WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, Dec. 15th, I fished with first-time guests, Chris and Easton Lampi, a father-and-son team from the north Austin area.
Chris is in the construction business and does a lot of work for Temple ISD. So, when the Temple Education Foundation held a fundraiser and a trip I had donated came up for bid, Chris jumped on it.
He waited until Easton was home from college for the holidays to invite him along, and, today was the day.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next few openings will be on January 4th, 5th & 11th. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: Father and son team Chris and Easton Lampi worked to put together a catch of 72 fish. The most aggressive fish were taken using MAL Heavy Lures cast horizontally and worked back using a sawtooth tactic.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 15 December 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Although the unseasonably warm weather and water is nice, the roller coaster of weather we’ve experienced of late hasn’t done the fishing any favors.
We had a fair morning this morning. It seemed the fish were really on or they were really off. We stopped at at least a dozen or more areas after seeing sonar loaded up with fish, only to get a lukewarm reception once we got baits down to those same fish. Numerous time we marked fish, Spot-Locked on them, tracked the fall of our lures down to the fish on Garmin LiveScope, then watched 2, 3, or 4 fish from out of the dozens nearby express initial interest allowing 1, 2, or 3 to be caught before the entire bunch just turned off.
We “nickeled and dimed” for about 35 fish this way before finding our first somewhat energetic school of white bass. We spotted these fish heavily grouped out to the portside of the boat using side-imaging, Spot-Locked to the side of them, and cast into these fish holding tight to bottom in ~22 feet of water. This was around 10:30 and it was the first time we took more than a half-dozen fish from one area.
This same scenario played out three more times in two separate locations, allowing us to make up for some lost time as the atmosphere warmed, the clouds thinned, the light level increased, and the southerly winds increased.
Although the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Heavy Lures accounted for roughly equal number of fish, the slab took all of those tough fish when the conditions were off, whereas the MAL took fish very efficiently once they were in a cooperative mood.
When all was said and done, we landed exactly 72 fish, including 2 juvenile hybrid striped bass and 70 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 72 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Wild swings in our weather day after day have made the fishing tough. Sat: cold front, Sun: post-frontal calm, Mon: cold and returning south wind, Tues: mild with heavy extended fog, today: hard S. winds and near 70F before sunrise. Next cold front is due in late Friday/early Saturday, 17/18 Dec.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 12:45P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 2.11 feet low, .01 fall, 39 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62F
Wind Speed & Direction: S10 before sunrise tapering up to S16 gusting 20 by trip’s end.
Sky Condition: Heavy grey cloud cover all morning.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 88% illumination.
GT = 60
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Although we caught a few fish at multiple locations this morning, the only three location which produced well were Area vic 993 (mid-morning on slabs) and Area 0169 and Area B0171 which produced fish on the MAL Heavy when these fish showed on side imaging and began to feed.
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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