WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, November 12th, I fished with new clients Brandon Ray of Belton, TX, and Tom Buckner of Corpus Christi.
The two first became acquainted when Brandon, then a college student pursuing his master’s degree at A&M Corpus, served as mate on a sportfishing charter boat Tom captained on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Brandon now works in the construction industry and Tom is nearing retirement from teaching physics at a parochial high school.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Buckner’s 16.75″, was among the top 10 white bass I’ve had a client land from Lake Belton in 17 years guiding and in 30 years of fishing that body of water. That’s a 14-incher next to by comparison.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tom Buckner and Brandon Ray enjoyed “pole-to-pole” action this morning thanks to a steady NW wind in the wake of a strong cold front’s passage around 10A yesterday, complete with a tornado, multiple hailstorms, multiple severe thunderstorms and some much-needed runoff-producing rains.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 12 November 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Man were the fish turned on by the weather which followed the passage of a cold front yesterday!
The winds kept right on blowing overnight and well into the morning right at 13-14 mph. My experience in dealing with the autumn cold fronts tells me that the fishing will normally be excellent right up until the winds peak; once the wind velocity begins to taper, so does the bite. Once the winds die, the bite does likewise, normally until a southerly breeze returns.
It was only necessary to fish 4 areas this morning. Less moving and looking meant more productive time spent catching.
I was drawn to the last 2 of those 4 areas by bird activity — the first helpful bird activity of the autumn on Lake Belton. Although there were only 9 gulls working, they worked for a full 2 hours. Once they left, the fish stayed active for another 20 minutes or so, and then the fishing began a downhill slide
We used the “smoking” tactic described in the video link below to catch 100% of the fish we boated today, varying our retrieve speed as the fishes’ enthusiasm level ebbed and flowed with time of day.
We began the day in under 30′ and used MAL Originals (white tails) for that work, then moved deeper as the sun rose higher and the clouds thinned and used MAL Heavy Barbless lures (chartreuse tails) for that work.
Brandon and Tom landed exactly 200 fish including 190 white bass, 6 hybrid striped bass, 2 largemouth bass, & 2 freshwater drum. Tom’s largest white bass, which was just shy of 16″, was among the top 10 white bass I’ve had a client land from Lake Belton in 17 years guiding and in 30 years of fishing that body of water.
TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
TALLY: 200 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: 1)The first helpful gull action took place this morning with 9 gulls working over a ~80 yard patch of water for ~2 hours. 2) I saw the first evidence of whitetail deer rutting today. 3) a lot of migratory bird activity was going on (Sandhills, gulls, waterfowl, hawks, osprey, cormorants).
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:55A
End Time: 10:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 36F
Elevation: 13.17 feet low, 0.15′ rise in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 67.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW13-14 & steady
Sky Condition: 60% white cloud cover on a blue sky at sunrise, tapering to cloudless by trip’s end
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 85% illumination.
GT = 109
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas 1362/B0016G (27 fish, majority smallish), Area B0064G (18 fish), Area B0155G/1942 (14 fish), Area vic 1140/0149 (141 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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