WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, Mr. Tom Bierschenk of Leander brought three of his grandkids out for a morning of white bass fishing on Lake Belton.
Joining him were Andrew (age 15), Claire (almost 12!), and Anabelle, (age 9). Tom is a University of Texas-trained chemist working with fluorocarbon applications in the medical industry.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next three openings will be on 22 & 23 December, and January 3rd. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Andrew, Claire, and Anabelle Bierschenk with a portion of their 53 fish catch on a morning which started out at 43F, chilled by a northerly breeze as the sun rose through grey cloud cover the day after Thanksgiving 2021.
PHOTO CAPTION: When it’s so cold that coats don’t cut the mustard … yes, that’s Claire and Anabelle huddling on the floor of my boat on our way to another fishing area!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 26 November 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The howling north wind which cranked up just after sunrise on Thanksgiving day settled back but was still pushing from the north this morning after dropping the overnight temperature to 43F and causing grey cloud cover to form. We’ve had a lot of frontal activity in a short period of time and the fish have been very fickle, but, so long as we had both wind and clouds, I felt we could catch fish at a clip fast enough to keep my young crew engaged.
We worked MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) vertically for a solid 4+ hours and the kids’ technique was really on right from the start. We experienced a bit of wide-spread, low-light bird action which got us in the general vicinity of some white bass early in the trip. At this point we used no sonar as we fished so the kids could get their presentation down pat.
As we worked the kinks out of their retrieve, I then introduced Garmin LiveScope, and, although there was a tendency to “fiddle” with individual fish instead of working the lure as the they had been doing successfully, the kids all adjusted well when I explained the downside of doing this. From that point on the kids used the sonar to help them time the rise of their lure past actively feeding white bass.
We caught fish in four locations. The fish we caught early on were all glued to bottom. Our second area found fish suspended from 20-30 feet over a 38′ bottom; their location was given away by scant bird activity. Our third area saw fish on bottom and suspended at up to 20′ over a 32′ bottom, so we had fish racing off bottom to overtake the kids’ MAL Lures, as well as fish beginning their chase from both a moving start and from a standstill as we move the MAL Lures past them as they suspended.
Our final 10 fish of the morning came under birds which worked just briefly in 28′. Most of these fish were taken as they raced from off of bottom in 26′ of water to grab the MAL Lure as it ascended.
When all was said and done, we landed 53 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 49 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 68 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Light but helpful bird action was observed throughout the morning.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:10A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F
Elevation: 1.89 feet low, 0.09 fall, 39 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8 increasing to NNW11
Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all morning
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 60% illumination.
GT = 60
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 027 thru 1781 – 8 fish caught on MAL Heavy with white blade, chartreuse tail used vertically
**Area B0145C – 12 fish caught on MAL Heavy with white blade, chartreuse tail used vertically
**Area B0050G – 23 fish caught on MAL Heavy with white blade, chartreuse tail used vertically
**Area B0104C – 10 fish caught on MAL Heavy with white blade, chartreuse tail used 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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