WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 30th, I fished with first-time guests Jason Soliz and his sons, Rowdy and Rawley Soliz, of Belton, TX.
Rowdy and Rawley’s grandmother, Connie Stermer, got them a fishing gift certificate last Christmas and today was the day they decided to redeem it.
Jason has been with the same drywall company based in Round Rock, TX, for many years, Rowdy, age 20, is a student at Blynn College, and Rawley, age 16, is a student at Lake Belton High School.
My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 31 Dec. (New Year’s Eve)
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Rowdy Soliz with our largest fish of the morning, a 5.75-pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass which fell for a white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked under birds.
PHOTO CAPTION: This was typical of what I found under the birds this morning — a limestone lake bottom just crawling with well-organized, highly mobile groups of gamefish (mainly white bass and hybrid stripers) patrolling hard after threadfin shad. This screenshot came from my Humminbird Solix 15.
PHOTO CAPTION: Rawley Soliz came up with the 5.125-pound hybrid working the same white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab which accounted for all 170 of our fish this morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: Not to be outdone by his boys, Jason Soliz anteed up with a 4-pound class hybrid of his own.
PHOTO CAPTION: The most remarkable thing to me about this morning’s catch was the size of the white bass. Of 170 fish caught, 132 were white bass. Of those 132 white bass, only six fish were “short” (under 10″) during a time of year when small fish are often the norm.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
This morning was a fishing guide’s dream in that 1) the birds worked for a full 4-hours showing me right where to go to find fish without having to slowly search with sonar, and 2) there was not another soul on the water to take advantage of it.
A dry cold front pushed into Central Texas around 1AM with high, gusty winds through around 5AM. Those winds then plateaued around 16 mph (straight line), thus making it safe to venture out in a boat the size of mine.
The fishing on the lead edge of these fronts is usually spectacular up until the wind velocity begins to decrease, and with it the intensity of the bite. The winds did not let up this morning, nor did the fish, nor the birds responding to those fish. Hundreds of gulls were working multiple active schools of fish and bait at any given time.
We kept it simple and effective this morning using white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to do 100% of our catching. This bait combines the fast sink-rate of a lead slab with the spinning blade (borrowed from MAL Lure technology) to produce a very effective, shad-imitating bait which can be both seen and felt by fish. We worked this bait vertically for fish which were both on bottom and suspended, aided by Garmin LiveScope.
The fish were quite mobile this morning, hence, we moved a lot, albeit only short distances, in order to keep up with the most aggressive activity. We may well have been able to move less and “sit and wait” for fish to pass beneath us, but, when for just a bit more effort we could enjoy a “gimme”, why not do it?
When all was said and done, the Soliz clan landed 170 fish including 9 legal hybrid, 17 short hybrid striped bass, 7 freshwater drum, 5 largemouth bass, and 132 white bass with just 6 short fish in that catch of 132 whites.
TALLY: 170 fish caught and released
Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: 1) 12th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active from 7:30A-11:20A. This was the most intense bird action involving the greatest number of birds I’ve observed so far this fall.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:25A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F
Elevation: 12.88 feet low, 0.03 rise in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 58.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: NW16 all morning; winds began to lighten right at ~11:25 as fish and birds began to shut down.
Sky Condition: Clear, cloudless, “bluebird” skies
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 49% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT: Dry front moved through overnight and left awesome fishing in its wake this morning…
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1177 — 28 fish under birds
Area 1292 — 12 fish under birds
Area 1482 — 15 fish under birds
Area 841 — 7 fish under birds
Area 1750 — 6 fish under birds
Area 1390 — 8 fish under birds
Area B0052G — 19 fish under birds
Area vic 213 — 20 fish under birds
Area 2038 — 20 fish under birds
Area 682 — 35 fish under birds
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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