TOPWATER TIME – 107 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, 22 July, I welcomed Gary and Kathy Janacek aboard for a morning in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton.

Gary is the retired CEO of the Scott & White Credit Union in Temple, where Kathy also more recently retired from.

I donated a fishing trip again this year to the Morgan’s Point Fire Department fundraiser held each Valentines’ Day, where the Janacek’s bid on it. Today was the day they chose to redeem it, and that turned out to be a good choice.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Gary and Kathy Janacek with a few of the 107 Lake Belton white bass we took using a combination of downrigging, sight-casting, and vertical jigging.

Spend enough time in the outdoors, and you’ll see all manner of sights … this floatplane took a few passes over us this morning.

WHEN WE FISHED: 22 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After a poor result under low-light conditions impacted by an easterly wind yesterday, the fish more than made up for it this morning by feeding aggressively on the surface for right at an hour just before and after sunrise. These fish were herding shad to the surface and feeding upon them voraciously. Most of the fish we landed regurgitated 2 to 8 shad and were going for more when they hit our lures.

This action wrapped up around 7:30. We then went searching for fish, hopeful that we would find fish revealing their locations by feeding on topwater out over open water as has been the case the last two mornings.

Indeed, we were able to find a school of fish absent of any other boats and caught fish in abundance before any other boats arrived. As the fish wrapped up their topwater feed around 9AM, they continued to feed subsurface. This is where the downriggers really shined. They allowed us to effectively cover water while presenting 6 baits at the exact depth the fish were holding at (25-30 feet), and then stop over top of exceptionally large schools revealed by sonar. Once atop these fish, we worked MAL lures with their exceptional strike-to-land ratios until the fish dissipated, at which time we then resumed downrigging. We went through 6 or 7 such iterations between 9AM and the time we called it quits at 10:10AM.

TALLY: 107 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Temperature profile at depth:

0 feet 86.1

5 feet 86.1

10 feet 86.1

15 feet 85.9

20 feet 85.1

25 feet 84.5

30 feet 83.1

35 feet 80.7

40 feet 75.7

45 feet 71.2

55 feet 69

55 feet 67.6

65 feet 66.4

65 feet 65.5

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:20A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation:  1.1′ low, 0.11′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  84.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-7 all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (New moon +2 days)

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0104C – low light topwater action allowing for sight casting

**Area vic 506 – mid-morning topwater action over open water lasting briefly, but leading to downrigging and vertical jigging success

**Area vic 155 to 1975 – found fish with sonar, downrigged until large schools were found, then worked vertically to capitalize

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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Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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