WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 07 Oct., I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with the Pokluda family from just outside of Waco.
Both Texas natives, Skylar works in medical software sales, and Craig is self-employed running his own land/brush clearing & mulching business; see: https://www.pokludalandservicesllc.com/
“Kids Fish, Too!” trips are specifically for kids in that they cost less than adult trips, go for a shorter period of time than adult trips, and include a greater variety of tactics to cater to kids’ shorter attention spans.
Parents come with the mindset of helping me help the kids be successful, and the parents of Wilder (age 6) and Rawley (age 4) did just that. Craig and Skylar made sure the boys were well-dressed for the cool, breezy morning, and played a huge roll in seeing to it that the boys’ first experience in fishing from a boat went well.
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 Oct. 11-12 (AM), Oct. 12 (PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Back row: Craig and Skylar help their boys (from left), Wilder (6) and Rawley (4) hoist two of the 61 fish the boys reeled in this morning before both the fish and the boys gave out around 9AM. These 19″ hybrid were 2 of the 7 hybrid the boys caught, with the others not quite reaching the 18″ mark yet.
PHOTO CAPTION: As the incoming cold front’s northerly winds built to a peak, the fishing really took off this morning with gamefish really charging hard after bait in quite a number of areas. We saw even more action than we could get to and fish!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 07 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
The fishing was pretty straight-forward this morning. We downrigged for a very short while as the fish were getting going, allowing us a triple for Wilder and a single for Rawley. Once it brightened a bit, we observed osprey and blue heron action atop surface-feeding fish which were very difficult to distinguish in the chop and whitecapping waves created by the stiff north wind. The action was so well-disguised that numerous weekend anglers simply cruised right by it.
Once we saw a solid school of fish pushing shad to the surface, I used the outboard to get within about 80-100 yards, then used the trolling motor only to close the final gap upwind of the fish, then placed the trolling motor on Spot-Lock.
Craig and I cast Cork Rigs to the fish downwind to extend our casting range and keep a buffer between the fish and the boat to avoid spooking them. These Cork Rigs were equipped with hand-tied streamers I selected to exactly match the size of the nearly fully grown threadfin shad the white bass and hybrids were gorging on.
Craig and I worked the baits, hooked the fish, and then handed the hooked fish off to the boys to reel in as they enjoyed the fight. With the high winds and the boys’ zero prior experience, this was the extent to which I felt the boys could safely participate and strike a balance between engagement and success.
The fish we were on left the surface and began to wind down around 8:50AM. By 9AM, I had downriggers back down for a short while to “mop up”, allowing us a final two additional fish before the fish shut off. By this point, the boys had both had about all the fishing they could take in one dose. Craig and Skylar wisely concurred that it was time to wrap it up.
Of the 61 fish landed today, 3 were legal-sized largemouth up to 2.75 pound, 2 were legal-sized hybrid at 19″, 5 were sub-legal hybrid, and the remaining 51 were legal-sized white bass.
TALLY: 61 fish caught and released.
Find the Cork Rig here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: As of ~6P on Friday, 06 Oct., the air temp. dropped below the surface temp. of Lake Belton, and is forecast to stay below the water temp. until around noon on Monday, 09 Oct. — that is the longest cooling spell we’ll have had to date and will get things moving along toward turnover!!
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: 6:55A
End Time: 9:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F
Elevation: 18.65 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 80.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NNE 14-17 all morning with higher gusts in the first hour
Sky Condition: Wispy white cloud cover at 25% on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 41% illumination.
GT = 70
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 1171 – 4 fish downrigging with Pet Spoons
Area vic B0200C – 26 fish sight-casting with Cork Rigs
Area from vic B0191G to 1,000 feet upstream from there – 29 fish sight-casting with Cork Rigs, then 2 final 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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