WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon I conducted a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for three young ladies from Belton, chaperoned by their father, Baylor Scott & White anesthesiologist Shawn Malan.
My “Kids Fish, Too!” trips are shorter and less expensive than my adult trips, and, we focus on whatever is biting well so as to keep the kids engaged.
Working the rods this afternoon were Reese (age 4), Leeya (age 7), and Ellery (age 10).
I appreciate Skip Culp’s referral sending Shawn and his daughters my way. The Malans are originally from Utah and have plans to return there after Shawn’s fellowship is completed, so, he and his wife are trying to do as many “Texas-y” things in the time before they leave, and this fishing trip was one of them.
My additional suggestions for close, kidsy things included: The Alamo, Longhorn Caverns, the Congress Street Mexican free-tailed bat exodus, and Cameron Park Zoo.
Here’s how Thursday evening’s fishing went…
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My next three openings will be on 9, 14 & 15 December. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: Shawn Malan with his three girls, from left: Reese, Leeya, and Ellery. The girls landed 56 fish during their 3.5 hour trip this past Thursday afternoon.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 04 November 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Since I had a morning trip on this day, I simply laid over after that trip wrapped up around noon, grabbed a quite bite to eat, and then relaunched and did a little scouting before Shawn and the girls arrived so I could get them right on fish and capture the girls’ interest early by providing them with some early success.
The one thing that concerned me this afternoon was the tapering off of the north winds which accompanied Wednesday’s wet cold front. Tapering winds means we’re headed toward the very difficult, calm, cold, clear post-frontal conditions (which materialized on Friday and Saturday morning), which I try to avoid like the plague.
As the kids arrived, they were excited and enthusiastic (and also dressed sufficiently for the 55F daytime high and the falling temperatures we would encounter toward sunset).
My scouting paid off, as the girls all landed their first several white bass within minutes of me wrapping up my “safety briefing” and my “tactics talk”.
The bite did get tougher as the afternoon went on, thanks to winds which went nearly calm by sunset.
We contended with this by moving frequently and plucking the first few aggressive fish out of each of the schools of fish we encountered, then moved on and looked for the same elsewhere.
Shawn covered down one-on-one with Reese so as to ensure that her bait moved as it needed to to be attractive to the white bass we pursued.
By the time the normal window for the sunset “low light” bite had come, the incoming high pressure just about nullified that bite.
We wrapped up the afternoon with exactly 56 fish, 2 of which were juvenile hybrid striped bass.
Because I knew the girls would struggle with keeping the MAL Heavy Lures were were using moving fast enough, I equipped them with the higher gear ratio, larger spool diameter reels which I normally use on my rods intended for horizontal work. This worked out well.
MAL Lure fishing tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.
TALLY: 56 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Dying winds on the tail end of a cold front’s entry brought the pre-frontal/frontal bite to a close this afternoon.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:15P
End Time: 6:45P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F
Elevation: 1.35 feet low, 0.06 rise, 40CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 68.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8 tapering to calm
Sky Condition: Clear “bluebird” skies this afternoon
Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area B0002G – 10 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area 526 – 14 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreusetail fished vertically
**Area B0001G, 2 short hops for 16 fish on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area B0108G – 5 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area B0173C -11 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse 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.
E-mail: Bob@
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