WHO I FISHED WITH: On Friday morning, December 1, I fished with returning guests Gary and Rachel Davidson of Kerrville, Texas.

This husband and wife team are excellent multi-species anglers and pursue white bass and hybrid striper on Lake Buchanan in ways nearly identical to those I employ on Belton and Stillhouse.

I had been looking for an opportunity in this peak fall bite to get them on the water for a high numbers trip, and thus, we watched the weather for an incoming cold front. Back on Monday when we chose this date, this morning looked promising, and I knew it would probably be the last cold front prior to the water hitting that magic 59 to 60° mark at which the white bass really throttle back.

We made our plans, and, honestly, the day turned out to be disappointing. 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 Dec. 13 & 14

PHOTO CAPTION:  Rachel and Gary Davidson of Kerrville worked hard for the fish they landed on a tough Lake Belton outing.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 01 Dec. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

With each new forecast this week, it was apparent this “front” was going to be mild and dry, and, indeed, it fizzled and turned out to be a little more than a wind shift.

Regardless, we still had a north wind right at 12 to 13 mph for the first two hours of the morning.

I got more encouraged when I saw that a substantial number of birds were working, but, when we got baits down to these fish, two things were immediately apparent. First, the fish were extremely scattered and second, they were glued to bottom and quite reluctant to chase.

All morning we had no problem whatsoever finding fish, but we would have to raise 20 or 30 disinterested fish to get one aggressive enough to follow even a short distance and hit a slab. I even tried some deadsticking while Gary and Rachael continued slow smoking or easing a slab, and the fish responded in much the same way to the soft plastic and jig head I was experimenting with.

The Davidson’s used the white, 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab — with a twist.  Whenever LiveScope showed little, they used a short hopping motion to bounce the slab off bottom a few times to create some commotion; when fish came in (typically along the bottom), they’d then begin reeling the lure  smoking-style.

At no time did we catch more than four fish at any given stop, and, even after extending the trip for over an hour, we landed a grand total of just 32 fish with 1 drum, 1 largemouth, and 30 white bass in the mix.

As I have made mention of in many of my winter season reports, 60° is the point at which I change over from my splasher to my thumper, and the point at which I will no longer realistically expect to use the MAL Lure for any significant portion of any trip until spring. I will now also keep my longer, 8-foot spinning rods on the boat so we can execute the easing tactic, which is a bit slower than the slowest smoking tactic.

All in all, a tough day, but at least it was spent with good folks!

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

TALLY: 32 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:  The water temperature profile measured on 01 Dec., was:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 12:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 49F

Elevation: 15.38 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW12-13 for the first two hours, then tapering steadily down to NNW5 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Under 10% thin, white cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

No areas produced an abundance of fish this morning; fish were scattered and tough.

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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