WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, March 29th, I fished with brothers Dwight and Duane Stone, and Dwight’s son-in-law, Josh Rogers (a.k.a. Captain Nintendo).
We could not have custom-ordered better conditions than those we experienced this morning — grey cloud cover for the entire trip, a wind with a southerly component, and an approaching low pressure system, all at the end of a warming trend which helped break that magic 58F mark for the first time since winter’s cool down.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next few openings will be on Monday morning, June 6th. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight Stone, Josh Rogers, and Duane Stone with white bass taken from Lake Belton on a combination of MAL Lures and Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 29 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The 4-day long warmup continued overnight and, for the first time since the winter cooldown, the water temperature hit 58F. My years of recordkeeping show this to be a very significant temperature for white bass fishing. It is the temperature at which I begin using the faster-paced retrieves in conjunction with the various MAL Lures, and the temperature at which I switch from “thumping” to “splashing”.
In addition to the warmup, we had windy, cloudy, humid conditions this morning, prompting the fish to feed for a full 4 hours.
We began prior to sunrise up in shallow water, under 22 feet deep, casting MAL Heavy Lures (silver blades, chartreuse tails) and taking fish steadily on a “sawtooth pattern” retrieve. We fished two areas, each with 2 “short hops” to keep up with the fish as they moved along bottom, and wound up landing exactly 69 fish before losing contact with them.
At this point, a few helpful birds pointed the way to additional fish, but, these fish were suspended and (I suspect) migrating. These fish were in deeper, cooler water and we not as excited as those shallower fish were, so, I shifted back to white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and we caught the remainder of our fish on them.
We hit the 100 fish mark at exactly 10:08AM.
Any day the fish bite for a full 4 hours is a great one in my book, and that is exactly what we experienced this morning
When all was said and done, we caught and released 149 fish, including 3 short hybrid stripers, 1 sunfish, 1 largemouth bass, 5 freshwater drum, and 139 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 149 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: For the first time this spring, I observed white bass “busting” the surface as they chased after shad — not dramatic or long-lasting, but present, nonetheless.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 3.46 feet low, 0.02′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 58.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW13 at trip’s start, tapering up to SSW20 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: Thin, full grey cloud cover for the entire trip.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 9% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas fished successfully today: Areas vic B0170C, and 163/818 with MAL Lures for 69 fish
Areas fished successfully today: B0079C to B0126G, 938/B0028C w/ 2 hops, 1369 with 2 hops for 80 fish on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab
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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