GAME WARDEN IN TRAINING — 127 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, Nov. 27th, I fished with 17-year-old TJ Watson of Belton.

TJ’s mom, Jennifer, contacted me about 3 weeks ago hoping, despite my full calendar, that she could get her son out on the water with me during his Thanksgiving break from Belton’s “New Tech” high school.

I initially had nothing to offer her, but, when a sonar training session fell through due to a scarcity of repair parts needed by my would-be-client, I texted Jennifer back and today’s successful outing was the result.

TJ’s plans are to graduate from high school, spend 2 years at a junior college, then transfer to a 4-year school to pursue a degree in law enforcement in preparation for a career as a game warden.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: TJ Watson of Belton landed white bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum using vertical tactics in deep water, putting together a total catch of 127 fish in right at 4 hours on the water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 27 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As northerly winds continued blowing and grey cloud cover, to the point of light rain persisted, we enjoyed light traffic and outstanding fishing on Lake Belton.

We fished 5 areas this morning and saw what has become a very predictable pattern of fish behavior during the first 4 hours of light following sunrise — a slow ramp up of feeding activity in the first hour, peak feeding activity in the middle two hours, followed by a fairly quick shutdown of feeding activity in the last half of the fourth hour following sunrise.  This feeding end time flexes with sky brightness.

I fished side-by-side with TJ this morning as we shared the view on a single Garmin LiveScope monitor to precisely present baits to specific fish we sighted using that technology.

We worked chartreuse MAL Lures both up off the bottom for bottom-oriented fish as well as past suspended fish to tempt both.

With the late November water temperatures still at around 64F, this fast-paced, very productive fishing should continue on for the foreseeable future.

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: 127 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Two episodes of light gull activity led us to some of the fish we boated this morning toward our trip’s end.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.82 low with a 0.0’ 24-hour change and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW6-11

Sky Condition: 100% grey with light rain during last half of the trip, turning to steady rain right at trip’s close

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 92% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0012C, 35 fish on MAL Lures; mostly small (SP)

**Area 1389, 39 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0075C, 26 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 305, 15 fish on MAL Lures with bird assist (SP)

**Area 081, 12 fish on MAL Lures  with bird assist (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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