WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, October 24, I fished with returning guest, Mostafa Kassem. Mostafa fished with me once before during the summer months and returned today with a friend, Bobby Nkemka, to experience some fall fishing.
We truly had a multi-national fishing force assembled this morning — Mostafa was born in Egypt, Bobby was born in Nigeria, and I was born right here in the USA ; the two became friends, are both accountants in the construction industry, and both enjoy experiencing new things. Bobby enjoyed his time on the water so much, he made mention of bringing his girlfriend out in the future.
Bobby had never been aboard a boat before, and had also never caught a fish before in his life; all that would change this morning
Here is how our morning went.…
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Next available dates are Oct. 26 & 30, Nov. 2 & 6
PHOTO CAPTION: Bobby Nkemka had never caught a fish before this morning’s 101-fish haul on Lake Belton. He made up for lost time!
PHOTO CAPTION: Mostafa had fished with me once before, but in summer-time conditions over on Stillhouse, so he got some exposure to a different reservoir and to some different tactics this morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: This is what took 99 of our 101 fish this morning … the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. Mostafa and Bobby used the white, 5/8 oz. version to match the 3/4-grown shad the white bass were regurgitating.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
The rainy weather we experienced yesterday, thanks to bands of rain spinning off of a Pacific low pressure system off of Mexico’s west coast, continued this morning. We have rain in the forecast for at least the next few days.
With the skies so grey, I opted to downrig for starters, but, the population of fish I’d been on for such a long time now for that early morning bite has now really thinned out. We wound up only taking one fish and losing another on the downriggers before some temporary thinning in the clouds allowed enough light to come through that I felt it appropriate to begin looking for heavily schooled fish in deep water on bottom.
I struck out at the first area I searched, but more than made up for it after finding fish at a second area.
That school of fish was large enough and stayed aggressive enough long enough to allow us a 99 fish catch from one Spot-Locked position over a three hour span.
For simplicity‘s sake with Bobby being brand new, and with the gusty winds blowing a minimum of 14 making things a bit challenging on boat handling, I chose to go with a smoking tactic using Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in white color to tempt these heavily-concentrated, bottom-oriented fish
This smoking tactic seems pretty simple on its face, but there are definitely nuances which up your chances of success. The two nuances I focused on with Mostafa and Bobby were those of retrieve speed and retrieve smoothness. For speed, I simply gave them an example while they reeled up their lures at the same speed I did, as I provided them with a demonstration. I demonstrated retrieve smoothness in the same manner, and then also showed them how to identify when their retrieve was not as smooth as necessary by telling them what to look for in their own rod tip as they reeled.
As both men got the hang of reeling smoothly and quickly from the bottom upward, their success rate increased exponentially.
It is pretty rare to put together an entire trip on one location and at just one anchorage on that location, but that is exactly what happened today. If such a thing is going to happen, it will typically be between now and the middle of December, or sometime in late-April to early May, the two truly peak seasons of the white bass fishing annual cycle.
Our 101 fish catch included for drum and 97 white bass.
TALLY: 101 fish caught and released.
Find the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile measured 7:10AM, Monday, 23 Oct. Although much slower to disappear this year thanks to prolonged heating, we’re finally seeing the thermocline disappear…
0 feet, 73.4F
5 feet, 73.3F
10 feet, 73.3F
15 feet, 73.3F
20 feet, 73.1F
25 feet, 72.8F
30 feet, 71.7F
35 feet, 71.6F
40 feet, 70.7F
45 feet, 69.0F
50 feet, 64.5F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 12:00 Noon
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F
Elevation: 19.34 feet low, 47 CFS flow ( a 0.02-foot rise)
Water Surface Temp: 73.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE11-15 all morning
Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies with scattered, occasional rain 8:45 to 10:45
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0233G – downrigging for 1 fish
Area 717 – 99 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area B0239G – 1 fish smoking an MAL Heavy after the bite was over
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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