WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, Feb. 22nd, I fished with Mr. David Oliver of Brownwood, TX. David is the soon-to-retire president of a small business with several locations in the DFW area. He’s fished for largemouth competitively, he’s confident on crappie, he’s made some inroads into catfishing over this past year, and, today, hoped to start down the path of being able to consistently find and catch white bass.
David hopes to become a fishing guide on Lake Brownwood in his retirement, and so, in addition to many good questions he asked about white bass fishing, he also came prepared with questions about the guiding business and did a lot of observing that most folks that come aboard simply to catch fish don’t do.
PHOTO CAPTION: Jumbo whites like these wide, fat, stocky fish made up a good percentage of our catch today as fish have put on weight as eggs and milt develop in preparation for the forthcoming spawn. 88 fish caught and released.
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 23 February 2020, AM
HOW WE FISHED: We enjoyed “white bass weather” this morning — grey skies, manageable winds from a southerly direction, and a bit of a warming trend. The fish turned on and were feeding well all morning.
Because David’s desire was to learn both techniques and location skills, we never just sat atop a group of fish we found and caught them until they quit. Rather, we worked this more like I would do when I go out scouting — look for fish with sonar, catch a few to confirm size, species, and level of activity, then move on to try to do likewise elsewhere. When I scout, I normally catch no more than 3 to 5 fish. Today, we made it more like 15-20 fish at each location as David got the hang of the easing and smoking tactics I showed him and as he struggled to leave his crappie tactics aside for the day. Additionally, because he has his own Garmin LiveScope setup a bit differently than I do, he did some observing on the way I use the downward view with my own “pet” settings to focus in on bottom-hugging white bass.
We found aggressively feeding, schooled fish at four distinct locations and more scattered, less aggressive fish at two other locations. The action is happening along the river channel right now, no doubt about it. The further we strayed from the channel, the fewer fish we found and the less aggressive those fish were.
We noted (as I did on Monday and Tuesday) that much of the obvious bird action taking place right now is driven by loons and not by white bass.
In an effort to demonstrate the use of bladebaits for shallow work, we fished up shallow for a bit this morning. We got exactly one strike and I was not positive that came from a white bass. So, we quickly dropped that (although the demonstration was still helpful), and only focused on deep water. All of our fish were taken from 32-48 feet of water this morning.
TALLY: 88 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: The best concentrations of fish we found were immediately adjacent to the river channel once again today. Most bird (gull) action was focused on loons; no terns observed).
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 1:15P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 44F
Elevation: 3.30 low, -0.01′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 51.9F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6 building to SSE12 steadily over the course of the morning
Sky Conditions: 100% grey cover all morning
GT = 18
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1043/1512 sparse action on deep flat
**Area SH0001C – large congregation on river channel
**Area vic 1502 – large congregation on river channel
**Area vic 339 – sparse action on deep flat
**Area vic 1302 – sparse action on deep flat
**Area SH0008G – large congregation on river channel
**Area SH0009G – large congregation on river channel
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