WHO I FISHED WITH: If you’ve ever heard the phrase “It’s a crime to pay more than a dime.” — you were most likely listening to a McLeod Auto Sales radio commercial.
This morning, Tuesday, December 1st, I fished with returning guest Travis McLeod, co-owner, along with his wife, Diane, of McLeod Auto Sales at 1601 E. Rancier Ave. in Killeen.
The McLeods have been in business for over 20 years selling used cars. To take a break from that from time to time, Travis likes to get out and do some hunting and fishing. Today, he braved some pretty tough weather to pursue white bass and sharpen up his own game on this abundant gamefish species on Lake Belton so as to be able to treat his own family, namely his grandkids, to some similar fishing.
Although we both enjoyed the catching, Travis also came to pick my brain a bit about tactics and sonar use. He came away with a few valuable lessons, namely, that he’s likely been looking too shallow in his autumn fishing, and too dependent on the down-looking technologies of down-imaging and colored sonar, while not making full use of his side imaging on his own Humminbird Helix unit.
Travis is a well-traveled hunter and in that arena I picked up a tip or two from him, namely that I need to set aside time to go to the Dallas Safari Club’s Convention and Sporting Expo held annually in Dallas.
PHOTO CAPTION #1: Travis McLeod with one of several hybrid striped bass we took from about 40 feet of water as we focused on white bass using a combination of MAL Lures and Garmin LiveScope.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 01 December 2020
HOW WE FISHED:
After a sweet run of fishing for very aggressive fish spurred on by frontal activity this past Saturday and again yesterday, things settled back down to more normal conditions today as a southerly wind returned overnight after a very short post-frontal calm just at and after sunset last night.
Under these conditions, fish feed, but not for extended periods. Fish chase, but not for extra long distances, and the energy they exhibit is generally less than when a rapid change of atmospheric pressure is taking place.
Today we wound up fishing 4 general locations, short-hopping a bit at the first three to keep up with the fish (under birds), to put together our catch of exactly 100 fish. By 10:30, the winds, which were forecast to max out a 13 mph straight-line, actually rose to 16-17, with higher gusts. It was such that we vacated open water for our last hour and fished more protected (but still wind-impacted) water.
Until we hit our last area, our ratio of young of the year fish to legal fish was very low, but, of the last 20 we landed, approx. 17 were shorts. Regardless of size, it sure is fun to work individual fish while peering into the depths below with the LiveScope technology.
We ended up with exactly 100 fish caught this morning, including 3 hybrid stripers, 4 largemouth, and 93 white bass, with one big drum missed right at boatside which did not go on the “clicker” to be counted.
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: 100 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: 2.5 hours worth of solid gull activity in the middle part of this morning’s trip. First “killing” frost of the year occurred overnight.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F
Elevation: 0.86 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam
Water Surface Temp: 60.9F
Wind Speed & Direction: S12 at trip’s start, ramping up to S16 with higher gusts to 20+ by 10:30A
Sky Condition: High, thin white cloud cover at ~20% on a light blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic B0098C; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area vic 086 to 1551; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area vic 1391; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)
**Area vic 844; all 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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