WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, March 6th, I fished with Michael Hoyson, his son, Jack Hoyson (age 11), and Jack’s cousin, Layton Macha, age 13 (the son of Michael’s sister).
Michael is the owner of Hoyson Auto Care LLC off of Business 190 in Killeen, right near Tightlines Premium Fishing Tackle. This is where I take my guide service tow vehicle and my wife’s vehicle for preventive maintenance.
It was during one of my recent visits to Michael’s business that he and I discussed the possibility of getting Jack out on the water under conditions where he could really catch a bunch of fish.
Today was the day! The boys stayed very focused and did very well even though we had to grind it out with but a single technique all morning.
Around 9:40, Layton decided to take a break, shake out his wrist, and have a seat. Since I now had only two anglers to assist, I decided to sneak in a quick snack — a granola bar and a piece of string cheese. Well, you’d think I’d violated Layton’s constitutional rights when I bit that string cheese crossways. He half yelled, “What are you doing that for?” I asked him what he was referring to and he pointed to my sting cheese. He told me I am supposed to peel it length-wise AND that it tastes better that way!
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Layton Macha, Michael Hoyson, and Jack Hoyson each with a pair of white bass taken from over 50 feet of water on a still-chilly Lake Belton with surface temperatures around 50F.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 06 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
I was excited as far back as Tuesday of this week to see this morning’s weather shape up as it did — with the passage of a mild, dry cold front, complete with us finishing our trip before the winds fell from peak velocity.
The fishing followed a bell-shaped curve this morning, with a tapering up beginning at sunrise, to a peak around 8:40 which extended to around 10:40, then sharply tapered back to nil by 11:00AM.
As has been the case on my previous two morning trips on Lake Belton, we caught our first fish of the morning shallow, and they were a good bit smaller than the deeper fish we would catch the remainder of the trip.
Regardless of time or depth, we took 100% of our catch on my 3/8 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook. We had numerous fish regurgitate whole or partially digested shad at boatside this morning, and these slabs were a dead-on match size-wise for the bait these fish were eating.
We used a very straight-forward slow-smoking tactic.
Yes, it takes a bit of patience to wait on a 3/8 oz. slab to fall through 50 or 60 feet of water, but “it’s worth the wait”!
Because the boys caught so many fish this morning, they had the opportunity to learn a lot via repetition. Some of the “rookie” mistakes they made at the start of the trip (poor hooksetting, retrieving too fast/too slow, reeling hooked fish up too far toward the rod tip, etc.) were things of the past by trip’s end. These will be lasting lessons learned for them going forward.
Come on spring time!!
We ended our morning with 128 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 123 white bass.
Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 128 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: 1) As a mild, dry cold front which arrived mid-afternoon yesterday continued to blow in, the fish were energized and stayed fairly aggressive (given the ~50F water temperature) through around 10:20AM. 2) Suspended fish showed up routinely this morning. Almost all were moving faster than the bottom-huggers, chasing shad, and were willing to bite. They were far fewer in number than those on bottom, however. 3) No helpful bird activity.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 11:00A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F
Elevation: 0.71′ low with a 0.03’ 24-hour rise and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.
Water Surface Temp: 49.9 F
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNW11 at sunrise, peaking at NNW14 between 8-10AM, then settling back to NNW12 thereafter.
Sky Condition: Cloudless all trip
Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 45% illum.
GT = 30
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** vic B0096C, 472, 1945
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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