FACT: Fish do bite in the rain. Now, ask how I know this. Well, that’s because Grandma Joyce W., and her grandson’s — 1st Grader Nate and 4th Grader C.J., and I fished for 4 straight hours in everything ranging from a mist to a downpour, and we caught fish from start to finish despite the damp conditions.

Joyce returned with the boys after first coming out with me last Spring Break. They drove down overnight from the Dallas area and would not be deterred by a little precipitation. And they were rewarded for their persistence.

The boys landed a pair of nice black bass today going 2.75 and 2.25 pounds.

C.J. landed this 15.75 inch white bass, thus qualifying him for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Big Fish Award

Start Time: 7:35a (DST in effect now)

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 51F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 58.2F

Wind: Winds started light from the NNE and then increased to around 10, then slowly tapered off to calm by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were leaden grey with rain all day.

As we headed out, we made a brief stop at Area 599/600. I marked fish at 20-25 feet, stopped to jig over them and landed one white in short order, but I could tell these fish were going to require more technique than the boys could offer.

We continued looking and found some solid action in 15 to 22 feet of water stretching from Area 109 north to Area 595, with the best action occurring at Area 602 (BA: 14T,8HG,3L). We fished these fish every way we could depending on their fluctuating activity levels. We jigged, smoked, threw blades, downrigged, and drifted bait. In the end, jigging for very active fish, and drifting bait for them when they slowed down turned out to be the most productive combination.

By 10:45, we’d boated exactly 35 fish and it was clear that the action was waning. Little Nate was cold and wet and reminded us all of this fact approximately every 45 seconds 😉

C.J., on the other hand, could have hung with me well into nightfall. We compromised and decided we’d give it another 45 minutes and set a goal of landing 10 fish in that time which would require that everyone pitch in. For Nate, that meant manning the scoop and clearing our deck of rainwater. For the rest of us, it meant keeping lines baited and adjusted while also working our jigging rods. By 11:30, we’d boated an additional 5 fish, including C.J.’s jumbo white bass. We called it a good day at that point and headed home with 40 fish bagged including 4 largemouth, 2 crappie, and 34 white bass.

TALLY = 40 fish, all caught and released

I fished a Spring Break “Kids Fish, Too!” trip today with Thom G. and 3 youngsters — Carson, Kyle, and Garrett all from the Austin area. This was the boys’ second trip with me. Last time we went a good bit later in the Spring when sunfish were an option. Today, white bass were about the only game in town, and we hit a home run!

Thom and the Boys — Spring Break 2010

Start Time: 8:00a (DST in effect now)

End Time: 2:05p

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 58.4F

Wind: Winds started light from the WNW and then increased to around 10 from the NNW, then slowly tapered off to calm by 5pm, beginning around 11am.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright all day.



After getting the boys clothed, vested, and wind-proofed, we headed out in search of fish. As we came upon one particular expanse of water I literally said, “Thank you, God.” What I saw ahead was a flock of about 2 dozen gulls feeding pedal to the metal on shad being driven to the water’s surface by white bass (Area 602 and north by 70 yards). I haven’t seen such action in over 2 months (and over these past two month is typically the time of year when this action is most prevalent, but our tough water conditions have prohibited that). As we quickly headed to the birds, I hurriedly gave Thom directions on what to do once we got on top of fish. He worked with the youngest boy, and I kept the older two to my left and right on the front deck. We used slabs in a variety of ways (and the boys invented even other ways to use a slab I’d never conceived of before!) and had success just about whatever we did given the high activity level of these fish.

By 9:35, we’d boated 46 fish of which 45 were white bass (and 1 short largemouth). It was at this time that the last of the few lingering birds left indicating the feed was all but over. We broke for a potty break and then returned to the water.

We tried for some catfish over a baited hole (snag at Area 282), but didn’t draw a nibble there. My “catfish advisor” warned me that Feb. and March are tough cat months, but, it added some variety, plus, the stink bait livened up the conversation for a bit.

Failing at catfishing, we gave flatline trolling a try in the vicinity of Area 116. We picked up one white and missed a nice largemouth here over the span of about 5 passes over the “circuit”, but action was slow here.

We moved our trolling show over to Area 533 and put another short largemouth on the board. As we trolled, I noted some good sonar marks in 20-25 feet of water between Area 599 and Area 600. We got our trolling lines in and went back to work with the slabs to finish out the day on a good note, adding 7 more white bass to our tally in a span of 15-20 minutes. It was now 12:15, the kids’ attention span had reached the end, so we called it a good day. I dropped Thom and the boys off at the dock and provided each with a souvenir crappie minnow in a water bottle to take home (still wriggling!) and with memories of a 55 fish day in the middle of a tough March. Not bad … and again I just had to say, “Thank you, God.”

After getting the kids back to the dock, I looked over 3 areas we didn’t fish today so as to try to pin down some additional fish locations for trips later this week. I found deep, reluctant whites tight to the bottom at Area 601 and boated 5 to confirm the species and that the location had a congregation of fish. I then just left these fish alone to return to them perhaps tomorrow. By 2:05p I was headed home.

TALLY = 60 fish, all caught and released

I fished a half day “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with returning guests Mike and Chloe Blackwell. This trip we added big brother Luke to the mix and had a great time on the water.

The Blackwell’s are preparing to leave home and career behind to serve the Lord as missionaries in Thailand very soon. It’s good to know there are still folks out there who act in faith!!

As for the fishing, we got off to a slow start with slack wind, but, once the wind got going and we positioned ourselves to take advantage of it, we caught fish consistently the remainder of the morning.

The Blackwell’s with our biggest catch of the morning, Chloe’s 2.75 pound largemouth bass.

…and a healthy bunch of pre-spawn white bass to round out today’s catch of 28 fish.

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 46F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 56F

Wind: Winds started light from the WNW and then increased to around 10 from the NNW, then slowly tapered off to calm by 5pm, beginning around 11am.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright all day.

Environmental Note: Peaches began blooming today.

As our trip began, we looked in mid-depths for schooled fish on bottom hoping to get a few quick fish in the boat by way of vertical jigging, but, with slack winds, that just wasn’t happening. We gave Area 598 a try and raised about 5 fish, but they were nothing more than curious, and we never did hook a fish here.

We moved on Area 116 and established a trolling circuit here. We ran 4 lines, the inner 2 with Bombers and the outer 2 with Rip Shads and the combination worked well. We caught fish equally well on all rods and had boated 25 fish by 10am including 6 largemouth bass with the largest going 2.75 pounds, 1 crappie, and 18 white bass of all sizes, up to 13 inches.

With about an hour left to go, we “voted” on whether to keep doing what we were doing or try drifting some large live baits in order to try to connect with some larger bass. Everyone voted to go for the big ones, so, we moved to Area 536 and rigged up with both large shiners and Black Saltys and went to work.

We boated 3 fish over the final hour (with action beginning to die to to the bright and calming conditions) including one keeper largemouth, one short largemouth, and a white bass that went ~12 inches.

I fished both morning and afternoon today. This morning’s trip was an instructional trip for Armando O. of Ft. Hood. Armando recently bought a bass boat and has begun fishing in bass tournaments without success. His goals were to learn not only some reliable bass fishing techniques, but also about boat control, sonar use and interpretation, and fish location. Unfortunately, his daughter had a playground incident and we didn’t fish as long as I’d like to have, but, we’d boated 10 fish before he had to go, including 3 largemouth and 7 white bass. We picked up 4 fish at Area 79 by jigging, and another 6 fish at Area 597 over 60+ feet of water by sniping. He got a thorough introduction to sonar use, jigging with slabs, shallow water spinnerbait techniques, Carolina rig rigging and use, and boat control instruction, as well as some instruction on fish location – particularly deep structure considerations.

In the afternoon, I fished solo through and after a mild cold front’s approach which brought 100% cloud cover and strong 22mph winds during its passage, tapering to 12mph thereafter. I experienced the first consistent success of the season by way of flatline trolling today following that front at and N. of Area 116. The white Rip Shad outperformed the chartreuse Rapala here by 3-4 to 1 on a 2 lure spread.

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 6:30p

Air Temp: 46F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 56-58F

Wind: Winds started light and variable, then blew ~10-11 sustained from the N (during which we caught all of our fish in the morning) then died until around 3p. A mild front quickly blew in and settled with winds gusting to NW at 22, then dying back to N at 12.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright up until 3p, then clouded over 100% with the front and then stayed cloudy.

Environmental Note: Blackberries began leafing out today.

TALLY = 18 fish, all caught and released

I fished a S.K.I.F.F. trip with two young ladies from Harker Heights High School today.

ASHLEY’S BASS TOOK BIG-FISH HONORS TODAY

DANIELLE AND ASHLEY DOUBLE-TEAMED 36 SPAWN-LADEN WHITE BASS TODAY

S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. The program exists to get the kids of deployed soldiers out on the water (at no charge to the family) while dad or mom is deployed. This program is made possible by funding from the Austin Fly Fishers. The following is my traditional post-trip note to the Austin Fly Fishers:

Dear Ron and all the Austin Fly Fishers,

Earlier today I ran the first S.K.I.F.F. trip of 2010. We have had unusually cold weather this winter season, and the water temperatures dropped into the mid-40’s. When that happened, the fishing slowed to a crawl. We then got a 1-2 punch when flooding rains put 9+ feet of dirty water on top of an already difficult situation. I postponed numerous trips in February, but, the fishing is beginning to bounce back now. This weekend’s forecast was ideal — balmy, cloudy, and with a south wind. I’d done well earlier in the week and so arranged for a SKIFF trip today.

Today, I fished with two young ladies, both 14 years of age, which, incidentally were the oldest kids I’ve taken on any SKIFF trip thus far. Ashley Pearce and Danielle Tomaka are both freshmen at Harker Heights High School. They became friends after being assigned to the same algebra class. Ashley is the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Pearce. Jeff is currently deployed to Camp Cropper with the 89th Military Police Brigade in Iraq. Danielle Tomaka is the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tomaka. Paul is currently deployed to Camp Victory with the Third Armored Corps in Iraq.

Since the day was forecast to be 100% overcast, I scheduled our start time for well after sunrise so as to allow the conditions to brighten a bit before we headed out. I met the girls at dockside at 7:45am, went over the safety essentials and some fishing basics (as Danielle had never fished before and Ashley hadn’t fished in a long time). We then launched out to hunt fish. Thankfully, we connected at the very first place I searched — a short breakline falling from 21 feet to 29 feet of water over a hard limestone bottom. The sonar lit up with bottom-hugging fish as we passed over. I cut the engine, moved back in with the trolling motor and we went to work.

At first the fish were a bit reluctant, but, by the time we’d all boated one fish, there was enough commotion created by the hooked fish, and enough regurgitated fish chow in the water to really get the fish fired up. After catching 8 fish via vertical jigging, we actually experienced about a 30 minute block of time where the fish were so aggressive they would chase a rapidly moving lure. Over this time, we boated an additional 16 fish. After this flurry ended, the bite slowly began to taper off until finally coming to an end around 10:45am. By this time we’d already boated 38 fish including 36 white bass, 1 crappie, and 1 largemouth. Every last fish came on 3/8 oz. TNT 180 slabs fished on 10 pound line on spinning gear.

Although we looked over a number of places and tested several of those by jigging, we did not catch any fish in the remaining hour of the trip.

I look forward to visiting with you all on the evening of the 25th and sharing more about SKIFF with you.

Sincerely,

Bob Maindelle

CONDITIONS TODAY:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 12:05p

Air Temp: 51F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 53-54F

Wind: Winds were steady from the SE at 12 all day.

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip.

Near-perfect conditions today coupled with several previous days of warming saw the fish go on a feeding binge lasting nearly nine hours today. This was my first day on the water with the new Lowrance HDS-10 with downlooking Structure Scan. This technology far surpassed my expectations … more about that as the season progresses.

This is a split screen image showing white bass on a deep breakline as shown on sonar (right) and as shown on downlooking Structure Scan (left). The imagery is much clearer and allows you to avoid misinterpretation of the less clear tradtional sonar images.

This image shows suspended white bass beneath a school of suspended shad. The detail is so clear you can tell with way the fish are oriented!! The large end of the white targets are heads, the tapered ends of the white targets are tails. Awesome stuff, Lowrance!!

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 6:40p

Air Temp: 51F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 52-54F

Wind: Winds started light and variable from the E, then very suddenly shifted SSW at 13 and stayed there all day.

Skies: Skies were fair and partly cloudy all day.

Environmental Note: Spotted the first migrating Sandhill Cranes headed north today.

I fished all day today with two goals to accomplish: 1) get comfortable with the new sonar gear and 2) find reliable concentrations of fish. By day’s end both goals were met.

I found fish at 3 locations today, and all three groups of fish behaved a bit differently.

The first group of fish I encountered was on a deep breakline, and was bottom-hugging. These fish never went into overdrive, but stayed biting steadily for nearly 3 hours. The fish never go active enough to pursue a moving lure, but steadily struck at a jigged slab, a deadstick slab, and an eased slab. Rarely would a fish from this bunch follow a hooked schoolmate off bottom, and rarely did a fish appear more than 3-4 feet from the bottom. I landed 77 fish at this location by 11:45am when another boat got much too close for comfort (not to mention courtesy) and I left these fish biting instead of revealing a hot location to a potlicker. Of these fish, 4 were crappie, 5 were largemouth, and the balance were white bass. This was at Area 596.

The next group of fish I found within a quarter mile of the first, but these fish were suspended off the S. side of the channel over 40-60 feet, and were found holding generally at 30-40 feet with scattered bait doing the same. These fish were very lethargic and would only respond to a sniping approach with ice jigs. Even at that, only 1 in 3 or 4 would make a move on the bait. I stayed here for right at 3 hours and boated 67 fish, of which 4 were largemouth, 4 were crappie, and the balance were white bass. This was in the vicinity of Area 597 over to Area 594.

The final group of fish I found came in 25-26 feet of water and were bottom-hugging. These fish were in a smaller school, but the most aggressive of the three. These fish aggressively struck a jigged spoon or a smoked spoon, and hooked fish were always pursued by schoolmates. The action here (which I’m sure I came in at the tail end of) lasted only about 30 minutes, dying right around 5:50p. I landed 16 fish here, all of which were white bass. This was between Areas 035 and 536.

TALLY = 160 FISH, all caught and released

Fished by myself today despite the poor condtions (cold, wet, NE wind with rain threatening) just to stay in touch with natures changes as we slowly turn the corner headed for Spring.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp: 49F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~50.5F following direct sun’s radiant heating on Sat. and early Sun.

Wind: Winds were slack at trip’s start, but soon after (obscured) sunrise began to blow from the NE with occasional light drizzle.

Skies: Skies were 100% greyed over.

I focused today on finding big collections of baitfish hopefully to return to later in the week once conditions improve, knowing any fishing done today was going to be slow. I did find a significant bunch of bait extending for quite some distance from Area 399 to Area 035, and occuring at 25 to 35 feet throughout this expanse.

This was the only place I wet a line today other than a quick trolling run off Area 555. I picked up 8 keeper whites and 1 small, pale largemouth. Six of the whites came off bottom, but were not congregated in a school there (Area 161). Two other whites and the largemouth responded to a sniping tactic from among the suspended bait in the vicinity of Area 399.

I’ve been surprised at the lack of fish in the Area 54 Complex, as well as a lack of fish thus far around Area 116.

I think were getting very close to that magic point where that cold-blooded metabolism kicks in and can’t be held back, but we’re not there yet. It’s a prime time to be out as frequently as possible under good weather conditions, as when things crank up I’ve got a feeling they’re going to do it in a big way this Spring. We’ll see!!

TALLY = 9 FISH, all caught and released

Well, we took it on the chin today. Over the past 10 days I’d corresponded with Tom S. of Michigan who was due into Georgetown on a business trip. I’d let him know the fishing had been tough, but was picking up and would be weather dependent. Within 10 hours prior to our launch time Wunderground.com (a typically very reliable weather source) predicted light SW winds at 4mph around sunrise with 100% cloudy skies, and with winds coming through the west, then turning NW by early afternoon. I was really enthused by that forecast, as SW to W winds and cloud cover are a great combination. Then it happened … not 20 minutes after we launched, as we were still searching with sonar over the first area we were going to fish, the NW wind cranked up to 15, then 20, then gusted higher, and the skies immediately cleared. I got that sinking feeling that some of you will identify with.

BEING THE SWELL GUY HE IS, UPON RETURNING TO MICHIGAN, TOM RUBBED SALT IN THE WOUND BY SENDING THIS ALONG THE WEEKEND AFTER OUR TRIP!!

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 12:15pm

Air Temp: 47F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~49F

Wind: Winds began out of the NNW at 15 mph and quickly ramped up to 20 with stronger gusts, then gradually increased to 25+ by trip’s end

Skies: Skies cleared with the arrival of a dry cold front beginning around 7:45am.

We fished all over Stillhouse and, in 5 hours of effort, managed only 2 fish — a small crappie and a small white bass. The crappie came off of Area 140 in 26 feet on bottom, and the white bass came off of Area 116 in 14 feet on bottom. We encountered no schools, no active, bottom-oriented fish, just nothing, save a few scattered suspended fish at Area 598. Tom got one to follow his ice jig, and strike, but we missed that one.

The water temperature fell during the early-week cold snap that brought 3+ inches of snow accumulation, and then bounced back to where it was, around 49 F, with 2 days of clear, calm, sunny conditions immediately afterwards.

Fishing is just plain tough right now with unseasonably cold water, and nothing short of ideal weather conditions seems to perk these fish up. Today we zigged when the weather zagged and we came up short. I don’t mind fishing solo in conditions like this, but just hated that I had a client on board when things went sour.

TALLY = 2 FISH, both caught and released

Today I welcomed repeat clients Jim and Shena S. aboard. Jim and Shena are a neat father/daughter pair that just love one another and enjoy spending time out in the Creation with one another. We got an opportunity to fish together back in the Fall, and then missed a trip in December due to illness, so, it was good to be reunited today.

Jim holds a nice 3 lbs. largemouth we found mixed in with a school of bottom-hugging white bass

Shena held her jigging technique together very well and was very consistent the entire 9 hour trip and was rewarded with a good catch of white bass

If I may brag a bit — I HAVE GREAT CLIENTS!! — this was a homemade batch of shortbread cookies made just for me. Thanks, Shena!

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 4:15pp

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 49.9F

Wind: Winds puffed from the SE at 4-7 all through the morning, then picked up to a sustained 10+ from 12:30pm on

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip with a cool mist falling through 11:30am.

I was very optimistic as we met and launched out in the morning, as I’d just come off of an 88 fish day yesterday, and the weather forecast was calling for more of the same kind of weather we experienced then. Upon arriving in advance of the trip, however, I realized this was not to be. The wind was nearly slack before sunrise and the skies were very heavy with mist falling. Once the wind did begin to move, it just puffed lightly and with an easterly component to it. The bottom line is that we struggled all morning in shallow water and deep, in clear water and stained, uplake and downlake. By 11:20am, we’d boated only 3 fish and had missed one other (a crappie and a white bass at Area 314, and another white bass off Area 100). But, knowing that winter fishing even under good conditions, can consist of brief flurries of activity, I had asked Jim and Shena to pack a lunch so that if we didn’t do well in the morning we could press on into the afternoon.

We broke for a shore lunch, and over that time, the skies brightened, the winds warmed, and the breeze got some velocity and direction to it. By 12:30 we were back out after fish with a renewed sense of optimism.

I went back to basics and focused on wind impacted areas first, and, the first such area we hit literally lit up with both bait and gamefish, both suspended, over about a 32 foot bottom. These fish were holding off a breakline, so, I motored over the breakline hoping more active fish relating to bottom would be there, but, we found none. So, we returned to the suspended congregation of fish and began to work them over with a “sniping” approach. I landed one fish this way after the three of us had been refused by perhaps a dozen or more other fish previous to my hooking that one — but, the lid was cracked! We hung in this area, and, as it continued to warm and the wind continued to build, the fish slowly eased into a feed. At this area, Area 536 (BA: 3L, 3HG, 2T) we rode out the entire bell curve of the feed here from ramp up, to a brief peak, to the tailing off, and were rewarded with a total of 27 fish coming off this area in about an hour and fifteen minutes’ time.

It was now mid-afternoon, we’d just seen a good bite develop and then shut down, but, I had good people on board, who were enthusiastic, friendly, and eager to learn, so, we went and checked out 3 more areas with sonar just in case that wind was stirring up other fish as it impacted bottom features. We picked up two quick fish — a white and a crappie — at Area 537, but never saw a school of fish nor bait.

Finally, we revisited Area 595 (BA:3L, 2HG) and found active, albeit stubborn, fish here in 17 to 24 feet of water on top of and down the face of the breakline. I say these fish were stubborn as 1) they refused to come more than 4-6 inches off of bottom, 2) despite a great number of fish being present here, we only had 2 or 3 instances where schoolmates would chase a hooked fish for ANY distance off bottom, 3) the fish would not respond to an “easing” tactic, and 4) we often had to hold our baits still for extended periods to provoke a response. Regardless, we added 22 fish to the tally here including 2 largemouth, both caught by Jim, a drum, and 19 white bass, all of which were solid, healthy, fish right at 11.75 to 13 inches. Once this bite died, I knew we’d seen the best of it and we called it a good day by day’s end.

TALLY = 52 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

Following this morning’s half-day uncle/nephew trip, I took a break around mid-day and then returned with the lessons of the morning learned in order to try to ferret out some more fish-holding locations for trips to come and to continue to try to “get smart” on this post-flood, cold water situation we’re faced with right now.

This was the first largemouth I’ve found mixed in with white bass since before the recent flooding and drop in water temperatures.

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time: 4:35p

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 48.9F

Wind: Winds were moderate from due S. at ~15-17 the entire trip

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip.

With limited time available to me this afternoon, I ran a lot of sonar and only quickly fished to test areas that looked promising. I focused on shallower, wind-impacted areas and found only one additional location that was really loaded down with fish. Of course, in cold water, and with a lengthy morning feed that occurred through mid-morning, it was asking for a lot to find multiple aggressive schools of white literally just hours later.

Nonetheless, in the vicinity of Area 149 in 26-27 feet of water, the classic “escalloped” bottom signature given off by bottom-hugging white bass was seen, and bait was in the area. With the wind coming in here strong, this was really looking good. As I let my slab down and got my depth adjusted, I immediately felt a thud. As I reeled in this hooked fish, the bottom sonar signal began to waver, indicating additional fish. I hustled my slab back down and caught another, then another. Soon, probably due to defecated or regurgitated chum now getting in the water on the tight confines of this spot, fish began to appear from bottom, upwards to 3-4 feet off bottom. I realized there were A LOT more fish here than I first suspected. I the span of 70 minutes, I boated exactly 45 fish including 44 whites and a nice largemouth bass. This bass was the first black bass that I’ve caught mixed in with whites since the flooding and cold temperatures in place for nearly a month now. By about 4:20 these fish began to settle down and then shut down completely. This was by far the most aggressive action I’ve encountered since even before the flooding — actually, since the temps. dropped out of the 50s. I hope we’re on the lead edge of a turnaround, but there is cold and rain forecast for the early part of the week ahead, so, time will only tell. Today was a good day — and I thank God for that.

TALLY = 45 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.