A RUSH RIGHT AT CLOSING TIME – 76 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Thursday afternoon, Dec. 9th, I fished with returning guests Brad Phillips and Kelly Hankins

The men are friends and long-time partners in their home inspection business here in Central Texas.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 4th, 6th & 10th.  Weekday mornings are always best.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kelly Hankins and Brad Phillips took 76 fish during their 3-hour trip this past Thursday.  The third hour produced the best fishing, giving up 36 of those 76 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 09 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

As I welcomed Brad and Kelly aboard at 1:30PM, they let me know we’d need to be back at the dock by 4:30PM so the two could make it on time to Kelly’s daughter’s high school band Christmas concert.

I got a little concerned because the fourth hour of my afternoon trips is often the most productive.

As it turned out, our clouds were diminishing and our wind was failing by the end of our third hour, leading me to believe that fourth hour may not have been all that great this evening, after all.

As we got going, the first two hours were a bit slow.  We found fish, but, 18 of our first 20 fish were all small, so, with my clients’ permission, we left those fish to sample the fishing elsewhere.  The fishing remained a bit slow — too slow, I felt, for the faster-moving MAL Lure to work its magic, so, we worked vertically with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs used with and easing tactic when fish were on bottom, and with a slow-smoking tactic when they appeared up off bottom suspended.  The slabs kept the fish coming in the boat at a steady clip.

By 3:30PM, we’d landed 40 fish with some better sized fish included.

Around 3:30PM, as I was idling over a prospective area, I began to see fish well out to our side on the side-imaging of my Solix 15.  Since I could see these fish were tightly grouped together and in water less than 27 feet deep, I decided to Spot-Lock out away from them instead of parking on top of them.

When these white bass get together in large numbers and are seen just slightly of off bottom instead of belly-to-bottom, they are often ready to eat.  As we began working MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) with a sawtooth method for these fish, Brad and Kelly began hooking up to the tune of multiple consecutive hook-ups on a regular basis.

As they hooked and landed fish, the number of fish moving in to join the fish already present.  At the peak of the activity, I estimated 800-900 fish showing on just the left side-imaging screen of my Solix.  This action built, peaked, and then declined as our winds began to go slack and the high, thin cloud cover we’d enjoyed began to clear off.  During this 1-hour span, Brad and Kelly would nearly double their catch, taking our tally from 40 fish up to 76 fish.  At 4:20 we pulled in lines, and at 4:30 we pulled up next to the courtesy dock for what would be my last trip of the week.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 76 fish.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Thick cloud cover made things pretty tough, especially in our first hour.  The temperature profile looked like this:

0 feet 63.5
5 feet 63.1
10 feet 63.1
15 feet 62.9
20 feet 62.9
25 feet 62.9
30 feet 62.9
35 feet 62.9
40 feet 62.9
45 feet 62.9
50 feet 62.8
55 feet 62.6
60 feet 62.4

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:30P

End Time: 4:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  76F

Elevation: 2.01 feet low, .02 fall, 39 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW14 at trip’s start, slowly tapering to SSW10 by 4:30, then falling off sharply and going calm thereafter.

Sky Condition: High, thin white cloud cover on a blue sky through 4:30, then clearing quickly

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 33% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

FISHING:

**Area 0409 – 10 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with easing/smoking tactic; mostly small fish

**Area 1815 – 10 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with easing/smoking tactic; mostly small fish

**Area B0112C – 17 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with easing/smoking tactic

**Area 692 – 3 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with easing/smoking tactic

**Area 709 – 36 fish on MAL Heavy in white blade/chartreuse tail with sawtooth retrieve

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #mepps