WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, April 5, I finished with first time guests Richard and Al Eyster. These cousins are both retired from careers in the oil and gas industry and grew up with both freshwater and saltwater fishing experience. Al, however, didn’t do much fishing after boyhood, and estimated it had been over 30 years since he had touched a rod and reel prior to this morning’s trip.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Next available dates are June 01, 05-08 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Al and Richard Eyster enjoyed the typically above-average fishing which takes place immediately following a cold front’s passage as the north winds begin to ramp up. The pair took 144 fish today using multiple MAL Lure types with a variety of retrieves.
PHOTO CAPTION: Many folks would wake up to this and think, “Forget it!”, but, at the storm’s rate of progress west, its passage coincided with sunrise, giving us improving conditions through the morning hours.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 05 April 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We planned to start at 7:40 AM and were delayed just a few minutes as the trailing edge of a cold front passed through the area. Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning all moved from west to east, and as it did, I provided my safety talk and tactics orientation inside Richard‘s Chevy Suburban, so we would be ready to fish as soon as the rain let up and the lightning moved safely past us.
Although the action was slower in the first and last hours, we caught fish consistently from start to finish for a full four hours this morning. The fishing was made simple by the presence of shad-eating birds, including terns and a variety of gulls. Where the gulls were circling over the lake, baitfish were being driven to the surface by aggressively feeding gamefish below. Even when the birds quit, the fish, although less aggressive, still remained in the area and were easily caught. We used three different retrieves all employing, the Heavy, and the Dense versions of the MAL Lure.
When the fish were less aggressive at the beginning and end of the trip, we used the MAL Heavy vertically, and in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope by dropping to the bottom, then cranking it upward off the bottom 5 to 6 cranks while watching LiveScope for a chase.
Later, but still under dark skies, the fish begin to chase bait in the lower half of the water column. At this time, we used MAL Heavy Lures, cast them out, let them sink to bottom, and brought them back with a straight, plain-Jane retrieve at a moderate cadence.
Once the skies brightened, the fish moved out deeper but were still feeding aggressively and were covering a large area of bottom, as seen on side-imaging. With this scenario, we cast the heaviest MAL, the MAL Dense, out horizontally, allowed it to sink with an open bail and worked it back to the boat using the sawtooth method.
If he said it once, he said it about a dozen times … Richard stated, “I really need to get one of these LiveScopes.” We then consider the major events lying ahead such as Fathers’ Day, his birthday, Christmas, etc. You can put two and two together.
By 11:50 AM we were headed back to the dock with 144 fish landed, including eight hybrids, striped bass, one blue, catfish, and 135 white bass with several fish right at the 14 inch mark
TALLY: 144 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: As the north winds increased following the front’s wet, stormy passage, the bite also increased.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:50A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F (falling from 76F at 5AM, just hours before the front moved in)
Elevation: 14.27 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to passage of a violent, albeit brief, thunderstorm right at sunset Monday night.
Water Surface Temp: 65.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NW4 at trip’s start after the cold front’s passage, building up to NW14 as we left the lake
Sky Condition: Slowly decreasing cloud cover going from 100% grey to 30% white by noon.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination.
GT = 105
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 817 – 57 fish early
Area B0067G – 57 fish in 2 short hops adjacent to river channel
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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