WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, April 28th, I fished with David and Jill Weaver of Florence, TX. David, an Aggie, is a career veterinarian, working at a successful small animal practice in northwest Austin, and Jill retired early from her work as a financial planner.
After spending much time in and around the hospital caring for a family member of late, this outdoor experience came as a very welcome break, and at a very opportune time.
Here is how the fishing went …
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My next openings will be on June 21 and 23. 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: David and Jill Weaver really worked ‘em over this morning, boating 254 fish in a little over 4 hours’ worth of fishing. All fish were caught using MAL Dense Lures with a “smoking tactic”.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 28 April 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
With continued wind, cloud cover, and warming water, the fishing continued to be spectacular this morning.
Although the forecast called for ~75% cloud cover early with clearing to about 30% by afternoon, we had very few breaks in the grey skies all morning, which kept the light levels low and the fish on the feed.
We started our morning up as shallow as we would fish all morning (~22’ deep) and then moved progressively deeper to keep up with feeding fish, with our last fish coming out of 43’.
The schools of fish we found numbered several hundred individuals in each of the four schools we fished over top of today, as seen on down-imaging, side-imaging, traditional sonar, and Garmin LiveScope equally well.
The four areas we fished produced 76 fish, 18 fish, 14 fish, and 146 fish, respectively.
We relied on but one presentation today, using the MAL Dense (white body/chartreuse tail) vertically, retrieved using a smoking tactic. A complete description of this “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
The Garmin LiveScope help let us know when to continue reeling (as fish pursued our baits) and when to let the lure return to bottom.
David, who has a black bass fishing background, had to “unlearn” his reflexive, hard hookset in order to land more of the fish which struck his presentation, but, once he got that mastered (which he did rather quickly), he did very well.
Our final tally of 254 fish consisted of 2 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 251 white bass.
The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 254 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: The wild dewberries have begun to ripen.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 3.81 feet low, 0.02’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 67.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 at trip’s start, slowly increasing to SSE16 with gusts to 20.
Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover all morning with just a few momentary breaks of sun shining through
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 6% illumination.
GT = 105
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas vic 1804 (2 hops), 1012, 1544, and 1390
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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