WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon I welcomed back returning guests Dave Ross and Allen Sandor.
Allen operates Sandor Construction LLC, based in Salado, and Dave, an accomplished and well-traveled big game hunter, is a pharmacist at HEB in Harker Heights going into his seventh year there. Both Allen and David have fished with me previously, but in different seasons, so, they got to enjoy a very different sort of fishing on Belton this afternoon.
The front that was due in earlier this morning but failed to materialize during that time, finally arrived with a sudden uptick in the wind and a wind shift from W to NW, between 2:45 and 3:00pm.
The front was mild and dry, but did drop the ambient temperature from 76 to 64 over a 3 hour span.
PHOTO CAPTION: Dave Ross (left) and Allen Sandor with a few of the Lake Belton white bass we landed on 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye slabs with stinger hooks this afternoon as a mild, dry cold front blew in and turned the fish on.
PHOTO CAPTION: Although we were not targeting hybrid striped bass, when we make enough commotion catching white bass, hybrids eventually show up to investigate. This one investigated a bit too thoroughly!
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 04 February 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Fishing was pretty straightforward this afternoon. We started out deep in 43-48 feet of water after finding fish primarily by using side-imaging, then worked our way gradually shallower as the light level decreased toward sunset. The fishing was pretty good as the west wind blew, then got really good and stayed that way once the incoming cold front shifted the winds to the NW and increased the velocity to just over 13mph.
We used a slow-smoking tactic with my 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye slabs with stinger hooks attached to draw fish up off the bottom. We encountered very few suspended fish this afternoon.
The fishing got so good that, mainly for variety’s sake, Dave and I switched over to the MAL Lure (with chartreuse tail) for a 15-20 minute window about 25 minutes following the wind shift. The fish just sailed off bottom to come get it, but fairly quickly settled back down, thus necessitating the slower pace of the slab.
Both fellows very quickly got the hang of allowing Garmin LiveScope to aid them in knowing when to continue presenting to interested fish, and when to return their slab to bottom.
We did a few “short hops” at the first area we fished, then just one Spot-Lock each on the final three areas we fished.
The fish fed hard right up until the sun dropped below the horizon, then they quit suddenly. The last area we hit we hit because birds were acting “fishy” over a stretch of open water.
TALLY: 132 fish caught and released (4 drum, 1 largemouth bass, 1 hybrid striper, and 126 white bass)
OBSERVATIONS: Observed the first over-channel migrating white bass of this season on sonar this evening. They were cruising at about 22 feet deep.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 2:00P
End Time: 6:15P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F
Elevation: 0.53′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour fall and 34 CFS flow thru the dam.
Water Surface Temp: 53.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: W9 at trip’s start, shifting to NW and increasing to 13 by 3:00, then slowly tapering to NW9 by dusk
Sky Condition: Fair skies with occasionally passing bands of white clouds
Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 53% illumination
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Areas: 0147 thru 2041(multiple short hops), B0112C, 380 (mostly small fish), and B0116C (sunset under birds)
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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