05 | January | 2020 | Fishing Report

YOU “BEN” FISHIN’ WITH MATTIE VERY LONG? — 73 FISH @ BELTON

January 5th, 2020January 5th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, 04 January 2020, I fished with Ben Adams and his girlfriend, Mattie Hawkins, on Lake Belton.

Ben, originally from Spring Branch, TX, is working his way through an MBA program with Texas A&M, focused on oil industry logistics, and Mattie, an A&M grad. from Friendswood, TX, is working as a veterinarian technician at Gulf Coast Veterinarian Specialists, where the TV show ‘Animal ER’ is filmed.

The two came to visit Central Texas so Ben could meet Mattie’s extended family — her grandfather, aunt, uncle, sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephews. Ben’s previous experiences angling have all been via wading in shallow saltwater for speckled trout and redfish, and he was looking forward to the change of locale and tactics that came with this afternoon’s trip targeting white bass and hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ben Adams, with most of his prior fishing experiences taking place in salt water, immediately noted the similarities between this 6 pound freshwater drum and its saltwater cousin, the redfish. Freshwater drum are also related to black drum and the Atlantic croaker, all of which are in the Sciaenidae family of fishes.

PHOTO CAPTION: As long as the wind rippled the water, the white bass bit. Ben and Mattie landed 73 fish this afternoon on Lake Belton.

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 04 January 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: After this morning’s prolonged feed, I came off the water between trips, grabbed some lunch and just hoped that the wind velocity, which was forecast to be NW6-9 all day, would behave as forecast. Without that wind, we’d be looking at a bright, calm, post-frontal condition which is amongst the toughest there is.

As it turned out, the wind did hold up through 5P. When it died, the fishing died with it, but, before that happened, we managed a nice mixed bag of 73 fish including white bass, largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, and freshwater drum.

During our 4 hours on the water there were two brief episodes of light bird activity over open water. We got to both quickly and fished them both thoroughly, but found the birds were behaving more aggressively than the fish beneath them. Nonetheless, we did add a few fish to our tally during both of these events, but, the lion’s share of our success came as we found deep, well-consolidated groups of white bass holding on breaklines in 35-42 feet of water.

We found three such groups and vertically jigged for these fish using an easing tactic. We made use of my thumping device to increase fish interest, we made use of Garmin LiveScope technology to know how and when fish were responding to our presentations as well as to “pick off” high-riding fish suspended up in the water column. And, we made use of the “old faithful” 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached to seal the deal over and over again.

As the wind died around 5p, the fish activity quickly tapered to nil. We caught and released a total of 73 this afternoon.

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:40P

End Time: 5:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 3.04′ low, 0.00′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW6-7 at trip’s start, tapering to calm by around 5P

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal, bluebird skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0196C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

**Area vic B0078C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

**Area vic 1750 (light bird action)

**Area vic B0098C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

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

THEN AND NOW — 127 FISH @ BELTON

January 5th, 2020January 5th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, 04 January 2020, I fished with Dr. Craig Molyneaux and his adult son, Christian Molyneaux, of Salado. Craig, a retired dentist, now serves as the Associate Pastor of Ministries at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen. Christian is a U.S. Airforce airman serving in his first enlistment, and is currently stationed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing the Molyneaux family since 1995 when they first arrived in Killeen to establish a dental practice (Killeen Dental) from the ground up.

I’ve fished with Craig and Christian a few times in the years since, hence the “then and now” photo below…

PHOTO CAPTION: Then (September 2007) and now (January 2020). Both the boy and the fish grew considerably!!

PHOTO CAPTION: Well, the old man’s still got it. Craig landed our biggest fish of the morning! This Lake Belton hybrid striper went 5.00 pounds on a certified scale.

PHOTO CAPTION: Father and son landed 127 fish on a beautiful, clear, dry, breezy Texas winter morning.

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 04 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After shaking the fog which made fishing pretty tough of late, a nice, stiff cold front pushed all of that out to the east on Friday, leaving cool, dry, but still breezy conditions this morning. The northwest winds typically mean bird action, and this morning was no exception. After finding our own fish on sonar along a deep breakline, bird action erupted about 70 minutes after sunset and stayed “fishably intense” right through 11:30.

By “bird action”, I mean the scenario in which migratory, fish-eating birds, namely ring-billed gulls and Forster’s terns, concentrate on one patch of water and begin rapidly and repeatedly feeding on dead and crippled shad which gamefish, namely white bass and hybrid stripers, are pushing toward the surface as they feed on those shad from the bottom, upwards.

During the 70 minutes or so during which we fished for bottom-hugging and less aggressive white bass, we used a slow, easing tactic equipped with Hazy Eye Slabs of my own making. We used white, 3/8 oz. versions with stinger hooks attached. (You can find those here: SLABS).

Once I observed the bird action and looked at the relative intensity of it, I felt we’d be dealing with more aggressive fish, and with more hybrid striped bass. For this reason, we changed out our 3/8 oz. lures for the 3/4 oz. version (also in white and with stinger hooks attached). These have hooks which are one size larger (5’s versus 6’s) and they sink more quickly. As we began fishing under the birds, we switched over to a more aggressive smoking tactic.

Some clients grasp the tactics I try to coach them in more quickly than others, and, to their credit, Craig and Christian came out of the shoots really executing the easing tactic and the smoking tactic very well, and their results this morning reflected that. When I saw flaws in their technique, I pointed them out and they adjusted well, and then continued to fish more efficiently thereafter.

TALLY: 127 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F