WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, 27 April, I fished with returning guests Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, and Sky Sparks of Harker Heights.

Jim is a retired physician who got to know Sky, a medical scribe, through the wound care practice he retired from.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next opening will be on 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).





PHOTO CAPTION: Dr. Jim Wood (left) and Sky Sparks took 261 fish on Lake Belton this morning using the MAL Dense fished vertically in deep water.


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 27 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Although the fish were not quite as aggressive as they were yesterday on the north wind following a frontal passage on Monday, the steady SE wind and abundant, grey cloud cover still made for excellent fishing today.

We caught fish consistently right up until around 10AM, which is when the first direct sun struck the water.

Up until that time, we took 250 fish from three locations, each in the same manner. Our first area gave up 62 fish, the second area gave up 58 fish, and our third area gave up 130 fish.

At each of these areas we used the MAL Dense with white body/chartreuse tail for its fast-sinking characteristic. Watching on Garmin LiveScope, we observed the rise and fall of our lures as we “smoked” them up off the bottom to tempt both bottom-oriented and suspended fish. The longer we stayed in an area, the more suspended fish we dealt with.

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

As the direct sun began to shine on the water, our success fell off sharply. We landed only 13 additional fish in our final hour on the water.

Our final tally of 261 fish consisted of 3 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 257 white bass.

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

TALLY: 261 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The correlation between the direct sun shining and the cessation of the morning bite was pretty distinct this morning.



WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 3.78 feet low, 0.03’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE1-12 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover for the first 3.25 hours, then clearing quickly to 30% white cover on a blue sky in the final hour

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 085, 682, vic 1012, vic B0131C



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

Good stuff. Crazy number!