WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, May 13th, I fished with returning guests Dwight Stone and Kyle Simank of Georgetown.
Dwight is a retired restaurateur and Kyle operates Guns Plus in Georgetown. For you gun buffs out there, Kyle employs his own on-site gunsmith who has done good work for me and got my gun back to me ahead of schedule and under budget. I like dealing with a store with an in-house gunsmith because it cuts down on the turnaround time to get work done, and you can speak face-to-face with the person doing the work, unlike shops which farm the work out.
Some of you may recall the incredible 38-pound, 5-fish haul of largemouth we had back in January on Stillhouse Hollow — it was Dwight whom I was guiding on that once-in-a-lifetime trip.
PHOTO CAPTION: Kyle Simank (left) and Dwight Stone really worked their MAL Lures a full four hours with a “diminishing returns” factor slowly kicking in thanks to a failing north wind which would die back to ~3mph by trip’s end. They landed 160 fish this morning.
WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 13 May 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
For the third morning in a row we had a 59F air temperature, heavy grey skies, and just a touch of occasional drizzle. The wind was still blowing from the north at 10 while I launched my boat, and was still going 8-9 as we began fishing. Our first hour was our best, and as the wind nearly came to a halt by our fourth hour, so did the bite.
Since the hybrid number have been (very) down this season, we made up our minds in advance that we were going to shoot for high number of white bass.
Dwight had used the MAL Lure/Garmin LiveScope combination previously, so he was primed and ready to catch fish. Kyle was a fast study, so he started contributing almost immediately, partly driven by his desire to beat Dwight’s fish count!!
It is great to see guys (and gals) get excited as they watch white bass zero in on their MAL Lure as is works its way off bottom, see the signatures of fish and lure merge, then have the rod come to life in your hand. It’s like watching a safety outrun a receiver and make a perfect open field tackle from behind — BAM!!
We fished two areas in our first hour, and landed a total of 85 fish. As the winds subsided and the bite got weaker, we would move a lot and work the remaining three hours to put another 75 fish in the boat.
As the winds weakened and the fish turned off, we would find fish, get our MAL Lures down to them, get the fish fired up temporarily, catch a few, then watch them get lackadaisical soon after. This scenario repeated itself many times over as we fished another 6 areas in those last 3 hours.
Most of our fishing took place at or deeper than 40 feet this morning.
We ended the morning with 160 fish caught and released; 159 white bass and 1 freshwater drum.
MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
Tutorial on how to fish MAL Lures is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TALLY: 160 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: As the wind speed declined, so did the bite. We observed the first post-sunrise topwater action by white bass forcing mature shad to the surface since before the spawn. Moved a lot this morning to stay on the fish.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00AM
End Time: 11:00AM
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F
Elevation: 0.74 eet high, +0.14 24-hour change, 27 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 68.4F (this represents a slight net cooling for the week)
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-9 at trip’s start, tapering to NNW3 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies all morning
Moon Phase: 2nd day after new moon; waxing crescent at 3% illumination
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area B0078C count to 29; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area 355 count to 85; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area B0052G count to 101; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area B0086G count to 114; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area 678 count to 124; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area 1404 count to 135; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area B0149C count to 142; white bass on MAL Lures
**Area B0120C count to 160; white bass on MAL Lures
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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