WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, October 15, I fished with first-time guests Mike Hausen, and his dad, Tom Stanley, both living in the Austin area.
Tom is a retired U.S. Army non-commissioned officer who spent his career in the armor branch (tanks), and Mike has had various roles in the auto business, from fixing cars to selling them, and more. He’s now with a Honda dealership in Austin.
We enjoyed ideal, pre-frontal weather today and Mike and Tom’s 2-man fish count of 201 fish landed was a testament to that.
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My next three openings will be on 1, 2, and 6 December. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: Mike Hausen and his dad, Tom Stanley were flexible as to the timing of their trip, and were willing to receive some coaching to make the most of their time on the water. The father and son landed 201 fish under ideal, pre-frontal conditions.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 15 October 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
This trip was originally scheduled for Saturday, 16 Oct. However, when I saw the weekend weather forecast developing back on Wednesday and Thursday, I saw we would have perfect prefrontal conditions on Friday morning as the winds swung from S through W to the NW in advance of a very slow moving front. Saturday would feature high north winds, clear skies, cool temperatures, and bright sun. I contacted Mike and Tom to see if there was any way they could move their trip to Friday, and, fortunately, they were able. Pre-frontal fishing is often short-lived with just a few hours’ worth of a “window” to catch fish, but, it typically can’t be beat as far as fast fishing and excellent results.
We fished four areas this morning. In reality, we could have stayed and continued to catch fish at any one of these, but, I chose to move us after I felt the bite had gone just “past peak” in order that Tom and Mike could enjoy the full potential for continuous, fast action which this day brought with it.
We alternated between fishing the MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade/white tail) vertically and horizontally (with an MAL Heavy Lure with white blade/chartreuse tail). My preference is for the vertical fishing because, when this is done in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, my anglers stay engaged and the presence of fish on the screen gives them confidence. However, fish do lose interest after they see the lure over and over again, and/or they move off chasing after shad, and the “sawtooth method” of horizontal fishing does a great job of catching as we wait for fish to return to directly under the boat.
Additionally, whenever a large school of white bass shows on side-imaging, I quickly change my clients over to targeting those fish. This is accomplished by having 2 sets of rods at the ready — one set with a more limber action and softer tip for vertical work and another set with a stiffer tip and lighter braid for horizontal work.
There was not a single full minute during our 4 hours on the water when we had our lines in the water and there was not at least a handful of white bass showing on sonar. The fish were just feeding hard everywhere we looked for them. At times, fish would fill the lower two-thirds of the water column as the chased shad and our lures up off bottom in this pre-frontal frenzy.
At 11:15, our fish count stood at 175 fish. I told the fellows we’d fish until 11:30 or 200 fish, whichever came first. At 11:30, we’d boated 199 fish. I told them if they didn’t mind continuing to fish while I cleaned up the boat a bit (something I normally do after clients depart), we could give it another 10 minutes (but, I had to get home to see my wife off to a lady’s church retreat!!). By 11:40, #200 and #201 crossed the gunwale, and we sped off for home. An awesome morning with two nice guys!
Of the 201 fish landed, 188 were white bass, with 3 blue catfish and 10 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: 201 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Classic pre-frontal conditions today.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:40A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F
Elevation: 0.93 feet low, 0.01 rise, 58 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 77.0F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW7 at trip’s start, swinging thru WSW, then W, then WNW, the NW as the lead edge of cool air from the cold front moved in as we wrapped up our trip. Here’s a nice graphic of the windshift by Channel 10 out of Waco:
Sky Condition: Decreasing clouds from 70% down to 10% over our 4 hours on the water.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 75% illumination.
GT = 15
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1671 – 12 fish on MAL Heavy Lure (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically
**Area vic 525/526/B0116C/1822 – 81 fish on MAL Heavy (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically & MAL Heavy w/ white blade worked horizontally
**Area 1678 – 54 fish on MAL Heavy (silver blade, white tail) worked vertically & MAL Heavy w/ white blade worked horizontally
**Area B0186C – 54 fish 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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