FROM ZERO TO HERO IN 2.5 HOURS — 93 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Thursday afternoon, October 14, I fished with a mother and son, Criselda and Eric Linares, on a short afternoon trip on Lake Belton.

After Wednesday night’s heavy rains associated with the passage of Hurricane Pamela, calm winds and the possibility of fog were called for in the morning.  I will avoid fishing in fog at all costs, so, we moved things around due to weather, and wound up fishing in the afternoon.

The afternoon bite on Belton tends to be shorter and weaker than the morning bite, so, we were going to get in a three hour trip instead of my usual four hour trip, but, traffic delays cost us an additional 25 minutes.  By the time Criselda and Eric made it aboard, we had about 2.5 hours of useful daylight to fish.

At this time, the combined total number of fish the two had ever landed in their lives was zero.  What happened over the next few hours is detailed below…

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My next three openings will be on 1, 2, and 6 December.  Weekday mornings are always best.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Criselda and Eric Linares (age 10) had never landed a fish before this evening’s trip on Lake Belton.   Their first fishing trip resulted in a catch of 93 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 14 October 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

With no prior fishing experience on Crisela and Eric’s part, and limited time to work with, I searched for aggressive fish already in a feeding mode by gauging the height above bottom at which the fish I found with sonar were holding.  Fish very tight to bottom are typically a good bit tougher to catch than those holding 12-18″ off bottom.  Fortunately, thanks to humid, breezy conditions , we had lots of options to choose from when it came to locating fish, and I was able to follow through on this plan.

We wound up fishing five locations, each in exactly the same way.  All of our fishing was vertical this afternoon using the MAL Heavy in silver blade/white tail.  I did this mainly to avoid using the limited time we had in trying to teach two folks unfamiliar with casting how to do so.

We’d find fish, Spot-Lock on them, get lures down to them, begin working the lures vertically, and gauge fish response via Garmin LiveScope.  If the response was positive, we’d stay and catch until the fish lost interest and then would immediately move once the fish showed the first signs of letting up.  If the response was lackluster, we’d move immediately.

We landed 17 fish at our first stop, 21 fish at our second stop, 25 fish at our third stop, 8 fish at our fourth stop, and 22 fish at our final stop, for a total of 93 fish before the sun set and the fish quit.  All of our fishing was in ~34 feet of water.

At each stop, Criselda and Eric’s technique and fish-fighting abilities improved, and Eric, who was pretty quiet and stoic at first, came out of his shell and got excited about fishing, catching fish, holding fish, and riding in the boat.

By the time we parted ways back at the boat ramp parking lot, my two guests’ lifetime fish count had gone from zero to awesome in 2.5 hours flat!!

Of the 93 fish landed, 84 were white bass, with 1 smallmouth bass and 8 juvenile hybrid striped bass in the mix.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViVz6D91brM

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

TALLY: 93 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The 2020 stocking of hybrid striped bass is really looking promising.  These should be to 3 pounds and 18″ by 2023.  They are routinely showing up at about 3-4% of my white bass bycatch just about everywhere I’m fishing on Lake Belton now.  This evening, they made up 8.6% of the catch.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:45P

End Time: 7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  79F

Elevation: 0.94 feet low, 0.26′ fall, 58 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S7-9

Sky Condition: Clear skies all afternoon

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 65% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0016G – all on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically

**Area vic 0154 – all on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically

**Area 1672/1815 – all on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically

**Area 1619 – all on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically

**Area vic 0138 – all on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically

 

 

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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