WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, August 10th, I fished the fourth and final trip of this week in my warm season schedule which runs between spring break and Labor Day. During this time, I accept bookings only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, so as to avoid more crowded lake conditions over the weekends Friday through Sunday.
This morning’s trip was a “Kids Fish, Too! trip booked by Mr. Jim Curlee for his two grandsons, Sawyer and Micah Charriere of Georgetown, Texas. Also joining us was the boys’ dad, Ryan Charriere. The men’s role was to help me help the boys be successful.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Sawyer Charriere, age 11, with a downrigged hybrid striped bass which fell for one of three Pet Spoons on a 3-armed umbrella rig.
PHOTO CAPTION: Micah Charriere, age 9, with an open-water hybrid he sight-cast to using an MAL Heavy (white tail) on a fast, smooth retrieve as fish “popcorned” on the surface after threadfin shad.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Micah, Ryan, and Sawyer Charriere, and their grandfather, Jim Curlee peeking in from behind. The boys landed 55 fish, including 49 white bass, 48 of which were of legal size.
PHOTO CAPTION: Sawyer took our largest catfish and our only blue cat; the other two cats were channel catfish.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 10 August 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
The boys were unfamiliar with casting spinning gear prior to their arrival this morning, so, during the sustained, low-light topwater feeding period we downrigged around the outskirts of the schools of fish showing themselves on the surface as they forced threadfin shad there and fed upon them.
This morning’s low light action was less abundant and less aggressive then on Monday through Wednesday this week. By the time the fish wrapped up under low light conditions, the boys had landed combinations of singles and doubles on their three-armed umbrella, rigs and brought our tally to 16 fish. The rigs were equipped with #12 Pet Spoons on one rig and #13 Pet Spoons on the other.
As the sun directly struck the water for the first time, and until 8:50 AM, “popcorn“ schooling took place in open water. There was enough action to allow us to follow larger schools with the trolling motor and get the boys close enough to cast with their newly learned casting skills equipped with spinning gear.
As this action wrapped up around 8:50 AM, the boys had brought their total to 40 fish. Although my first choice would have been MAL Minis, the wind and the distance we needed to keep from the fish to avoid spooking them required that we use MAL Heavies instead (white tailed version).
As I had done on Tuesday and Wednesday, I baited an area prior to my clients’ arrival, then returned to fish that area with prepared baits and slipfloats. We gave it about 30 minutes and landed two channel catfish. Once again, the high winds caused a good bit of undesirable, excessive movement of the slipfloats on this technique where holding rock steady is the aim.
We returned to downrigging for the last 20 minutes of the trip, and put a final 10 fish in the boat, including nine white bass, and our second legal hybrid striper of the morning. Once again, we used three armed umbrella rigs, one equipped with #12 Pet Spoons, and the other equipped with # 13 Pet Spoons
TALLY: 52 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: Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′ (Lake Belton, Monday, 07 Aug. 2023):
0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 86.5F
10 feet, 86.7F
15 feet, 86.7F
20 feet, 86.7F
25 feet, 84.7f
30 feet, 77.9F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 10:10A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F
Elevation: 15.94 feet low, 56 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S12-13 at trip’s start, then sustained at S13-14
Sky Condition: 15% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 29% illumination.
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0039G – low-light downrigging for 16 fish
Area 1191 to B0227G to BHYD01 – sightcasting for 24 fish
Area 846 – for 2 catfish
Area 506 to Area 307 – downrigging for 10 fish
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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