A SKY-HIGH CATCH WITH THE U.S. AIR FORCE – 303 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, October 21, I welcomed aboard five members of the U.S. Air Force’s 3rd Air Support Operations Group (ASOG), headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas.

Joining me were Command Chief (E9) John Stockman from Alabama, Captain (03) Steve Kim from California , and Senior Airmen (E4) Zach Bell of New York, Carlos Guadarram of California, and Tanner Williams of Virginia. All three of the younger airmen specialize in radio repair.

All five had fished previously, and had handled spinning gear before, so, a simple introduction to our vertical and horizontal tactics prior to launching were all that was in order to set the foundation for a successful day on the water.

My crew of five would land 303 fish this morning. Here’s how it happened…

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My next three openings will be on 1, 2, and 6 December. Weekday mornings are always best.




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Captain Steve Kim, Command Chief John Stockman, Senior Airman Carlos Guadarram, Senior Airman Tanner Williams, and Senior Airman Zach Bell, all from the 3rd Air Support Operations Group based at Fort Hood, TX.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 21 October 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Although you’d have hardly noticed it by being outdoors, a very mild cold front pushed over Texas this morning. This changed the wind direction to NW around 3AM, and brought some cloud cover and NNW winds to the area by sunrise.

The fish responded to this barometric pressure change well and fed hard right up until the winds went slack and the skies brightened, around 10:40A.

We fished eight areas today. If we encountered only small fish right off the bat, we moved. Or, if we encountered a mix of sizes, but then “ran out” of larger fish, we moved. We only stopped at one location where the fish we found were not feeding well enough for us to stay at least briefly and catch fish. The eight areas we fished, listed below, all produced best as we employed vertical tactics with the MAL Heavy Lure and Garmin LiveScope. In fact, at most areas we fished, I did not see enough fish out to our perimeter to cause me to consider using horizontal tactics.

Due to the steadily thinning clouds and steadily brightening sky, I moved steadily deeper, from 18 feet prior to sunrise, out to around 42 feet at our final stop.

The vertical tactics we employed are explained in the video link attached to this report.

By the time 11:20 had rolled around, we’d landed 303 fish.

Of the 303 fish landed, 282 were white bass, 5 freshwater drum, and 16 juvenile hybrid striped bass in the mix.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:





MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 303 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 1.09 feet low, 0.01 fall, 58 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 75.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW3-5 all morning, with occasional and increasing calm spots in the final 90 minutes

Sky Condition: Broken 30% grey cloud cover at sunrise cleared in the first hour, then returned in the final hour.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1659 – 20 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1620 – 43 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1672 – 101 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0005G – 24 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0012C – 36 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0128C – 6 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0106G – 29 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0107G – 44 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white 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

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