JUSTICE OF THE PISCES — 115 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Thursday evening, Thursday, April 7th, I fished with first time guests Brian Moody and Larry Wilkey, both of the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of the Temple Police Department.

Brian is a police lieutenant and Larry is a police sergeant and soon-to-be Justice of the Peace for the Bell County precinct where Judge Ivey will be retiring from shortly.

Thanks to very high winds earlier in the week, we rescheduled for this afternoon.  My preference is always to fish in the morning, as the bite tends to be longer and stronger, but, in this excellent spring season, evening results can be solid, too.

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: Larry Wilkey and Brian Moody with a mess of chunky Lake Belton white bass caught under a “red flag warning” with very high winds, and very low humidity this past Thursday evening.  The men caught & released 115 fish in just under 4 hours.

PHOTO CAPTION:   So aggressive was the bite in our final 45 minutes that Brian Moody had a second fish attack his slab as the first fish was being fought back to the boat.  He landed both of them!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 07 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We did not decide to make this trip a go, literally, until the final hour before our scheduled meeting time.  There was a “red flag” warning due to high winds and dry conditions.  Following my morning trip, I grabbed lunch and then “camped out” at the boat ramp just keeping an eye on the wind which was forecast to rise from 17mph before noon to 22mph from 2-6pm, then die back to 17 around sunset.

The winds did, indeed, follow the forecast.  I made a final call around 2:30P after observing the strength and direction of the wind, and determining that there was a sufficient number of protected areas we could both travel to and catch fish at, so, we went.

As is typical on afternoon trips, the first two hours were slow, with increasing action, and the final two hours is when we landed the majority of our fish.  This afternoon played out in that manner.

The first three areas I searched revealed no fish which got me a bit nervous, as I did not have the “run of the lake” to search for fish due to the high winds.

I found a handful of fish at the fourth area I checked and it was there that I got Brian and Larry familiarized with vertical jigging a slab in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.  Once they got the cadence of the retrieve down, we started pulling fish.

Brian found it a bit tough to overcome his largemouth bass fishing hookset reflex, which cost him some fish until we specifically addressed that issue.  Fortunately, we iron that out before the fishing really took off around 6:15pm.

100% of our fishing this afternoon involved the use of my white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye slabs.  The slabs sink quickly and the fish are still very turned on by them, so we’ll continue to use them vertically until the fish indicate otherwise.

Shallow fish are already very responsive to the MAL Heavy Lure, but today’s high winds would have made line management and bite detection a real challenge, so, we skipped the shallow fishing, although I felt it was there for the taking in our final 30-45 minutes if we cared to seek it out.

A moderate “smoking” tactic did the trick all afternoon today.

In all, we landed exactly 115 fish, including 2 short hybrid, 4 freshwater drum, and 109 white bass.

If you follow my posts, you’ll know I frequently mention that, all else being equal, afternoon trips typically produce about 70% of the catch versus a morning trip conducted that same day.  Doing the math, 115 fish caught this afternoon divided by 150 fish caught this morning, equates to a 76% afternoon yield.

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

TALLY:  115 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful evening bird action, although birds are present.  The black-headed laughing gulls are beginning to show up as they pass through as usual this time of year.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:45P

End Time:  7:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 3.56 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:   NW21 at trip’s start and for 2.5 hours, then easing back to NW17 for the balance of the trip.

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 34% illumination.

GT =  85

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas fished successfully today:  Areas vic 376 (2 hops), B0082C (3 hops), and B0062C, all fished with 5/8 oz. 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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