of the lures, but then would quickly sour despite remaining in the vicinity and being seen clearly on sonar.

We used an easing tactic successfully.  I experimented with snap-jigging and did not see the fish express interest in that.

We wound up catching all of our fish in just two locations, both in 30-33 feet of water.

TALLY: 34 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Birds worked tentatively in two distinct locations that I observed, doing a lot more flying than feeding, but occasionally feeding on sunfish and shad crippled or killed by the white bass and largemouth bass feeding near bottom.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:15A

End Time:  11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  41F

Elevation: 3.08 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   56.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at sunrise through 9:30A, then starting SE6-8 suddenly, staying at SE6-7 for the remainder of the trip

Sky Conditions:  High blue skies in the wake of a mild cold front’s passage yesterday

GT = 10

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Birds working just before sunrise until shortly thereafter at 1960/1496

**Area vic SH0137C to SH0138C to SH0139C with light bird action leading the way

 

 

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