MAEDGENS BEAT THE ODDS — 102 FISH, Spring Break Trip #4

WHO I FISHED WITH:  Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, March 16th, I fished with first-time guests Marshall and Kristi Maedgen, and their kids, Kase (age 15), and Kate (age 13).

The Maedgens were referred to me by Marshall’s dad, Tommy Maedgen, who has fished with me numerous times through the years.

Marshall works in distribution in a large plumbing and HVAC parts company, Kristi substitute teaches in the Salado ISD, and the kids are busy, all-season athletes.

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:  Kate, Kase, Kristi, and Marshall Maedgen with four of the 102 fish they landed on a beautiful, warm, clear Spring Break 2022 day on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 16 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Yesterday’s mild, dry cold front blew through and then blew itself out by sunset yesterday.  The post-frontal period with bright skies, calm winds, and cool temperatures began to breakdown around 9A as a light SW ripple began to disturb the lake’s surface.  The morning bite lasted through about 11A, then began to taper off sharply.

We got going around 3:30P, which was about 4 hours in advance of sunset.

The winds had remained from due south and were at 12-13 mph with no cloud cover, but with a light white haze making the skies other than the deep “bluebird” blue they had been in the morning.

Afternoon bites tend to be a bit weaker and shorter than morning bites.  In fact, I’ve “run the numbers” and found that on days I’ve fished both AM and PM, the PM trips yielded 70% of the morning’s catch.  Today was an exception.  The Maedgens “beat the odds” and took fish consistently in all four hours of this afternoon’s trip, whereas we lost about 75 minutes to calm, bright, post-frontal weather in the morning.

The fishing was pretty straightforward — once I found fish with a combination of side-imaging, down-imaging and traditional sonar, we Spot-Locked on them and worked vertically for them using white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz.).

Marshall and Kase were most experienced, so, I put them toward the bow on the starboard side, while I stayed  standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Kristi and Kate toward the stern on the starboard side so I could help them a bit more.  With all five of us abreast of one another, I could keep track of all four of my crew’s slabs and watch fish response to those slabs in real time.  This helped me see if anyone was working their bait too fast, too slow, too erratically, etc.

We worked out baits with a “slow-smoking” tactic and the fish responded positively to that time and time again.

As is often the case on afternoons with bright skies, the action peaked in the final 90 minutes, then died hard right as the sun dropped below the horizon.

When all was said and done, we caught and released 102 fish.

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

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  I observed many “episodes” of bird activity this afternoon, but, upon closer inspection, found all of it was driven by loons.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:30P

End Time:  7:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 3.25 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S13 @ trip’s start

Sky Condition: Thin white haze on cloudless blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas vic  1604/B0103C, vic 473, vic 1012, 150, B0171G, 993/B0173C

 

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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