WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday evening, April 14th, I fished with returning guest Cooper Rogers from the Georgetown area. Cooper had previously come out with me for on-the-water sonar training. Joining Cooper on this adventure was his 9-year-old son, Colton.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next 2 openings will be on May 11th and June 21st. 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 trips (until mid-March 2023).
PHOTO CAPTION: Colton Rogers stands by his dad, Cooper, who holds a sweet 5.50-pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken in under 15′ just before sunset on an MAL Dense with chartreuse tail.
PHOTO CAPTION: A dry, NE breeze at ~13mph moved the water and cranked up the afternoon bite on deep water white bass. We landed a total of 100 fish from across four different areas, all on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, before heading up shallow for our final hour.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 14 April 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
With a clearing, drying NE wind now blowing at ~13mph this afternoon and rising water temperatures, the fish were turned on real well.
Due to his age, we did a pre-fishing trial run at the vertical “smoking” tactic I intended to use for the majority of the trip with Colton until I was confident that the smoothness of his retrieve and cadence of his retrieve was sufficient to draw fish attention. Once that was accomplished, we set out in search of fish.
We were very fortunate to find fish at each of the first four locations I searched, landing 25 fish at the first location in only 23 feet of water, 28 fish at the first location in 31 feet of water, 7 fish at the third location in 33 feet of water, and 40 fish in the fourth location in 28 feet of water.
All of these fish were taken on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab fished with a smoking tactic used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. Each location fished similiarly with an immediate, strong response, followed by steady catching for a while, then followed by a slow down, indicating the time had come to move on.
By 6:40, we’d already amassed a catch of 100 fish, and I could tell young Colton’s interest was waning. He took frequent “breaks”, and his technique was becoming less and less consistent.
Observing this, I suggested we spend the remainder of our trip up in shallower water, seeking white bass moving up shallow to feed on shad prior to sunset, and attempting to catch them casting horizontally using MAL Dense lures brought back to the boat with a “sawtooth” retrieve.
Both fellows were up for that, so, we headed up shallow. The first 20 minutes or so produced fish slowly but steadily; in the last 40 minutes the fish really put on a show as they began to feed near (not at) the surface, thus occasionally showing themselves and/or chasing bait such that the bait leapt out of the water allowing us to see their exact location. This allowed for a mix of blind casting with sight casting and really topped the evening off. Cooper landed a 5.5 -pound hybrid striper, the first legal hybrid I’ve had landed in over a month (although I am not specifically targeting them this year).
Our final tally of 120 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 4 short hybrid striped bass, 1 legal hybrid striped bass, and 112 white bass.
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 120 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: The water temperature profile this afternoon was as follows:
0 feet 68.6F
5 feet 68.6F
10 feet 68.4F
15 feet 67.8F
20 feet 66.4F
25 feet 64.7F
30 feet 64.4F
35 feet 63.7F
40 feet 62.3F
45 feet 60.8F
50 feet 59.6F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:45P
End Time: 7:55P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F
Elevation: 3.57 feet low, 0.03′ rise in last 24 hours, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 68.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: ENE13 at trip’s start, tapering down to ENE6 by sunset.
Sky Condition: Clear, light blue skies following the arrival of a mild, dry cold front overnight
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 93% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 1000, 1819/1934, 327, 412, and 527
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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