Fishing Report

This past Tuesday afternoon I met up with 14-year-old Aaron Cherry of Nolanville, TX, for a fishing trip on Lake Belton booked through the Fort Hood SKIES program.

Aaron did well at all the tactics we employed today including downrigging, vertical jigging, fan-casting bladebaits, and sight-casting to topwater fish.

After several of the fish we caught and released regurgitated shad they had previously eaten, we made sure our lure size matched what they were feeding on.  Shad are a small, oil, energy-rich baitfish that make up the majority of the diet of most of the species of predator fish in Belton Lake.

Right around 3:45pm, Aaron and his mom, Charlotte, arrived at the launch area we’d selected on Belton Lake.

After a bit of paperwork and a safety talk, Aaron and I headed out in search of fish.  We started off using downriggers, but very quickly switched over to vertical jigging based on the great number of heavily concentrated fish we discovered holding near bottom.

We started jigging with 3/8 oz. slabs, but, upon discovering the fish were feeding on larger baitfish (based on what we saw them regurgitate), we increased our lure size to 3/4 oz. models.

We picked up just shy of half of our total catch in our first hour on the water as the stiffest breeze of the entire 4-hour trip blew from the NNE during that time.  When that breeze subsided, and until the sun began to set, the fishing slowed down.

As has been the case over most of the summer on afternoon trips, we experienced a bit of a lull from 5-6p, but then around 6p, and right up until dark, action steadily increased as fish got more active and moved both shallower and up higher in the water column.

As light topwater action began to break out on the surface after the sun set, I was impressed with how quickly Aaron took to accurately casting to surface-feeding fish with just some basic instruction I’d provided him with earlier in the trip as we practiced fan-casting with blade baits out in deeper water. For his efforts tonight, Aaron landed 70 fish.
SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors.  To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

TALLY = 70 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 80.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE7-8

Sky Conditions: Cloudless, fair skies with very dry conditions

Note: Lake has dropped 0.05 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 592.68 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area (vicinity) 677/472 for 34 fish when downrigging led to smoking

**Area 1073 downrigging

**Area 1186 3 short hops gradually shallower to keep up with fish ramping up for twilight bite

**Area 018 last light topwater action

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This afternoon I conducted an after-school Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip for Eli T. and Jaythan S., both of Ft. Hood, TX.

Eli T. with one of the many white bass that we caught on the 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons this evening.

Jaythan S. caught the first fish of his life on this evening’s SKIFF trip.

This past Friday afternoon I conducted the season’s 21st Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip.  I had the pleasure of fishing with two energetic seven-year-old boys, Eli and Jaythan.  Both boys’ fathers are away from home for training. Eli has fished with me once before when his dad was pulled away from the family by military duty, and this was Jason’s first trip out with me; in fact, he had never caught a fish before.

We begin our day under warm, humid, nearly calm conditions.  We first encountered fish suspended at around 30 feet deep over a slightly deeper bottom and downrigged successfully to boat singles, doubles, and triples using umbrella rigs equipped with small Pet Spoons. This effort allowed for the capture of Jason’s first fish, thus qualifying him for a T PWD “First Fish Award”.

The downrigging at this first area we fished gave up a total of 31 fish before the action died, sending us looking elsewhere. We encountered a bit of a lull in the action between 5 PM and 6 PM, picking up only six more fish at the second area we fished that during this time.

Thanks to some building and fairly heavy grey cloud cover in the west, sunset was obscured and the low light preceding it came a bit early, right around 6 PM.  At this time we moved to the third area we would fish and found both bottom-oriented, and suspended fish. The suspended fish were holding at two levels, one group at around 23 to 27 feet, and another group just 12 to 14 feet below the surface. We employed downriggers at both depths and caught fish consistently at both depths right up until 7 PM.   At 7 PM, the fish made a very distinct move shallow and surfacewards with occasional fish feeding on the surface.  At the same time, the wind very suddenly picked up to about 8 to 10 mph out of the north in advance of a mild, dry, cool front that would continue to make its way into this area overnight. That wind shift really sucked the energy out of what is normally a very aggressive, low light bite at this point in the evening. Although we continued to catch fish right until 7:35 on downriggers and flatlined tandem rigs, and continued to see some light surface action, this was nothing in comparison to what it has been over the past several days with more stable, southerly winds in place.

The boys, already familiar with one another from school, and being the same age, really hit it off well. They realized following instructions directly impacted their success, and listened very well to the somewhat technical instructions pertaining to downrigging. When all was said and done, the boys landed a total of 67 fish consisting of a mixture of short hybrid striped bass, short white bass, and legal-sized white bass.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.
TALLY = 67 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 92F

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable until ~7:00p, when the N. wind picked up suddenly 8-10

Sky Conditions: Mostly cloudless conditions on a fair sky with building clouds in the west, sufficient to obscure the sunset

Note: Lake has dropped 0.02 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.34 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1609 steady early evening success on downiggers

**Area 1601 slower fishing on downriggers from 5-6p

**Area 085 downrigging leading to smoking

**Area 811 end of evening downrigging and flatline trolling

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This afternoon I met up with the Leonovich kids — Ethan (age 13), Ava (age 9), and Emaline (age 5) — for a Ft. Hood SKIES Program “Fishing 101” trip on Belton Lake.  Chaperoning today were Hank and Diana, the kids’ maternal grandparents who are visiting from Vermont.

From left:  The Leonovich kids: Emaline, Ava, and Ethan, with several of the “keeper”-sized white bass we landed on downriggers this evening.

Emaline proudly displays the first fish she ever caught, earning her a First Fish Award from TPWD.

Once we got everyone boarded and provided with both a safety talk and a bit of a demo on how to use both baitcasting reels and spinning reels, we shoved off in search of fish.  We decided we’d take turns in order from youngest to oldest as we used the pair of downriggers I have aboard to present 6 baits at depths the fish were holding at today.  We were fortunate to come across fish very quickly (less than 2 minutes from putting the gear down and less than 5 minutes from shoving off from the dock), and the kids did great on taking turns, catching singles, doubles, and triples on the 3-armed umbrella rigs we were using.

The kids’ mom, Gretchen, let me know that Hank and Diana might not make the full 4-hours on the water, and, indeed, around the 2.25 hour mark, Grandpa gave me the high sign to start winding things down.

All 35 fish we boated today came on the downriggers.  We set at ~25′ deep at our first area for fish holding along the bottom, and we set at 10-12′ at our second area for large schools of fish down at 11-15 feet over 35-45 feet of water.

Emaline had never landed a fish before today’s trip.  Texas Parks and Wildlife Department offers a “First Fish Award” to anglers landing their first fish, so, the very first fish Emaline reeled in, an 8″ white bass, qualified her for this distinction.  Good thing she wore a floral dress, earrings, and a hair bow for the occasion!
SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors.  To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 6:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 87F

Water Surface Temp: 84.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9-10

Sky Conditions: 45% grey cloud cover on a fair sky.  More humid today than the day before.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.05 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 592.89 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area (vicinity) 1401 & 1139 downrigging for moderate but steady results on smaller fish over first hour

**Area 1601 downrigging for steady results on smaller fish for last hour

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This afternoon I conducted an after-school Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip for Isaiah and Landen Crofutt of Killeen, TX.

From left: Isaiah and Landen Crofutt with a sampling of the white bass they caught on both downriggers and slabs on their after-school SKIFF Program trip while their dad is away at Ft. Irwin, CA.

Isaiah and Landen are the eldest two of the Crofutt’s four children.  Isaiah is 10, Landen is 7, Ashlyn is 5, and baby Alianna is just 6 months old.  Originally from upstate New York, the Crofutt’s have been stationed in Louisiana, South Carolina, and now here at Fort Hood.  Staff Sergeant David Crofutt is an Army truck driver, but is currently serving in the role of platoon sergeant and has been sent to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California, for about 5 weeks of intensive training before heading to South Korea.  As you can imagine, Mrs. Amanda Crofutt has her work cut out for her with 4 kids under age 11.

My hope this afternoon was to treat the boys to something they would enjoy while at the same time giving Amanda a bit of a stress-break.  Things really worked out well, as I kept the boys entertained for about 5 hours, and so, with Ashlyn’s cheer practice unexpectedly cancelled, Amanda and Ashyln got to enjoy some boy-free mommy/daughter time with baby along for the ride.

Amanda and I met in the parking lot of a local bank as she delivered the boys to me straight from school, and, after the trip, I took them back home so Amanda didn’t have to go through the get-the-kids-in-the-car-seats routine after dark to come pick them up.

The fishing was straightforward and productive today.  We downrigged to find fish, and then vertically jigged with small silver slabs to take full advantage of what we uncovered while downrigging.  The majority of our fish came from a fixed position as we held over top of the fish we’d found in 27-32 feet of water using the Spot-Lock feature on the Minn Kota.  Although the breeze was gentle, it was also steady, so the boys’ lines stayed nearly perfectly vertical. I placed them on opposite sides of the boat so tangles were kept to a minimum and fish catching was maximized.

Towards dark, several minutes after sunset, a light topwater bite broke out, but we opted to downrig in the midst of these topwater-feeders simply because the topwater was well-spread enough to require some distance and accuracy in casting which neither boy was going to be able to conjure up.

By the time dark set in, we’d boated a grand total of 106 fish including a mix of short hybrid, short white bass, keeper white bass, and one short largemouth.  We did not catch any keeper hybrid on tonight’s trip, nor did I see any topwater action that looked like larger hybrid pushing bait to the surface.

Landen caught the first fish of his life tonight, an 11.75 inch white bass, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award” for his accomplishment.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.
TALLY = 106 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3;45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 86F

Water Surface Temp: 83.6

Wind Speed & Direction: S5-7

Sky Conditions: Thin white, wispy cover on a fair sky at ~50%

Note: Lake has dropped 0.02 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 592.92 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1608 successful downrigging with multiple triples, paving the way to smoking success with slabs

**Area 812/1186 downrigging leading to smoking, then transitioning into topwater from here to shore right at and after sunset

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

On this cool, crisp early October morning, I met up with a party of three on Belton Lake for a morning of chasing white bass and hybrid striped bass. The “ringleader” was Brian Bishop from the Houston area.    Joining him were his nephew, Corwyn Raesz, and Corwyn’s grandfather, Bobby Rusk, both from the Fort Worth area.

From left: Corwyn, Brian, and Bobby with a mess of white bass caught via a vertical approach, after fish were found using downriggers as a search tool.  As has been the case all summer, most of the fish we caught were smaller than these we held onto for photos.

Brian is a computer guy still in his working years, Bobby retired from computer-oriented civil service over 20 years ago, and Corwyn works for an ad agency and focuses on Bank of America as his primary client.

The crew encountered what can only be described as some “Murphy’s Law” this morning. We were to meet at 6:45 AM so as to be on the water for any top water bite that developed. When GPS sent them in the wrong direction, and as they toured through a Belton neighborhood in Bobby’s really-cool looking 1970’s vintage Continental, they drew the attention of local law enforcement. A friendly neighborhood Bell County Sheriff’s Dept. patrolman pulled the odd looking car over just to make sure the occupants were legit.

Convinced that they were indeed okay fellows, the deputy sent them on their way, and they arrived at the boat ramp about 35 minutes late, just as the top water bite was shutting down.  Then, as they went to exit the vehicle (which, by the way had some groovy, retractable headlight covers!!), the driver’s side window stuck in the down position, costing us even more precious time as the topwater bite clock ticked down.

I sped to my best bet on remaining topwater action and we wound up catching 3 fish on the surface before the bright, direct sun shut it down.

Fortunately, we were able to find some deep water fish by using downriggers to probe the depths, catching quite a number of singles, doubles, and triples beginning at around 8 AM. When multiple passes with the downriggers continued to produce fish on every pass, I decided to use the Spot Lock feature on the Minn Kota trolling motor in order to hang right above the fish we were seeing on sonar.  At times, the bottom was blanketed with fish, and stayed that way for fair lengths of time.   We made for “short hops” by moving a few yards forwards, backwards, left, or right of where we first encountered fish, and stayed on fish for three solid hours from 8 AM to 11 AM.

When all was said and done we boated exactly 142 fish including white bass, hybrid striped bass, freshwater drum, and one blue catfish.

As has been the case nearly all summer, most of these fish were smallish, but the numbers were through the roof.

As has also been the case all summer, the three armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons did the trick for downrigging, and the 3/8 ounce Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs (formerly known as the TNT 180) in 3/8 ounce did the trick on the bottom-oriented fish we slabbed for vertically.

TALLY = 142 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:20a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Water Surface Temp:  80.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW9-11

Sky Conditions:  Cloudless

Other: GT= 65

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1607 & 1119 light, concluding topwater action

**Area 1602/841/1019 downrigging leading to slabbing

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This past weekend I had the opportunity to take 5 Army kids out on Belton Lake, fishing with the Avery family on Friday evening, and a contingent from 3 different families on Saturday evening.

Laney Avery caught our largest fish of the trip on Friday, boating this  1.75 pound blue cat that chased down her 3/8 oz. Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 slab.

Big sister Anna Avery landed our largest white bass of the evening from out of ~35 feet of water using a vertical jigging tactic.

And, with a bit of help from mom, little sister Bailey kept up with her older sisters the best she could.

This was Saturday’s crew.  From left: Mrs. Shaydee Pappas, Emma Tilonsky (rear), Josiah Pappas (front), and Julian Gerena.

FRIDAY: This past Friday evening I fished the 18th SKIFF trip of the season with the Avery family of Harker Heights, Texas. Accompanying me were Anna, Laney, and Bailey Avery, and their mom, Donna Avery.  Captain Eric Avery, a US Army chaplain, is serving a one year deployment with the 1st Cavalry Division in South Korea.

I arranged to meet Mrs. Avery and her daughters in front of their home in Harker Heights so she could follow me over to the boat ramp we launched from on Belton Lake. Our trip divided neatly into three parts. Part one involved some moderate action on downriggers used over deep open water. This allowed the girls to enjoy some instant success, get a feel for the equipment we would be using, and allow us to catch at least a few fish during what is normally a slower time in the late afternoon, before the more intensive feeding occurs near sunset.

Part two of our trip involved finding fish in deep water that were congregated tightly together and more ready to feed.  In this case, instead of downrigging horizontally, we hovered over these fish and fished vertically with 3/8 ounce slab spoons and did quite well.  Always in such scenarios, the first fish is the hardest to catch out of such a school, then once that first fish is caught, the rest of the school seems to loosen up and is much easier to tempt.

The third and final chapter of our trip occurred right at, and just beyond, sunset. At this time, moderate-sized schools of white bass began to force shad to the surface and feed upon them there, thus giving us a visual cue as to their location. Since the girls were very new to fishing, and were unfamiliar with casting, and given that the boat was a bit crowded with five aboard, I opted to use one 3-armed umbrella rig in a flat line trolling array, and one rig on the downrigger kept up above the 12 foot mark, in order to target these very shallow and aggressive fish. When all was said and done tonight, we had boated exactly 90 fish.  Laney walked away with the big fish prize, a 1.75 pound blue catfish caught from among a school of white bass, and on the same slab that those white bass had fallen for.

SATURDAY: On Saturday evening, I met up with Mrs. Shaydee Pappas, her son, Josiah, and two children whose mothers Shaydee had gotten to know through her son’s school, 7-year-old Emma Tilonsky, and 6-year-old  Julian Gerena.  Josiah’s father is a U.S. Air Force Tech Sergeant on assignment in Qatar, Emma’s step-father, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matt Bryant is currently at the National Training Center in the Mojave Dessert of California and her father, Sean Tilonsky, is currently stationed in Hawaii.  Julian’s dad, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Julian Gerena, is stationed in Korea.

I was thankful for Mrs. Pappas’ help, as I had quite a lively, young crew aboard.  Fortunately, the fish cooperated a majority of the time, and when they didn’t, the snacks Mrs. Pappas brought filled in the gaps quite nicely.

Due to their young age and limited experience, I tried to keep the downriggers going as long as I could.  I am quite thankful for the good engineers at Cannon for making electronic downriggers, as I can’t imagine what my right arm would have felt like after attempting to manually retrieve two 12 pound lead balls for nearly 4 straight hours, and after rotator cuff surgery!!!  The downrigger bite for suspended fish holding at around 27 feet dried up around 6pm, thanks to some moderately thick, grey cloud cover in the west which would obscure the sunset.

As the light faded, we headed shallow and I “parked” us over top of some nice schools of white bass and hybrid stripers using the Spot-Lock feature on the Minn Kota.  Shaydee and I did our best to coach the kids to be successful in using lead slabs fished vertically, but, the manual dexterity just wasn’t quite there to keep the many steps and the cadence of the presentation going effectively, so, we went back to downrigging with the balls kept up high and did nearly as well as we would have otherwise.

During this outing, Julian boated the first fish of his lifetime, thus earning him a Texas Parks and Wildlife “First Fish Award”.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.

TALLY = 90 Fish on Friday, 65 fish on Saturday, 155 fish total, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p both days

End Time: 8:00p both days

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 86 Friday, 83 Saturday

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F Friday, 82.6 Saturday

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE9-11 Friday, NNE5-8 Saturday

Sky Conditions: Fair, cloudless skies on Friday; 60% thin, grey cloud cover in the western sky on Saturday.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.04 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.00 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Saturday

**Areas 677, 1604, 1071

Sunday

**Areas 1601, 1602, 841, 1019

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This afternoon I met Terry and Natalie Burton and their two children, Christian and Abram, for a fishing trip on Lake Belton booked through the Fort Hood SKIES program.

Christian Burton with his best white bass of the trip.  Christian stayed engaged and enthusiastic right down to his last cast of the night (on which he landed a fish!).

After the novelty of the several techniques we employed today wore off, Abram enjoyed the special assignments I came up with for him, such as aerator switch operator, livewell control officer, net-master, and drain plug technician.

The Burton’s live on Fort Hood where Terry serves as a senior non-commissioned officer providing sustainment support to III Corps.  Natalie is a registered nurse by training, but not currently working in that field.  The Burton’s have been an Army family for over 20 years.

As we met up right on time this afternoon, I first did a bit of an assessment to see what prior experience the boys had in fishing and in using the equipment I had on the boat, so I could know how much coaching would be required.  After that, we talked safety, then, we got lines in the water and went fishing.

The first hour we enjoyed moderate success fishing 3-armed umbrella rigs behind downrigger balls and came up with singles and doubles on a regular basis.  During this time, both boys caught their first fish, thus making them eligible for a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

Abram, who is 5 years old, began to show signs that the novelty of catching fish by way of the downriggers was wearing off.  Sensing this, we transitioned to fishing for shallow water panfish using live bait.  We hit two areas fairly close to one another and boated bluegill sunfish, redear sunfish, and green sunfish over about a 50 minute span.

Next, it was off to Area 1601 which produced well beginning at around 5:30p yesterday.  Although the bite was not as intense tonight, fish were in this area and willing to bite.  We spent another hour working these fish over for slow but consistent action.

Within 40 minutes of sunset, we moved over to Area 1602 where the boys used a smoking technique to catch fish that were beginning to move both shallower and up higher in the water column in preparation for the day’s final feed.  As it did last night, this transformed into a topwater bite, thus allowing the boys to see the fish pursuing forage and trapping it against the surface.  The bite ended right at dark, by which time we amassed a catch of 57 fish including redear sunfish, bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, blue catfish, largemouth bass, white bass, and hybrid striped bass.  Not bad for two boys who’d never landed a fish before!
SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors.  To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

TALLY = 57 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 86.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE7-8

Sky Conditions: ~15% cloud cover on a fair sky following a clear, dry morning sky.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.03 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.33 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area (vicinity) 687 downrigging for moderate results on smaller fish over first hour

**Area 166 slipfloats for panfish

**Area 1601 downrigging for deeper, scattered schools

**Area 1602 smoking for short hybrid beginning at 6:30p

**Area 811 last light topwater action

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning I greeted Micky Boettger, his wife, Aly, and their 8-year-old daughter, Hope, at the courtesy dock on Belton Lake at 6:45am for a little family fun sprinkled with a bit of downrigger education for Micky.

Hope was brimming with excitement this morning.  She about ran from the car down to the courtesy dock, greeted me enthusiastically, and let me know she was ready to catch fish — and she was!!!

From left: Micky, Hope, and Aly.  Today was a multi-species kind of day; we caught white bass, hybrid stripers, green sunfish, a drum, a smallmouth bass, and a channel cat.  Everything was eating small, young-of-the-year shad.

Micky fishes Belton Lake frequently with both rod and reel and with fixed juglines.  He recently added a downrigger to his arsenal and, over the course of today’s trip, wanted to pick up on some of the fine points of how, when, and where to use this tool.  We had spoken some time ago about this, and about timing such a trip when the sunfish were still up shallow to keep things interesting for Hope.  Well, today was the day.

As we launched, I was a bit concerned about the little bit of nip in the air from the NW wind that came in as a mild cold front overnight.  This can either really enhance a bite or really dampen it this early in the season when the barometric pressure changes (increases) but the water temperature remains unchanged.  Fortunately, we still enjoyed a short topwater bite right before sunrise, allowing Hope to land 9 fish up shallow on a Cork Rig, however, that action died hard as the first direct rays of light, unfiltered by any manner of clouds, struck the water.

I looked quickly in 4 other areas that have been producing a topwater bite lately, but, they, too, were shut down.  So, we shifted out deeper and began to probe with sonar for both bait and schools of gamefish.

We encountered exactly what I was hoping to find in the vicinity of Area 1604.  Very large schools of shad were bunched together into tight balls here, indicating a threat by gamefish.  We got downriggers down and, in 4 passes came up with 12 fish.  Fish very aggressively came up off bottom to inspect the downrigger balls, indicating a willingness to feed.  We quickly transitioned from downrigging to vertical jigging and caught fish continuously for about 35 minutes just hovering atop these fish that we’d found with the downriggers.

Once this bite died, we “mopped up” a few stragglers with a few more downrigger passes until that no longer was of interest to the fish, at which time we went shallow to introduce Hope to panfishing and Micky to a great way to catch some sunfish for catfish bait.  We used a pole and slipfloat setup to catch green sunfish until the novelty of that method wore out on Hope.

We closed out our trip looking over 3 different chunks of water for more downriggable fish, but found none.  By 11:15 it appeared the morning bite was over, and we called it a morning with 48 fish landed for our efforts.

TALLY = 48 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  82.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW9 at sunrise, tapering to NW5-6

Sky Conditions:  Cloudless

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 478 low-light topwater action

**Area 1604 downrigging leading to smoking with slabs

**Area 1583 panfishing

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com