WHO I FISHED WITH:This morning, Tuesday, April 11th, I fished with members of the Oliver family – – some of my oldest clients in terms of years they’ve been coming out with me.
This morning, Jack Oliver coordinated the trip for his three adult boys, Asa, Isaac, and Eli, as well as for two of his three brothers – – Joe and Jamie (we’re gonna get Jeff out before long!!).
As it turned out, a family emergency arose just as we begin fishing our first spot. I took Joe back in so he could tend to that at the same time Isaac, who was arriving an hour late, was just pulling up. So, I only had a net of five people aboard at any given time this morning.
Here is how the fishing went.…
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left Jamie, Asa, Jack, Isaac, and Eli Oliver with a sampling of the nice fish they caught and released on Lake Belton using the MAL Heavy with a sawtooth tactic.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 11 April 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
This morning’s conditions were the toughest I’ve faced in quite some time. The cold front, which came in late last week, had its high pressure fully built in this morning, meaning, no cloud cover, bright sunshine, and calm conditions. Accordingly, we struggled not to find fish, but to get fish we found to get excited about chasing and biting our lures.
I found that parking right on top of the most dense schools of fish I could possibly find and using an easing tactic with 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at least began to put fish in the boat as one in perhaps every 15 to 25 fish would begin swimming upwards after the lure with enough gusto to overtake it and bite.
Things stayed tough until right around 10 AM when a light northeast breeze begin to move the water and puffy white clouds begin to move in from the southwest.
Things started happening quickly at this point. I combed over an area with sonar and found fish blanketing the bottom, yet not very far up off of it, for a span of about 100 yards. Seeing there was no brush in the area, I moved shallower than, and parallel to, this group of fish hanging on the 28 foot contour mark. I Spot-Locked, put everyone abreast of one another on the starboard gunwale, and had them cast out horizontally using MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails using the sawtooth method.
Immediately, we started boating fish after fish as they came over the side as singles, doubles, and even a few triples. We worked that area thoroughly with two “short hops” after the initial anchorage for about 90 minutes picking up 51 fish there.
Around 11:45, those fish gave out and I made a move and found a nearly identical scenario some distance away. We did the same thing using the MAL heavies with a sawtooth method, and put a final 16 fish in the boat.
Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
One huge take away today was how much more interested these fish were in a horizontal retrieve than in a vertical retrieve.
Included in our tally of 145 fish this morning were four short hybrid stripers, two freshwater drum, one flathead catfish, one largemouth bass, and 137 white bass, of which approximately 27 were short.
TALLY: 145 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile down to 45’…
0 feet, 63.8F
5 feet, 63.9F
10 feet, 64.1F
15 feet, 63.9F
20 feet, 63.8F
25 feet, 63.7F
30 feet, 63.5F
35 feet, 62.8F
40 feet, 61.7F
45 feet, 61.2F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 8A
End Time: 12:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F
Elevation: 14.32 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .00′ change over the last 24 hrs.
Water Surface Temp: 63.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NE4-5 after the first 2 hours’ calm conditions
Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 25% coverage moved in from the SW
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 80% illumination.
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1819 – 7 fish under low-light conditions on smoked MAL Heavies
Area B0016C – 18 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area B0184C – 12 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area 0149 – 41 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area B0066G – 51 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense
Area vic 0141 – 16 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense
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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