WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, April 1st, I fished with returning guest Josh Pearson, accompanied by a business associate of his, and first-time guest of mine, Boyd Matthews.
Josh is an attorney and escrow officer at Texas Title here in the Belton area, and Boyd, a Salado resident, is in the construction trade.
Illness caused a previously scheduled client to have to back out of his booking which, in turn, caused a bit of a schedule-shuffle for me. My wife and I bumped our “Marriage Maintenance Day”, which is normally on Fridays, up to Thursday, and I conducted my final fishing trip of the week with Josh and Boyd aboard on Friday.
I’m no longer booking trips on the weekends until after Labor Day … I’m just not able to provide productive and enjoyable trips for my clients with the increased weekend traffic on the water which the warm season brings with it.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next opening will be on Monday morning, June 6th. Weekday mornings are always best. Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Boyd Matthews and Josh Pearson took a nice mix of both pre- and post-spawn, mature white bass today using MAL Heavy Lures horizontally early and up shallow, then using 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs in the last half of the morning out in deeper water.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 01 April 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Once again we caught fish for the full 4-hours on the water today. We, literally, hooked and landed a white bass on this morning’s first cast, and never quit catching them until around 11:30AM.
The previous Tuesday we saw a 4-day warming trend come to an end during which time the air temperature was at or above the water temperature, including during the overnight hours. On Wednesday, a north wind began to blow with a mild, incoming cold front. This dropped overnight temps into the 50’s.
By Friday, we had southerly winds return before another mild front came into our airspace just after noon on Saturday. As this south wind ramped up, the bite ramped right up with it.
We fished in under 22′ with MAL Heavy Lures (silver blades, chartreuse tails) fished horizontally with a sawtooth pattern for the first two hours of the morning, while the light level was low, while the wind speed was down, and while a few gulls and terns worked over bait, white bass, and cormorants.
By 10AM, we’d landed 42 fish following a 7:05 start. In the 90 minutes which followed the start of the south wind, we landed another 96 fish. If that is not proof-positive of the impact which wind has on white bass fishing, I don’t know what is!
The fish we found as the wind began were out deeper and they were tightly bunched together, so, I opted for a vertical presentation with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in 5/8 oz. (white color).
We fished only 4 areas this morning.
When all was said and done, we caught 138 white bass. It was actually a bit odd not to have a single drum, hybrid, or largemouth landed, but, that’s how it went.
One of the reasons the men did so well this morning is that they were willing to be coached. When I saw something in their presentation which I felt was costing them fish, I mentioned it to them, and they adjusted well. One example, which I see often when we use Garmin LiveScope, is an angler’s subconscious tendency to alter the cadence of their retrieve as they see an aggressive fish approach their lure. I pointed this observation out to both Josh and Boyd. Then, being aware of it, they intentionally worked to avoid that issue and their catch rate increased nicely from that point on.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 138 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Given the current water temperature and long range forecast, it now appears we will not slip back under the “magic” 58F mark until the autumn cool down.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:05A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F
Elevation: 3.44 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 60.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable breeze until 10A, then picking up to SSE11 quickly
Sky Condition: Bright, near-cloudless conditions all morning.
Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas fished successfully today: Areas vic B0170C, and B0063C/B0064C with MAL Lures for 42 fish
Areas fished successfully today: Area vic 381 and B0082G for 96 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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