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A Grand Finale - 201 Fish, 21 April #14352087 04/25/22 05:01 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,673
Holding The Line Offline OP
Extreme Angler
OP Offline
Extreme Angler
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,673
WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon, April 21st, I fished with returning Mike Shouse, accompanied by his son-in-law and my first-time guest, Reed Neinast.

Mike serves as a Texas State Board Member and as a Government Affairs Liaison with the National Wild Turkey Federation. Reed makes his living doing business as a consultant in Katy, TX.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on May 11th and June 21st. Weekday mornings are always best. Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trip (until mid-March 2023).

[Linked Image]


PHOTO CAPTION: We hit into some long, girthy white bass by Lake Belton standards this afternoon as the grey skies kept the light level down, and the hard southerly winds continued to blow for the fourth consecutive day.


[Linked Image]

PHOTO CAPTION: Oftentimes when we enjoy extended success at one area, bottom-feeders like catfish and drum move in after the white bass regurgitate their food and defecate as a stress response to being caught. This matter sinks to bottom, gives off a fishy odor, and draws such odor-sensitive creatures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 21 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

As afternoon fishing trips often do, this afternoon’s trip started off slowly and ended with a bang in the final ~30 minutes prior to sunset, and just beyond.

The fish were fired up all day, and there was no time, even when things were slower, where we couldn’t find or catch fish, rather, it was just a matter of how many fish we had to present to in order to get bit (the look-to-catch ratio).

We started the afternoon off out in deeper (42′) water, and gradually worked our way up shallower as the light level dimmed down.

We used MAL Heavy Lures (barbless with chartreuse tails) for all but the final 30 minutes of this trip.

For the first three hours, we fished vertically, smoking these lures up off bottom and watching Garmin LiveScope to gauge fish response.

At our second to last area, in approximately 22′, although we had fish under the boat and were catching them, I could see larger schools moving parallel to us out to the port side as I let side imaging scroll while we stood still on Spot-Lock. Seeing this, and despite a fair crosswind, I had Mike and Reed cast horizontally out to these fish and retrieve using a sawtooth tactic. This worked quite well and accounted for 61 fish in under an hour’s time.

Just as the sun set into a western cloud bank (not below the horizon), these fish let up and quit feeding. Our count stood at 151 fish.

As I looked around, I noted three blue herons looking fidgety. I kept watching them without crowding them and, in just a few minutes, they put us onto our grand finale. White bass had pushed both shad and American silversides (a longer, cigar-shaped minnow) up shallow and were chasing them, herding them against the shallows.

I switched the fellows over to MAL Original Lures rigged up on 8-foot spinning rods with large arbor reels which I typically use for topwater fish in the summer. These allow long, lobbed casts and allowed us to stand off from the fish and not spook them. Long story short, Mike and Reed added another 50 fish to our count in exactly 27 minutes. Once we hit over 200 fish, the fellows decided they’d done enough and we headed on in with 201 fish on the clicker.

A complete description of this “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our final tally of 201 fish consisted of 3 short hybrid striped bass, 1 blue catfish, 197 white bass.

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

TALLY: 201 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile I measured this afternoon:

0 feet 71F
5 feet 70F
10 feet 69.2F
15 feet 68.6F
20 feet 68.4F
25 feet 68.1F
30 feet 68.1F
35 feet 67.8F
40 feet 66.9F
45 feet 65.1F
50 feet 63.3F
55 feet 62.9F



WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:45P

End Time: 8:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 3.73 feet low, 0.0’ change in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13-14 all afternoon

Sky Condition: 80-90% light grey clouds

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 72% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

[Linked Image]


AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0002G/B0067G, 387, B0181C, vic B0126C, 691, and 0188



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


[Linked Image]
Bob Maindelle, 254-368-7411
Holding The Line Guide Service
Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Stillhouse & Belton
Ask About Trips for Kids


Re: A Grand Finale - 201 Fish, 21 April [Re: Holding The Line] #14352610 04/26/22 01:10 AM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,700
S
SALLYSUE Offline
TFF Team Angler
Offline
TFF Team Angler
S
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 3,700
Way to go Bob !!!!!!!!

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