CLIENTS: This afternoon I welcomed aboard Mr. George Garza who chaperoned his own two children, Gabrielle and George, as well as George’s friend, Jace. The boys are both 10, and Gabrielle is 15. George, a U.S. Army disabled veteran, had gone out with me previously via the Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) program on a very cold morning in late winter. This afternoon there was enough daylight between the end of school and dark to get in a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip wherein only the kids did the fishing.
This is a great time to get kids out after school. My kids trip start around 4:30 and go until 8. Those times will get earlier as our daylengths get shorter
DATE: Tuesday, 10 September 2024 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 12, 16-19 Sep.
PHOTO CAPTION: George Garza with his daughter, Gabrielle (15), and one of the 91 white bass she, her brother, and his friend landed on this comfortable September evening on Lake Belton.
PHOTO CAPTION: George Garza (10) and George Garza with one of the 91 white bass the kids pulled in during their 2+ hour evening trip. The younger George was not real sure about holding the fish, even with a fish-holder attached.
PHOTO CAPTION: Jace Rivas (10), who has been friends with George Garza for about a year, help up his end of the bargain tonight, landing his fair share of the 91 fish the kids landed.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Our original plans were just for the two boys to fish, but, at the last minute, Gabrielle’s dance practice was cancelled, so, she joined us, as well. That resulted in a bit of delay and, bottom line, this went from a 3.5 hour trip to a 2 hour, 20 minute trip. So, I had to get on fish and stay on fish to make the most of this.
Fortunately, the weather this afternoon was atypical. We had a remnant north wind from last Friday’s cold front still moving the air, and we had some outer bands of Hurricane Francine’s weather move over us from 5:40P through 7P, then clear off.
Fishing was excellent while both the wind blew and the cloud cover existed, but, at 7P, when both decreased sharply, the bite dropped off with it. To illustrate this point, the kids landed 72 fish from 5:50 through 7P, then only 19 additional fish in the final hour from 7P to 8P.
We started off downrigging with a pair of ‘riggers, each equipped with an umbrella rig sporting three #13 Pet Spoons. This was so as to have baits in the water as I covered ground with sonar looking for concentrations of fish we could hover atop of and fish for vertically.
We didn’t have to downrig long to accomplish that. The fish hit the ‘riggers faster than I could take the fish off, untangle the leaders and redeploy the umbrella rigs. Each of the kids had a turn catching fish, then, after George (who went first) finished up his second round, I stopped over a large school of bottom-hugging fish, Spot-Locked atop them, and had the kids use a smoking tactic with MAL Originals (chartreuse tails) to catch fish non-stop for right at an hour. During this time, I switched over Gabrielle to an MAL Mini. It caught more fish, but it also take a bit more finesse to get and keep the small spinner blade going, so, I kept the younger boys on the MAL Original and all was well.
At 7P, the wind stopped, the skies cleared, and the bite tailed off. We took a snack break (the kid brought an entire party tray of meats and cheeses!!), took photos while the light was still good, and then went back to fishing for fish which were now much less enthused. We primarily downrigged, adding 19 fish to the count to then the trip with a grand total of 91 fish.
Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged with #13 Pet Spoons. We smoked MAL Originals and Minis vertically. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 91fish caught and released, including 1 crappie, 1 drum, and 89 white bass
OBSERVATIONS:
1) No topwater action.
2) We fished on a continuing N. wind which swept in late Friday night and both cooled and dried the atmosphere. It also started water temps trending downwards.
3) The traditional summertime “sunset bite” was weak tonight as the fish fed heavily from 7 to 8P with wind and cloud cover generating ideal conditons.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:35 AM on Saturday, September 7 , then again around 6:10AM on Monday, September 9…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 5:40P
End Time: 8:00P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F
Elevation: 0.90′ low and falling slowly with a 52 cfs flow; .02′ fall in last 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: 80.3F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8 thru 7P, then dying
Sky Condition: Light grey skies w/ clouds spinning off Hurricane Francine through 7P, then clearing
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 43% illumination.
GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
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