WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, October 14th, I welcomed aboard first-time guests Jason and Gregory for a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip intended mainly to introduce Gregory to fishing and give father and son some time together outdoors while giving mom, Rachelle, a little break from stay-at-home “momming”.
Neither father or son had ever been fishing before.
“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.
Here’s how the fishing went…
—————————————————————————————————–
Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php
Next available dates are Oct. 23, 24, & 26
PHOTO CAPTION: Fishing newbies Jason and Gregory (age 5) enjoyed ideal conditions today as an incoming cold front spurred the fish to feed long and hard this morning. The pair landed 72 fish in under 3.5 hours with no prior experience under their belts! We fished until little Gregory wore out!
PHOTO CAPTION: We downrigged early for suspended fish, then worked MAL Lures from the bottom, upwards during the late morning for fish holding tightly to bottom.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 14 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
Despite my boatmates’ lack of prior experience, they did very well today because 1) they were willing to be coached, and 2) the incoming cold front had the fish feeding in overdrive this morning.
Not only did father and son land 72 fish on their first-ever fishing trip, they did it in just 3.25 hours and while fishing only two distinct areas.
This trip broke down neatly into two parts. Part one involved downrigging for white bass and hybrid striped bass under low-light conditions from 7:25 until around 9AM. We used 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons on twin downriggers to present six baits at any given time.
I used down-imaging and 2-D sonar to estimate the depth at which these suspended fish were holding, and ran our baits at, or as much as 2 feet above, these fish.
Jason and Greg put 30 fish in the boat via downrigging, including two sets of triples, and multiple doubles and singles. The three legal hybrid landed today all came on downriggers during this time.
By around 9AM, the sky was much brighter, and the suspended fish began to push down to bottom.
I then transitioned Jason and Greg to using MAL Lures presented vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. We found fish in ~32 feet of water, so, I put MAL Heavies on (with chartreuse tails) to increase the sink rate.
Once Jason got the hang of cranking the spinning reel’s handle hard and fast on the first crank in order to get the MAL Lure’s blade spinning quickly, he was off to the races.
Little Gregory was hoping against hope for 1) a salmon, and 2) an alligator gar, but those were not in the cards this morning 😉
We left a bit before the 3.5 hours which I normally conduct “Kids Fish, Too!” trips for because, despite sharing with his dad early in the morning that he’d like to stay until he caught 20 million fish, Gregory began to wane around fish #64. Still, hanging for 3.25 hours is a good bit longer than the vast majority of 5-year-olds I’ve had aboard have stayed engaged.
In all, the pair landed 72 fish including 12 hybrid striped bass (3 legal), and 60 white bass (57 legal).
TALLY: 72 fish caught and released.
Find the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of the topwater for 2023. The previous four days of cloud cover yielded no topwater action, and this morning, under ideal, sunny conditions, there was very little action — not nearly enough to focus on, even if I’d had experienced casters aboard.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F
Elevation: 18.99 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 74.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: N13-15 all morning
Sky Condition: Clear “bluebird” skies
Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area B0234G thru B0233G – downrigging for 30 fish
Area B0235G – smoking MAL Heavies for 42 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
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec