CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, Nov. 14, I met Dr. Dustin Marsh, a large animal vet specializing in dairy herd care, at Lake Somerville for an exploratory trip away from my “home” waters of Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
Dustin lives in the Bryan, TX, area and so Lake Conroe and Lake Somerville are much more convenient for him to fish, but the learning curve has been steep. He invited me to help take a fresh look and a fresh approach to fishing Lake Somerville where trolling and the use of Hell-Pet rigs seems to be commonplace.
DATE: Thursday, 14 November 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2, 3, 4, 6 December (weekday AMs). Next Saturday opening: 23 November (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Dustin Marsh with a pair of 14 1/8″ white bass — 2 of 77 taken from Somerville Lake on a combination of MAL Originals, White Tornados (white 1 1/8″ oz.), and 3/4 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Somerville
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
As I prepared for this trip, I did a thorough map recon of the lake using Garmin advanced mapping. I identified 29 potential fish-holding areas. We met at 6:45A and were scanning for fish with side-imaging within 20 minutes.
At one of the areas I had identified, I saw a few cormorants in the water, as well as a handful of white pelicans. I kept an eye on them and soon saw that a few gulls were entering the picture, as well. We slipped into the midst of these birds and found fish in ~15-17′, tightly grouped together and glued tightly to the bottom.
What I observed next was something I’ve only witnessed at Lake Bardwell, but not to the extent I saw it today — that was how the white bass and hybrid striped bass would simply not rise more than ~2.5 feet up off the bottom to chase a vertical presentation. These fish were aggressive, and moving very quickly horizontally, and they rocketed up off bottom, but, would only go so far.
We caught fish on the MAL Original, but had a lot of partial follows which did not result in a hookup. So, I switched us over the white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. These have a small, willow-leaf spinner attached to the treble hook, so, they still offer some flash and vibration, but can be raised off bottom more slowly than an MAL, thus giving the willing fish a chance to catch up with it and still stay within that ~30″ window off bottom.
This lure also features a stinger hook opposite the treble hook. Approximately 80% of the fish caught on the slab were hooked on the stinger hook. I told Dustin I don’t care whose slab he uses, but he should make very sure he’s got one of my stinger hooks attached to it. This hooking ratio for the stinger will only increase as the water temperature continues to drop.
We saw this repeat itself at 4 additional locations, 2 of which I had previously identified during my map recon, and the other two identified after we saw a pattern of behavior gained while fishing the other two areas.
We also observed (as is often the case with white bass found up shallow) that we would catch fish well right after achieving a Spot-Lock, but that the catching would end pretty soon thereafter. This is where side-imaging came into play. We kept SI running as we were Spot-Locked, and I checked it frequently to see if we had any schools of fish on the port or starboard side. When they showed, we cast 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados (in white color) and worked them with a sawtooth method.
Over the course of 5.5 hours, we landed 77 fish which consisted of a 50/50 split of white bass and hybrid striped bass. Of the hybrid, only 2 were legal, but of the white bass, only 2 were sub-legal with the best three going 14 1/8″.
Other than this, I was amazed at the lake’s fertility, with catfish and shad showing literally everywhere we searched.
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: 77 fish, all caught and released
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We primarily used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 3/4 oz.) vertically and white 1 3/8 oz. White Tornados today. Find all MAL Lures, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
1) Despite being aggressive, whites and hybrid were reluctant to travel more than ~30″ off bottom.
2) Fish were in shallower water than I anticipated and in shallower water than I am accustomed to fishing; we did not catch a single fish in over 17′.
3) Wind enhanced our bite this morning as it blew N12-13 for the entire trip.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: N/A
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7A
End Time: 12:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation: 2.00′ low
Water Surface Temp: 71.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: N11-13 all morning
Sky Condition: Clear, blue, cloudless skies
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.
GT = 255
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area SV011 – 54 fish smoking MAL Originals & Hazy Eye Slabs, and sawtoothing White Tornados
Area SV029 – 5 fish smoking MAL Originals and sawtoothing White Tornados
Area SV030 – 4 fish smoking MAL Originals and sawtoothing White Tornados
Area SV031- 14 fish smoking MAL Originals and sawtoothing White Tornados (2 short hops)
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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