WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, October 31st, I fished with first-time guests Rob Patterson and Dennis Armstrong from the Round Rock area where the men are neighbors.
Rob retired out of law enforcement and Dennis is a U.S. Navy veteran who worked in fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft maintenance.
When I asked Rob and Dennis whereabouts they lived, they mentioned exiting I-35 at the Westinghouse exit. I told them that was a dangerous exit for fishermen, as it is the “gateway to Bass Pro Shops” for those traveling in from the north!
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Rob Patterson captured our largest fish of the trip today. This 19.50″, 3.50 pound hybrid striped bass struck his MAL Original with white tail while he fished it vertically using a smoking tactic in about 40 feet of water.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Rob Patterson and Dennis Armstrong worked MAL Original Lures vertically all morning for a 105 fish catch.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 31 October 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We are into that stretch of autumn fishing now wherein if you can safely get on the water, you’ll likely make a good catch. As the water temperature falls out of the 70’s and down through the 60’s this time of year, the fishing becomes very productive, right up until we hit that 58F mark, at which time things begin to slow down a bit.
As long as the wind blew today, we caught fish. As we got going, the remnants of our last cold front (from last Thursday) blew itself out around 9:50. We experienced about an hour-long period of calm, then the winds went southerly once again. We landed 63 fish before the calm, next to no fish during the calm, and a final 42 fish once the wind began blowing again from the south.
Most all of our fish were taken fishing MAL Originals with white tails vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, save for a few fish taken by downrigging and with a sawtooth retrieve during short bouts where I demonstrated these tactics as Rob and Dennis followed along, mainly so they’d have a bit of experience whenever conditions were more conducive to those tactics.
In all, we landed 105 fish, including 4 hybrid striped bass, 1 largemouth bass, 1 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: 105 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Lake Belton is now dropping slowly once again after a small bump from recent rains. Fortunately, the dam has been shut, so there is no loss other than from pumping and evaporation now.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 12:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F
Elevation: 13.15 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 0 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 67.8F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW5 at sunrise and until ~9:50A, then calm for about an hour, then starting out of the SSW3-4 for about an hour before dying back to near calm. The NWS pretty much nailed it today!
Sky Condition: ~40% white cloud coverage for the first three hours, then clearing to <10% coverage
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 41% illumination.
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas vic 1291 (38 fish), vic 1291 (25 fish), vic 346 (19 fish), B0102G (23 fish)
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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