WHO I FISHED WITH: What a morning! I had a completely full boat today. I’m Coast Guard rated for 8 and had seven passengers plus me aboard this morning at 7:45A. Mr. Don Bousquet, owner of the Ragin’ Cajun boat/RV storage area just uphill from Temple Lake Park on West Adams Ave., ramrodded the whole deal, setting up the trip for his son-in-law (Guy Slimp), brother-in-law (Larry Miller), and the five kids which accompanied them – Hudson Slimp (13), Luke Carlson (12), Cameron Miller (10), Townes Slimp (6), and Calvin Slimp (4).
Essentially, the four older boys did the fishing, while Guy helped Calvin until Calvin discovered the livewell and focused on the captive fish in there the remainder of the trip, at which time Guy then covered down on Townes to try to help him out. Larry was the photographer/videographer and snack passer-outer.
Well, after passing out nearly all of the glazed donuts and all of the cream-filled donuts (~ 2 dozen of them in roughly the first 70 minutes), the large white donut box lay ignored on the floor of the boat. As we motored to another fishing area, said white box blew out of the boat and landed in Lake Belton. After executing a U-turn, said box was retrieved with my landing net, along with a few soggy donuts and donut remnants. Now, fast forward to around 11AM … while everyone, except 4-year-old Calvin, is engaged in the fishing in the stern of the boat, Guy (Calvin’s dad) asks, “Hey, where’s Calvin?” Guy and I look toward the bow of the boat and spot Calvin, curled up against the forward bulkhead like a little raccoon with his paws clawing through the soggy donuts for a little pre-lunch appetizer!! Guy and I looked at each other and just shook our heads
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Here’s the crew (and a few fish, too!) … from left, back row: Guy Slimp, Luke Carlson, Hudson Slimp, and Larry Miller; from left, front row: Calvin (The Raccoon) & Towne Slimp, & Cameron Miller
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 29 October 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We were fishing in the aftermath of a cold front’s passage which moved through the day before from about 9A to noon, so, by the time we hit the water, the fish were already getting in that post-frontal funk, but, we moved a good bit, caught the most aggressive fish from the schools we located, and then moved on and continued to do likewise in order to piece together a decent trip.
When all was said and done, we wound up fishing six distinct areas and, at most of them we wound up making a “short hop” or two from our original stop location in order to go to fish seen on side-imaging, knowing that due to the weather situation those fish were unlikely to move toward us.
We used MAL Original Lures with white tails the entire morning save for one short bout of downrigging when I spotted a few fish up shallow (20-24′) which were scattered horizontally on a fairly flat area. Everyone used the “smoking” tactic with spinning gear in combination with Garmin LiveScope to make our catch.
By the time we needed to wrap up so the crew could grab a quick lunch and head south to a flag-football game, my boatload of eager anglers had landed 75 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 3 hybrid stripers, 3 freshwater drum, and 67 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: 75 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Lake Belton was still rising slightly (0.06′ overnight) from rains we got on Monday and Friday. Level is 13.08′ low. Additionally, USACE has stopped all flow through the dam.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F
Elevation: 13.08 feet low, 0.06′ rise in last 24 hours, 0 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 70.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW15 at sunrise slowly increasing to NW17 by trip’s end. This was an atypical cold front in that after the front passed, a low pressure system moved in behind it, thus, we had a prolonged period of rain and an even longer spell of cloud cover. The winds stayed more westerly, and the temperature did not drop sharply as with a dry cold front.
Sky Condition: Light grey skies with 100% cloud coverage for the entire trip.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 20% illumination.
GT = 245
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas 387, B0173C, vic 1945, 1012, 150/1325, vic 1482
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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