WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 11th, I fished with first-time guests Mike Winot and his fiancee Wanessa Skowronski who travelled in from near Rockdale, TX, to fish with me for white bass on Lake Belton.
Mike and Wanessa run both a roofing business (NewRuf.com) and the Why Not? Ranch, growing both whitetail deer and Wagyu beef cattle.
Mike is a native of Vermont, and Wanessa is a native of Brazil.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next opening will be on Thursday morning, June 16th. Weekday mornings are always best. Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day (and then until mid-March 2023).
PHOTO CAPTION: Mike Winot and Wanessa Skowronski took these nice white bass casting MAL Dense lures up shallow, just after sunrise, although the majority of our catch came vertically on slabs. The high winds made presenting baits horizontally tough to the point I felt it was negatively impacting our results, so, we went vertical instead.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 11 April 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
I probably don’t need to tell you this, but, if this spring has been one thing, that thing is: windy.
This morning was no exception. After NOAA’s high wind advisory expired at midnight, the winds, although out of the 20-30mph range, were still high.
This makes boat control an issue, limits fishing area selection, and impacts presentation choice and execution.
We found our first fish up shallow, but the cross-wind casting didn’t go well. I repositioned the boat so we could cast downwind from off of the stern, and that still wasn’t to my liking, so, we went vertical after the horizontal efforts did not pan out well. Although we caught fish, we were definitely not reaching our full potential in this way.
With wind and grey cloud cover increasing, the bite was definitely on. The question was: how long could we hang over top of the fish in open water before the rising winds pushed us off. Well, we were able to fish three areas very successfully up until 9:55A. At that point, Wanessa expressed some concerns about the wind and waves, so, with Mike’s consent, we pulled off of our fish as they were still biting to search for more fish in more protected terrain. By this time we had already landed 105 fish, mostly on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.
We found more fish where the swells were not so high, and these fish stayed active until just after 11AM. There was a definite tapering off of results between 10:05 and 11:20, during which time we added a final 38 fish to our count, again, on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.
Our final tally of 143 fish consisted of 1 freshwater drum, 4 short hybrid striped bass, and 138 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 143 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Very light, sporadic threadfin shad spawning witnessed for the first time this spring.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:05A
End Time: 11:20A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 3.7 feet low, 0.00′ change in last 24 hours, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62.0F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13 at trip’s start, gradually tapering up to SSE17 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: 40% clouds on blue sky at start, quickly going 100% grey as the morning moved on
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 71% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Shallow on MAL Dense fished horizontally: B0100G
Deep on 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab fished vertically: 2055, vic 1805, 1731, 1177
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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