GLOVES ON, LONGJOHNS ON, FISH ON! — 226 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Thursday, November 4th, I fished with longtime clients Joe, Jack, and Jamie Oliver, joined on this trip by Joe’s friends and first time guests of mine, brothers John and Dwayne McMeans. John drove in from Georgetown, and Dwayne came in from near Sulphur Springs.

Joe, John, and Dwayne are retired educators and coaches, Jack runs an electrician business out in Marble Falls and also deals in real estate there, and Jamie is a retired psychiatrist now living near the Dallas Motor Speedway.

This trip was gifted to Joe for Fathers’ Day this year by his daughter, Amber, his son-in-law, Izzy Pugh, and their kids.

Here’s how Thursday morning went…

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My next three openings will be on 9, 14 & 15 December. Weekday mornings are always best.






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwayne and John McMeans, and Joe, Jamie, and Jack Oliver. With hoods up and gloves on, my crew set out on a cold, windy, 48F morning which resulted in a catch of 226 white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 04 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to thick cloud cover, it was still fairly dark at our 7:30 start time, so much so that I spent a full 25 minutes looking for our first batch of fish to fish for. Once we found fish, they were pretty reluctant at the first three areas we tried. Each of these areas gave up just a few fish, and we experienced many fish that would simply pass on our presentation without interest.

As the skies brightened, although we still had 100% grey cloud cover, the bite slowly built. This was aided by increasing winds which got to just shy of NW13.

We did 100% of our catching today on the silver-bladed, white-tailed MAL heavy Lures used in conjunction with LiveScope.

If there is one thing I noticed on the water this morning which I would attribute to Wednesday’s rain and falling temperatures, I would say that it moved the fish somewhat shallower. Most all of our fish today came in 20 to 26 feet of water.

I also noted that by putting all five of my anglers on one side of the boat, we did better than having them divided with three on the starboard side and two on the port side. Until I did that, my two anglers on the port side did not fare as well. I suspect this is because the three anglers on the starboard side were creating more commotion which drew more fish, which turned into a cycle which built on itself.

Of the 226 fish landed, 203 were white bass, with 1 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 21 juvenile hybrid striped bass mixed in.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:




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

TALLY: 226 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: I saw only two gulls this morning, but they were working over fish, and helped us get on top of the second area at which we enjoyed success.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 1.35 feet low, 0.06 rise, 40CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW10 to building to NNW13

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% for 3 hours; clearing to 60% white cloud cover by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 130

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0135C – 8 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1678 – 20 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0188C – 18 fish on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1827 – 17 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0005G (w/ 2 short hops) – 28 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1814/B0173C – 28 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0005G/1635 – 30 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1918 – 77 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

#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 #mepps

Way to go Bob

I see you keep great records. Do you use some particular software to do that?

sbmcruise,

There is really no software I'm using for recording/tracking , I simply use a basic "who, what, where, when, how, and why" format, and type out each trip report using Wordpress. Wordpress publishes my reports to the blog on my website.

I then cut and paste the blog entry over to Facebook. I also do a short, 140-character summary to post on Twitter and Instagram. Finally, I will often cut-and-paste the blog entry onto the White Bass/Hybrid/Striper forum on the Texas Fishing Forum.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you, --Bob

Water temp has come down fast.

Solid post and fish. Good job.