Day: November 8, 2024

Baby On Board — 48 Fish with Jack, Jude, & Brynn

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, November 8, I fished with first time guests — Vicky Le and Cody Lawrence, and their four kids: Brynn (age 7), Jude (age 5), Jack (almost 4), and Liv (10 months) — all from the Katy, TX, area.

This trip was in celebration of Jack’s birthday and took place on Lake Belton, very near the family’s get-away home near the Leon River on Lake Belton’s upper end.

 

DATE: Friday, 07 November 2024 (AM)

 

NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2-6 December (weekday AMs).  Next Saturday opening: 30 November (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Baby Liv (10 months), Vickie, Jack (~4), Cody, Jude (5), and Brynn (7) fished Lake Belton together in celebration of Jack’s birthday.  The three older kids landed 48 fish over a 3 hour span.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: 

As I mention frequently in these reports, when I fish with young children, I make it a point to insert variety and transitions to help keep kids engaged as long as I can.
To that end, this morning, over the course of three hours, we downrigged horizontally for white bass, we fished MAL Lures vertically for white bass, and we fished bait under slipfloats for sunfish up in shallow water.
Brynn was a real champ.  Because Cody was covered down on Jack, I was covered down on Jude, and Vickie was looking after the baby, Brynn had to kind of fend for herself, but, she enjoyed the independence and caught most of her fish unaided.
All of the kids overcame their initial fears about touching fish, and each held and gently released several fish by trip’s end.  They were all troopers concerning the weather, as well.  Several times a heavy drizzle began to fall and they never bat an eye at it, rather, they kept right on fishing.
Although the fish weren’t just absolutely fired up, they cooperated sufficiently that all three kids had multiple opportunities to land multiple fish using all three of the tactics we employed.

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 or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

 

RESULTS: 48 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 10 sunfish, and 37 white bass.

 

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We primarily used MAL Originals (w/ chartreuse tails) vertically & Pet Spoons downrigged horizontally today.  Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) We are in a solid, classic autumn pattern now, which should hold up until the water temperature near bottom falls to around 60F

2) Mornings are much more productive than evenings at this point in the fall.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:30 AM on Friday, 01 Nov….

0 feet 75.3F
5 feet 75.3F
10 feet75.6F
15 feet75.6F
20 feet 75.6F
25 feet 75.6F
30 feet 75.3F
35 feet 75.3F
40 feet 75.3F
45 feet 75.3F
50 feet 75.3F
55 feet 75.3F
60 feet 75.2F
65 feet 75.1F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 2.25′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .02′ rise in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 72.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Grey skies with occasional light drizzle all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 45% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 1658 – 6 fish downrigging with #13 Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs

Area B0186C/B0005G – 7 fish downrigging with #13 Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs

Area 1819 – 21 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area 815 – 10 sunfish on slipfloats and bait

 

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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