WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday, 31 May 2022, I fished with returning clients Sonny Monroe and his son-in-law, Ryan Miles, accompanied by first-time guest Brent Richey.

Sonny is a retired public school administrator, Ryan works for a hydraulics company here in Central Texas, and Brent has been in the telecommunications industry for many years now.

With the Memorial Day weekend now past, things were quieter than usual even for a weekday today as most folks returned to work for what is left of this shortened work week.

Brent is Sonny’s neighbor, and, after enjoying his previous trip out with me, Sonny extended an invitation to Brent to join in on the fun this morning.

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 Miles, Sonny Monroe, and Brent Richey with a portion of their 261 fish catch. All fish were taken on MAL Heavy Lures with barbless hooks for ease and speed in unhooking.




PHOTO CAPTION: Closeup of the MAL Lure’s barbless hook with just a “bump” on the point (on left) versus the standard treble hook used otherwise. 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: Tuesday (AM), 31 May 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

With Sonny and Ryan both having prior experience with using the MAL Lure fished both vertically and horizontally from their one prior trip with me earlier this spring, and Brent having fished for white bass successfully at Richland-Chambers in the past, there was minimal learning curve to work through to turn fishing into catching this morning.

We found some light topwater action in the first hour of light as white bass forced the first young-of-the-year shad to the surface and fed upon them there while the light level was low and we had a complete deck of clouds. Once the sun’s angle increased and the clouds thinned, the surface action was over.

While the action existed, we actually did better fishing vertically and by using the sawtooth method, as the fish which came to the surface stayed there only briefly.

After about an hour, we moved on to deep water and stayed there the remainder of the trip. Using MAL Heavy Lures with barbless hooks (as I was anticipating a high fish count this morning based on wind and weather), we used a “smoking” tactic and proceeded to “wear ‘em out” until about 11:15A, at which time we packed it up, leaving the fish still biting pretty well.

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

Our 261 fish catch included exactly 258 white bass, 2 short hybrid stripers, and 1 largemouth bass.

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

TALLY: 261 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Still a few small, individual schools of spawning shad seen in the shallows at first light. First sightings of white bass feeding on young-of-the-year shad witnessed in the first full hour of light.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 4.39 feet low, 0.02’ fall in last 24 hours, 32 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8-9 at trip’s start, climbing to SSE14 by 10A, then settling back to SSE12 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Greyed over skies for the first hour, followed by steady clearing to ~40% white clouds on a blue sky for the remainder of the trip.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0021G (early topwater/shallow water), B0150C, B0090C



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

Nice post and fish. Good job as always.