WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Thursday, March 24th, I fished with returning guests Gene Ellis and his 13 year old grandson, Bryson Ellis, visiting from Colorado.
Gene is both the Chief of Police and Assistant City Manager for the City of Belton, TX.
Bryson is on spring break from his school in Colorado Springs.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next few openings will be on April 4th and May 23rd. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: Belton Police Chief Gene Ellis and his grandson, Bryson Ellis, took some spring break downtime together to pursue white bass on Lake Belton.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 24 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
After a tough morning, hindered by 2.75 hours of light winds, the winds picked up through 5:30PM, blowing a steady NW14 during that time, then gradually tapering down to NW8 by sunset.
Although I always prefer to guide parties during the morning versus the afternoon, the Ellis’ schedule dictated otherwise.
By analyzing trends in the data I have gathered over these 30 years of fishing Belton and Stillhouse, the numbers indicate that an afternoon trip will only yield about 70% of the morning’s total when conditions are stable over the course of the day.
The Ellis’ beat the odds, if only by a tad. They landed 72 fish, or 75%, of the morning’s catch of 96 fish. To do this, we fished white, 5/8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs fished with a “slow-smoking” technique in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope for the first three hours.
Although I have, on just a few occasions in my life, been on the “receiving end” of speed limit law enforcement, the tables were turned a bit this evening when I had to remind the chief to either slow down, or Bryson to speed up — all aimed at keeping their slabs moving at the necessary, slow, steady speed to attract bites this afternoon.
For our final hour, given that the sun had been shining all day and that the air temperature was around 69F, I took us up shallow looking for white bass in under 20 feet of water. Using well-tuned side-imaging, I found multiple schools of white bass, each with perhaps twenty to thirty fish per school in this shallower water.
These fish were not moving much, as gauged by the length of time they remained visible on side-imaging as the boat was at a stand-still.
We cast MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and chartreuse tails over these schools, allowed the lures to reach bottom, and retrieved the lures through these schools. The action was not red-hot, but, we pulled our last dozen fish in this manner, and, in so doing, got to introduce Bryson to a form of fishing he had never experienced before.
When all was said and done, we caught and released 72 fish, including 3 short hybrid striped bass, 66 white bass, and 3 freshwater drum.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 72 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS:
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:30P
End Time: 7:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F
Elevation: 3.30 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 54.2
Wind Speed & Direction: NW14 at trip’s start, then tapering off NW8 beginning around 5:30
Sky Condition: Unclouded, light blue skies.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 59% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas fished successfully today: Areas vic 1362, 1000, 1819/1624, 1666, and 0188
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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