WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, May 12th, I fished with Mrs. Tracie Byrd in celebration of her forthcoming 72nd birthday. Celebrating with her was her husband, Tom, and Tom’s sister, Pat Williams.
Tom, a former USAF fighter pilot, and Tracie live “in the country” on the outskirts of Austin in Weir, TX, where they keep up with their own horses and board one other horse, as well. Patty is a long-time Frost Bank employee. The Byrd’s have been out with me for a number of years, typically in celebration of Tracie’s birthday.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tom and Tracie Byrd, and Tom’s sister, Pat Williams. They bundled up for this atypically chilly mid-May day and put 130 white bass in the boat!
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 12 May 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
For the second morning in a row, the air temperature was only 59F, but, this morning’s chill was accompanied by a light mist and a 13 mph wind behind it, making it feel much colder.
A reinforcing cold front moved in from west to east last night, increasing the velocity of the already northerly winds and a tweaking the barometer just enough to fire the fish up as the winds blew and the skies remained grey to the point of looking like a light fog.
The shad spawned this morning from ~6:25 to 6:40 at Area SHAD017. Typically, if the shad are spawning, the fish will not be problematic to find and catch.
That correlation held true this morning, as I only had to make two stops to keep my crew of three fully engaged in fish catching this morning. Our first stop came in about 47 feet of water. From approx. 7:15AM to exactly 9:03AM we put our first 100 white bass in the boat, every one of which came on a vertically worked MAL Lure.
By the time that 100th fish came over the gunwale, everyone was ready for a warm up. We headed back to the dock and Tom, Tracie, and Pat headed up to the car to turn the heater on and absorb some BTU’s. I’m telling you, it was really raw feeling out there.
After the 30-minute warmup, we set back about the business of fishing, but this time with a special request: to find fish in a non-windy area. That was a tall order to fill, but, I found a little niche on a sharply dropping bottom which sonar showed to be holding fish in about 42 feet of water. I Spot-Locked on them, got the MAL Lures working, and up came the white bass!
We landed a final 30 white bass here in the time between 9:45AM and 11AM. By then, Mrs. Tracie had all of the wind, drizzle, waves, and white bass catching she could take, at least until this time next year.
Despite the cold, wind, drizzle, and crazy Texas weather, the Byrd’s reserved their next birthday trip a full year in advance for 2022!
We ended the morning with 130 fish caught and released.
MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
Tutorial on how to fish MAL Lures is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TALLY: 130fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: The air temperature was 11 degrees cooler than the water temperature before dawn this morning; shad observed spawning for ~a 20 minute span at Area SHAD017
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 11:00A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F
Elevation: 0.34 feet high, +0.08 24-hour change, 27 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 70F
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-9 all morning
Sky Condition: Grey skies with occasional light mist all morning
Moon Phase: Day after new moon; waxing crescent at 0% illumination
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1021 – 100 fish in under 2 hours with no short hops; MAL Lures for 100% of catch
**Area B0084G – final 30 fish in 1.25 hours; MAL Lures for 100% of catch
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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