SPRING BREAK 2021, TRIP #2 – 121 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning I fished with Mr. Dan Stooksberry, his wife Cori, and their son, Jacob.  The Stooksberrys were joined by Mr. Isaac Wankerl and his son, Cooper.

I’d fished previously with Cooper when Mr. Steve Murphy (his grandfather) brought him and two buddies out on a summer outing.  He had a good time and, when the whole family was looking to do something to celebrate his birthday, they gave me a shout.

Dan is into commercial construction consulting, Cori works for Dell, and Isaac works for Apple.  The boys have been friends since they first started going to school.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Isaac and Cooper Wankerl, Cori, Jacob, and Dan Stooksberry each with white bass in hand.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    Dan with one of the few hybrid which have shown up as by-catch as we’ve been targeting spring time white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 16 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Of all the days of this Spring Break 2021 week, this was the most ideal weather-wise with a manageable WSW wind, overcast skies, and a front due in during the overnight hours to come.

Job One was to get everyone, and especially the boys, trained up on properly presenting their lures.  We did this before we left the launch site so when we encountered fish, their learning curve would not be too steep.

I launched with only 2 sets of rods rigged up today: 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks, and MAL Lures.  Both are simple to use and effective.

Long story short, we never even got a chance to try the MAL’s, although the water temp was just nipping at the magic 58F mark when the efficacy of the MAL dropped off as the water cooled in December.

We caught fish from our first stop, non-stop right up to exactly 11:07AM.

Each fish-catching scenario was the same … we’d find fish tightly schooled on bottom (with some bird assistance early on, then relying solely upon sonar in the latter half of the morning), Spot-Lock atop them, use Garmin LiveScope to precisely present our Hazy Eye Slabs to the fish, and kept the magic going at each stop for as long as we could by avoiding breaks in the action.

Over time, the length of time the fish stayed active after we initially excited them grew shorter and shorter until it finally was non-existent.

We fished three distinct areas this morning with three short-hops at the second area fished.

A slow-smoking retrieve with the white bait really did the trick on these fish today. The thumper definitely drew fish in and kept them in range.

I adjusted my approach a bit versus yesterday by NOT chasing birds up in shallow water.  We learned yesterday these birds were working fast moving fish which were working fast moving shad.  This scenario made it difficult to catch more than a few fish at a time.

We landed exactly 121 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 117 white bass of which 90% were of legal length.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 121 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  I adjusted my approach a bit versus yesterday by NOT chasing birds up in shallow water.  We learned yesterday these birds were working fast moving fish which were working fast moving shad.  This adjustment paid off well.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:40A (Daylight Saving Time began yesterday)

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation:  0.75′ low with a 0.00’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 57.4 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were WSW8-10 all morning

Sky Condition: Moderate grey skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 9% illum. (3  days past new moon)

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0002C

**Area  B0145C (3 hops)

**Area B0074G

 

 

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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