WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, 09 March, I fished with first-time guests Wayne Winekauf and Duane Marvin.

Wayne retired from industry and now resides in Morgan’s Point, and Duane is a farmer from Iowa, where he routinely fishes for walleye on one of the segments of the Mississippi River.

Both were very comfortable with the spinning gear we employed and both quickly got the hang of both the vertical tactics we employed early, as well as the horizontal tactic we employed at trip’s end.

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Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 22, 28, and 29 March

Here is how the fishing went …




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Duane Marvin and Wayne Winekauf with a few of the aggressive white bass they took in shallow water as these fish gorged on shad. The MAL Heavy worked like a charm to cast long and imitate mature shad well.




PHOTO CAPTION: Duane and Wayne started out with the chartreuse tail MAL Heavy, but, when Duane snagged and lost one, the fishing was so intense I just grabbed the first replacement I could get my hands on. It happened to have a white tail, and Duane did just as well on it as with the chartreuse. The key was a nice, steady retrieve using the sawtooth method so the fish could "lock on" to the lure as it move, free of jigging, juking, jiving, or jerking.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 09 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The impacts of the previous day’s mild cold front passage still lingered this morning. As we launched, there was a thin blanket of fog over the lake, the air temperature was in the high 50s (the lowest air temperature all week), there was not a breath of wind, and between the fog down low and the thick clouds up higher, it was also very dim. Dark and windless are not good for white bass fishing!

We endured such conditions for 2.75 hours, catching just a few fish at each of the many stops we made as we had no problems finding fish, but found the fish very lethargic. Typically, we’d get a bit of a rise out of the fish as soon as we dropped our slabs to them, but they’d lose interest very soon after. By 10A, we’d managed only 24 fish. This made it the slowest start of the last 2 weeks.

Around 10A, the fog had lifted, and, for the first time, enough sun was coming through the grey cloud cover that required you to squint without sunglasses on. I felt we should move shallower at this point to take advantage of that bit of brightness illuminating the bottom in depths shallower than those we’d been probing. Just as I cranked up to head up shallow, the lightest of ripples began. By the time we got to the area I wished to try, the breeze was blowing ENE and fully rippling the surface. Things were about to get good.

As the weather changed, so did the mood of the white bass we’d been after all morning. The action ramped up very quickly and soon there were fish popping shad on the surface all around us. This drew bird activity. As the birds had their “bird’s-eye view” of what was taking place from above, they moved with the most aggressively feeding fish and helped up stay where the fish were.

I changed everyone over to MAL Heavy Lures fished on long, 7’6″ spinning rods loaded with 15-pound Coastal Camo braid (Sufix 832) and fluorocarbon leaders so they could fling these baits a country mile.

For the next 2 hours Wayne and Duane landed fish after fish, adding exactly 80 more fish to their 24-fish count using the sawtooth method to imitate these adult shad being fed upon by the white bass.

Here is a tutorial video on how to execute the sawtooth method with MAL Lures:



Our 104 fish tally included 1 largemouth bass, 5 short hybrid striped bass, and 98 white bass, of which 89 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released

Find MAL Heavy Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/


OBSERVATIONS: We surpassed that critical 60F mark on the surface temperature today; this corresponded with the first aggressive, horizontal bite on the MAL Lure.


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 12:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 13.97 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 2.75 hours, then ENE 5-7

Sky Condition: Light fog at trip’s start, then clearing to 100% heavy grey cloud through the 2.75 hour mark, then thinning to 100% thin grey cloud cover thereafter

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 29


Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196G – 6 fish
Area vic 294 – 3 fish

Area vic B0041G – 7 fish

Area B1555, two hops – 8 fish

Area B0051G to shoreline – 69 fish

Area B0145C – 11 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

Solid post and fish. Good job.