WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 24, I fished with returning guest, Mr. Ronnie White. The last time Ronnie fished with me he brought three of his grandsons along for spring break – Reid, Braxton, and Brayton. This time, he brought his son, Justin, and two more grandsons, Jacob and Joshua, along.
Justin and the boys, 11-year-old twins, drove up from south of Austin to spend Saturday and Sunday with grandparents prior to this morning‘s trip, and then joined me around 7:10A to hunt for white bass.
Here is how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ronnie, Jacob, Joshua, and Justin White with a portion of their 200-fish catch, all taken on MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails on Lake Belton following a weekend cold snap.
PHOTO CAPTION: Justin White took our single largest fish of the trip. This was the very first fish landed after we began working lures horizontally with a “sawtooth” tactic under feeding Franklin’s gulls.
PHOTO CAPTION: Joshua White took this just-legal Belton Lake hybrid striped bass on an MAL Heavy Lure worked vertically with a “smoking” tactic.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 24 April 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
I wasn’t certain how this weekend’s crazy weather was going to impact the fishing. We experienced a record low for April 21 yesterday with a 49°F air temperature prior to sunrise. This morning’s temperature at sunrise was only 50F, but fortunately the rain chances dropped out of the picture overnight. So, we were faced with a cool, cloudy, spring day, which was quite comfortable with appropriate clothing on.
As we got going right around 7:10 AM, I was encouraged as I saw white herons fidgeting along the bank indicating they were finding spawning shad to consume. As we headed for our first location, I saw more white herons, blue herons, and Franklin’s gulls all vigorously working a wind blown shoreline. There was a roughly 1/8 mile segment of bare limestone shoreline which was being used by millions of spawning shad with some gamefish in the mix, as well.
I had suggested to Ronnie that he coach the boys on casting with spinning gear over the weekend so if we encountered this scenario we could take full advantage of it. Ronnie took me up on that, and that investment paid off, as we put our first dozen fish in the boat by casting MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails using a countdown method into this action.
Unfortunately, the only time the sun showed all morning was just as these fish and birds were getting going, and that bright sun pretty quickly killed that shallow water action.
For the remainder of the trip we worked MAL Heavies both vertically and horizontally for very aggressive, heavily congregated fish in anywhere from 28 to 38 feet of water. We fished five areas after the spawning-related action dried up, with the last area made obvious to us by the feeding activity of Franklin’s gulls.
Whenever side-imaging and down-imaging indicated that fish were only directly beneath us, we used the smoking tactic to work the MAL Lures vertically. On occasions, where greater numbers of fish appeared to the port or starboard side of the boat than beneath the boat, I put all four anglers to the side (for safety) with the most fish showing on side-imaging and had them cast horizontally using the sawtooth method to catch fish in that manner. By 11:30, they landed our 200th fish with the fish activity dropping off rapidly. Yes, the Whites caught the whites!!
The boys had just about worn out, so, I suggested we wrap up on a good note before diminishing returns kicked in.
Our 200 fish catch included 22 hybrid striped bass of which 2 were legal, 3 freshwater drum, and the balance white bass.
Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
TALLY: 200 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Despite the cold snap, shad spawning continued this morning. Once again, Franklin’s gulls were very active and helpful in fishing-finding in the final 75 minutes of the trip.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:10A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F
Elevation: 14.36 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.00′ rise over the last 24 hrs.
Water Surface Temp: 64.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NNE8 all morning.
Sky Condition: 100% grey skies after ~7:50A
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 20% illumination.
GT = 35
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1080 thru 1078 – 12 fish on MAL Heavies counted down over whites on spawning shad
Area 1552 – 22 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area 1945/B0148C – 17 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area 1325/150 – 34 fish on smoked MAL Heavies
Area B0198G/B0005C – 115 fish on smoked MAL Heavies & sawtoothed MAL Dense Lures (3 short 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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