WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 2nd, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with cousins Luke and Liam Shinners and Cooper Wankerl, all from the Georgetown area. The twins are headed into 5th grade this coming school year, and Cooper joins the 4th grade ranks.
The boys came out with me exactly one year ago on this date, accompanied then, as they were today, by the twins’ dad, Brian Shinners, and Steve Murphy, the boys’ grandfather.
On that trip, the boys landed exactly 70 fish, of which 23 were sunfish. I normally reserve sunfishing for younger and/or less experienced kids. This morning we pursued only white bass, given the boys’ ages, experience level, and level of interest. They stuck with the program and did very well.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Luke Shinners, Cooper Wankerl, and Liam Shinners with the “first fruits” of our morning effort on Stillhouse on a morning greatly influenced by an atypical summer cold front’s arrival.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 02 August 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The 800-pound gorilla in the room this morning was weather. We had a cold front move over Central Texas around 5pm last night, and then a mild, low level cold front pass this morning. I felt that as long as we had wind and cloud cover, we’d be able to catch fish.
We delayed our intended 6:30A start to 7:00A as an ominous storm cell worked its way toward us from the Florence area. It fizzled within 30 minutes, after which we got down to business.
The morning activity started strong and slowly but steadily tapered to nil by 11:15A.
We bounced back and forth between downrigging with Pet Spoon-equipped 3-armed umbrella rigs and using white MAL Heavy Lures presented vertically with the aid of Garmin LiveScope, finding quality fish all morning within 4 feet of bottom.
As we came off the water, the ambient air temperature had risen from 75F to only 78F, and would only make it to the mid-80’s in the heat of the afternoon. Crazy! And wonderful to be out in!
MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 61 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: 1) The shad which our fish regurgitated this morning was of a much greater size than the young of the year shad I’ve seen of late. 2) USACE is releasing at 1,595 cfs on Belton.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:15a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation: 0.82′ high, .05′ fall, and a flow of 201cfs
Water Surface Temp: 87.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: WSW3-9 all morning
Sky Condition: Varying degrees of cloud density with completely greyed skies all morning; three brief shots of light rain.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 32% illumination
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area triangulated by SH0048G/258/950 – downrigging, transitioning to vertical MAL work with LiveScope & back again for 58 fish
**Area 1741 – downrigged for 3 fish from the same suspended school at trip’s end
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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