THEN AND NOW — 127 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, 04 January 2020, I fished with Dr. Craig Molyneaux and his adult son, Christian Molyneaux, of Salado.  Craig, a retired dentist, now serves as the Associate Pastor of Ministries at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen.  Christian is a U.S. Airforce airman serving in his first enlistment, and is currently stationed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing the Molyneaux family since 1995 when they first arrived in Killeen to establish a dental practice (Killeen Dental) from the ground up.

I’ve fished with Craig and Christian a few times in the years since, hence the “then and now” photo below…

PHOTO CAPTION: Then (September 2007) and now (January 2020).  Both the boy and the fish grew considerably!!

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Well, the old man’s still got it.  Craig landed our biggest fish of the morning!  This Lake Belton hybrid striper went 5.00 pounds on a certified scale.

PHOTO CAPTION: Father and son landed 127 fish on a beautiful, clear, dry, breezy Texas winter morning.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 04 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After shaking the fog which made fishing pretty tough of late, a nice, stiff cold front pushed all of that out to the east on Friday, leaving cool, dry, but still breezy conditions this morning.  The northwest winds typically mean bird action, and this morning was no exception.  After finding our own fish on sonar along a deep breakline, bird action erupted about 70 minutes after sunset and stayed “fishably intense” right through 11:30.

By “bird action”, I mean the scenario in which migratory, fish-eating birds, namely ring-billed gulls and Forster’s terns, concentrate on one patch of water and begin rapidly and repeatedly feeding on dead and crippled shad which gamefish, namely white bass and hybrid stripers, are pushing toward the surface as they feed on those shad from the bottom, upwards.

During the 70 minutes or so during which we fished for bottom-hugging and less aggressive white bass, we used a slow, easing tactic equipped with Hazy Eye Slabs of my own making.  We used white, 3/8 oz. versions with stinger hooks attached.  (You can find those here:  SLABS).

Once I observed the bird action and looked at the relative intensity of it, I felt we’d be dealing with more aggressive fish, and with more hybrid striped bass.  For this reason, we changed out our 3/8 oz. lures for the 3/4 oz. version (also in white and with stinger hooks attached).  These have hooks which are one size larger (5’s versus 6’s) and they sink more quickly.  As we began fishing under the birds, we switched over to a more aggressive smoking tactic.

Some clients grasp the tactics I try to coach them in more quickly than others, and, to their credit, Craig and Christian came out of the shoots really executing the easing tactic and the smoking tactic very well, and their results this morning reflected that.  When I saw flaws in their technique, I pointed them out and they adjusted well, and then continued to fish more efficiently thereafter.

TALLY: 127 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:45A

End Time:  11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  34F

Elevation: 3.04′ low, 0.00′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW7-9 all morning

Sky Conditions:  Post-frontal, bluebird skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 2038 easing for white bass

**Area 1275 through 1749 for mixed bag under birds

 

 

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

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