ABOUT THAT GLASSY SURFACE … 94 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday evening I fished with 12-year-old Colby Anthony and his grandfather, Doug Streater.

Doug serves on the board of directors for the Ralph Wilson Youth Club in Temple and, after Mrs. Sharon Wilson won a fishing gift certificate which I had provided at their recent fundraiser, she turned around and put that gift certificate back up for auction.  Doug bid on it and won, and the date for that trip was set for today after finding a clearing in Colby’s school and athletic schedule.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Doug Streater and his grandson, 12-year-old Colby Anthony, landed 94 fish on a very tough afternoon, “featuring” calm winds, clear skies, and a glassy lake surface.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 11 November 2020 (Veterans’ Day)

HOW WE FISHED:

Conditions don’t get much tougher than the ones we faced this afternoon.  Despite NOAA’s call for a NE breeze at 5-6, we had a glassy surface and cloudless skies for the majority of this afternoon’s trip.

I told Doug and Colby right from the get-go that we’d likely have a slow first hour and a slow final hour, with all of our catching taking place in the middle 2 hours of the afternoon, and that is exactly how it laid out today.

We searched high and low for evidence of fish for a full 75 minutes before I spotted just a little glimmer of hope in about 51 feet of water.  Even on a 15-inch sonar screen, what I spotted wasn’t much, but I was confident it was white bass.  We Spot-Locked, got baits down, and the bottom just lit up.  We put 2 shy of 50 fish in the boat at that first stop before it played out, using  MAL Lures to catch them.

Our second stop was in slightly deeper 53 feet of water.  These fish were more fired up than the first bunch we encountered, but did not stay fired up as long as the fish at the first area did.  Using the MAL Lure in a vertical presentation, we put another 26 fish in the boat.  By now, the sun was getting low and I felt the deep bite would not last long, so, I moved us to shallow water for our last shot at fish.

After searching several areas unsuccessfully, we located a batch of fish — most small — in about 26 feet of water.  We landed exactly 20 fish before the sun set below the horizon and the bite died nearly instantly.  In total, we boated 94 fish on a very tough evening.

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: 94 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Deep water was insurance against the impacts of post-frontal weather both AM and PM today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  1:30P

End Time: 5:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation:  0.62 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 70.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were N1-4 all morning, then went flat calm this afternoon

Sky Condition: Post-frontal, bluebird skies with 20% white cloud cover all morning which would later clear to 0% around 1PM.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 11% illumination

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0052G; 48 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 717; 26 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 380; 20 fish on MAL Lures (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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec