THIS ACCOUNTANT WORKED HIS ASSETS OFF — 52 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, September 14th, I fished with first time guest Mostafa Kassem of Round Rock, TX.

Mostafa is an accountant and graduate of Texas State in San Marcos.  He recently left an accounting position and is heading to greener pastures up in Dallas come Monday, also in the field of accounting.

While in the transition, he’s been trying to get in as much fishing as he can, knowing that life is going to get real busy, real quick.

In the past few weeks Mostafa has fished for trout in Arkansas, gone offshore out of Port Aransas, and has fished inshore out of Rockport.  His day with me on Stillhouse in pursuit of white bass was his final stop before the new job begins.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION:  Mostafa Kassem show one of three sets of triples he landed as we downrigged in open water for suspended white bass holding about 36 feet off bottom.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  The MAL Dense, which is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lure family, took 37 of our 52 fish today.  The balance came on downrigged Pet Spoons.  The MAL Dense is easily distinguished from all other MAL Lures, as it is the only one with a painted body and tail.  All other have a silver body.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 14 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Mostafa and I corresponded by text a good bit in the three days preceding this trip.  He expressed a desire to learn as many techniques as he could.  I explained that I could assure him of using at least three of the four tactics I typically rely upon in the summer months:  smoking vertically, using the sawtooth method horizontally, downrigging, and, if the fish cooperated, topwater sight-casting.

As it turned out, there was very little topwater action today as the winds shifted from the E to S, so, we wound up doing all but the topwater.

We started well and ended well this morning, with the 9:15 to 10:15 timeframe (during which the wind went slack as it shifted from E to S) being pretty quiet.

The first group of fish we found were actually suspended in a horizontal band, but responded well as I Spot-Locked atop of them and created commotion with our presentations which drew them in and got them competing with one another.

We worked MAL Dense Lures (chartreuse tails) vertically using a smoking tactic aided by Garmin LiveScope as we fished for these suspended fish.

After the fishes’ interest waned on that one location, we expanded our coverage by putting twin downriggers out and working in the same general area, with that former Spot-Lock position remaining the center of our bullseye.  We worked #12 Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs on two downriggers (6  baits in the water).

The downriggers actually exceeded my expectation, producing three sets of triples, two doubles, and two singles — 15 fish in all — before the fish dissipated.

We then worked through a bit of a lull and then wrapped up with a great final 75 minutes primarily working MAL Dense Lures (with chartreuse tails) horizontally using a sawtooth tactic over ~47 feet of water.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 52 fish catch consisted of 100% legal white bass with numerous fish exceeding 14 inches.

TALLY:  52 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The white bass were atypically prone to suspending in horizontal bands early in the trip today.  Temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 84.0F
5 feet 84.0F
10 feet 83.8F
15 feet 83.6F
20 feet 83.4F
25 feet 83.4F
30 feet 83.1F
35 feet 82.6F
40 feet 82.1F
45 feet 75.7F
50 feet 68.5F
55 feet 64.9F
60 feet 62.9F

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time:  12:05P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 8.93 feet low,  0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  E5 through 9:15, then slack for ~ 1 hour, then shifting to S7-8

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise then gaining a white haze over the rest of the AM

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 81% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 258 – first 90 minutes of action starting off with schooled fish responding to smoking, then transitioning to downrigging and expanding our coverage

Area 1433/SH0210G – final 75 minutes of excellent sawtooth action

 

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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