WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, April 12th, I fished with a portion of the Oliver clan – longtime clients from the Temple/Belton area.
With me today was Pa Oliver and three of his four adult sons, Joe, Jamie, and Jack.
Pa celebrates his 92nd birthday this month and this trip, as well as the lunch to follow, was in celebration of that milestone.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next opening will be on Monday morning, June 20th. Weekday mornings are always best. Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trip (until mid-March 2023).
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Joe, Jamie, Pa, and Jack Oliver with Lake Belton white bass taken under classic white bass conditions – a grey, windy morning in advance of storm activity. Pa is definitely grinning the most!!!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 12 April 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The catching followed a bell-shaped curve this morning, with a slow start, a ramp-up of activity, a plateau of heavy action, followed by a slowdown to a final stoppage just after the 11 o’clock hour.
With high winds impacting us once again, four anglers aboard, and Pa needing to remain seated, I looked specifically for scenarios where we could fish vertically, to the exclusion of working shallow water under low light conditions, which has been producing well of late.
The murky start to the morning kept the light level unusually low (it actually drizzled for much of our first hour on the water) and so the fishing was spotting until the skies brightened up a bit.
We found groups of fish and caught them well, but did not draw other fish in to us from the surrounding area until the still fully-grey sky brightened and the fish turned on.
We fished only three areas this morning, with our second stop producing the lion’s share (195 of 242 fish).
Because Jamie was willing to experiment for variety’s sake, I put an MAL Dense (chartreuse tail) on his rod, while everyone else fished a white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. I thought, if anything, his fish might be a tad larger on average, just due to the lure’s larger profile. His results were identical to everyone else’s, however.
All of our fishing was vertical using a moderate “smoking” retrieve in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.
As good as LiveScope is, there are a few things which can prove counterproductive – not with the Garmin technology, but, rather, with angler response to what they are seeing. These are things I find myself having to try to coach folks through. The first is the temptation to alter retrieve cadence once a fish shows itself on sonar. Some folks speed up, others slow down, yet others stop their retrieve altogether. When it comes to white bass, all of these are “deal breakers”. The fish will simply turn away and no longer pursue the bait. Keeping the bait moving at the same speed which attracted the fish in the first place is critical.
The Oliver crew has experienced this with me first hand previously, so, their results were atypically positive for the conditions today because there was next to no learning curve for them to get through.
Our final tally of 242 fish consisted of 1 freshwater drum, 9 short hybrid striped bass, and 232 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 242 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: 11:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F
Elevation: 3.73 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 62.70F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13 at trip’s start, gradually tapering up to SSE16-17 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning with drizzle in the first hour
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 80% illumination.
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
B0100G thru B0026G (3 hops), vic 812, and 354/1177
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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