When Texas is Colder than Minnesota — 42 Fish

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Tuesday, March 26, I fish with returning guest Doug Fornfeist of Morgan’s Point, TX, joined by first time guests, Landon and Levi Fries.



Doug‘s wife is an aunt to Landon‘s wife. With eight-year-old Levi on spring break from up in Minnesota, the Fries family paid a visit to Texas, and today was the day Doug had planned for a fishing trip for father and son.



My next open dates are: 2, 5, & 11 April (AMs)



Here is how the fishing went…





PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Doug Fornfeist and his nephew-in-law, Landon Fries, landed 42 fish on a blustery, late March morning trip using a combination of MAL Original Lures and Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 265 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The impact of yesterday‘s cold front passage was certainly felt this morning with a low of 45° at sunrise, only rising to 55° well into the afternoon time as high blue skies, a northerly wind, and high-pressure conditions built in.



Such weather never bodes well for fishing, and this morning was no exception. Fish took a little bit of effort to find, but were especially difficult to convince to bite this morning through about 10:30 when the sun took the bite out of the wind, and the wind velocity flattened out at around 13 mph.



Expecting warmer weather in Texas, Landon and Levi did not bring a whole lot of cold weather clothes and wound up underdressing for the conditions. They lasted about an hour and a half, after which we had to go back in to get Landon some more clothes and drop little Levi off to stay in a warm house.



Doug and Landon caught back up with me around 10:30 and we fished until 12:50. Before the break, we’d put seven fish in the boat. The two men wound up adding 35 fish to that tally during the late morning. Fish were still sluggish but, I was able to find enough groups of them with enough consistency to pluck a few from each school and put together a decent catch given the conditions.



We relied on a three-quarter ounce, white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab for all but the last 45 minutes. In those last 45 minutes, I began to see fish spread across the bottom in about 32 feet of water on the port side of the boat, drawn in by the splasher. Seeing this, I switched Doug and Landon over to MAL Lure (the Original with chartreuse tail) after catching two fish on two consecutive cast as I checked my hunch.



I had Doug and Landon throw short casts, working the bait using the sawtooth method with four iterations over that short distance before reeling back in and executing another short cast. This accounted for our last nine fish of the morning.



The tally of 42 fish consisted of 2 hybrid striped bass, 1 yellow catfish, and 39 white bass.

Find the 3/4-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/


TALLY: 42 fish caught and released



OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on March 26 …

0 feet, 62F
5 feet, 62F
10 feet, 62F
15 feet, 62F
20 feet, 62F
25 feet, 62F
30 feet, 62F
35 feet, 62F
40 feet, 61.9F
45 feet, 61.4F
50 feet, 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 12:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 11.60 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW 12-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Cloudless “bluebird” skies on a cold front’s passage

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Best areas were 0010, B0082G, B0272G, 2028, and B0056G


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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As always. Nice post and fish. Good job.