WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, June 27, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip for Kara Hubbert’s four kiddos – Emily Hubbert (age 14), Keely Riley (age 11), Bailey Hubbert (age 10), and Jason Hubbert (age 8).
Of the four kids, only Jason had been out with me previously. None of the kids had much prior experience casting spinning gear, so, our first order of business was to do a quick train-up in the very likely case that white bass made themselves visible on the surface as they trapped shad there to feed upon them.
Here is how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jason Hubbert, Keely Riley, Bailey Hubbert, Kara Hubbert, and Emily Hubbert, each with one of the 78 fish the kids landed by sightcasting and downrigging this morning on Lake Belton.
PHOTO CAPTION: Keely Riley, age 11, with one of two legal hybrid stripers she fought on a hot, clear, breezy late June morning on Lake Belton. Of all the kids, she was definitely the most enthusiastic about the fishing. I think she’d have stayed ’til dark if the fish cooperated!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 27 June 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
As we got going, we started off the morning with twin downriggers in the water working three-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons along wind-blown underwater terrain after finding ample bait present in the area. As happened yesterday, after taking a few rounds of fish on the downriggers, the white bass began to feed on the surface under low light conditions, albeit without any cloud cover.
I waited until the topwater got absolutely intense before changing over from downrigging to casting, knowing that the kids’ distance and accuracy would be somewhat lacking. Whenever the intense surface action died down, we would go back to downrigging until another instance of intense surface action materialized when we would go back to casting, and so on.
This lasted through about 8:20 when the surface activity ended for good just as the 13-14mph SSE winds began to relent. From that point on, we downrigged exclusively as the kids all mentioned their wrists were hurting from casting, retrieving, and reeling in fish while using spinning gear.
From 8:20A, the fishing got progressively slower through the time we wrapped up right around 10 AM.
When all was said and done, the kids landed 78 fish including four hybrid stripers, of which two were legal, and 74 white bass, of which only four were short.
TALLY: 78 fish caught and released.
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: 1) USACE has stopped releasing water from the dam. 2) Temperature profile taken morning of 26 June:
0 feet, 84.2F
5 feet, 84.0F
10 feet, 85.1F
15 feet, 84.8F
20 feet, 84.5F
25 feet, 81.5F
30 feet, 75.6F
35 feet, 71.3F
40 feet, 68.1F
45 feet, 66.1F
50 feet, 64.9F
55 feet, 63.3F
60 feet, 62.2F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:25A
End Time: 10:10A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F
Elevation: 13.23 feet low, 0 CFS flow (thus causing a slight 24 hour rise)
Water Surface Temp: 84.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13-14 through 8:20A, then tapering down to SSE7 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 62% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas B0030G/B0102C – alternating between downrigging Pets and sight casting MAL Heavies through 8:20A
Area 815/B0031G – downrigging exclusively thru 10AM
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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