WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday evening, March 23rd, I fished with first-time guests Greg and Ethan Nordick, father-and-son team from Georgetown, TX.
Ethan is working his way through school and enjoys playing soccer, while Greg makes a living as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) after recently moving to Texas from the Northeast where most of Greg’s prior fishing experience came fishing from the bank along area rivers.
Here is how the fishing went…
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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
Next available dates are April 13 (PM), May 9 (AM), 15 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Father-and-son team Greg and Ethan Nordick took 89 fish in 3.5 hours on Lake Belton this past Thursday evening. When the fish cranked up, the MAL Heavy (chartreuse tail) was a faultless performer, putting 55 of their 89 fish in the boat in about a 45 minute span.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 23 March 2023 (PM)
HOW WE FISHED:
The weather remained stable this afternoon with SSE winds at 15-16 tapering down to SSE11-12 over the course of our 3.5 hours on the water.
The catching was moderately-paced at first with fish generally holding tight to bottom and taking a good bit of convincing to follow and strike the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs we were using at that time. It was really a numbers game — the more fish I could find concentrated in one area and the more fish we got exposed to the moving slab, the more fish we caught. Fortunately both father and son picked up on the necessity of reeling smoothly and continuously (even when their lure was being pursued by a fish) early on, and benefited from that for the remainder of the evening.
At one point during mid-afternoon we were taking fish steadily from off bottom when a small flock of gulls and terns (about 12-14 in number) began to act “fishy” a few yards from us. We trolled into the activity (and thus avoided using the outboard so as not to spook any fish) and found a very active feed going on. White bass were densely packed into this area and occupied the water column from the bottom in about 30′ up to about 14′ beneath the surface — there were, literally, hundreds of fish in this area.
Since the fellows already had slabs on and were already familiar with using them, we started off with them, but, when I experimented with a faster, flashier MAL Heavy (with chartreuse tail) and got multiple hits and three hooked fish on three drops of the lure to the bottom, I quickly changed Greg and Ethan over to the MAL Heavy and they went on a fish-catching spree which lasted about 45 minutes, during which time they took their fish count from 26 fish to 81 fish landed — a 55 fish haul in a short period of time.
That seemed to be the real peak feed for the afternoon, as we never saw another strong feed by fish either on sonar nor indicated by birds from that time (around 6p) until we wrapped up at 7p.
I normally fish right at 4 hours, but this evening we stopped at about the 3.5 hour mark as Greg had to get dinner for he and Ethan taken care of, and drive back to Georgetown, and get ready for an early day at the hospital the next day.
We ended up with a total of 89 fish landed, of which 86 where white bass, with 2 freshwater drum and 1 largemouth bass thrown in for good measure.
TALLY: 89 fish caught and released
Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile:
0 feet, 64.1F
5 feet, 62.6F
10 feet, 61.1F
15 feet, 60.3F
20 feet, 60.1F
25 feet, 60F
30 feet, 59.4F
35 feet,59.2F
40 feet, 58.9F
45 feet, 58.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:30P
End Time: 7P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F
Elevation: 14.24 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.
Water Surface Temp: 64.1F on the surface thanks to warmth and mixing by wind overnight
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE15-16 at trip’s start, slowly falling off to SSE10-12 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: 60% white cloud cover on a blue sky for ~75 minutes, transitioning to 80+% grey clouds thereafter
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 4% illumination.
GT = 50
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1909 – 1 fish
Area B0015C/B0178C – 9 fish
Area 2052 – 2 fish
Area B0064G – 14 fish
Area 0141 – 55 fish
Area B0057C – 5 fish
Area B0086C – 3 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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