WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, June 7, I fished with first-time guests Brandon and Wendy Hunt from Hutto, Texas.
Brandon and Wendy are both very capable anglers. They own their own small, aluminum boat, and typically fish for catfish and panfish on Decker Lake and Granger Lake.
Both have a background in medicine and work in the paramedic field.
We all had a good laugh when, as we came off plane, we heard a sort of muted, musical, electronic sort of sound. Wendy looked at a boat passing us by about 200 yards to the starboard and said, “That was kind of rude,” thinking the boat was blowing its horn at us. I smiled and told here that was actually the distant sound of Reveille being played as the U.S. flag was being raised on Fort Hood.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Next available dates are July 5, 10, 11 (all AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon Hunt took our biggest fish of the trip, a 7-pound blue catfish which slammed a downrigged #12 Pet Spoon as it slurped up tiny shad just as every other predator fish in Lake Belton is doing right now.
PHOTO CAPTION: Wendy Hunt took the first of two “triples” this morning by catching one fish on each of the three lures on the 3-armed umbrella rig we were downrigging with. Brandon landed the second triple in our final hour on the water.
PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon and Wendy show 4 of the 5 three-year class white bass they landed this morning. The other 41 white bass were all 1 and 2 year class fish.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 07 June 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
The nearly calm predawn surface on Lake Belton was eerily quiet this morning. There was nearly zero activity from bait, fish, gamefish, or even from rough fish like catfish and buffalo which normally dimple the surface under low light conditions.
I carefully patrolled five distinct areas, scrutinizing the water’s surface for topwater action before finding our first bit of success around 7:10, almost an hour after we got going this morning.
The fish we found were smaller white bass pushing young of the year shad to the surface and feeding on the small, slow baitfish. This allowed for both sight-casting with MAL Mini Rigs, as well as counting these baits down to a four-count.
We picked up our first 27 fish by 8:10 when this action ended just as the light northwest breeze which had developed just after sunrise also ended. From this point on the surface remained glassy with the cloud cover slowly increasing from 10 to 40% by trip’s end.
Although small “popcorn“ schools of white bass could be seen busting the surface in just about any direction you looked, they were not concentrated in any given area, and were very difficult to pursue.
Although we got a handful of fish fishing MAL Heavies vertically, the majority of the remainder of our cash came on downriggers as we used a pair of three armed umbrella rigs to fish six #12 Pet Spoons in three distinct locations.
By 11 AM, the heat was pouring on and so, after landing our 50th fish of the morning, we decided to call it a good trip.
Our 50 fish catch consisted of one 7-pound blue catfish, one short hybrid, one legal hybrid, and one freshwater drum with the remaining 46 fish being white bass. Of these 46 white bass, five were in the three-year class, with the rest being a roughly 50-50 split between one-year-old and two-year-old fish.
TALLY: 50 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: “Popcorn” white bass — blowing up here and there for just seconds at a time — were the rule today. Being ready to imitate the young-of-the-year shad put fish in the boat this morning under tough (clear/calm/bright) conditions.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:15A
End Time: 11:00A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 12.72 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.03′ drop over the past 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: ~79.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: Light NW4 from just after sunrise until ~8:15, then glassy calm the rest of the morning.
Sky Condition: 10% white cloud cover on a blue sky at trip’s start, decreasing to ~40% by trip’s end.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 85% illumination.
GT = 85
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 356 to 132 — best action of the morning with smallish white bass on tiny shad pushing them to and then across the surface for about an hour; 27 fish
Area vic 1733 – so-so fishing by sight-casting, smoking MAL Heavies, and downrigging
Area vic B0138C – so-so fishing by sight-casting and downrigging
Area B0077G – downrigging
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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