WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, October 13th, I fished with long-time client, accomplished multi-species angler, big-game hunter, and all-around solid outdoorsman Dave Ross of Florence, TX.
Dave has served others for many years in his capacity as a pharmacist, currently located at the Belton HEB store.
When a scheduled sonar training session fell through for this morning, I hurriedly put a posting on Facebook letting folks know I anticipated solid fishing this morning thanks to a dry, mild, incoming cold front. I was glad when Dave contacted me about going as I knew I’d have a good angler under good conditions and would wind up catching a lot of fish as a result.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: This 7.00-pound Lake Belton largemouth bass, a personal best for Dave Ross, came on a MAL Dense Lure worked vertically with a smoking tactic in approximately 28 feet of water.
PHOTO CAPTION: Of course white bass were our target species this morning and we landed 114 of them, in addition to 9 short hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 2 largemouth bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 13 October 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was easy this morning thanks to a mild, dry, incoming cold front. Such fall and winter conditions always boost the fishing right up until the wind velocity of the incoming front reaches a peak, stabilizes, and then begins to fall off.
We fished five distinct areas with the same result at each … we saw fish up off bottom quite easily using well-tuned side-imaging (Humminbird Solix 15 w/ entire screen dedicated to this technology). We positioned precisely atop them using the i-Pilot Link interface between the trolling motor and the Solix control head. Then, we got down to catching, assisted by Garmin LiveScope. The more commotion we created by catching and releasing fish, the more fish came in for a look and fell victims to the MAL Dense Lure themselves.
The fish we found today tended to really bunch up under the boat where all the action was happening, thus, there were not many scenarios where I felt that using the sawtooth method would outperform the vertical smoking tactics.
As the morning moved on, the wind velocity increased, and the bite intensity increased with it. Once the wind speed levelled off, the bite did likewise, and, by 11:15 we agreed we were “past peak” and that the action was falling off rapidly. We wrapped it up right then instead of staying longer for an anticlimactic ending.
We landed exactly 127 fish, including 9 short hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 2 largemouth bass.
TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
TALLY: 127 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: The aggressive bite which typically accompanied incoming fall and winter cold front was definitely in play this morning – the most dramatic uptick I’ve seen so far this autumn.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 12.23 feet low, 0.13′ fall in last 24 hours, 384 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 77.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: N5-7 at trip’s start, ramping up suddenly to N12-13 around 9:50A, increasing to N14-15, then levelling off at N13-14 thereafter.
Sky Condition: Cloudless blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 86% illumination.
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0153G – 18 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures
Area vic B0064G– 25 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures
Area vic B0185G– 14 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures
Area vic 0403– 56 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures
Area vic B0158G– our final 14 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures
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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