WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 25 Feb., I fished with the Walthall family from near Lorena.
Jay and Nikkie just came along as spectators on this “Kids Fish, Too!” trip which was just for their boys, Clayton (almost 12), and Levy (age 10). This was in celebration of Clayton’s forthcoming birthday in early March.
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Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php
Here is how the fishing went …
PHOTO CAPTION: I think this photo perfectly captures the morning. Clayton’s face (front left) communicates some discomfort from the cold, while his brother’s beams with excitement over the fish they worked hard to capture.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 25 February 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We are truly on the cusp of the spring fishery really turning on. The primary thing I see happening right now which convinces me of this are the already large schools of white bass “massing” into even larger schools of several hundred fish each and using the edges of the Leon River channel as a migration route. I’ve now witnessed six occurrences of this in my last three outings.
This morning, given the cold conditions (41F when we linked up) and the boys’ limited experience with this sort of fishing, we kept it super-simple and worked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically 100% of the time using a “slow-smoking” tactic.
All but one of the locations we worked attracted fish by virtue of topography. The one exception was where we found a school of many hundreds of fish suspended over 55+ feet of water moving very slowly upstream along the old river channel. These fish were not really interested in feeding, but, when enough of them were in close proximity to one another and the boys worked their slabs just right, we could provoke “competition bites” or “reflex bites”.
Here is a link to my tutorial on using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with a slow-smoking tactic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ
Our 48 fish tally included 3 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, 2 legal hybrid striped bass, and 42 white bass, of which 39 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).
TALLY: 48 fish caught and released
Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: A flock of ~20 terns led the way to our first area this morning, and a larger flock of ~70 terns pointed the way to the large, migratory school of white bass mentioned above.
Temperature profile taken on 23 Feb:
0 feet, 57.4F
5 feet, 57.4F
10 feet, 56.9F
15 feet, 55.3F
20 feet, 54.3F
25 feet, 53.7F
30 feet, 53.2F
35 feet, 52.5F
40 feet, 52.3F
45 feet, 52.0F
50 feet, 51.9F
55 feet, 51.9F
60 feet, 51.7F
65 feet, 51.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 8A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F
Elevation: 13.90 feet low, ~.01′ 24-hour fall, 24 CFS flow.
Water Surface Temp: 54.6F on the surface
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-10 all morning
Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud coverage all day
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 32% illumination.
GT = 5
Wx SNAPSHOT:
N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1552 (2 hops), 17 fish
Area B0197G (large migratory school), 24 fish
Area B0149C, 5 fish
Area vic 717, 2 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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