Cork Rig

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, 07 September, I fished with returning guest James Dubose accompanied by his father-in-law, Brian Markham, who was joining me for the first time.

James, a veteran, now supports Fort Cavazos working as a civilian there in the computer field, while Brian runs his own mobile RV repair service in the RV-saturated area on the Gulf coast near Rockport, TX.

James’ wife (and Brian’s daughter), Ashly Dubose put this whole thing together for the fellows.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are Sept. 12-14 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brian Markham and James Dubose with a sampling of the white bass taken mainly on the surface under low-light conditions using the Cork Rig.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 07 September 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

It truly was a “perfect storm” of circumstances this morning leading to a 100+ fish catch in just under 3 hours’ time.

What do I mean by that?

The weather was right — this high pressure dome causing our heat and drought headaches also makes for incredibly stable weather in which the fish get into a “mode” and do the same things at the same places and times each day.
The wind was right — we had a light SSE chop fueled by a 4-5 mph breeze, so the water was moving, but any fish activity could be readily spotted.
The lake was deserted — hence, no rookie anglers driving right up to the fish using their outboards, no jet skis, no wake boats, no company of any sort to put the fish down prematurely.
My clients could cast well — both Brian and James could cast both far and accurately. This allowed me to give a maximum buffer distance between the boat and the fish which translated to fish which stayed up longer than if they’d been pressured.
My clients were coachable — if I saw something they could do differently or better, I let them know that, and they willingly adjusted.
The shad continue to grow thanks to the extended high water temperatures — this means we could get away using larger lures imitating adult shad and enjoy the extra heft and distance those larger presentations allow for.

The fish first showed on the surface at 6:47AM and went strong until 8:15. After that, there was an additional 35 minutes of sporadic action before the fish vacated the surface by 8:50A. We had the boat back on trailer by 9:30A following this “Beat the Heat Special”, 3 hour long trip.

All but 7 of the 102 fish were taken on the Cork Rig with the largest streamer option (#2 white/grey) I offer. The men landed 3 fish on MAL Heavies in the roughly 10-minute span of time between 8:15 when the aggressive activity stopped, the fish sounded, and just before the fish began to “popcorn” feed. The balance were taken on Pet Spoon-equipped downrigggers.

Of the 102 fish landed, 6 were short hybrid, and the other 96 fish were all legal white bass with the best 10-15% going over 13-14″.

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released.

Find the Cork Rig here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: I spotted additional flocks of migrating teal this morning. The water temperature profile taken around 9:45 after my clients had departed was as follows:

0 feet, 87.0F
5 feet, 86.4F
10 feet, 85.9F
15 feet, 85.6F
20 feet, 85.5F
25 feet, 85.0F
30 feet, 82.9F
35 feet, 76.8F
40 feet, 69.0F
45 feet, 66.8F
50 feet, 65.1F
55 feet, 68.3F
60 feet, 62.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 9:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 17.54 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE4-6 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 44% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0197C to B0039G to B0100C, and Area B0107G – early morning, low-light topwater action

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yep, it was like the Don Henley classic out there this morning … this morning, Thursday, August 31, I fished a “Beat the Heat“ special trip with returning guests, Jim Wood and George Vanriper — and company was quite scarce!

My “Beat the Heat“ trips are three hours in length with the fee prorated accordingly (versus 4+ hours for a standard trip). These trips are focused on topwater action in that low-light portion of the morning when such activity is most likely.

I’m offering these through Sept. 14 if anyone else is interested.

Jim, a retired surgeon, and George, a retired army aviator, used this occasion to meet one another in person for the first time after George asked me to suggest others he might occasionally pair up with to fish lakes Belton and Stillhouse. Both men are boat owners and are pretty good largemouth bass anglers in their own right, so , I helped put them in touch with one another.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are Sept. 5-7 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Retired U.S. Army aviator George VanRiper and retired surgeon Dr. Jim Wood with some handsome whites taken on early morning topwater on an all-but-deserted Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jim and George’s catch of 57 fish included 3 hybrid, of which only this guy was a keeper (and was released). 52 of the 54 white bass were of legal size.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was the view of the parking lot at the boat ramp this morning. I love this time of year!! Kids are back to school, summer vacation is over, football is kicking in, and hunting cranks up tomorrow … all these factors equate to less and less pressure on the fish and freedom to pursue fish without being followed or crowded.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 31 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

We were originally scheduled to fish yesterday, but, with a pretty stiff north wind still blowing after Sunday’s cold front moved through, I did not feel confident about topwater action materializing. We put off the trip until this morning when the north winds were due to let up and south winds were due to return once again.

This turned out to be a good decision.

Around 10:05, the winds went nearly slack prior to the forthcoming wind shift, and the heat really started pouring on. We wrapped up at that time with exactly 57 fish boated. As is often the case, this time of year, the lake was nearly deserted.

Although there was not the amount, nor the intensity, of topwater action this morning as compared to before the cold front’s arrival, we were able to get into about 90 minutes’ worth of action during which my two anglers were able to boat exactly 44 fish using Cork Rigs.

Cork Rigs, which I make by hand and sell on my website, couple a popping cork with a shad-sized streamer, and allow for a light bait to be presented at long distances.

Once the topwater action died down at 8:15, the job of putting fish in the boat immediately got much tougher.

We pressed on until about 10:05 and put a final 13 additional fish in the boat, including three hybrid, and, our only two short white bass. All of these fish were taken using downriggers with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.

TALLY: 57 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the Cork Rig here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile taken this morning:

0 feet, 86.8F
5 feet, 86.8F
10 feet, 86.8F
15 feet, 86.8F
20 feet, 86.8F
25 feet, 86.2F
30 feet, 83.3F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.5F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:05A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 17.11 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW6 at trip’s start, slowly fading to calm by trip’s end as a forthcoming windshift was underway

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Full super blue moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1055 to 1545 – 43 legal white bass & 1 short hybrid by 8:15A

Area B0084G thru B0085G, and Area 1223 – singles, doubles, and a triple for a total of 14 fish by downrigging Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs.

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

Fishing Report

Holding The Line Guide Service

PERFECT STORM FOR TOPWATER — 102 FISH ON CORK RIGS

Nobody On The Road … Nobody on the Beach — 57 Fish