WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, June 12, I finished with three generations of Niemeiers. Steve Niemeier served as first mate today helping me help his grandsons, Henry, age 13, and Oliver, age 11, be successful. That left Steve’s son, Andrew (the boys’ father), up on the bow to fend for himself until the downrigging kicked at which time he served as second mate, and helped me help the kids, as well.
Here is how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Andrew, Henry, Oliver, and Steve Niemeier with part of their 101-fish take this morning on MAL Minis and Pet Spoons.
PHOTO CAPTION: Henry … triple!
PHOTO CAPTION: Oliver … triple!!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 12 June 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
Anticipating a limited amount of cloud cover at first light, we met up early at 6:05 and searched for topwater action generated by schools of white bass pursuing young of the year shad to the surface, then pursuing them across the surface.
This really got going in high gear around 6:40 and went for just shy of an hour. Thanks to a call from a buddy who had spotted an abundance of such action, we enjoyed nonstop fishing using MAL Minis sight-cast to these white bass as standalone lures (thus, not rigged with a weight and leader) on long, 8-foot St. Croix Panfish Series spinning rods and Pflueger large arbor reels well-filled with light braid.
Over the weekend I had suggested to Steve that he work with the boys on casting spinning gear, so they would be prepared to take full advantage of this topwater opportunity if it materialized. That time invested paid real dividends this morning. The boys and their dad put 60 fish in the boat during that first feeding spree. Many of these fish were on the small size, but the action was just right for two boys who don’t get to fish very often.
After this topwater action ended at this location, we shot back over where I was before I got my buddy’s phone call. There were a few fish still on the surface here, but, almost as soon as we got there, two other boats got uncomfortably close, so, with the action dying on top and another 20 fish already landed, I switched us over to downrigging, and we added 6 more fish to our count before departing.
My attention was drawn to five white herons which were acting like they were on fish. I drove about a mile to get to them only to find that they were paying attention to a single feeding cormorant. Having been fooled by these birds, we now had to go looking for fish.
I looked over a slow tapering flat, which had produced well last week, and found nothing, but then spotted two blue herons staked out over yet another area that had produce for me well last week. I combed this over with sonar, saw there were fish present, albeit scattered, so, with 86 fish in the boat at this point we put down ‘riggers down and came up with a final 15 fish including two triples to put us up over 100 fish for the morning.
Henry had shared with us that he was not feeling all that well about the time we got to this area. With 101 fish caught, and the heat and humidity increasing, Andrew felt it would be a good time to close out our trip a bit early. We wrapped up at 8:46 AM with 101 fish landed. Our catch included 99 white bass and two blue catfish.
TALLY: 101 fish caught and released
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile this morning:
0 feet, 82.3F
5 feet, 82.6F
10 feet, 82.7F
15 feet, 82.1F
20 feet, 78.9F
25 feet, 74.7F
30 feet, 72.8F
35 feet, 70.5F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.5F
50 feet, 63.9F
55 feet, 62.8F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:05A
End Time: 8:46A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F
Elevation: 12.71 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.04′ drop over the past 72 hours
Water Surface Temp: 82.3F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: A steady 8-9mph SE breeze all morning
Sky Condition: 20% white cloud cover transitioned to 100% light grey cloud cover between 6 and 9 AM
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 32% illumination.
GT = 100
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area B0026G – 60 fish on MAL Mini (non-rigged)
Area B0202G – 20 on MAL Mini (non-rigged); 6 on downriggers
Area vic B0002C – 15 fish on downriggers
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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