WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 6, I fished with first time guests Dennis Graham, and his neighbor and friend, Vicky Clark.
Dennis is a U.S. Air Force veteran/retiree, and Vicky retired from the U.S. Postal Service where she enjoyed being a rural route letter carrier.
I first got to know Dennis when I presented a sonar seminar at Marine Outlet in Temple, TX, then reconnected more recently through the very well run Texas Fishing Forum, and specifically through the sub-forum dedicated to white bass, hybrid stripers, and striped bass.
Here’s how our morning went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: Vicky Clark and Dennis Graham caught and released 150 fish on 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs on Lake Belton this morning using the smoking tactic described in the link below.
PHOTO CAPTION: Vicky just about held her own as far as the $1 bet on who could catch the most was concerned, but when it came to who caught the biggest, it was an open-and-shut case!
PHOTO CAPTION: Dennis closed the trip out in style. We agreed we’d stay until we hit 150 fish. With 148 in the boat, Dennis landed this double, with one white bass hooked on the treble and another on the stinger hook of the same slab!
PHOTO CAPTION: From left to right are the 3/4 oz, 5/8 oz., and 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. These combine the fish-attracting spinning blade feature of the MAL Lure with the cool-water effectiveness of a slab. All 150 fish were taken on these slabs today.
Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 06 November 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
With the time change taking place over the weekend, we began right at 7 AM today and fished through around 11:30.
I found a few fish up shallow, in about 23 feet of water, just as the sun was rising, but these fish were less than enthusiastic, so we left them behind.
As I was getting the boat prepared to motor to our next area, I did a little glassing and found the season’s first active group of gulls feeding over top of gamefish pushing bait to the surface. I got pretty excited as we ran to them, but enthusiasm waned when I saw how fast these birds were moving.
As it turned out, there was a small, but very aggressive, school of hybrid chasing subsurface bait at very high speed, headed down wind. We simply could not stop and fish for these fish because they were moving so fast. Because it was fairly windy, and because Vicky expressed that she might need to brush up on her casting a bit before we did any casting, I left these fish behind and went to find more heavily congregated, and more sedentary, bottom-oriented, white bass.
This turned out to be a good choice both because we found plenty of fish to catch, and because that bird activity dissipated rather quickly. Still, it was good to see that bird activity begin.
After we found schooled fish on bottom, we stuck with fishing that pattern from that point until our wrap-up around 11:30. We put the entire trip together on just three stops. The second of these three yielded the lion’s share of our fish (111 of 150 fish).
We fished each of these three distinct groups of fish the same way. I Spot-Locked on top of them after finding them with down-imaging and/or side-imaging, we then dropped white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down to them, and smoked the slabs in a manner described in the video link below…
Although the fishing followed a bell-shaped curve with low energy at low light, a peak bite between 9 and 10AM, and then a slow decay from 10:00 to 11:30, the fish never quit biting during this entire run.
One bit of an improvement today was in the area of legal sized fish versus shorts. Although we did not catch any 14 or 15 inch jumbos, the number of two and three year old fish roughly matched the number of yearlings we landed.
I anticipate this fishing will stay solid right on through the next cold front’s arrival on Thursday (9 Nov.), then, because Thursday’s front is forecast to be mild, the fishing should continue to be just as sound thereafter. If history is any teacher, this wonderfully productive autumn bite will continue right on through about mid-December.
Our tally today was exactly 150 fish including 1 keeper hybrid striped bass, 1 short hybrid striper, 9 freshwater drum, and 139 white bass.
TALLY: 150 fish caught and released.
OBSERVATIONS: The first helpful bird activity I’ve spotted thus far this fall occurred this morning.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F
Elevation: 15.14 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 65.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at trip’s start, building to S13 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: 100% light grey skies through mid-morning, then clearing and brightening to 80% white cloud cover on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 39% illumination.
GT = 35
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas:
Area B0005C – 20 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area 446 – 111 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area B0155G – 19 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
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
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