WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, March 17th, I fished with first-time guests father-and-son team Scott and Wyatt Keeler.
The Keelers live up in North Texas, but have a getaway home north of Gatesville where they were Spring Breaking.
Scott is in the utility construction business and Wyatt, at age 13, is working his way through school.
Here is how the fishing went …
______________
My next few openings will be on March 30th and April 4th thru 7th. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: 13-year-old Wyatt Keeler and his dad, Scott, with a 7.00 pound Lake Belton blue catfish Wyatt took as bycatch while fishing vertically for white bass.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Scott and Wyatt Keeler with a few of the 92 fish we landed today using a combination of vertical and horizontal tactics.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 17 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
This morning got off to a grey, overcast start with a very thin fog veiling the lake. The south wind was already blowing around 10 mph at sunrise, and a wind advisory was posted for 12 noon today through 7AM tomorrow, Friday, 18 March, thanks to pre-frontal warming, immediately followed by the passage of another mild, dry cold front due in around midnight.
Given the limited light reaching the water, we started our morning up shallow, in under 18 feet of water casting MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and chartreuse tails to white bass holding on bottom. We fished 3 similar areas, picking up a half-dozen fish at each. This held together until the fog burned off and the skies began to brighten through the clouds. At this time, we moved deeper and began fishing vertically.
We hit three more areas with our vertical tactics, with our success increasing at each one as we approached 10:30A. From 10:30 to 11:30 we experienced the most intense action of the morning as fish could be seen on Garmin LiveScope swimming faster horizontally, and chasing our lures farther and faster than in the hours leading up to this point. Our catch rate went way up during this time.
All of our vertical work was done with white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs using a slow-smoking tactic.
When all was said and done, we caught and released 92 fish, including 1 blue cat, 3 short hybrid striped bass, 86 white bass, and 2 freshwater drum.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 92 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: The 10A-ish to 11A-ish hour has been consistently productive this week.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F
Elevation: 3.27 feet low, 0.02′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 53.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: S10 at trip’s start, steadily increasing to S14 with higher gusts by trip’s end
Sky Condition: Fully greyed sky this morning with about an hour’s worth of very thin fog
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination.
GT = 75
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas fished shallow with MAL Heavy: 1659, 1634, adn B0116C
Areas fished vertically with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs: B0122C, 376, 327
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