WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Wednesday, November 17th, I fished with returning guest John Gossard of Morgan’s Point Resort, TX.
John and his wife moved to this area in August of 2020 and he’s been out with me three times now this year, with our first two trips conducted on Stillhouse over the summer months.
Here is how the fishing went …
______________
My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.
PHOTO CAPTION: Although we caught white bass from multiple year classes at each area we fished this morning, the first area we hit under low light and with bird activity produced the greatest ratio of 13+ inch fish. John Gossard holds two such fish he took on the MAL Heavy Lure worked horizontally in 22-24 feet of water. Yes, his hat reads, “humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa“, the name of Hawaii’s state fish, the reef triggerfish.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 17 November 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
We had a little too much of a good thing today. The south wind which was so welcome on Monday and Tuesday as it blew manageably today gusted over 20 all morning, with straight-line winds at 14-17 the entire time, limiting the areas we could practically fish.
Today’s fish activity closely mimicked yesterday’s as far as location and activity level. The fish did the same things in the same places and at the same times as they did yesterday, thus allowing us to skip searching in unproductive water and drive from one group of biting fish to the next.
We fished five areas today. The fishing was pretty much “cookie cutter” at the last 4, with the action coming entirely on vertical presentations using the MAL Heavy Lure (white blade, chartreuse tail). The first area, under low light and birds, fished a bit differently in that we had a lot of mobile fish just under the surface driving bait into the wind, thus allowing (actually, requiring) a horizontal presentation (sawtooth-style).
I observed that the fish seemed much more likely to rise far up in the water column after we created commotion by Spot-Locking and catching fish this morning that over the past two trips. I suspect this was because the high winds significantly reduced the amount of light penetrating the surface due to heavy wave action.
Once again we took 3 largemouth bass in over 25 feet of water as a bycatch; we also continued to see the hybrid striped bass stocked in 2020 make up 5-8% of the total catch. I’m really hopeful that 2023 will be a great year for that fishery.
When all was said and done, we landed 115 fish, including 3 largemouth bass, 5 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 106 white bass.
MAL Lure fishing tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViVz6D91brM
Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 115 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: 1) As is typical for this time of year, the largemouth bass bycatch has begun to take place. We took 3 largemouth today (second consecutive day). 2) Next front is due in in the early morning hours of Thursday, 18 Nov.; the initial wind shift is due ~9P tonight.
Here is the pre-frontal water temperature profile down to 60 feet:
0 feet 68.6
5 feet 68.6
10 feet 68.6
15 feet 68.6
20 feet 68.6
25 feet 68.6
30 feet 68.5
35 feet 68.2
40 feet 68.1
45 feet 68.1
50 feet 68.1
55 feet 67.4
60 feet 67.9
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 11:10A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: 1.64 feet low, 0.02 fall, 42CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 68.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 at trip’s start increasing steadily to SSE13 by the 3 hour mark, then quickly going SSE17 in our final hour
Sky Condition: Fully clouded grey skies with enough light filtering thru to making it “squinting bright”
Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 93% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 23 fish with multiple short hops under low-light conditions and with bird assistance; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail worked horizontally
**Area 1075 – 14 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area vic B0103G – 21 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area 376 – 7 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area 1815 – 35 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically
**Area B0066G – 15 fish; ; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically
Bob Maindelle
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #mepps