WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, November 25th, I fished with first-time guests Jeff and Sue Madden and their twin 12-year-old sons, Cash and Cooper. The Maddens came down from Lewisville, TX, to gather in Salado for Thanksgiving with family and planned about a month ahead to do some fishing with me on Lake Belton the day before.
Because Jeff was pretty certain Sue would only come along if the weather cooperated, I suggested booking an afternoon trip, which they did.
All four of the Maddens really worked at catching fish the entire four hours on the water, and, thanks to weather conducive to a strong catch, they wound up boating 277 fish.
Toward the end of the trip, a request came in from a client to release their date with me on Saturday morning due to forecast damp, cool conditions. Jeff thought all of about 2 seconds and told me he’d take that slot!! So, I’ll be seeing at least him and the twins again on Saturday, rain or shine!
PHOTO CAPTION #1: The Madden family, from left, Jeff, Cooper, Cash, and Sue, with but a few of the 277 fish they landed during their 4-hour afternoon trip on Wednesday, Nov. 25th.
PHOTO CAPTION #2: Mom (Sue Madden) landed our largest fish of the trip — a nice Lake Belton hybrid striped bass — on a correctly worked MAL Lure.
PHOTO CAPTION #3: White bass and hybrid stripers weren’t the only species feeding on the MAL Lure, as Cash discovered when this Lake Belton largemouth bass went for his.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 25 November 2020
HOW WE FISHED:
Thankfully, the north wind which treated us well this morning continued blowing this afternoon, thus we did not encounter difficult, post-frontal, calm conditions.
This family of four put 277 fish in the boat in just under 4 hours thanks to a few factors. First, was the wind I’ve already mentioned. Second, everyone got the hang of using the MAL Lures early and executed the retrieve correctly and consistently. Third, because no one minded catching smaller fish and, instead, enjoyed the non-stop action they provided, we did not engage in time-consuming fish-hunting hoping to find areas holding larger fish (thus, we did not leave fish to find fish).
We fished only four areas, and the Maddens put their 100th fish in the boat by 2:32PM, just over an hour into our trip.
Jeff and the boys were very enthused with the “video game-like qualities” of the Garmin LiveScope, and it kept their attention, helped them focus, and helped them be efficient with their retrieves.
Everything really came together well this afternoon and it was very gratifying to be able to give a family the experience which the Maddens got this day on Lake Belton.
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: 277 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Although I feared the north winds would go calm during our time on the water, they kept right on blowing, and the fish kept right on biting well, right up to sunset, when they quit abruptly.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 1:30P
End Time: 5:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F
Elevation: 0.82 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise, and 34 CFS flow thru the dam
Water Surface Temp: 63.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NW8 at trip’s start, tapering down to NW4 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: Cloudless blue skies in the wake of last night’s cold front passage
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 80% illumination
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1000, 66 fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area 409, 64 fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area B0070C, 132 fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area 694/968, 15 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
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