WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, May 18th, I once again fished with a boatful of the Oliver clan, including Pa and three of his four sons, Joe, Jack, and Jamie.
We didn’t know until right down to the wire if we’d be able to get this trip in, but, as Pa said, “If we believed the weatherman, we’d all still be sitting at home right now.”
Joe and I compared notes by phone around 5A after I had a look at weather radar. Although there was certainly precipitation out to our west headed our way, it looked like we could get in at least a few hours. Since one of the boys’ main concerns was getting Pa out, this seemed like a good idea to all of us.
As it turned out, we got 3.5 of our planned 4 hours in before a band of rain which had already reached Copperas Cove caused a wind shift, and a minor temperature drop. We decided since we’d done so well already, there was no use risking a soaking, or worse, so we headed on back in before we got rained on — after all, Pa is 92 now, so getting wet and cold can be more than just uncomfortable.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jamie, Joe, Pa, and Jack Oliver with a few of the 252 fish we landed on a low-pressure-influenced bite on Lake Belton.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 18 May 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Once again, thanks to the low pressure system sitting well off to our west and a blocking high pressure system set up to our east, the low is moving ever so slowly, providing us with much needed rains, and very welcome cloud cover and unseasonably cool temperatures. The low barometric pressure has the fish just going nuts right now.
We fished only 2 locations this morning. The catching was non-stop, and, from time to time, I had one or two of my crew waiting on me to get to them to take their fish off because of the high rate at which we were catching them.
Our first hour was our slowest, I suspect due to the very low light level and the slow brightening of the skies at sunrise due to the thick cloud cover. But, even then we caught fish steadily, landing 50 fish in our first hour. Things then picked up. We landed another 50 fish in the forty minutes between 8AM and 8:40AM. We went on to land a total of 174 fish at this first stop, all on vertically worked MAL Lures.
Our second and final stop came thanks to birds leading the way. A flock of Franklin’s gulls were working over open water and over a 60′ bottom. White bass were found from about 25 feet down to about 50 feet and they were stacked deep and wide. We put an additional 78 fish in the boat, again using the MAL Lures vertically.
The size of the fish we caught today was truly exceptional for Lake Belton. Of our catch of 252 fish, fewer than 20 were sub-legal (10 inches), and, we had multiple fish which went between 14-15 inches. Further, despite the fact that these fish were post-spawn fish, they have definitely put weight back on by feeding. Many had plump bellies versus the more skinny, gaunt look which many of the larger white bass had shown prior to this morning’s trip.
This was Jamie’s first exposure to Garmin LiveScope, and he was like a kid in a candy store watching those fish take a bead on his lure and chase it down as it rose off bottom.
It was a very enjoyable trip with a super family!
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: 252 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Frankin’s gulls led the way to open water fish in the second half of the morning.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:50AM
End Time: 10:20AM
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F
Elevation: 1.69 feet high, +0.18 24-hour change, 26 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 69.5F (this represents a slight net cooling for the week)
Wind Speed & Direction: E10 until 9:50, then shifting abruptly to WSW8
Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies all morning; no precipitation.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 37% illumination
GT = 80
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 187 count to 174; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area B0088G count to 252; 78 white bass on MAL Lures
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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