ABOARD THE BOAT TODAY: This morning I was joined by Dr. Patrick Lin and his (almost) 10-year-old daughter, Aubri. Both fished with me once before back in mid-April of 2023.

Although I’d certainly prefer to guide on Stillhouse or Belton, which are both now closed due to flooding, I am offering some clients the option of fishing on Lake Georgetown if they wish. Generally, older kids with prior fishing experience and adults will be able to take on the technical fishing Georgetown offers.

DATE: 30 May 2024 (AM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: To be determined based on flooded conditions on Lake Belton & Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir








PHOTO CAPTION: Patrick and Aubri Li enjoyed some father-daughter time on Lake Georgetown. We pursued white bass through around 10A, then turned our focus to sunfish in the newly flooded shoreline vegetation.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Georgetown



SHORT SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: Low-growing hydrilla made side-imaging difficult for finding fish, so, we had to rely on DI and 2D. Just a fish or two suspended off bottom gave away the position of many more not showing as well from directly above. We Spot Locked, used the splasher to draw fish in, then fished MAL Dense lures vertically, aided by Garmin Live Scope to target individual fish or schools of fish by timing the rise of the lure to intersect with their direction of travel. The last white bass we caught came at 10:10, but the bite had really dropped off by 9:40. We spent the last 45 minutes up shallow hunting sunfish for Aubri. She landed a mix of 10 bluegill and longears on a slipfloat rig with live bait.



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the new MAL Dense with silver body for vertical work and took all of our white bass on it. Used a slipfloat with live bait for sunfish. Find these lures at the Liberty Mart Exxon uphill from Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, or go here: https://whitebasstools.com/



TUTORIAL LINK FOR SAWTOOTH & SMOKING TACTICS:

Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ&t=89s

Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=56s



TALLY: 60 fish caught and released (50 white bass 10 sunfish)



OBSERVATIONS:

1) The lake rose 2′ in the last several weeks but was still very clear.

2) Low-growing hydrilla hindered SI use.

3) Most of the fish we caught came from traveling, suspended schools, not from bottom.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Not measured today.



WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.7 feet low and rising slowly, with no release

Water Surface Temp: 77.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8-12 all morning

Sky Condition:100% grey cloud cover through 9:30, then short bursts of sun came through more broken 80% grey cloud cover as winds begin to puff at that same time.

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 53% illumination.

GT = 55



Wx SNAPSHOT:








AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas GTJUN24001, vic GTMAY24002, and GTJUN24002 produced our white bass

Areas GTJUN24003 & GTJUN24004 produced our sunfish



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 as always. Good job.

You sure put a smile on Aubri Li. Great job....