WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, 21 Dec., I fished with the Gladden family of Harker Heights. Mr. Kelvin Gladden Sr. coordinated the trip for his wife, Angela, and his sons, Kelvin Jr. and Tevin. Kelvin Sr. had this event in mind since the summer months before his son Tevin headed back to college in Anchorge, Alaska.
I was looking forwarding to getting the inside scoop on Anchorage from Tevin because my wife and I plan to take my mom to Alaska and base our travels out of Anchorage sometime next year. When I asked Tevin about what was not to be missed in the area, the one thing he mentioned which I had yet to research was Moose’s Tooth Pizza. Well, that is now officially on the list now!
As for fishing, we had pretty tough conditions with calm, foggy conditions, followed by cloudy but still calm conditions thereafter. Nonetheless, the Gladden’s persisted and wrapped up our morning with exactly 100 fish landed, including white bass, largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, and freshwater drum.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tevin, Kelvin Sr., Angela, and Kelvin Jr. each with a sampling of the white bass we (really!) worked for today. The clear skies you see in the background of the photo did not appear until after noon.
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 21 December 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: As is typically the case on foggy and/or calm mornings, this morning’s fishing was very tough. We did a lot of looking, caught a few fish here and a few fish there, and, over a span of nearly 6 hours, put together a catch of exactly 100 fish. When the fog finally lifted and the lightest of NW breezes began to ripple the water, the action did pick up, but we never got into a flurry where we had multiple rods bent over any appreciable span of time.
The key this morning was “low and slow”. We used small, 3/8 oz. slabs fished with an “easing” tactic very slowly near bottom to provoke these fairly lethargic fish. Most all of the fish hit our slabs on the rise this morning, and we witnessed very few suspended fish and very few schoolmates which followed hooked schoolmates up toward the boat.
The lion’s share of our catch consisted of white bass with fish from 0 to 3 years in the mix. We landed a number of largemouth, drum, and hybrid striped bass, as well.
TALLY: 100 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: No bird activity this morning. Once again (2nd consecutive trip) 30% of our catch was made up of 2 and 3 year class fish.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 1:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation:2.94′ low, 0.01′ 24-hour change, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 53.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable breeze with fog, followed by cloud cover with a light northerly breeze beginning around 10A.
Sky Conditions: Sun obscured all morning by fog, then clouds, followed by clearing skies after noon time.
GT = 45
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 1827
**Area vic 826 to 1659
**Area vic B0172C to 691
**Area B0001G
**Area vic 1659
**Area vic 1882
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