WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 10th, I fished with father-and-son team Joey and Wyatt Sapien.
The fishing was solid this morning after a topsy-turvy weather run over the past 5 days. Thanks to grey cloud cover and a gentle breeze, the fish bit well for the last three hours of our four hour trip.
As we wrapped things up at the close of the trip, Joey semi-exaggerated the events which played out, saying, “Yep, we caught 102 fish, and I landed about 12 of those and also managed to get both of the two snags we had to go get with the trolling motor.”
I told 12-year-old Wyatt, “See that’s the kind of things that dads to to make their sons look good!”.
Here is how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: Father-and-son time for Joey Sapien and 12-year-old Wyatt. These fellows took 102 fish on MAL Heavy and MAL Dense Lures this morning on Lake Belton.
PHOTO CAPTION: Wyatt landed the first smallmouth bass of his life this morning, then landed another one about 20 minutes later. Both took the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail counted down to a 6-count.
PHOTO CAPTION: If it eats shad, it ate the MAL Heavy Lure this morning. This largemouth bass and four others like if fell for this threadfin shad imitator; a few others were lost “on the jump” before the made it over the gunwale.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 10 April 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Our first hour was a bit slow as it was pretty gloomy thanks to thick, grey cloud cover and light winds. In our second hour, winds picked up and the sky brightened, although still fully greyed over, and the bite began to develop.
We took 47 of our first 49 fish under birds working bait with white bass and schoolie-sized largemouth below them. When we actually saw fish boiling on shad, Joey and Wyatt cast just beyond them and immediately began to retrieve; otherwise, they counted their MAL Heavy Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) down for 4 to 6 seconds and then began a moderate retrieve straight back to the boat.
This catch included 2 smallmouth bass and 5 largemouth bass.
After this action died we moved on and found another school of white bass well-spread across the bottom in ~28′ adjacent to the channel. I Spot-Locked in deep water and we cast shallower, toward the shoreline using MAL Dense Lures (chartreuse tails) with a sawtooth method.
Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
We repositioned on these fish three separate times and took our final tally up to exactly 102 fish.
Of the 102 fish we landed, 5 were largemouth bass, 4 were hybrid striped bass, 2 were smallmouth bass, and the remaining 91 fish were white bass, all of which were legal-sized fish including one white bass landed by Wyatt which measured 14 7/8-inches.
TALLY: 102 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: The laughing gulls now make up the majority of the population of gulls still inhabiting Lake Belton. These are not as credible as ringbills and terns.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:35A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F
Elevation: 14.32 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .02′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to 3 days of light rain (which produced very little runoff).
Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NE4-5 after the first hour’s calm conditions
Sky Condition: Moderate grey cloud cover all morning.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 80% illumination.
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area B0076C – 49 fish on MAL Heavy Lures sight-cast or counted down
Area B0067C – 53 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense; 3 hops
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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