Just a reminder that I will be presenting a sonar use and interpretation seminar focused on Humminbird products at Marine Outlet in Temple, TX, this Thursday, 22 May beginning at 6pm. Free dinner is provided by Marine Outlet.

Feel free to contact me at 254.368.7411 (call or text) or Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com if you have any questions.

This morning I welcomed international guest 16-year-old Daniyar Irgaliyev aboard my boat for some hybrid striped bass fishing on Belton Lake, accompanied by one of his sponsors, Michael Apodaca of Salado, Texas.  Daniyar (nicknamed “Dan”) is from Kazakhstan.

Dan with his largest hybrid of the 37 legal hybrid we boated today.

Dan and Michael hold 3 hybrid we caught in rapid succession at our last stop of the day.

Kazakhstan borders both Russia and China and has a population of about 17 million.  Dan initially came to the U.S. back in September 2013 as an exchange student at Salado High School and will be heading back to Kazakhstan this June. Dan enjoys robotics and speaks 3 languages — Kazakh, Russian, and English.

Michael is a veteran now working as a civilian with the Operational Test Command (OTC) on Fort Hood where new equipment is put to the test to ensure functionality, durability, etc. before being placed in the hands of our troops.  Michael and his wife, Jane, live in Salado.

Today’s fishing rose and fell with the winds, as it often does.  For the first 75 minutes of the trip while the winds were light and variable, we only caught 4 fish despite chumming heavily and seeing fish glued to bottom continuously.

Around 8:30a, a light but steady breeze began to push from out of the south and the feed began tentatively, then built to a peak between 9:00 and 10:15, then, as the winds slacked off around 10:30, the bite went soft.

We fished live shad on downlines by hovering over top of fish we’d found on sonar using the Spot-Lock feature on my trolling motor.  We caught 2 smallmouth bass, 4 blue catfish, 2 short hybrid, 6 white bass, and 37 legal hybrid striped bass exceeding 18 inches.

This morning I was once again joined by Steve Niemeier who had fished with me last week with his grandson, Caleb.  This time it was Caleb’s little sister Macy’s turn to miss a few hours of school and spend a few hours with grandpa.

Steve and Macy pose with Macy’s first hybrid.  We fished live shad today in 35 to 47 feet of water.

After reeling in at least half of our catch of 67, Macy’s battery wore out in the last 35 minutes.  She literally fished ’til she dropped!

Today we saw the south wind return after 2 full days of cool northerly winds.  The spawning shad returned to the banks and the fish got back into a solid groove today, feeding well from sunrise through 10:30a.

We made 3 stops today finding abundant, but small fish at our first stop including white bass, short hybrid stripers, and a few blue catfish.  At our second stop, we picked up several nice hybrid right off the bat, but no bite continued thereafter.  Around 9:15a we got on what would be our last area fished and found legal and sub-legal hybrid sprinkled with a few white bass holding “thick” at about 36-39 feet over a 47 foot bottom.

At this last area we never got a full compliment of 4 rods in the water, and could barely keep up with 3.  Then, things really took off and we scaled back to just to rods.  I could no sooner put a bait on, hand it off to Steve or Macy and have them put it down to depth than a fish would grab it and go.  I was baiting, netting, and releasing — baiting, netting and releasing.  This peak lasted about 25 minutes and began to taper out around 10am.

Macy did a really good job today for her age and was not afraid to try new things.  In addition to the fish catching, she also handled and released our fish, she cut up and put out chum by hand, she set her baited rod up in the rod holder at the correct depth without assistance, she learned how to use a Boga Grip, and she dipped shad out of the bait tank with a bait net in order to assist me.

This
morning I welcomed back Mr. Pat Sprague of Sun City near Georgetown, Texas.  Pat and his wife recently retired down here from “up north” in Wisconsin, and Pat’s been trying to figure out this man-made reservoir thing ever since.

Pat Sprague of Sun City near Georgetown with one of over 45 keeper hybrid he landed today on large live shad fished in strong winds.

Pat fished with me in March while the slabbing bite was still on and asked me to call him when the hybrid turned on onto live shad so he could experience that first hand.  He got a great introduction today.

TALLY = 54 FISH, all caught and released

This morning I fished with Shane McNamara and his son-in-law, Hudson Steidl, both from the Cedar Park area north of Austin, TX.
 


Hudson took “high stick” honors with our trip’s largest catch — a hybrid striper going right at 5.00 pounds.

Shane is a claims adjuster with State Farm Insurance, and Hudson is just starting a job with Goodwill.  Both are part of the Rockpointe Church in Leander, TX.

Hudson and his wife, Faith, are expecting their first child, a girl, in about 10 weeks’ time, so, it’s probably a good thing that he’s getting in a fishing trip now as it may be a while before the next one!