WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Monday, April 22, I fished with a crew of first time, guests all members of the Sun City, Rod and Gun Club. Mr. Pat Patterson (who did not participate today) organized the trip for Ivan Stubbs, Brett Mainz, David Semich, and Nick Carnes.



All of these men had prior fishing experience, but had no prior experience with Garmin LiveScope.



Next available date: 28 May (AM)



Here is how the fishing went…




PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Ivan Stubbs, Nick Carnes, David Semich, and Brett Mainz with a few of the 122 fish the put over the gunwales this morning. All fish came on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 22 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I had some concerns about today’s winds, as the strong northerly winds we had over the weekend were to cease then shift out of the east then southeast by the end of the morning. Sometimes, as the wind shifts, it goes completely slack. Other times, it simply reduces velocity as it changes directions. This morning, we had a bit of a mix of the two, but, long story short, we did not have slack winds for more than about 20-30 minutes.



The northwest winds were still blowing when we hit our first area, then I used most of the time that the slack winds existed to travel to another area, and by that time, the winds were blowing just south of east, and we enjoyed increasing winds for the remainder of the trip.



Thanks to the blowing winds, we were able to catch fish from start to finish today. The last two hours were definitely more productive than the first two hours.



We fished five locations this morning and fished each of them in an identical manner.



We used a slow smoking tactic with white, 5/8-ounce Hazy Eye Slabs to fish for fish which were either bottom-hugging or suspended just slightly off bottom. The goal was to get these fish to pursue these lures upwards, overtake them, and strike.



As the winds increased, the propensity for these fish to chase harder, venture further from bottom, and swim horizontally at a faster pace, all increased noticeably.



We ended the morning right at 11:30 with 122 fish landed, including 2 blue catfish, 1 channel catfish, 5 freshwater drum, and the balance of 114 white bass.



Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 122 fish caught and released



OBSERVATIONS:

Thanks to the chilling factor of the weekend’s north winds, I observed no threadfin shad spawning activity this morning. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F




WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 9.10 feet low, 33 CFS flow (up 0.27 feet thanks to Saturday night’s rain)

Water Surface Temp: 68.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW5 for ~40 min., then slack, then starting NE4 and rising while shift slowly through ESE up to 12-13.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, pale blue skies.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 80



Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0160G (9 fish)

Area B0236G (5 fish)

Area 1533 (24 fish)

Area vic B0194G (29 fish)

Area 1000 (55 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

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Good times as always.