OLD TIMERS’ DAY – 150 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This past Thursday morning, Thursday, April 7, I fished with long time friends and fellow Belton Lake anglers Rodney Tyroch and George O’Connor.

Rodney, age 71, is a retired railroad man. George, age 84, retired from the security department at Wilsonart in Temple Texas, and is a veteran of the US Army from the Korean war era.

Due to the current state of the hybrid fishery, we focused strictly on white bass.

Here is how the fishing went …

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My next opening will be on Monday morning, June 6th. Weekday mornings are always best. Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions.




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Retired Lake Belton fishing guide George O’Connor and long-time Lake Belton multi-species angler Rodney Tyroch stepped aboard this morning for a wonderful trip. We caught fish from start to finish this morning, wrapping up a bit shy of 4 hours with exactly 150 fish caught and released.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 07 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Whenever wind and weather conditions, and all of the other variables which influence fish behavior, come together to allow a full four hours of catching from the start of a trip to the end, that is a fairly remarkable day and one that let’s you breathe easy as a guide.

Although clients often catch more than the 150 fish that George and Rodney did this morning, those fish so often come in spurts – a strong start with a slower finish or vice versa, or a peak of activity at mid-morning, etc.

Today, was one of those days where the fish were on a solid, steady feed all morning with a slight uptick in our final 35 minutes on the water as the northwest wind’s velocity increased.

We fished only three areas this morning. Helpful bird activity led us to our first fish up shallow. We targeted those fish using MAL Heavy lures with silver blades and chartreuse tails and cast to whichever side of the boat side-imaging indicated held the most fish. By the time that shallow water bite concluded, we had already landed 28 fish.

By now, the sun was at a much higher angle, shining through the cloudless sky, and so the remainder of our fishing was in much deeper water and was vertical.

We moved out into 35 to 41 foot water and used white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to fish for tightly grouped fish along two different breaklines.

Although the action ebbed and flowed, it never stopped all morning, and there was never a time when fish would not aggressively chase a “smoked” bait up off the bottom.

We experimented successfully with using the MAL Heavy lures vertically in deep water, but, since George was already more familiar with using a slab, I decided to go that route. No need to fix what ain’t broke.

We landed our 100th fish of the morning at 9:42 AM and went on to catch our 150th fish at 10:46, at which time we wrapped it up a bit early, left the fish biting, and headed out for a tasty lunch of Chinese food before the wind made the water too choppy for a comfortable ride back to the courtesy dock.

In all, we landed exactly 150 fish, including 2 short hybrid, and 148 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Still no threadfin shad spawning observed, although since I’m not trying to net them for hybrid fishing, I’m not looking for them as hard as I otherwise would be.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Elevation: 3.56 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW9 at trip’s start, gradually increasing to NW14

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 34% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas fished successfully today: Areas vic B0100G with MAL Lures

Areas fished successfully today: Areas vic B0199C and 1743 on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab



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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Awesome post. Nice fish.

150 on the dot. Great post and excited for this season. I will be ordering some MAL heavy’s soon to use on Ray Hubbard and Lavon this year.

That was a great day Thanks Bob