WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, 04 October, I fished with three Army buddies, all Vietnam veterans in their mid-70s, and all Army aviators who flew with Alpha Troop, 1/9 Cavalry.
Rick Pierce (Alabama) , Ted Currier (Pennsylvania), and Mike White (North Carolina) all either flew or drove in from out of state to gather near Fort Cavazos with about 50 other service members from their unit (not including family members) for a military reunion formally celebrated together this coming Saturday.
A fourth friend, George Abernathy, originally coordinated this trip, but a knee replacement prevented his attendance this year.
In years past, the men have had a “friendly competition” in which a big fish trophy goes home with the winner. So, this morning, everyone was bent on landing the largest (longest) fish of the trip.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Next available dates are Oct. 11-12 (AM), Oct. 12 (PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Rick Pierce, Mike White, and Ted Currier. Although the picture doesn’t do it justice because Mike is standing a bit further back than the others, his 17″ bluecat eclipsed the other 42 fish length-wise, thus ensuring the “Big Fish Trophy” will reside at his house until next year’s reunion.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
This morning’s murky skies got things off to a slow start and really caused the topwater action to scale back substantially versus what we saw earlier this week, in fact, we only saw two brief episodes of topwater action all morning.
So, with topwater essentially off the table, we searched for schools of bottom-oriented white bass and found them in 20-27 feet of water in the lower third of the water column.
Only two areas produced any numbers of fish for us, with the best run of the morning coming around 10A to 10:40A (a good bit later than during our recent run of cloudless days).
When the fish fired up, they came hard after the MAL Heavies with white tails I had tied on for everyone. The men “smoked” these from the bottom upwards, aided by Garmin LiveScope so they would know when to keep reeling as fish chased their lures upwards.
I did a bit of downrigging whenever I spotted more scattered fish on flatter terrain, but that only produced a spattering of fish this morning.
I suspect we’ll not see consistent fishing now until turnover takes place. With an extended run of cool mornings and the promise of an abundance of rain later this week, we may see turnover by mid-month. Folks, it can’t come soon enough!
Of the 43 fish landed today, 2 were bluecats, 1 was a freshwater drum, and the remaining 40 were white bass.
TALLY: 43 fish caught and released.
Find the Cork Rig & MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: The water temperature profile shown below was taken on 02 Oct.
0 feet, 81.5F
5 feet, 82.6F
10 feet, 82.9F
15 feet, 82.9F
20 feet, 82.6F
25 feet, 81.7F
30 feet, 81.1F
35 feet, 78.8F
40 feet, 71.6F
45 feet, 66.8F
50 feet, 64.9F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F
Elevation: 18.55 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 81.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6-10 all morning
Sky Condition: 70% grey cloud cover on a white sky.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 70% illumination.
GT = 75
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 2029 – Smoked MAL Heavies
Area vic 1411 – Smoked MAL Heavies
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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