PREDICTABLY PREDICTABLE – 208 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Monday, Oct. 25, I fished Lake Belton with a crew of three.  My two returning guests were Jered Benedick and his father, Don Benedick.  Joining me for the first time was Jered’s 12-year-old daughter, Jenna Kate.

Ron is a retired pastor from the Ardmore, OK, area; Jered is a former youth pastor who now offers mental health counseling to youth, and Jenna Kate is a seventh grade student in the Belton school district where she currently runs cross country and plays the cello.

Jenna Kate’s singular goal this morning, it seemed, was to see to it that the trio’s catch exceeded the total catch made when her brother, Tyler, came out with me back in April of this year.  That morning produced a catch of 150 white bass.

Here’s how this morning went…

______________

My next three openings will be on 2, 6, and 7 December.  Weekday mornings are always best.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Jered, Jenna Kate, and Don Benedick with a portion of their 208-fish catch taken on MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 25 October 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I hate to sound like a broken record, but, from the initial breakdown of the thermocline and until the water temperature falls to 58F, the fishing is predictably predictable.  These 200-some fish we caught today have been doing the same things at the same times and in the same places for nearly a month now, and will continue to do so until at least mid-December, if history is any teacher.  Local weather is the big wildcard, with dark early morning skies consistently keeping the bite at idle until the skies brighten to “squinting level” through the clouds.  Clear skies, like we enjoyed this morning, lead to a sudden brightening of the skies and a much more definitive start to the morning bite.

This morning we fished 6 locations.  Once we hooked the first “ice breaker” fish at each location, we kept the school of fish that first fish came from interested for 30-40 minutes at at time.  The fishing, thanks to the clear skies, was pretty evenly distributed with right at 100 fish in our first 2 hours, and another 108 fish in our final 90 minutes (we wrapped up a bit early to stay in mom’s good graces and get Jenna Kate back to school for her afternoon classes, as this was, after all, a school day).  This decision was made much easier because, at this time, the fog burned off, the wind stopped, the sun’s heat grew more intense, and the fish just quit biting.  Staying any longer was going to be anticlimactic and Jered recognized this.

Our six stops produced 38 fish, 31 fish, 21 fish, 21 fish, 36 fish, and 61 fish, respectively.  Once again, the strongest bite took place right before the fish finally quit, right around 3.5 hours past sunrise.

Although we took a few fish by casting horizontally using the sawtooth method, this was really just to introduce my crew to that method for their own use.  The fish really preferred the vertical presentation today.  Equipped with a view of the underwater world via Garmin LiveScope, my crew was deadly this morning with their MAL Heavy Lures.  The fellows used silver blade/white tails and Jenna Kate used the white blade/chartreuse tail (because the reels I have for these lures have higher gear ratios and helped her move her bait at the appropriate speed).

Although small fish will always be something to contend with in the fall and winter, today’s ratio of mature fish to small fish was noticeably higher.

By 11:00, we’d landed 208 fish.

Of the 208 fish landed, 205 were white bass, with 3 juvenile hybrid striped bass mixed in.

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: 208 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: With no cold fronts over the past week, and shortening days combined with cool nights, this morning’s surface temperature reading was nearly identical to last week’s at ~75.1 F.  Forecast shows a pretty stiff cold front due to hit Wednesday morning, 27 Oct.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  66F

Elevation: 1.15 feet low, 0.04 fall, 58 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 75.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable from SW under 3 all morning

Sky Condition: Clear skies until 9:30A at which time an unusual mid-morning, thin layer of fog formed which cut the light and heat nicely until right at 11A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 80% illumination.

GT = 130

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1659 – 38 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 565 – 31 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area vic 817 – 21 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0066C – 36 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 327 – 61 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished 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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