WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 14th, I fished with first time guests Zach Dennison, Cooper Fix, and Clayton Oaks.
Zach’s mom, Cathy, set every thing up several weeks in advance for the boys who are on Spring Break from Belton High School, where the boys all got acquainted through the cross country track team.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next few openings will be on March 30th and April 4th thru 7th. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Zach Dennison, Cooper Fix, and Clayton Oaks with 3 of the 103 fish they caught and released on Lake Belton on this, the first day of Spring Break 2022.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 14 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Despite the calendar indicating it is mid-March, the weather is still lagging behind a bit. At launch time this morning the ambient temperature was 48F, and the water was still a chilly 52.0 to 52.6F depending on location.
With substantial grey cloud cover keeping the light level low, I opted to search fairly shallow, in under 20 feet of water, where the bottom would be (somewhat) illuminated. This yielded 10 healthy white bass, all over 12″, as we cast MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and chartreuse tails and worked them with a “sawtooth retrieve” reeling them as slowly as we could while still keeping the blade spinning.
We put in about 75 minutes of effort on this scenario, then, as the skies brightened (although still 100% clouded), we moved out deeper to the 35-42′ mark. From this point on all of the fishing was vertical using the 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with Stinger Hook and in the white color. We fished these with a slow-smoking tactic and most of our fish caught were fish which originated on bottom and overtook the lure on the rise.
Using Garmin LiveScope helped keep the boys engaged and made sure they did the right thing at the right time.
We caught 95 white bass and 8 short hybrid striped bass this morning.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 103 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Of the 103 fish landed, 8 were short hybrid striped bass, which puts them at 7.76% of the catch, all of these fish looked good and were approaching 12.5 to 12.75 inches.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:35A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation: 3.24 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 52-52.6F depending on location.
Wind Speed & Direction: S11 at obscured sunrise, steadily increasing to S16-17 by trip’s end.
Sky Condition: Thin grey cloud cover for the first 3 hours, then partially clearing and brightening to 80% white cloud cover.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 85% illumination.
GT = 75
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas vic 172, 327, B0009C, and 308
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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