This past Tuesday evening I fished a multi-species trip with West Virginia National Guardsmen Robert “Mac” McAninch, Scott Piper, and Phil Arnold.  These fellows were sent to Ft. Hood to help their aviation unit as that unit’s soldiers and equipment returned from a deployment to Iraq.

From left: Scott Piper, Phil Arnold, and Robert “Mac” McAninch of the West Virginia National Guard.

The fishing has definitely not been as productive as when we had the low pressure and accompanying cloud cover we were blessed with for about 11 days following the cold front that pushed through on August 12th.  Unstable weather typically produces average to below average fishing.  Year-in and year-out my parties average 62 fish per trip; tonight we caught 73.

As we got on the water it was both breezy and bright.  We put about a dozen white bass in the boat in the first hour and lost several more as we fished under well-dispersed terns diving down on shad forced to the surface by loosely schooled white bass down below them.

When the tern action cooled off we did a bit of catfishing.  Scott really excelled at this after getting a feel for the necessary timing on the hookset right off the bat.  We put 22 cats in the boat before returning to the pursuit of white bass and hybrid.

By 6:30pm we began probing up a bit shallower in 20-25 feet of water with downriggers and over the next hour enjoyed our most productive stretch of the night, routinely hooking up with singles and doubles.

Once the sun hit the western horizon, we looked intently for surface-feeding fish but found none.  I did find heavy concentrations of white bass carpeting the bottom in water between 8-12 feet deep.  To close out the trip I Spot Locked us near such a school of fish and we fan-cast to them using blade baits.  We steadily picked up additional white bass in this way until they shut down right at about 8:30p.

TALLY = 73 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:30p

End Time:  8:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp:  84-85F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE5-6

Sky Conditions: 30% cloud cover on a fair sky.

Water Level: ~3.31 feet high.  Lake rose 0.30 feet in the past 24 hours with a flow of ~1570 cfs at the dam

GT = 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1206-904: nomadic, fast moving schooling white bass under terns

**Area  1802 catfish on cutbait

**Area 1746-1784 and 013-016 early evening mid-depth downrigging for bottom-oriented white bass

**Area 1654 – shallow casting for white bass in under 12 ‘ with bladebaits

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Saturday morning I fished with U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CW3) Ray Behan, his wife, Gaby, his dad, Steve Behan, the Behan’s daughter, Virginia, and Ray’s niece and nephew, Tyler and Reese Volk.  Steve came in for a visit from Louisiana, and the Volk’s were visiting from Salem, Oregon.

From left: Gaby Behan, Reese Volk, Steve Behan, Virginia Behan, Tyler Volk, and Ray Behan, each with sampling of the 163 fish we caught on Belton this past Saturday as the white bass fed long and hard at the surface in pursuit of threadfin shad.

To say the fish cooperated today would be an understatement.  Not only was there surprisingly few boats out (the weatherman’s bark was worse than his bite), the grey skies, gentle winds, and low-pressure conditions we experienced in advance of an afternoon of rain was just a perfect combination to get Belton’s white bass population fired up enough to feed on the surface long and hard.

We caught white bass from 6:40a to 9:30a by downrigging with a pair of downriggers with baits set up high in the water column (just 9-12 feet down), while Ray carefully sight-cast from the front deck of the moving boat into schools of fish off to our left or right.  By 9:30 we’d boated exactly 80 white bass and 1 hybrid striper.

As the skies brightened a bit, the surface action died, so I quickly switched us over to fishing for catfish with cutbait.  We caught a mix of 33 blue catfish and a channel catfish in just 45 minutes.  The time was now around 10:15am.  I asked if everyone would like to ride out the remainder of our trip continuing to catch catfish, or if they’d like to roll the dice and take a chance on finding (or not finding) more white bass action.  By this time the skies had begun to darken a bit and a large weather complex sat just off to our SW over the Hill Country.

The family vote was for more white bass action, so, we simply rode from place to place being observant.  We spotted some well-spread, aggressive white bass action by around 10:30, and fished over these fish another 40 minutes until the changing wind and weather put them down for good.  In this final 40 minutes of fishing we boated another 49 fish, including 2 hybrid stripers and 47 white bass.]

Throughout the trip, Reese kept exclaiming, “This is SO exciting!” as she watched schools of white bass force young of the year shad to the surface and church the water white with their aggressive pursuit of these small baitfish.  I would have to agree with her!

TALLY = 163 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time:  11:10a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  84.7

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE5-6

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds  with rain beginning to fall on our way back in to the dock at the end of the trip.

Water Level: ~3.01 feet high.  Lake rose 0.30 feet in the past 24 hours with a flow of ~1570 cfs at the dam

GT = 130

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1142 to 1141: nomadic, fast moving schooling white bass under terns

**Area  814-085 catfish on cutbait

**Area vic 307: nomadic, fast moving schooling white bass under terns

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Friday afternoon, August 19th, I fished the 13th SKIFF program trip of the year with Mrs. Tina Eaton and her 2 children, Cheyenne and Charlie, as well as the 2 children of U.S Army Specialist Ryan Mahin Sr. and his wife, Felicia.

We caught sunfish galore under grey, cool skies using bobbers, small hooks and worms.  From left: Layla Mahin, Charlie Eaton, Cheyenne Eaton, and Ryan Mahin Jr.

And the white bass cooperated, too.  From left: Ryan, Charlie, Layla, and Cheyenne.

As we began our trip we were blessed to have grey terns simply materialize out over open water with hungry white bass pushing young of the year shad to the surface beneath these birds. Given the ages of the kids, and the fact that there were four of them, I decided to go with 2 downrigger rods and fish just subsurface for these aggressively feeding fish with the balls set about 9 feet down.

As you might expect in the early afternoon, this action didn’t last long, but it did last long enough for each of the kids to catch two sets of doubles on the two–  and three– armed umbrella rigs I was trailing behind the downrigger balls. Not only did this allow the kids to enjoy early success and keep their interest going, it also allowed Cheyenne and Charlie to land the first fish of their lives

After the terns lifted off the water and the whites settled down, we moved up into shallow water and introduced all four kids to sunfishing using a simple float, split shot, hook, and worm. We used just one rod and had the kids go in a four-way rotation to avoid tangles.

After the sunfishing and its novelty tapered off, the time was around 7 PM, which meant the white bass should have just about been ready to begin their final evening feed.  I made my best estimate on where the fish should turn up, and this turned out to be a good estimate. We found fish beginning to congregate and rise off the bottom and move slowly shallower beginning in about 20 feet of water. We set our downrigger balls between 12 and 15 feet and began to catch fish on each pass through the area I had selected.

After each kid got to take two or three rounds on the downriggers, the fish  finally broke the surface and allowed for sight casting from that point up until they quit right at around 8:30. Our grand total for tonight’s effort tallied exactly 70 fish … but that wasn’t all!

The Mahin kids were in for a huge surprise… as we approached the courtesy dock, their dad was standing on the dock to greet them after arriving home from a lengthy National Training Center (NTC) rotation in Fort Irwin, California. The kids were not expecting him until later in the weekend.

Thanks, Mrs. Eaton, for your hands-on help on this trip.  I wouldn’t have gone near as smoothly without you!!

The Austin Fly Fishers make these trip possible with their generous donations, fundraising efforts, and partnerships with groups like the Sun City Hunting and Fishing Club, the Sun City Women Helping Other (WHO) organization, the McBride Foundation, and others.  To schedule a trip for your child while your military spouse is away, just call 254.368.7411.  With the school year now underway, SKIFF is offering after school and Saturday trips.

 

TALLY = 70 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:450p

End Time:  8:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 83F

Water Surface Temp:  84.7

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE7-8

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds  with rain between 4:40p and 5:40p

Water Level: ~2.71 feet high.  Lake rose 0.35 feet in the past 24 hours with a flow of ~1570 cfs at the dam

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1604/1137 catfish on cutbait

**Area 501/689 schooling white bass under terns

**Area 009/1772 schooling white bass under terns

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

LINK TO KDH STORY: http://kdhnews.com/sports/fishing/bob-maindelle-a-variety-of-fish-are-biting-right-now/article_70c641f0-6760-11e6-b7c0-a7fed3deb677.html

This past Thursday afternoon, August 19, I fished with Mr. Chris Howell and his 12-year-old son, Danny, both of Round Rock, Texas.

After the storms passed, the white bass went on an absolute feeding frenzy.  I was not uncommon to see a white bass 12 inches long regurgitate 5 or 6 young-of-the-year threadfin shad like the two shown above in the mouth of this white bass.

Chris Howell and his 12-year-old son, Danny, scored 117 fish after braving the rain on Belton this evening.

These fellows were presented with a fishing gift certificate by Chris’s father-in-law, Charles Wood, of Temple, and today was the day they decided to cash it in before Danny must head back to school this coming Tuesday for his seventh grade year.

The rain that forced postponement of several trips Monday and Tuesday looked like it was going to give us a break today but, low and behold, just as I began launching the boat, more rain moved in from the southwest. When Chris and Danny pulled in we consulted and simply decided that the fishing was worth getting wet, and so we left the rain gear in our vehicles and headed out to catch some fish.

As we started off, I targeted catfish in deep open water on a windward facing breakline in about 32 feet of water. Once we held over this area using the Ulterra’s Spot Lock function and got chum down, the catfish began to respond. Eight catfish into the trip, we heard thunder drawing nearer and got off the lake until ‘all clear’.

Once the storms passed, and the weather began to improve, the fish went on an absolute feeding frenzy lasting from roughly 6 PM until dark at 8:40 PM. During this time we located fish either by searching for nervous water and or by sighting the white and gray terns feeding actively just above the water’s surface as they scavenged shad left dead or crippled by the white bass below them. Our bait of choice tonight was a chrome bladebait. The color, size, and profile did a great job of mimicking the pray these white bass were targeting.

We found such action occurring in two distinct locations with the first area going quiet around 7:45 PM and the second spot firing up around that same time and lasting until right at dark.

By the time all was said and done we had landed 117 fish including 8 catfish, 5 largemouth bass, and 104 white bass.

 

TALLY = 117 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:40p

End Time:  8:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Water Surface Temp:  84.7

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE7-9

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds  with rain between 4:40p and 5:40p

Water Level: ~2.11 feet high.  Lake rose 0.55 feet in the past 24 hours with a flow of ~1570 cfs at the dam

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1604/1137 catfish on cutbait

**Area 501/689 schooling white bass under terns

**Area 009/1772 schooling white bass under terns

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Thursday morning, August 18th, I fished the 12th SKIFF program trip of the 2016 season with Maurice W. Jr. and Kaitlyn A., accompanied by their mothers, Tionna W. and Charmain A.

 

Kaitlyn took big fish honors this trip with an 11th hour hybrid striper that struck her Pet Spoon.  This was one of 3 fish (2 hybrid and 1 white bass) she landed at the same time on a 3-armed umbrella rig as we fished under terns which pointed the way to actively feeding fish in deep, open water.

Maurice keeps an eye on the competition as we headed up shallow and fished for sunfish at mid-morning for varitety’s sake.  Maurice holds a bluegill sunfish while Kaitlyn holds a redear sunfish.

Kaitlyn’s dad, Kevin A. serves as a US Army armor officer and is currently deployed to Afghanistan. Maurice’s dad, Captain Maurice W. Sr., is also an armor officer assigned to the planning section of III Corps.  III Corps serves as the headquarters of the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve leading a regional campaign of coalition and international partners synchronizing military action against the Islamic State in Southwest Asia.

This was the first time I’ve been on the water in over a week thanks to near-constant rain since a cold front blew in last Friday afternoon. Despite having over 6 inches of rain, because the rain fell gently, the lake condition and elevation have really not changed much over the past week, with discharge at the dam roughly equaling rain input.

Heavy grey cloud cover persisted during our entire time on the water this morning.  This eliminated the low-light top water bite that more frequently occurs with a sudden brightening of the sky at sunrise on less cloudy days. Our trip broke down into five distinct components.

First, we downrigged with Pet Spoons up shallow, then moved out to deeper water after seeing a few juvenile terns working over fish in deep open water. Downriggers continued to be productive for these fish, as well. Next, we moved up into shallow water and targeted sunfish. We then pursued catfish using cut bait near bottom. We wrapped up the trip back under birds using downriggers and put the kids on fish right up until we wrapped up at 10:45 so as to end on a positive note. It was during this last round under birds that Kaitlyn landed our largest fish of the trip, a 19.75” hybrid striper, which was part of a triple she caught on a 3-armed umbrella rig.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips like this one are provided free of charge thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers.  Homefront parents separated from their military spouse due to that spouse’s duty may contact me at 254.368.7411 to arrange for a 4-hour trip, totally free of charge.

For their efforts today the kids wound up boating a grand total of 50 fish.

 

TALLY = 50 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  10:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  84.3

Wind Speed & Direction:  ESE 8-10

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds and occasional light drizzle

Water Level: ~2.11 feet high.  Lake rose 0.55 feet in the past 24 hours with a flow of ~1570 cfs at the dam

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1574 – low light downrigging

**Area 1275-836 open water downrigging under terns

**Area 015 – shallow water white bass and freshwater drum on bladebaits

**Area 023 – low light topwater action following sunset in under 15′ of water

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Wednesday afternoon, August 10, I fished with Mr. Eron Hedgecoth and his 10-year-old son, Grayson, of Little River, Texas.

Grayson Hedgecoth and his dad, Eron, with our largest catfish of the trip, a 17 inch channel cat taken on fresh, dead shad in 32′ of water while the air temperature was 102F.

After the catfishing and before the white bass went crazy on top, we did some downrigging, resulting in this nice hybrid striped bass which fell for a Pet Spoon.
Eron is a signalman for the railroad and therefore travels quite a bit. We would both have preferred to fish in the cool of the morning, but neither of our schedules allowed for that to happen before Grayson heads back to school, so we chose this afternoon to make that special event happen.

In many ways my afternoon trips are conducted in reverse of my morning trips. By this I mean we set out looking for blue catfish in deeper open water first, awaiting a resurgence of activity in progressively shallower water by white bass and hybrid striper as sunset approaches.

We spent our first 70 minutes hovering over 32 feet of water with fresh, dead shad suspended just above the bottom targeting heavily schooled catfish. During that time we hooked and landed exactly 30 catfish, including 27 blues, and 3 channels, the biggest of which was approximately 17 inches long and about 2 1/2 pounds.

For variety’s sake, and given Grayson’s age, we next began to search for relatively inactive but heavily schooled white bass also in deep, open water, although we could have continued to catch catfish. Such fish this time of year tend to congregate on breaklines when they are inactive between morning and evening feeds, and today was no exception. On several gentle breaks we found heavily schooled fish (literally hundreds of them) and used the downriggers to present our baits to many inactive fish in hopes of getting the handful of more active fish among them interested in biting. This did the trick for multiple singles and two sets of doubles allowing us to put another 16 fish in the boat, including 15 white bass and one keeper hybrid striper.

As we downrigged, I noted that the fish were progressively moving shallower and appearing gradually higher in the water column. This was our signal to leave the downriggers behind, move up shallow, and begin working baits horizontally. For this work, I chose spinning gear equipped with blade baits. We worked our blade baits in 15 to 17 feet of water and picked up both white bass and freshwater drum at a moderate, but consistent pace right up through sunset.  At sunset, when I did not see nor hear any top water action immediately near us, I began cruising and looking for the distinct appearance of nervous water indicating white bass and or hybrid striper pushing shad to the surface. Within minutes, we found exactly what we were looking for, got the boat situated a cast’s distance away from the fish to keep from spooking them, and began putting the fish after fish in the boat casting blade baits to them and immediately retrieving our lures to keep them high in the water column. We quickly put another 22 fish in the boat before the action died about 25 minutes after sunset. We ended our trip with exactly 73 fish landed for our efforts.

 

TALLY = 73 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:40p

End Time:  8:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 102F

Water Surface Temp:  89.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE9-12

Sky Conditions: 20% white clouds on a fair sky.

Water Level: ~2.20 feet high and falling ~  0.7 feet per day with a reduced flow of ~2800 cfs

GT = 9

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1798/1799 – bluecat and channels on fresh, dead shad

**Area 302/1271 – downrigging for inactive whites and hybrid

**Area 015 – shallow water white bass and freshwater drum on bladebaits

**Area 023 – low light topwater action following sunset in under 15′ of water

 

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Tuesday morning, August 9th, I fished with William and Aidan Cooper of Killeen on the 11th SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip of the 2016 season.

Although we were able to find and catch fish throughout our 4-hour time on the water this morning, the first 90 minutes provided proportionally more and larger fish than the balance of the morning.  William took both of these hybrid by sight-casting to schools of active fish forcing shad to the surface under low-light conditions.

Aidan landed this nice Belton Lake hybrid striped bass of his own, as well as numerous white bass after quickly learning how to cast and retrieve using spinning gear.

William and Aidan are the sons of US Army Staff Sergeant Cory Hale and his wife, Chastsie Hale. SSG Hale is a field artillerymen currently deployed to South Korea.

Mrs. Hale saw to it that the boys arrived punctually this morning, as I shared with her the day before that the best fishing was typically taking place in the first 75 minutes of our time on the water. Today turned out to be no exception. The fishing has been exceptionally stable and consistent as I expected it will be as long as we have stable, high-pressure weather controlling our conditions. Around 6:40 AM, we spied the first “early risers” consisting of white bass and hybrid striper beginning to push threadfin shad to the surface and feed upon them there. Within the next 20 minutes there was a full-on feed taking place over an oblong area about 300 yards long and perhaps 50 yards wide. Although several other boats were in this vicinity, everyone kept their space and was considerate of the others – – one of the things I really enjoy about fishing on the weekdays versus the weekends.

After 90 minutes of nonstop action, the fish began to settle down and push down further in the water column. We quickly switched over to downrigging gear and continued to catch fish consistently for another 30 minutes. By about the two hour mark (around 8:30 AM), the white bass and hybrid striped bass feed had about wrapped up in this area.

We moved on searching for bottom-hugging fish that might respond to vertical tactics. As we searched, I noticed one particular area of the lake that had white bass consistently coming up in “popcorn” schools which appeared briefly and then sounded. Such popcorn schools are pretty tough unless all anglers can cast long and accurately. We took two fish from out of this scenario and then decided to move on to something completely different.

I took the boys up shallow and showed them briefly how to use poles without reels attached to angle for sunfish up in the brush-filled shallow water. We put three panfish in the boat pretty quickly, and then decided to move on to fishing for blue catfish in deep, open water.

The last 40 minutes of the trip we spent fishing with fresh, dead shad for blue catfish and the boys did very well. Both were fast learners. I showed them just one time how to differentiate between the fish approaching the bait initially, and the fish committing to take the bait fully in its mouth. Once they understood the difference and began setting the hook at the proper time, they batted about two out of every three fish on their ‘bite to catch’ ratio.

We wrapped up the trip right around 10:30 AM with exactly 60 fish landed this morning. Since William is already driving and his mother had to work today, he shuttled his brother home and the two had plans for lunch and a nap before William’s football practice at Shoemaker high school where he plays as a cornerback this season.

 

TALLY = 60 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time:  10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp:  85.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S9-12

Sky Conditions: 20% white clouds on a fair sky.   Unobscurred sunrise at 7:12.

Water Level: ~2.20 feet high and falling ~  0.7 feet per day with a reduced flow of ~2800 cfs

GT = 0

Wx Snapshot:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1657 – low light topwater sightcasting for white bass & hybrid stripers

**Area 1657-1655-812 – downrigging after topwater fish sounded due to increasing light

**Area 1795-1796 – popcorn schooling by white bass

**Area 1797 – panfish on slipfloats

**Area  1070- bluecat  with fresh, dead shad

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

This past Saturday morning, August 6, I fished at Belton Lake with Mrs. Blanca Pena and her two sons, 11-year-old Osmar, and 9-year-old, Bryan. This trip was a Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) fishing trip, provided courtesy of the Austin Fly Fishers.  This was the 10th SKIFF trip of the 2016 season.

From left: Osmar, Blanca, and Bryan Pena with a pair of white bass we caught using downriggers equipped with Pet Spoons on this, the 10th SKIFF trip of the 2016 season.

 
After a safety briefing and a quick introduction to the fishing equipment we be using this morning, we cleared the no wake zone by 6:30 AM and headed to the fishing grounds. As the skies began to brighten just prior to sunrise, some very light top water feeding began to take place as white bass pushed shad to the surface. This was nothing in comparison to yesterday’s long and strong top water feed, in fact, it was so light that we did not even cast to, or focus on, these fish. Instead, we ran downriggers in the vicinity of the schooling action hoping to find more numerous fish beneath the few that were aggressive enough to hit on top. What action did develop was over within an hour, and by 7:45 we were searching new areas for fish.

Thanks to a number of newly opened boat ramps on Belton Lake, quite a few boats were out, and I could see that no one was pulling fish in the area we were fishing, thus making it pretty easy to cut ties and run to another area to search for fish. So as not to lose the boys’ interest, I decided we would head up shallow a bit earlier than usual and begin fishing for sunfish in the near-shore flooded brush. We made two such stops and picked up bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, blacktail shiners, and juvenile smallmouth bass with ease using baited hooks beneath slip floats.

When the novelty of sun fishing wore off, I once again devoted some time to looking for white bass and/ or hybrid striper to either downrig or jig for, but found nothing of interest. I really didn’t stick with this search very long, as I knew the boys would get fidgety pretty quickly. By now, it was about 9:15 AM, and I decided to give a look for blue catfish in deep open water.

Blue catfish have proven very, very reliable and consistent this summer in some of the traditional haunts where white bass and hybrid are typically found, but have been absent from this summer thanks to the flooding. The tactic remained the same this morning: I searched for catfish on sonar, used the Spot Lock function on the Ulterra trolling motor to hover over top of them, put chum out to get the fish interested, and then sent our baited hooks down for nearly instantaneous results.

Over our final 40 minutes on the water each of the boys caught about a half dozen blue cat. I was pretty impressed with how quickly Osmar got the hang of setting the hook after detecting a steady pull downward by the catfish.

We closed out our trip by taking photos of the boys with our best pair of white bass, our best pair of sunfish, and our best pair of blue cats. Our grand total for the morning was 42 fish caught and released.

TALLY = 42 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time:  10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp:  85.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S9-12

Sky Conditions: 20% white clouds on a fair sky.   Unobscurred sunrise at 7:12.

Water Level: ~5.30 feet high and falling ~  0.7 feet per day with a flow of ~5,200 cfs

GT = 0

Wx Snapshot:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 147-1654 – low light downrigging for white bass

**Area 166 &499 sunfish

**Area 1655/085- bluecat in last hour

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle