WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Thursday, April 13, I fished with first time guests, Patrick and Aubri Lin from the north Austin area. I very much appreciate long time client Dwight Stone referring these folks my way for their father-daughter adventure.
Patrick and his wife, both chiropractors, have a private practice, and Aubri is a homeschooled third grader who, I might add, can handle a spinning rod pretty darn well.
Here is how the fishing went…
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 June 6, 7, and 8 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Patrick Lin and his 8-year-old daughter, Aubri, with some solid Lake Belton white bass taken mainly by working MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails vertically using a smoking tactic.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 13 April 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Today was the first day of a returning southerly wind after a week of winds from the north following last week’s cold front. As we launched, the winds were still very light from the northeast, then subsided for over an hour, and then got going, gently at first, from the southeast, slowly building up to around 6 or 7 mph.
As I compared notes at the boat ramp with others on Lake Belton, and then by phone with a buddy over on Buchanan, we agreed that the fishing was pretty slow in the first half of the morning, and then began to improve as the winds picked up. Indeed, we only landed 16 fish in our first two full hours on the water, then wound up with 68 additional fish in our final two hours – – a move than four fold increase in our catch in the last half of the morning as compared to the first half.
For all but the final 45 minutes, Patrick and Aubri used MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails fished vertically with a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. While the fishing was slow, bottom-hugging fish would, on occasion, chase the lure upward, overtake it, and get hooked.
In the final two hours as the fishing improved, fish would rise up off the bottom on their own, drawn there both by the splasher and by the commotion created by previously hooked fish struggling up through the water column, and by released fish swimming back down through the water column.
As we observe quite frequently, whenever those fish are suspended up off the bottom, those individuals highest up near the surface are the most aggressive fish. I advised Patrick and Aubri to try to target those fish individually, and attempt to bring their lures right past those fishes’ noses with the aid of LiveScope. As we sat and caught fish routinely, I regularly glanced at side-imaging, and, from time to time, spotted fishable groups of fish to the port or starboard side of the boat.
Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
When I spotted this, I coached Patrick through the process of correctly presenting the MAL Dense Lure with a sawtooth presentation. He really enjoyed the casting and found it more engaging, so, for the final 45 minutes he continued to improve his skills using that tactic and caught fish as steadily as Aubri did continuing on fishing vertically.
Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
Things were going just fine but, quite suddenly, at 12:03 PM, Patrick exclaimed, “Bob, we’ve got to go back! I’ve got to see clients at 1:45, and I didn’t realize it was already past noon.“.
Yes, time sure flies when you’re having fun.
We wrapped up this trip with exactly 84 fish caught and released, including one freshwater drum, one large mouth bass, 11 short hybrid, and 71 white bass.
TALLY: 84 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: The threadfin shad spawn has begun once again after stopping shortly after it began early last week, thanks to the cold weather from last Thursday through early this week.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 12:00P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F
Elevation: 14.41 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .04′ fall over the last 24 hrs.
Water Surface Temp: 64.3F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NE1-2 for the first 30 minutes, then calm until ~10A, then picking up SE4-6
Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 10% coverage moved in from the NW
Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 49% illumination.
GT = 5
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area B0067G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area 1882 – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area vic 1544 – 35 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area vic 1389 – 33 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
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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