WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, 27 Oct., I welcomed returning guests Bill York and Gardiner Henderson aboard for a half-day trip on Lake Belton in pursuit of white bass.
The men came out with me once before, accompanied by Gardiner’s wife, and enjoyed some fast springtime action. Both men’s spouses were to join us today, but, when the forecast low for the morning’s start time hit the high 40’s, they changed their minds.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Gardiner Henderson hoists our largest fish of the trip, a 4.25-pound hybrid striped bass taken on the MAL Original with white tail in ~40 feet of water, as Bill York looks on.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Bill York and Gardiner Henderson put 106 fish in the boat (including 99 white bass) as the white bass fed steadily from sunrise to about four hours hence this morning.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 October 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Today we saw the first morning with a returning southerly wind following the most recent cold front which blew in Mon. night into Tues. morning.
The SSE wind was rippling the surface before sunrise, and, with no cloud cover to obscure the brightening morning sky, the fish went right to work feeding just a few minutes after sunrise.
We caught fish steadily from start to finish, with the peak of the activity taking place from about 10:00 to 10:40AM. During this time, Garmin LiveScope showed enhanced fish activity which included 1) fish swimming faster as they moved parallel to the bottom, 2) fish suspending up higher off the bottom (as much as halfway up into the water column), and 3) a much higher catch rate as more fish from a given school would chase and overtake our presentations.
All of our fishing was vertical this morning with the MAL Original with white tail doing all the catching while Bill and Gardiner used the “smoking” tactic described in the video link below.
For our efforts, we wound up boating exactly 106 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 2 hybrid striped bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 99 white bass.
TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
TALLY: 106 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird activity yet sighted. The water temperature profile was as follows:
0 feet 69.6F
5 feet 70.0F
10 feet 70.3F
15 feet 70.3F
20 feet 70.3F
25 feet 70.3F
30 feet 70.3F
35 feet 70.3F
40 feet 70.3F
45 feet 70.3F
50 feet 70.3F
55 feet 69.4F
60 feet 64.4F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation: 13.07 feet low, 0.00′ fall in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow – the overnight rain from Monday simply prevented any losses, but no gains were made on water level.
Water Surface Temp: 69.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5 slowly and steadily increasing to SSE12
Sky Condition: Bright, clear, cool, dry conditions
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 5% illumination.
GT = 125
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas B0159G, B0160G, B0089C/1555, B0161G, B0059G
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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