CLIENTS:  This morning, Friday, Nov. 15th, I fished with returning guests Rob Ramey and Ricky Guenat, joined by first-time guests Robert Garza and Derek Brown — all business associates in land development and landscape/irrigation firms.

 

DATE: Friday, 15 November 2024 (AM)

 

NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2, 3, 4, 6 December (weekday AMs).  Next Saturday opening: 23 November (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    From left: Ricky Guenat, Rob Ramey, David Garza, and Derek Brown with 8 of the 100 fish they landed under tough conditions on Lake Belton this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

As everyone boarded the boat and we got down to the business of fishing this morning, I told everyone the fishing would rise and fall with the wind, and that is exactly how it played out.

In our first hour, we enjoyed the remnant of a NW wind which came in with a dry cold front at midday this past Wednesday.  Despite having little experience with the tactics we’d be using all morning at this point, the 4-man crew landed 23 fish as the wind blew at a time which corresponded with the normal low-light feed white bass go on most days.

As the winds went calm, the fishing died and the handful of birds working in the same general area lighted on the water and rested.  This would usher in a period of about 70 minutes of calm conditions we just had to work through until the winds shifted and returned from the SE.

During the calm, we landed only 6 additional fish which came one at a time.  Finding fish to fish for was difficult, and, when we did find they, they were apathetic.

Finally, around 9:45, the surface of the lake began to ripple and, within 20 minutes, a steady, perceptible SE wind at 3-5 mph was blowing.  Things began to change for the better.

With just 29 fish landed up to this point, I began to see small schools of fish coalescing and patrolling, primarily by using well-tuned side-imaging.

We hit three additional areas before wrapping up at 12:40PM.  Each area produced steadily with fish showing both on bottom and suspended up as far as 1/3 of the way toward the surface as seen on Garmin LiveScope.  Everyone fished MAL Original Lures with chartreuse tails vertically, using a smoking tactic.

At 12:40, David brought in our 100th fish of the morning.  Everyone walked away with firsthand experience on exactly how important wind is to fishing success when pursuing white bass.

Our 100 fish catch consisted of two largemouth bass, three short hybrid striped bass, 1 blue catfish, 1 freshwater drum, and 93 white bass.

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: 100 fish, all caught and released

 

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.  The more wind, the better.  Fishing will be poor with calm conditions.

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

3) Intentionally timing the rise of the MAL Lure to intersect a fish’s direction of travel very positively impacted results, especially where suspended fish were concerned.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Friday, 15 Nov….

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation: 2.47′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 70.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW8-9 thru 8:35A, then calm thru 9:45A, then SE5-6 thereafter

Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 155

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0025G – 23 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area vic 1740 – 3 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area 1658  – 3 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area B0185G/B0119C – 23 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area B0319G – 27 fish smoking MAL Originals (2 short hops)

Area vic B0312G – 21 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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