GOT ME A FISHIN’ BLISTER — 66 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 11th, I fished with two first-time youngsters —  Shona Rogers (age 12) and Blake Rogers (age 11) from Belton, Texas.

Back in the spring, I had a friend of mine who wanted to anonymously sponsor a few kids who may not otherwise have an opportunity to go fishing over the summer.

I reached out to my niece who is part of the Belton Independent School District for some help in identifying kids who would genuinely benefit from such and thing, and enjoy it, as well.

She didn’t have to think too long or hard before recommending Shona and Blake.  We worked through the proper channels to reach out to the kids’ mom, Carolyn, and, long story short, everything came together very nicely this morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Blake and Shona Rogers of Belton had their back-to-school fishing trip sponsored by an anonymous Salado donor.  The kids landed 66 fish in 3 1/2 hours.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Blake was a real trooper.  Despite getting a blister on his hand about halfway through the trip due to all the reeling he was doing as we used MAL Heavy Lures, he pressed on and kept fishing to the end of the trip.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: I was eager to try out my newest color combination for the MAL Heavy.  I think it’s gonna become a ‘new favorite’.  Besides all that, Blake thought it looked “cool”!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 11 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

When I saw this week’s weather forecast developing back last Saturday, I was as excited about fishing as I’ve been since May.  June and July’s crazy, atypical weather with high water, dam discharges, rain, and multiple cold fronts really had the fishing off.  But, this week called for stable, high pressure with nearly identical weather each day, which meant predictable fishing.  We cashed in on that for the third consecutive day.

This morning’s downrigger bite was the longest and strongest of the week thus far, contributing 31 of our 66 fish, of which 10 came as doubles, and 3 came as a triple, all on the trusty 3-armed umbrella rig with Pet Spoons affixed.  The downrigging bite lasted until just after 8AM.

Next, we were blessed with spotting some light topwater action, mainly by small, schoolie-sized largemouth bass.  However, this mean shad were getting pushed around, and, that in turn often attracts white bass.  This morning was no exception.

We fished a full two hours in an area perhaps 250 yards in diameter, hopping (using the Minn Kota Ulterra’s jogging function) from one school of active fish to another.  The fish would respond best when we first presented our lures to them, then they’d cool off and we’d cruise to another school, and so on.

These fish were just suckers for the MAL Heavy, including a new version I have just worked out with Mepps which has colored blades (white or chartreuse) instead of silver metallic ones.  I’m excited about these!!!!

We watched as school after school of fish meandered beneath the boat just cruising and feeding on shad.  When the time was right, as revealed by Garmin LiveScope, we’d bring the MAL Lures up through these fish and watch them pursue until they hooked themselves over and over again.

With the kids being young and inexperienced (neither had ever been on a boat before), there was certainly potential to catch more than we did, but what we caught I was grateful for.  By the time we hit that 3.5 hour mark, the kids were doing more resting and snacking than fishing, so, we knew it was time to head on in.

In all, we landed 66 white bass this morning.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  1) First light topwater action in quite some time was observed. 2) USACE stopped releasing water at both Belton and Stillhouse this past weekend. 3) High pressure sitting atop us has fish in a good, predictable groove.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:   0.51′ high, .02′ fall, and a flow of 1cfs

Water Surface Temp: 84.4

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at sunrise, steadily increasing to S13  by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: 40-50% white cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 10% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1397 to SH0031G – downrigging for 31 fish until the skies brightened

**Area 910 to 1968 – MAL Heavy in silver blade/white tail and MAL Heavy in white blade/chart. tail worked vertically for solid results on white bass; 7 short hops in 250 yard area

 

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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