DO YOU HAVE A LICENSE, & DID YOU WATCH THE VIDEO?? — 173 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 07 Dec., I was joined by a whole boatful of returning clients.  I had a contingent from Bates Nissan in Killeen, including David Vahrenkamp, who coordinated the trip, and brothers Clay and Robin O’Dell.  They invited along Jerry Worley, owner of the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency in Harker Heights.

My first question to everyone this morning was, “Do you have your license on you, and did you watch the video?” referring to the MAL Lure tutorial video I put together.

I’ve begun including that video in my pre-trip communication to clients so they have at least seen the basics on working this lure for white bass in a vertical “smoking”-style retrieve.

Everyone gave me a thumbs-up, so, off we went.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From right: Clay and Robin O’Dell, David Vahrenkamp, and Jerry Worley. Can you tell it was a bit chilly out there?!?

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 07 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As was the case this past Saturday, we caught the majority of our fish today in the last 2 hours, whereas up until this point (since turnover), the best bite has been in the middle 2 hours following sunrise.

Although there was some sunrise bird activity, these birds were really only after bait on the surface, not bait forced to the surface by fish feeding from below, so, we left these alone and went to find fish with sonar while most other boats I saw were distracted by the birds.

We found three groups of fish large enough to make me want to stop the boat and put lines in the water, all within an eighth of a mile from one another.  These groups all behaved in the same manner, characteristic of fish just beginning to feed — the vast majority were glued to the bottom and most would not give our lures a sniff, but, when one reacted, a few others would come along for a look as well.  Slowly these fish got a bit more aggressive and we began to take fish slowly, but steadily.  This went on for about 90 minutes, over which time we put 38 fish in the boat.

We then encountered some real bird action — action fueled by feeding fish.  In the 35 minutes or so during which this lasted, we put another 30 fish in the boat.  When the gulls rested, we departed this area.

We hit two areas along a lip dropping from 35′ down into deeper water and picked up about 10 fish at each stop, but nothing to keep me from leaving to look for greener pastures.  It was now around 11AM, and we had 87 fish in the boat.

I decided to check an area where we’d found fish earlier in the morning, but passed on them because they were so tightly holding on bottom, I could tell they weren’t going to cooperate.  The sonar returns here could not have looked better — fish up to 2.5 feet off bottom already feeding.  Then, when we dropped our MAL Lures down, a few aggressive individuals swam upwards to meet them — another excellent sign.  Long story short, we fished these fish for about 50 minutes and added a final 86 fish to our tally as these fish just lit up before shutting down for the morning once and for all.

We landed a total of 173 fish, of which 172 were white bass, with a solo largemouth mixed in.

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: 173 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Brief gull activity at mid-morning which lasted for about 30 minutes — gulls and terns.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:40A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.94 low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 59.43F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW7-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illumination

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 151 with 3 short hops; 38 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 2038; 30 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic B0050G with 2 short hops; 19 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1489; 86 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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