PRE-FRONTAL WX CAPS OFF A CRAZY WEEK – 143 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday morning, Dec. 17th, I fished with returning guest Gary Hannemann of McGregor, TX, accompanied by the new pastor of his church, J.T. Miller.

Gary is now retired, and J.T. and his wife recently relocated from the Chicago area to lead a local Lutheran congregation.

When one of my clients became ill and unable to make his booked date, Gary saw my posting about a last-minute opening on Facebook and this trip came to fruition.

Here is how the fishing went …

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My next few openings will be on Christmas morning, then on January 4th, 5th & 11th.  Weekday mornings are always best.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: J.T. Miller and Gary Hannemann of McGregor with a few of the 143 fish they landed.  Note the sky condition on this pre-frontal weather setup.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 17 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The unseasonably warm, humid weather continued today with a morning low of 68F and abundant grey cloud cover.

The big thing we had working for us today was an approaching cold front to our NW which was due to come in around 6AM the morning after this trip.  This gave us a full day of southwesterly winds and cloud cover to work with.

The disposition of the fish was noticeably improved over what I’d seen the past three trips this week.  Even though we got going a bit early, and even though the cloud cover was thick, we immediately drew the attention of white bass which were tight to the bottom at the very first stop we made.

We fished a handful of areas in our first 70-90 minutes and encountered moderately interested fish which would turn off fairly quickly to the eased slabs we were presenting.

As the skies brightened (though still 100% cloud-covered) and the wind picked up, the bite solidified.  Between 8:45 and 10:20, we landed 105 fish working MAL Heavy Lures horizontally for heavily congregated white bass in 20-25 feet of water.

It seemed when we could find large schools and present to them horizontally, we did better than sitting atop them on Spot-Lock and presenting slabs vertically.  Vertically worked MAL Lures did not interest fish this morning.  Not all areas lent themselves to the use of MAL Lures either due to snaggy bottoms, or fish schools which were too small and/or moving quickly.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 143 fish, including 6 juvenile hybrid striped bass and 137 white bass.

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

TALLY: 143 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Despite the crazy week of weather, the influence of pre-frontal weather certainly helped us along today.  Our best catching came when we could see heavily congregated white bass to the port or starboard, then cast to them so as to work our MAL Heavy Lures horizontally through them.  Although the fish responded to a vertical slab, it was not with the enthusiasm with which they went after the MAL.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  68F

Elevation: 2.12 feet low, no elevation change, 39 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S10 before sunrise tapering up to S16 gusting 18 by 1P, then tapering back down to S7  by sunset.

Sky Condition: Heavy grey cloud cover all morning; lighter grey cloud cover in the PM, but still with no direct sun coming through.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:  2-day forecast showing the arrival of the next front ~6A Saturday

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1921 – 13 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area vic B0186C – 4 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0183C – 8 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area 0169 – 92 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth pattern (white blade/chartreuse tail)

Area 164 – 13 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth pattern (white blade/chartreuse tail)

Area 0142 – 10 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white), all small white bass

 

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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