Fishing Report

This past Wednesday morning, November 30th, I fished a 1/2 day morning trip on Lake Belton with Dr. Jim Wood. Our focus was primarily on white bass with a few bonus hybrid striper thrown in for excitement.

Our best action this morning came in the first 2 hours, with fish activity slowly tapering down to nil by around 11am as the high winds of the morning plateaued and began to moderate by this time.  The time to be out there was when it was really blowing.

Jim has been a medical doctor for many years now and currently serves patients each week in both Harker Heights and out in Lampasas.  Wednesdays are his days off, and he chose to spend this one out with me.
A mild, dry cold front began moving into central Texas during the early morning hours. As we launched right at 7 AM, the winds were blowing 14 to 17 mph from the north northwest, with clear, cool, dry conditions prevailing. The ambient temperature was 51F and only rose to 58F by the time our trip concluded.  We watched two boats that launched at the same time we did turn around and head to the house after leaving the protection of the launch area and seeing the swell and waves that faced them.

Spurred on by the incoming, dry cold front, approximately 80 ring billed gulls were actively pursuing shad pushed to the surface by aggressively feeding gamefish for approximately two hours. We had a few options, given how aggressive and abundant the fish were. The first option was to throw a blade baits for numbers of smaller fish – – mainly white bass, and the other option was to throw a larger swim bait to select for hybrid stripers.  Jim leaned towards steady action and stuck with the bladebaits.

After the aggressive action under birds concluded, the fish moved out to slightly deeper water and grouped up heavily, thus making them vulnerable to a vertical jigging approach. For this work, we used Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs anchored with ¾ oz. slabs.  We made two short hops on top of such congregated fish before the bite in this vicinity died altogether. At this point, our tally stood at 49 fish landed.

We changed locations right around 10 AM, heading to the same area where we encountered fish under birds yesterday between approximately 10 and 11 AM. Although the quantity of birds we encountered yesterday was not to be found, a few helpful Forsters terns were present, and they were feeding over top of actively feeding fish in about 32 feet of water over an area about 100 yards long. We spot hopped beneath these terns for another 75 minutes, and added exactly 30 additional fish to our count, thus wrapping up the morning at around 11:15 AM with 79 fish caught.

TALLY = 79 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 47F

Water Surface Temp:  65.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW14-17

Sky Conditions: Bright and clear with an incoming, dry coldfront

Water Level:  0.33 feet above full pool

GT = 40

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

MORNING:

**Area vic 1735-1858 during low light conditions before, during, and just after sunrise under birds

**Area 1859 – easing after the birds quit

**Area vic 1656 in late a.m. under ranging 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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Monday morning, November 28th, I fished a multi-species trip on Belton Lake with US Army veteran Lee Walker. Lee took advantage of the Veterans’ Day special fishing trip I advertised on that holiday, and, because the weather conditions were just so-so on that date, we moved it to today, and we were glad we did!

Lee Walker braved the high winds with me this morning and cashed in on some fun fishing under gulls and terns for a full 2+ hours before the skies cleared and the winds went over 20mph, forcing us to fish more protected, but less productive, waters.

By the end of the trip, the winds were so high, we couldn’t take a clear photo in the rocking boat so we put the boat on the trailer and took the pictures at water’s edge before releasing our catch.

The NOAA weather forecast was a bit daunting to look at, with wind speeds ranging from 17 to 23 mph during the four hour window from 7 AM to 11 AM during which we would be fishing. However, because the winds were due to be from the south and west, I felt our chances of catching fish were very good and so we made a go of it. Lee and I had gone out on his boat previously during a sonar training session in which he got to learn the features of his Lowrance HDS-7 Gen3 unit.  He’s since upgraded to an HDS-9.

As we got going, the skies were heavily overcast, but brighter out to the west. Around 7:20, the first bird activity popped up in what would be a full two hour run of bird activity, allowing us to take advantage of fishing for fish active enough to chase bait all the way to the surface from out of 20 to 30 feet of water. We used a combination of presentations with both 3/8 ounce and ¾ ounce slabs. When the fish were more aggressive we fished the Hazy Eye Shad rig with a three-quarter ounce slab, and when the fish action was more subdued, we used a 3/8 oz. slab by itself a bit closer to the bottom.

By 9:15, the last of the cloud cover past with rapid clearing and brightening taking place from the south and west with a drastic, sudden increase in wind speed from 16 or 17 mph to up over 20 to 22 mph. The gull and fish activity took a noticeable downturn at this time and boat control became quite challenging. We relocated to a more protected area and continued to catch fish more slowly from out of the small, bottom hugging schools we found on topographic irregularities in 20 to 27 feet of water.

We wrapped up the trip at 11:10 with exactly 78 fish boated, including a mix of hybrid striped bass, white bass, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

TALLY = 78 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Water Surface Temp:  67.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WSW16-17 at trip’s start, ramping up to WSW20-23 by around 9:15a

Sky Conditions: Light but complete grey cloud cover, changing suddenly to clear skies around 9:15, along with the wind velocity’s increase

Water Level:  0.33 feet above full pool

GT = 10

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1663, fancasting with blades and slabbing in 15-22′ during low light conditions before sunrise under birds

**Area 1001 to 1808 – smoking and easing under birds

**Area 1857, 1635, and 1667 – easing under birds

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Saturday morning, November 26th, I fished a multi-species trip on Belton Lake with Dave Hanlin, his 82-year-old father, Dick Hanlin, Gary Pretzsch, and his 11-year-old son, Griffin.

From left: David Hanlin, Dick Hanlin, Griffin Pretzsch, and Gary Pretzsch with a sampling of the better sized white bass we landed, in addition to numerous hybrid striper, largemouth, and freshwater drum — 186 fish in all.

Griffin landed our largest fish of the trip with this nice hybrid striper, although several of the drum we boated came very close to this size, too.

 
The same ideal conditions that provided two 140+ fish trips yesterday continued into the first half of this day. Although the northwest winds lightened a bit, the nice grey cloud cover persisted with winds that at least rippled the surface at the beginning of our trip, and then built to about 7 to 8 mph for the remainder of the morning.

We fished only two areas this morning, both under ample bird activity, and “spot – hopped” quite a bit at both of these areas in order to keep up with the birds/active fish.

Our go-to techniques were using a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig, as well as a single, small, 3/8 oz. slab. We used the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig when the fish were more aggressive, and switched over to the single slab whenever the fish became more lethargic.

The fishing was very simple, and very straightforward. My four anglers boated a total of 186 fish in exactly 4 hours.

Things had really begun to slow down in the final hour, but then a small storm cell began to move in from the west, and just as the outer band of sprinkles begin to ever so lightly dimple the surface, the fish went on another rampage, accompanied by a resurgence of the gull and tern activity. We quickly hopped on top of this action, and put our last few fish in the boat, wrapping up right at 10:45 AM and beating the rain by just minutes.

TALLY = 186 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  67.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW5-8 all morning

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1643- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1654-1804 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1642- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Friday afternoon, November 25th, I fished with Mr. Mike McLaughlin, his son-in-law, Keith Duncan, and Keith’s 10-year-old son, Alex.  Mike’s wife presented him with a fishing gift certificate for Christmas, and today was the day he cashed it in.

Grandpa Mike landed the largest of our 151 fish this afternoon under ideal grey and breezy conditions.  This Belton hybrid striped bass struck the teaser fly on Mike’s Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig.

Keith Duncan and his son, Alex, hold another nice hybrid that fell for the Hazy Eye Shad rig.  Using this tandem rig, Alex landed 9 sets of doubles over the course of our 4 hour afternoon trip.
The very strong white bass bite fueled by an incoming cold front and the accompanying northwest winds and gray cloud cover allowed for a nearly identical afternoon trip following a spectacular morning trip in which we boated 143 fish.

In contrast with the morning bite in which we caught the vast majority of our fish at just two locations at which the fish “hunkered down” and allowed us to catch from just a handful of locations, this afternoon’s bite was quite different. This afternoon, we primarily followed birds which were on top of active fish pushing shad to the surface, and we spot–hopped based on where the birds indicated the fish were.

In all, I used the Spot Lock function on my Ulterra trolling motor to hover over approximately nine different areas in order to put together our catch. The go-to bait this afternoon was the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig anchored with a three-quarter ounce silver slab. Depending on how thick the fish were, and where in the water column they were located, we would present the Hazy Eye Shad rig accordingly.

Young Alex led the way on catching doubles with a grand total of nine doubles.

All species, it seemed, were feeding up as this cold front slowly rolled in. We caught numerous drum, largemouth bass, hybrid striper, and, of course, plenty of white bass.

When all was said and done we had landed 151 fish this evening. The fish quit right at 5:10p, and at the same light level at which they began feeding this morning.

TALLY = 151 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:00p

End Time:  5:10p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Water Surface Temp:  67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW10-12 all afternoon

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1137 – smallish whites on a deep breakline during brief pre-trip scouting

**Area 1188- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1187 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1808- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1728- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1519- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 302- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1574- casting blade baits horizontally for low-light fish in water under 14′

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Friday morning, November 25th, I fished with 3 generations of the Deuser family, including James (Jim) Deuser of Georgetown, Texas, and his son and grandson, Dan Deuser  and 15-year-old Jacob Deuser, both from San Antonio, Texas.

With raindrops still beaded on his shoulders from one of our three dousings of rain, Jim posed with this freshwater drum which, size-wise, looked more like a black drum from saltwater!!

All smiles!  From left: Dan, Jacob, and Jim with a sampling of the 143 fish we landed today, most of which were 11-12 inch white bass with a few larger ones like this thrown in for good measure.  The Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig accounted for numerous doubles as it often does this time of year as the water temperature begins to drop.

Dan landed our largest hybrid of the trip, also on a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig, anchored with a 3/4 oz. silver slab with a chartreuse teaser fly hung just above it.

Jim and his wife retired from a career in retail sales with J.C. Penney’s, Dan is a veteran who served as an infantryman in the US Army, and who now works for a company that does electronic climate control in large, commercial properties; and  Jacob is a high school student currently learning to drive.

A very slow moving cold front, complete with heavy cloud cover and light rain began making its way into central Texas in the early morning hours this morning. The timing on our trip was quite fortunate, because as soon as the skies brightened sufficiently through the clouds for the gulls to see what was going on, they lead the way to aggressively feeding fish for the last three of our four hours on the water.

Once the feeding began, it only slowed down around 10:45, the same time at which we planned to wrap up anyway. During this peak time, we used single slabs, and slabs in combination with a teaser fly on a Hazy Eye Shad rig to catch singles and doubles nonstop.

During our first, slowest hour on the water, we were fan casting blade baits and covering ground horizontally in shallower water, and still catching a fish or two every few minutes.

Once the bite turned on, it developed in 30 to 33 feet of water with fish congregated very thickly in the last 4 feet of the water column closest to the bottom.

Despite a pretty miserable start in which we got downpoured on three times and then chilled by the north wind, all turned out well in the end. It’s funny how catching a few fish at the right time sure can warm you up.  My favorite memory of this trip, strangely enough, didn’t have to do with the quantity or quality of the fish we caught.  Rather, it was of Jacob, cold to the point of shivering occasionally, gulping down an ice-cold Dr. Pepper in a short break in the fishing as we traveled a short distance from one flock of feeding gulls to another.  A true Texan!

When all was said and done, the Deusers landed 143 fish!

TALLY = 143 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW12 at trip’s start, increasing to NW14-15 in advance of several storm cells that passed over, then settling down to NW10-11 after the rainfall ended

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1733 fancasting bladebaits in ~15′ for scattered, disinterested white bass

**Area 1855 – vertical jigging slowly with a single slab for white bass in a neutral mood in ~17″

**Area 1856 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 748/1343 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

**Area 1856/753 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for aggressively feeding white bass spread from the bottom to within 12′ of the surface, marked by gulls

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Wednesday afternoon, November 23rd, I fished with Mr. Mike Duecy, his eight-year-old son, Jacob, and Mike’s father, Pat. Mike and Jacob live in Buda, Texas, and Pat resides in Waco.

From left: Mike, Jacob, and Pat Duecy with some hard-earned white bass — post-frontal conditions plagued our efforts on what was forecast to be a solid, breezy day.

Jacob landed this large freshwater drum on a small, live threadfin shad we put straight down under the boat in about 27′ as Pat and Mike worked their slabs.  Note the cast on Jacob’s left arm — he didn’t let that stop him any!

I had big hopes for our results Wednesday evening after looking at the NOAA weather forecast early that morning.  According to the forecast, after the passage of a mild cold front, and the band of showers on its leading edge, we were to enjoy continued winds at 12 to 14 mph into the evening hours, around 7pm. Typically, the time between a cold fronts passage and before the winds begin to slack off, are excellent fishing conditions.

Unfortunately, not long after we began our trip, the winds began to slack off after they had plateaued toward the end of my morning trip, around 11am. As the wind subsided, so did the bite we were experiencing, leaving us facing a very difficult final two hours on the water.  Calm, bright, post-frontal conditions are among the toughest you can face, and that is exactly what we were facing at this point.

In our first two hours we found fish that were fairly cooperative given that it was still early in the afternoon. We used tandem rigs to jig vertically for fish that were holding very close to the bottom. Most of these fish struck the slab, and not the fly on the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs we had on. The fishing stayed consistent until right around 3:15pm when the winds began to go alternately calm then would puff a bit then would go call him again, and so on. At this point, the only fish activity we saw was from very sporadic, and nomadic schools of white bass that would randomly pop up in open water very briefly.

Long story short, we put only three additional fish in the boat following the cessation of the winds. The final three fish came from shallow water as a small pack of white bass pushed shad towards the shore in a final, lowlight feed. We wound up with only 25 fish on a very slow afternoon following a fantastic morning. Today, timing was everything, and we got on the wrong side of nature’s “timer”.

The last thing I’d ever want to do while on the water with a youngster is have him or her leave bored and with a negative impression of fishing, so, I tried to introduce a number of transitions by showing Jacob how to fish with shad, having him catch the bait out of the tank, have him press the buttons to raise and lower the ball when we did a bit of downrigging, tap on the bottom of the boat with my thumping stick to try to interest some fish below us, steer the boat a bit, and so on.  These things (plus snacks!) I’ve found help keep kids’ interest in the event of slow fishing.

TALLY = 25 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  67.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW12 at trips start, tapering off to NW9 by 3:00, then going calm to puffing after that time

Sky Conditions: Bright, clear skies following a cold front’s passage

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 10(R40)

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1627 – vertical slabbing for whites ~45 min.

**Area 1827 – vertical slabbing for whites ~45 min.

**Area 1827 to shore – shallow last light bite on blades

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline

This past Wednesday morning, November 23rd, I fished with Barry Erskine, a Killeen native now living in Tyler, Texas, and his dad, George Erskine, also a Killeen native now living in Belton.

George Erskine took this 4+ pound hybrid striper on a live shad I’d brought as insurance against a tough trip.  A cold front’s passage was forecast for this morning, and, depending on winds, such conditions can be boom or bust.  This morning, it was “BOOM”.

Barry Erskine holds a pair of nice Belton Lake white bass he caught at the same time on a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig.  The rig is anchored with a slab and has a lightweight “teaser fly” up above it.  

This past Wednesday morning, November 23rd, I fished with Barry Erskine, a Killeen native now living in Tyler, Texas, and his dad, George Erskine, also a Killeen native now living in Belton.

Barry is a small businessman who got his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, and went on to get an MBA from Baylor. George is a retired college administrator who worked for many years at Central Texas College.

In the early morning hours, a mild cold front passed through with a thin band of thunder, lightning, and rain. In its wake, cooler, clearer, and drier conditions developed.

The timing for this morning’s trip was just right. We got on the water as the wind velocity out of the northwest was on the rise and fished right through its peak.

From the time the sun climbed above the cloud bank in the east up into the clear sky, the fish fed until right around 11:15 AM when the wind speed plateaued. We began in shallow water fishing under birds that were dining on dead and crippled shad injured by white bass and hybrid striper patrolling beneath in about 22 feet of water. Not knowing how the cold front was going to play out, I netted live bait this morning as a hedge against disappointment.

While Barry and George used blade baits casting off the portside, I hung bait on two downlines off the starboard. We regularly caught quality fish on both methods, including several hybrid in the 4 to 4 1/2 pound class.

After this shallower bite under birds died, we moved offshore into open water and began scrubbing a number of bottom features with sonar. We found fish in two distinct locations and fished them both in very much the same way. If sonar revealed active fish, we used a smoking technique, and if sonar revealed less aggressive, bottom hugging fish, we used an easing tactic. After the action died in a given location, we would “jog” a few boat lengths left, right, forwards, or backwards to reestablish contact with fish that had been nearby all the time but refused to move horizontally over to us.

More on the Erskine’s trip and, about tandem rigging is found in Sunday’s (27 Nov.) Killeen Daily Herald: http://kdhnews.com/sports/fishing/bob-maindelle-tandem-rigging-doubles-the-catch-in-cold-water/article_8f968e64-b463-11e6-a67d-a319425a64a3.html

As the wind increased, the aggression level of the fish did as well.  As I saw the bite strengthening at midmorning with winds around 14 mph, I changed us over to a tandem rig, and we routinely landed two fish at a time using this setup. Our fish count stood at exactly 90 fish at 10:30. We agreed to press on until we had reached the 100 fish mark. As I moved us into a new group of fish, we put our 100th fish in the boat, and fished that final school we encountered until the fish quit cooperating. By that time, our tally had risen to 118 fish.

Barry shared that one of the reasons he chose to fish with me was because of the data-rich reports I have posted on my website.  When he considered an outdoor excursion with his dad over the holidays and saw in one of my reports how the catch per trip in late November/early December typically outpaces every other month of the year, he decided to come fishing and see for himself.

TALLY = 118 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  10:55a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW9, steadily increasing to NW14, then plateauing there

Sky Conditions: Bright, clear skies following a cold front’s passage

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1826 &1854 – casting with blades and downlining with live shad for equal results on whites, keeper hybrid, and a few drum

**Area 1827-1624 – easing tactic with small slabs for interested but still not truly aggressive white bass

**1672-1619 – spot hopped in this vicinity for the last 2 hours of the trip, fishing Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs aggressively for white bass, short hybrid, and largemouth

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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline/

This past Tuesday afternoon, November 22^nd, I fished a 1/2 day, multi-species trip on Lake Georgetown with my nephew, Trent Maindelle, who was home on Thanksgiving break from his junior year at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

The fish turned on for a brief, 45-minute feed just before a storm cell moved in from the SW and brought about a rapid change in conditions.  Here, Trent holds his “double” and my “double” — four fish caught just seconds apart as the fish went on a heavy, brief feed in advance of approaching rain.

After a very tough morning on Georgetown, I invited my nephew out for an afternoon on Georgetown.  He lives in north Austin, and, since I was already halfway there, I figured we’d grab lunch and catch up on things while wetting a line.

So, after a worse-than-bad lunch at Carl’s Junior on Hwy. 29, (should have known the food was iffy when they were the only restaurant in a 10-mile radius with enough parking for my truck and boat), we headed out in pursuit of a few fish.

As we got going, it felt like a repeat performance of the slow morning I’d just experienced (11 fish in 5.25 hours).   We downrigged for a few fish on the east end of the lake, but, as a small storm cell approached the area, the wind died down and the skies actually got a bit brighter.  At this same time, we spotted two gulls dip down over open water.  I moved in for a closer look and found a small area of bottom atop a high spot covered with fish.

We set up in a hover using the Ulterra’s Spot Lock function and caught the tar out of the fish until the rain began to fall, and then it was all over — for good.  During this time we caught singles and doubles using Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs for about 45 minutes.  We took our fish count from single digits up to 62 fish in this short period of time.  Once the rain came and left and left calm conditions in its wake, the fishing went right back downhill.  We landed only 2 more fish in our last 1.75 hours.

There’s an old saying in fishing — “Don’t leave fish to find fish.”  Should have stayed on Lake Belton.  But then there’s another saying — “Hindsight is 20/20.”

TALLY = 64 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p

End Time:  5:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  68.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW12, then falling suddenly to calm following the passage of a small storm cell.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover, but thinner than in the morning, thus allowing for brighter conditions

Water Level:  2.31 feet below full pool

GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 854-1850 via downrigging at trip’s beginning, and again at trip’s end

**Area 1853 – via vertical jigging with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs in ~32 feet 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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline/