WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, May 26th, I fished with returning guest Dwight Stone of Georgetown. Dwight brought with him three buddies, as well: Blake Hoekstra, a retired accountant, Larry Brewer, who is soon to retire from the HVAC business, and Otto Riedel who works in the medical industry, producing IV bags.
With overnight storms, resulting turbulent weather, a north wind, and clearing skies all before us, I told the fellows from the get-go that we’d be wise to focus on catching any fish we could locate, be it white bass, hybrid striped bass, blue catfish, or whatever else might swim beneath us, as the conditions were not in our favor.
Now, I know you’ve got to be wondering about the title of this report. Over the course of the morning I shared that the facts and figures that go into these reports are very simple for me to generate, however the creative stuff can be a bit more challenging. Further, I shared that coming up with catchy titles is often the most challenging part.
About this time, the fellows began recounting using a recreational water-fun device called an “Air Chair” (or something like that). Essentially, it is a seat attached to a hydrofoil intended to tow one person seated upon the device behind a boat. Think of it like a tricycle for would be water-skiers who are too young, too old, or too uncoordinated to water ski. Anyway, Larry and Otto were carrying on and recounting fond memories of pulling family members around Lake Georgetown and other places on the Air Chair, when Dwight abruptly announced, “You know, I really don’t like that Air Chair thing — it’s like a an enema waiting to happen.”
Now, if your brain created a picture of the Air Chair, I know it is also capable of creating a picture of a nearly 280 pound fellow suffering a bowel flush due to an Air Chair ride going really wrong. I’ll spare you the details Dwight shared on the aftermatho of this, as this is a G-rated blog. So, there’s your explanation on the title. Now, about fishing …
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Blake Hoekstra, Otto Riedel, Larry Brewer, and Dwight Stone. That white bass Otto is smirking about exceeded 14″ — one of the largest white bass I’ve seen come out of Belton in 3+ years.
WHEN WE FISHED: 26 May, 2020, AM
HOW WE FISHED: This morning, once again (2nd consecutive day) saw very limited spawning shad activity — yet another sign of this solid mid-April to early June fishing beginning to shut down.
We got in on the ground floor of some strong white bass action in 43 feet of water. I say this because there was little to go on in the way of sonar returns when I stopped the boat to fish for what turned out to be a solid 2-hour-long bite. This quickly blew up into a full-on feed as the northern-most part of a storm cell which went right between Georgetown and Austin brought increased wind and cloud cover from the west. During the majority of this feed, we had white bass both on bottom and suspended up as much as 1/3 of the way toward the surface, showing on sonar.
As these weather conditions cleared and brightened, the fish turned off hard, giving up only 2 fish in our final hour on the water.
Although we put bait down a few times to probe for hybrid, sonar made it pretty clear that the white bass ruled the roost in the areas we fished, so, to increase efficiency and decrease deep-hooking, we used 3/4 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs fished vertically to catch the lion’s share of our fish this morning.
TALLY: 87 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Minor spawning between SHAD026 and SHAD027 this AM.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 0.93′ high, 0.22′ rise, 17 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 76F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW 9 at trip’s start increasing to NW14
Sky Conditions: 70% grey skies through 10A, clearing quickly thereafter.
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 714 to 1489
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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