WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Oct. 10, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with brothers Jameson and Declan Strong of Fort Cavazos.
“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.
The Killeen ISD has a week-long Fall Break this week, and the boys’ mom, Niki, coordinated the trip just for the boys, with dad coming along as a non-fishing chaperone.
As it turns out, their dad, Rick, is a fellow West Point graduate from the Class of 2000; he’s been on active duty for 20 years and now serves with the U.S. Army’s III Corps — “America’s Hammer”.
Here is how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Declan, Jameson, and Rick Strong with the boys’ first two legal fish of the morning — a matching pair of hybrid striped bass right at 19-20″ and just over 3 pounds.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 10 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
Now that incoming cold fronts are beginning to become a roughly weekly occurrence, I anticipate the “boom-bust” cycle to play out with fishing peaking as cold fronts roll in, then bottoming out as the winds go slack under post-frontal conditions, then hovering somewhere around average in the lulls between fronts.
Today we experienced one of those lulls. The returning warmth and humidity brought in cloud cover which killed the morning’s topwater bite and got things off to a later start as compared to the brighter, cloudless mornings of late. Most of our fish were caught in the first two hours with the last half of the trip being much tougher.
Our first bit of success came where I’d been encountering consistent topwater action, but, this morning the fish were hunkered down between 15-30 feet and we had to downrig for them. We put 9 fish in the boat at the first area we fished, including two legal hybrid, running twin downriggers, each equipped with three #13 Pet Spoons for a total of six baits in the water.
We moved on as the sun brightened the increasingly cloudy sky and found active white bass in about 32 feet of water within 100 yards of the same topography which gave fish up to a smoking tactic yesterday. These fish went crazy for a smoked MAL Heavy with white tail, but only for about 25 minutes.
Once these fish grew disinterested, it was like they spoke for the entire population! I found several groups of fish in multiple locations thereafter, but getting them to give more than a half-hearted follow took an act of Congress.
We went back to downrigging in our final 50 minutes on the water and picked up a few more white bass from small groups scattered about, but really did not find any additional, aggressively feeding white bass.
Despite what to me was a so-so trip, the boys were ecstatic to catch what they caught and I am hopeful that the next time the Army sends their dad “down range” they will return for a SKIFF trip with me. They stayed focused and enthusiastic the entire time.
Our final tally was 28 fish today. This included 5 hybrid (2 legal), 2 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 20 white bass (17 legal).
TALLY: 28 fish caught and released.
Find the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Things were pretty subdued this morning. I saw no deer feeding, no flying ospreys, no feeding blue herons, and no bait nor gamefish working the surface.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 18.83 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 76.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-9 all morning
Sky Condition: Grey clouds on a light blue sky at 70%, increasing to fully clouded over by trip’s end
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 16% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0220G thru BHYD07 – 9 fish via downrigging
Area vic B0037C – 11 fish smoking MAL Heavies
Area vic B0229G – 8 fish scattered throughout this area taken 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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