Day: November 11, 2024

On The Flip Side of a Cold Front — 42 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This past Saturday afternoon, November 9th, I fished with a group of first time anglers – – Pam Elahi, her sister, Tammy Carter, and Tammy‘s adult kids, Alexandria Lopez and Isaiah Carter.

Pam’s family owns an operates the Liberty Mart convenience store/Dickies barbecue restaurant located just up the hill from Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton.  I first got to know them when they were gracious enough to allow me to sell my MAL Lures and Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs at that brick and mortar location.
We were originally scheduled to fish the morning prior, but given Tammy’s arrival time in from Seattle and the very wet forecast, we made the call early to postpone to this afternoon.

This afternoon’s fishing took place under less than ideal conditions following the passage of yet another cold front.  Read more about timing these fronts here:  Timing Fall Cold Fronts

 

DATE: Saturday, 08 November 2024 (PM)

 

NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2-6 December (weekday AMs).  Next Saturday opening: 14 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Tammy Carter, Alexanderia Lopez, Pam Elahi, and Isaiah Carter with a few of the fish they really had to work for under calm, bright post-frontal conditions.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Pam Elahi landed our largest fish of the trip.  This largemouth bass inhaled her MAL Lure after mixing in with a group of white bass in about 28 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Although the weather for this trip was beautiful for being in the outdoors, it was not all that great where fishing was concerned. Although the morning’s conditions were great thanks to increasing north winds following the arrival of a cold front the night before, those winds peaked around 11:30 and then rapidly fell off.

We fished under calm to barely rippled conditions for all four hours this afternoon. We were able to locate fish in a number of areas, and got an initial response from most of those fish we located, but, none of the groups of fish we found stayed active very long, thus we managed a handful of fish at each location and then had to move on.

As the sun sank in the western sky in the last hour of daylight, the winds went absolutely calm and the bite flattened out with it.  

The fish we did catch were all landed on MAL Originals fished vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.   Although Pam grew up up north and fished during that time, she could not remember once fishing without bait on her hook, so, actually using the artificial lures I sell at her shop gave her greater insight in that style of fishing.

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: 42 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, and 41 white bass.

 

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

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) The long run of fantastic fall fishing which began in early September has now begun to be impacted by increased frontal activity.  The fishing has now become cyclical, following the arrival and departure of cold fronts.

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 7:00 AM on Saturday, 10 Nov….

0 feet 72.7F
5 feet 73.5F
10 feet 73.8F
15 feet 73.9F
20 feet 73.9F
25 feet 73.9F
30 feet 73.9F
35 feet 73.9F
40 feet 73.9F
45 feet 73.8F
50 feet 73.5F
55 feet 73.5F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:40P

End Time: 5:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.31′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .02′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 72.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW4 at trip’s start, falling to flat calm by sunset

Sky Condition: Clear, blue, cloudless skies

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 5

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0119G   – 14 fish in 3 short hops smoking MAL Originals

Area B0316G  – 11 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area 0154  – 13 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area 1659 – 4 fish smoking MAL Originals

 

 

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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