WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, December 27th, I fished a belated birthday trip with 13-year-old Joshua Howe, accompanied by his mom and dad, Janet and Allen, all from the Austin area.
We originally had this trip booked earlier in the fall, but, the weather forecast called for post-frontal calm, clear, cold conditions on that date and I encouraged the family to postpone as a result. As it turns out, that weather did materialize, so, I was glad they were able to be flexible. The end result was a near-perfect weather scenario today so far as wind and cloud cover were concerned.
Here is how the fishing went …
______________
My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Janet, Allen, and Joshua Howe with 6 of the 120 fish they caught and released on Lake Belton on 27 Dec. 2021.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 27 December 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The wind and cloud cover were ideal this morning, and, although we did not have the super-charged activity which a cold front brings with it, we enjoyed steady action from start to finish, most of which came without the help of bird activity.
With the grey cloud cover we had, the bite eased to a start instead of starting suddenly as it does on clear days. We fished from 7:40 to 9:15 at one area without making any short hops and landed exactly 70 fish on 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs before the bite there wound down. Although there were a lot of small fish in this catch, it gave everyone an excellent chance to work out the wrinkles on this vertical jigging tactic (easing) which was new to them via repetition.
After these fish knocked off, we went looking and found a small flock of about 8 gulls working over 2 cormorants with fish amongst them. We used MAL Heavy Lures to cast horizontally with a sawtooth retrieve to whichever side of the boat side-imaging indicated more fish were on. We landed 9 more fish in this area, 6 of which would be the largest white bass we would land all morning.
After this, I found fish along a breakline. We found the fish in small groups which would get excited when we first presented our slabs to them, but would then lose enthusiasm quickly. In response, we moved as soon as I sensed the fishes’ interest was waning, and we wound up fishing 3 stops along this feature, adding another 24 fish to our count.
Our final stop came in the deepest water (32′) and under the brightest conditions of the trip, between 11:00AM and 11:55 AM. During this time we added a final 17 fish to our tally, all on eased 3/8 oz. slabs. Ample bait was showing in this area.
When all was said and done, we landed exactly 120 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 6 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 113 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 120 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile:
0 feet 62.4F
5 feet 62.4F
10 feet 62.4F
15 feet 62.4F
20 feet 62.4F
25 feet 62.3F
30 feet 62.3F
35 feet 62.2F
40 feet 62.2F
45 feet 62F
50 feet 62F
55 feet 62F
60 feet 62F
65 feet 62F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:40A
End Time: 11:55A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 2.25 feet low, 0.00 fall in last 24 hours, 73 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at trip’s start, building to S11 by trip’s end.
Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies for the entire trip.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 46% illumination.
GT = 50
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 085/1802 – 70 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)
Area vic 029 – 9 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth tactic
Area v132, v097 (2 hops) – 24 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)
Area 2625 – 27 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)
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