WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, November 17th, I fished returning guest Floyd Falter of Temple, and his friend, Mr. Doyle Davis of Moffat, Texas.
The two became friends through their Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Belton.
Floyd, a U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army veteran, is 89 years old. Doyle, once a Texas National Guardsman, recently turned 80.
Our target species was white bass on Lake Belton.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Mr. Floyd Falter (age 89) and his buddy from Sunday School, Mr. Doyle Davis (age 80), came up with 58 fish this morning under increasingly tough post-frontal conditions.
PHOTO CAPTION: Doyle finished out the trip with a bang, landing a “triple” — one fish on each of the 3 spoons on the 3-armed umbrella rig we were trolling at the time.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 17 November 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Given Floyd and Doyle’s age, I had to really think through some of the things I often take for granted when it came to launch site selection, passenger loading and unloading, seating & moving about in the boat, and the fishing tactics we’d employ.
Even though this morning’s weather was (much) less than ideal for fishing, it made for a safer, more enjoyable outdoor experience. We had skies clearing to cloudless and wind diminishing to calm as our Veterans’ Day cold front finally played out today and went “post-frontal”.
The whole “watch your bait on LiveScope while adjusting your retrieve to fish response” thing wasn’t something the fellows really caught onto all that well, nor was horizontally presenting baits via a sawtooth method of retrieve, so, as an alternative, we did a lot of downrigging today. This allowed the fellows to stay seated and enjoy a steady catch rate from start to finish this morning.
I upsized the baits to #13 Pet Spoons (versus the #12’s I use over the summer) and mixed white tails and yellow tails together on the 3-armed umbrella rigs in order to best imitate the size of shad we are encountering this time of year.
For the fourth consecutive trip, gulls were helpful in getting us to the general location where we would catch our fish. I then used sonar, especially well-tuned side-imaging, to find the spot on the spot.
When all was said and done, the fellows fished for about 3.25 hours and were ready to head back in by around 10:30. By that time, we’d managed a catch of 58 fish, including 3 hybrid striped bass and 55 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: 58 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: 1) 4th consecutive day of helpful bird activity. Birds active 8:15 – 9:00, then 9:45 – 10:15. 2) Temperature profile yesterday was as follows:
0 feet 63.7F
5 feet 64.1F
10 feet 64.3F
15 feet 64.4F
20 feet 64.4F
25 feet 64.4F
30 feet 64.4F
35 feet 64.4F
40 feet 64.4F
45 feet 64.3F
50 feet 64.1F
55 feet 63.8F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F
Elevation: 13.30 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 63.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: WSW4-6 for the first hour, then tapering back to light and variable.
Sky Condition: A grey bank of clouds in the eastern sky quickly cleared to a bright, cloudless sky.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 41% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
-Downrigged within that patch of bottom bordered by Areas B0013C/1543/966/967/715/1544
-Smoked for a few fish under bird at B0159G/B0042G
-Finished up downrigging at vic 714
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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