WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished a daddy-daughter trip with Brad Allen of Killeen, and his daughter, 8-year-old Peyton Allen. Brad received a fishing gift certificate from his wife over the summer and we scheduled the trip for early last week, but the cold, rainy conditions just weren’t right to have a child out on the water, so, we rescheduled for today and hoped for good weather, which we were afforded.
Brad is the service manager at a commercial truck company in Waco, and Peyton is working her way through grade school at the same school in the Killeen Independent School District where her mom teaches both in-person and online classes.
PHOTO CAPTION #1: Brad and Peyton Allen with our largest fish of the trip, a nice 19.5″ hybrid weighing in at 3 1/8 pounds. This one fell for a chartreuse MAL Lure.
PHOTO CAPTION #2: This freshwater drum was Peyton’s largest fish of the trip.
PHOTO CAPTION #3: The majority of our catch was comprised of white bass in the 0-3 year class. All 134 of our fish caught this morning came on either chartreuse or white MAL Lures.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 04 November 2020
HOW WE FISHED:
As good as the fall fishing is, if there is one thing to fault about it, it is that it can be a bit one-dimensional. Nearly every last one of my trips since turnover has involved 4+ hours of working MAL Lures vertically, and today was no exception. Downrigging and sunfishing are still possibilities, but, to her credit, Peyton stayed engaged in the vertical presentation from start to finish.
For the second consecutive morning, a handful of gulls indicated right where we needed to begin our fishing as they circled and dipped to the water, sipping crippled shad from the surface — shad which were injured by gamefish below.
We fished only three distinct areas this morning, and found prolonged action at each. Our first area (under those birds) produced 43 fish, our second stop produced 56 fish, and our final stop (with 2 short hops) produced a final 35 fish.
Our catch consisted primarily of white bass with a sprinkling of hybrid stripers and drum.
Thanks to cool nights and warm days balancing one another out, the water temperature has remained stable in the mid-60’s this week.
See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/
See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s
TALLY: 134 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Just a handful of gulls pointed the way to our first bit of action this morning.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 10:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F
Elevation: 0.50′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam
Water Surface Temp: 64.5F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE breeze blowing ~8 the entire trip
Sky Condition: <5% white cloud cover on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 87% illumination
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 083/1483 — 43 white bass on the MAL Lure (SP)
**Area vic B0157C — 66 white bass on the MAL Lure (SP)
**Area vic 152/1385 — 2 short hops: 15 white bass on the MAL Lure @ 1st hop and 10 more @ 2nd hop (SP)
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
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