WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 28th, I fished with returning guest U.S. Army Major General (retired) George Harmeyer and his son, Will Harmeyer, who, along with his wife, was down visiting his dad and mom from Wilmington, North Carolina, where he works in the telecommunications industry.

My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 10 Dec.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________






PHOTO CAPTION: George Harmeyer (left) and his son, Will Harmeyer, spent the morning with me in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton, then the lunch hour in pursuit of some really good BBQ over at Miller’s Smokehouse!




PHOTO CAPTION: Although white bass were our target species, we welcomed all comers! In addition to 80 white bass, the Harmeyers also landed 4 legal hybrid, 10 short hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, & 1 smallmouth bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 28 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With classic post-frontal conditions continuing this morning (cold, calm, & clear), we picked up today where we left off yesterday … we took advantage of whatever bird activity we could, then settled in and went to work thereafter, finding fish solely with sonar and moving frequent once the “novelty” of our presentations wore off. We only got about a hour’s worth of assistance from the birds, from 8A to 9A, then they quit.

As was the case yesterday, when we found fish this morning after the birds settled, the fish would get somewhat interested for a few minutes, then lose their enthusiasm. So, we found, caught, moved, and repeated as many times as we needed to.

We used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, with stinger hooks) to catch 100% of our fish, and we used a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope 100% of the time.

By the four-hour mark, our count stood at 91 fish, so, we pressed on to just one more location in hopes of hitting the century mark. About 25 minutes later we had accomplished that feat and called it a great day, pointing the fellows over to Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton before Will headed back home to the Northeast where the only BBQ ribs the make come off a pig!

When all was said and done, this father-and-son team landed 100 fish including 4 legal hybrid, 10 short hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, and 80 white bass.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 10th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active from 8A-9A. Hundreds of migrating Sandhill cranes were seen and heard today. The cold, wet conditions on the Fri. and Sat. following Thanksgiving also brought in great numbers of gulls.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation: 12.94 feet low, 0.04 rise in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 9:45A, then SE ramping up from nil to 12mph over a 2 hour span.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, “bluebird” skies

Moon Phase: Waxing moon at 27% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:








AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1280 – 35 fish

Area 1749/1378 – 7 fish

Area vic 1389 – 16 fish

Area vic B0171G – 3 fish

Area 354 – 6 fish

Area B0173G – 5 fish

Area 1482 – 8 fish

Area B0075C – 9 fish

Area B0081C – 2 fish

Area B0059C – 9 fish





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

It is good to hear the fishermen hit the century mark today. Slow presentations and dead sticking put fish in the boat. I can visualize the "slow smoking" technique. Do you still reel up about 7-10 turns or just watch the sonar?

Nice catch!

Slick Rick, the "slow-smoking" involves simply raising the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab up off the bottom at a steady cadence for a "baseline" of 7 handle turns which, on most days, covers the lower third of the water column in 30-40'. The fish will rise up off the bottom in pursuit of the lure and overtake it. Once fish begin chasing, I have my clients continue to reel steadily, regardless of how many handle turns they've made, until the fish is either hooked, or turns away. This is all easily observed on Garmin LiveScope.

I hope this helps. The real day-to-day variable is the retrieve speed. Some days they want it fast, some days slow, some days in between, and some days that speed varies over the course of my 4 hour trips.