WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, I fished with Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen from near Troy, Texas. The Maedgen’s have fished for white bass on Stillhouse with me a number of times, and have done sonar training with me for their Lowrance equipment on Tommy’s bass boat. This morning they wanted to give Lake Belton hybrid stripers a try and reserved the date some months ago.
NOAA’s weather forecast had been all over the map since Sunday, the normal 2-days-in-advance date by which I make a call on where and when to meet clients. As I headed to bed last night, the cold front was due to arrive just after noon. As I woke this morning, there were flashes of lighting to the north and the revised forecast called for the strong winds on the lead edge of the cold front to hit before noon. Since the fishing has been so good for hybrid from 7 to 10:30A, we gave it a go.
PHOTO CAPTION: Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen with a pair of hybrid taken just moments apart, in fact, I landed both in one net at the same time.
WHEN WE FISHED: 05 May, 2020, AM
HOW WE FISHED: Pretty straighforward fishing this morning — find ’em, feed ’em, reel ’em in. The hardest part is finding them. You just can’t go out with a “spot” mentality, head to a waypoint that produced fish three years ago (or even three days ago) and expect to catch fish. A waypoint can certainly get you close, but I rely on colored sonar, side-imaging, and down-imaging to really hone in on exactly where I’m going to commit to fishing before putting baits out.
The rigging was essentially a Carolina rig with an 80-pound braided mainline, a 3/4 oz. weight, a sinker cushion, a quality VMC ball bearing swivel, 25 pound fluorocarbon leader, and a snelled Kahle-style hook by Gamakatsu.
The fish showed a definite preference for live shad this morning (over cut bait). The bite peaked around 8:15 when it was all we could do to keep up with 2 rods per angler. After her third hybrid, Sylvia, who relied on placing the rod’s long butt up under her arm for leverage, said she was sure she was going to be sore tomorrow. Tommy just held on tight and grinned on every one of the hybrid he hooked up with. It sure was fun while it lasted.
Although our trip got shortened by incoming foul weather, we landed 29 fish, of which 24 were legal hybrid, 2 were short hybrid, and 3 were white bass. No catfish this morning.
TALLY: 29 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Found spawning shad at SHAD014 and Area 011, but both were quite sparse
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 9:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F
Elevation: 0.93′ high, 0.05 foot 24-hour rise, 17 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 70F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE5 before sunrise and staying SE6-8 prior to the front’s arrival at 9:15A
Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning
GT = 120
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Shad @ Area SHAD014
**Area vic LOST ROD 2
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)
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