WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 2nd, I fished with returning guest Ken Powell. Ken has fished with me three times previously with his last time out in 2019. None of these prior trips have been in the heart of the summer, and none of these prior trips included the use of MAL Lures, nor Garmin LiveScope.
Ken is a retired high school educator and football coach now living near Lake Buchanan. Fortunately, he is a coachable coach!
More than catching fish, Ken expressed a desire to see and experience Garmin LiveScope and both “smoking” and “sawtoothing” with MAL Lures firsthand.
Here is how the fishing went….
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php
Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: I took this photo and chose to illustrate this summary with it because it captured an unusual event. Ken landed three sets of “doubles” today (two fish landed simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig); this double included a white bass and a channel catfish. Catching a cat on a moving bait is rare enough, but to do it in open water targeting fish suspended at 28′ over a much deeper bottom is beyond rare.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
In a word, it was … tough. We had zero wind for our first 2.5 hours, which never helps the already pretty tough summertime fishing.
We covered a lot of ground today studying 2D, DI, and SI sonar while downrigging with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons on one and #13 Pet Spoons on the other.
When sonar revealed concentrations of fish present, we observed for action on the downriggers to let us know that the fish were not just present, but also feeding.
When we found what we were after, Ken brought in the fish (singles and doubles), and we then set up atop the same fish and began working vertically (first) by smoking MAL Lures while watching Garmin LiveScope, and then working horizontally by sawtoothing MAL Lures after the initial fish we encountered began to lose interest.
We also did something today I can only do with smaller numbers of experienced anglers aboard … whenever we cast horizontally to use a sawtooth tactic, we left a rod in a nearby rodholder with the MAL Lure resting on bottom so it was pre-positioned for the next school of white bass which came by. On such a tough day, this added a few fish to the count.
Ken made a comment which stuck with me. Referring to a December 2018 trip during which we landed 117 fish by snap-jigging in advance of an incoming cold front, Ken said, “I know we’ve caught a hundred fish before, but this was 100% more interesting to me using this LiveScope.”
That is something which, as a guide, I really need to heed. LiveScope certainly does keep folks more engaged and for longer periods of time than tactics which do not involve that technology, especially when fishing featureless open water as I so often do in pursuit of white bass. I hear this from parents of 7 & 8 year olds, from guys like Ken (in his mid-70’s), and everyone in between.
This morning’s catch of 29 fish included 27 legal white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 channel catfish.
TALLY: 29 fish caught and released.
See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Young of the year bait is just about everywhere in the 28-37′ range.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: Noon
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F
Elevation: 16.02 feet low, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 8:50, then starting S6 and building quickly to S12
Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas 933 and SH0032G/SH0031G produced the majority of our fish this morning
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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