WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, 26 May 2022, I fished with a crew of newbies.

Back around Christmas, 12-year-old Cayson Nowell’s grandmother, Connie Stermer, gave him a fishing gift certificate good for up to four anglers.

With school letting out for the year for Cayson and his buddies yesterday out in east Bell County, he invited along Ryan Dutton, Pryce Rabroker, and Bo McGinniss. Cayson’s dad, Keith Stermer, chaperoned the whole crew.

Here is how the fishing went …

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My next openings will be on July 12th – 14th. 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 trips (until mid-March 2023).




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ryan Dutton, Cayson Nowell, Pryce Rabroker, and Bo McGinniss with a few of the 14+ inch white bass they landed in their 340 fish haul.




PHOTO CAPTION: Closeup of the MAL Lure’s barbless hook. If you already own an MAL Lure and want to make it barbless, it is better to mash down the barbs than to replace the hook, as hook replacement requires a split ring which lengthens the lure’s overall dimension and increases the likelihood of “blade strikes”. I do offer the MAL Heavy (only) with barbless hooks already affixed. See link below.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 26 May 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

We experienced quite a rebound from yesterday’s tough, frontally-influenced and very windy fishing.

I suspect that with water temperatures being high and fish metabolism increasing, this morning’s strong bite was the result of fish “making up for” depressed feeding activity yesterday.

We caught fish from start to finish, save for a ~20-minute span between 9:40A and 10A when one group of fish we were on gave up and I had to set out and find another group of fish.

With four energetic teens onboard and full sun shining, I brought a different set of rods this morning, all rigged with the MAL Heavy Lures with white tails and barbless hooks. I was anticipating a high fish count based on weather, and, I just wasn’t sure of the boys’ experience level, so, as a precaution, I went barbless.

If you are a guide reading this, believe me when I say barbless hooks are much, much easier on you, your clients, and your fish, even if you are not focused on catch-and-release.

The main “adjustment” with barbless hooks is being sure to swing the hooked fish from water to boat quickly and in one smooth motion. Fish left dangling in the air are typically the ones that come off the hook unintentionally. Other than that, the speed at which the hooks can be removed really helps me get my clients back down on fish so they can “make hay while the sun shines’.

Teens so easily perceive what is going on with the Garmin LiveScope’s video monitor that it is almost second-nature to them, requiring very little explanation from me on what is being portrayed.

This, plus the fact that all four boys routinely fish for largemouth bass, sunfish, and catfish in stock tanks near their homes, meant that the learning curve was not steep at all this morning.

We got right down to catching and never looked back.

The fishing was very straightforward once I found fish. We Spot-Locked on them, dialed in the LiveScope, dropped MALs vertically, and “smoked” them toward the surface to get bit.

Each time we arrived at a new location (we fished 5 distinct areas), the fish would get quite frenzied for a while, then eased back. The boys understood what I needed them to do when we saw the fish gear down a bit, which was to back off on their retrieve speed once they got the MAL Lure’s blade spinning. This kept them from reeling faster than the fish were willing to pursue.

Being a strong proponent of not “leaving fish to find fish”, we fished each group of fish we found until they lost interest. The fact that every group we found had very few short fish in it made this an easy decision to make.

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

Our 340 fish catch included exactly 337 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 2 largemouth bass.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 340 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: For the first time this spring I found active, totally suspended fish holding away from heavily sloped bottoms. I found two such instances this morning, both on topography being impacted by the wind.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 4.29 feet low, 32 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 76.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW8 at trip’s start, increasing to SW14 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Post-frontal bluebird skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1604, 1482, B0063G, B0127G, BG0026



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

Awesome post. Good job.