WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Saturday morning, November 25, I fished with first time guests, Maurice and Galen Hall, a father and son team.

Maurice lives out in Oglesby, Texas, and works in the maintenance field for a company in Killeen. Galen recently left the US Army where he served as an infantryman, and now works in chemical manufacturing down south of Houston.

Galen brought his wife and 14 month old child in for the weekend in order to treat his dad to this fishing trip for his 63rd birthday. Here is 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 Nov. 27 – 30

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Maurice Hall, left, was treated to a fishing trip for his 63rd birthday by his son, Galen, who drove in from League City the night before to make this trip happen.  The pair landed 132 fish during their 4-hour morning trip.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 25 Nov. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

With consistently cloudy skies and a consistent wind, we enjoyed consistent action from start to finish today. In fact, I dare say this was one of the most consistent bites I’ve seen yet this fall in terms of the fish activity being spread well over the trip’s four hour duration.

Our middle two hours of the morning definitely saw more aggressive action both by fish and birds, but the first and last hour also produced well. During our second hour of the trip from about 8 to 9 AM, the birds and the fish were so active that I had Galen and Maurice use MAL Dense Lures with a sawtooth tactic to put 33 fish in the boat. This call was made easier when I observed that the fish and birds were both feeding on shad, roughly 3.5 inches in length.

In the time leading up to that aggressive activity, and again as the fish begin to tone down thereafter, we relied on my fall standby tactic of smoking the 5/8 ounce, white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

We hit only five areas today with the first four being fairly near one another thanks to the fish staying bunched up and active, and responding well to the splasher.

By the time 11:20 had rolled around, the bite had just about fizzled. The 132 fish Galen and Maurice caught consisted of a mix of 2 hybrid, striped bass, 4 largemouth bass, and 126 white bass, of which, approximately 85% were legal with a solid number of three year-old fish in the mix going right at 13 inches.

Here is a tutorial on the smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 162 fish caught and released.

 

OBSERVATIONS:  The water temperature profile measured on 20 Nov., was:

0 feet, 65.9F
5 feet, 65.6F
10 feet, 65.6F
15 feet, 65.6F
20 feet, 65.6F
25 feet, 65.5F
30 feet, 65.5F
35 feet, 65.5F
40 feet, 65.5F
45 feet, 65.5F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 65.3F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation: 15.38 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSE9 to 13 all morning

Sky Condition: 15-30% thin white cloud cover on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas:

958 – 35 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

B0237G – 43 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

1945/1552 – 20 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

1290 – 3 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

B0242G – 31 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

 

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