2024 – Fishing Trips Reports
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11/25/24 Chartered Hybrid/Striped/White Bass Fishing Trip
Three fishermen had a good time with guide and FCS member Kevin McConnell on Lake Buchanan. They caught 36 mostly undersized hybrids, but Ray Brown (a client of Kevin’s) caught a 20″ striper, and Kevin and Chris Rowley caught large gasper goo’s. They had nine keepers. The lake started off calm with little wind, but the wind gradually picked up to the point that that lake was white capping. The caught all of their fish at two spots, after the wind picked up.
11/14/24 – 11/17/24 Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trip
Ten fishermen with three boats went to Port O’Connor on the Texas coast for four days of fellowship and inshore fishing. The weather was good – it was shorts and short sleeved shirt weather most of the time and the bay was like glass on Friday and Saturday nights. A record 17 bull redfish were caught, eclipsing our previous record, during the 4/18/24 – 4/21/24 trip, by eight fish. Everyone caught at least one bull redfish, with the smallest going 28 inches and the largest going 40 inches. Also a big stingray and a big ugly (large back drum) were caught. Eating fish were present with several sand trout, redfish, speckled trout, a pompano, and a Spanish mackerel (the first on an FCS trip) retained.
Randy Rowley had a large fish on that he fought for over five minutes on Thursday afternoon, but it broke his 30 lb. braid line. He also lost two more big fish on Friday afternoon, one he fought for around 10 minutes and the other around five minutes. Both got off his circle hook.
Fish of note included:
Chris Rowley – a 40″ bull redfish (her first bull redfish and largest fish to date).
Daryl Shipper – 40″ and 34″ bull redfish, a bonnethead shark, and another shark.
Russ Gibbs – two 38 1/2″ (the first one had a remora attached to it) and a 37″ bull redfish.
Kurt DeRuiter – 38 1/2, 38, 37 7/8, and 36 1/2″ bull redfish (the first time that four bull redfish have been caught by one person on an FCS trip), an under 4-spot under redfish, three speckled trout, and an under flounder.
Jim McGee – a 37 1/4″ bull redfish and an under flounder.
Blake Lieb – a large stingray, a 37″ bull redfish, and 27 7/8″ and 23″ redfish.
Randy Rowley – 36″ and 35 3/4″ bull redfish (his first two bull redfish), a 20 1/4″ redfish, an under redfish, a Spanish mackerel, and a pompano.
Bill Huttel – a 36″ big ugly/black drum and a 35″ bull redfish.
Roy Zengerle – 35″ bull redfish, a speckled trout, and a pufferfish.
Colton Roehrig – a 28″ bull redfish and a jack crevalle.
Thanks to Bill, Daryl, and Randy for bringing their boats.
10/27/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three participants mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Travis, mostly in Cypress Creek Cove. Russ Gibbs caught a Guadalupe bass on a Headbanger crankbait and had one on his Whopper Plopper propeller topwater early where the lure came off the swivel. Burl Fulenwider had one miss his Whopper Plopper and another one miss his Prop Frog topwater. Randy Rowley had two miss his Prop Frog.
Russ found his Whopper Plopper stuck to a reed as we were exiting the cove. The odds of that happening have to be in the billions to one, so the fishermen looked at it as one of God’s blessings.
10/12/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three participants mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Austin. Randy Rowley caught a dink bass on a Headbanger Spitfire topwater lure and hooked another bass on a swimbait, but it shook its head and got off the hook. There was a plethora of wake and ski boats. They also saw at least three swimmers (the water temperature was around 76 degrees). On a positive note, there was a lot of grass in the lake again.
10/5/24 Chartered Crappie Fishing Trip
Steven Babin and Jim McGee had a good time with guide Tommy Tidwell on Lake Granger. Between them, they caught 30 keeper crappie.
They went to one of Tommy’s brush piles and pulled out crappie until it slowed down and then went to another brush pile. They repeated this until the time was up. They didn’t have any wind until just before they left to return to the ramp around noon.
They used little crappie flies and put a little crappie tidbit on it and they loved it. Tommy also used a minnow on one rod just to keep them interested. They fished in 4 – 8’ of water, and it was murky. Tommy cleaned the fish, and they both left with a gallon bag almost full of fillets.
8/27/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Four fishermen had a very slow morning on Lake Buchanan, after a heavy rain storm. Burl Fulenwider caught a 19 1/4″ , 2.90 lb. blue catfish on a minnow and a 17 1/4″ hybrid bass on an Alabama rig. Russ Gibbs, Bill Huttel, and Randy Rowley practiced casting. Randy caught three trees, losing an Alabama Rig and a Lake Fork Flutter Spoon to them.
They didn’t see any schooling. Randy thought that he did near the dam, but it must have been just a wave.
The lake was like glass when they started, but eventually a nice breeze arose. They only saw four other boats all morning.
8/24/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three fishermen had a slow morning on Lake Decker. Jim McGee started the fun with a 17 3/4″ bass caught on a Whopper Plopper in a cove. Before that he had one come off his Plopper. Randy Rowley caught a 18 1/4″ bass in the same cove on a Lunkerhunt Prop Frog in Tea Green color. He was getting grass off his trolling motor when it hit his motionless frog.
After that they went looking for schoolies. They found them and chased them around for around 2 1/2 hours. Most were solo bass and they didn’t stay up top for long, but Randy connected with two – a 17 3/4 incher and a 14 3/4 incher with a Yo-zuri 3DB Pencil Popper (dog walker).
Burl Fulenwider practiced casting, which he did very well – it’s one of those fishing mysteries why he didn’t hook one.
The day started out windless, but eventually the wind pickup up, but not strong enough for whitecaps.
8/4/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Four fishermen had a slow morning on Lake Buchanan, on a day with very little wind.
Eight fish were caught. First-time guest Bill Huttel led the way with three fish (two blue catfish, including the biggest, and a big gasper goo (freshwater drum)), Burl Fulenwider caught two blue catfish, Hunter Rowley, caught two blue catfish, and Randy Rowley caught one blue catfish.
They saw little topwater activity but had one school of white bass erupt and ‘boil the water’ within casting range. They were minnow fishing, and by the time they got their topwaters in play, the bass were gone. (Randy had a dog walker ready for such an eventually, but when he went to cast it he saw that one of the lure’s treble hooks had gotten caught in one of his rod’s eyes – the three seconds that it took to free it ruined his chance at a bass.)
It was the inaugural use of Randy’s splasher, and it functioned well but didn’t draw in any hybrids or stripers.
Afterwards, three of them ate breakfast at the Crazy Gal Cafe in Burnet. Two of the diners deemed it ‘slap your momma’ good!
7/27/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Four fishermen had a slow morning on Lake Decker.
Ryan Rowley led the way with a 17″ and a 16 1/2″ bass, both caught on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper in Ghost Shad. Randy Rowley caught a 16″ bass on a Yo-zuri 3DB Pencil Popper in Prism Ghost Shad color. Jim McGee had a bass on a Whopper Plopper in silver/black color, but it got off. Hunter Rowley practiced casting.
They also had a few misses, including one that missed Randy’s Lunkerhunt Prop Frog in Green Tea color. He thought that he’d hooked it, but reeled in a clump of grass instead that weighed around 3 lb.
There was limited schooling up top – most of their casts were blind.
Surprisingly, it was 81° when they left the lake.
7/20/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Two of three fishermen had a good morning on Lake Decker.
Six bass were caught – all on topwaters. Randy Rowley caught four bass (two on a Lunkerhunt Prop Frog in Green Tea color and two on a clear Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil Popper 5″ floating topwater), including a 19 3/4″, a 18 3/4″, a 18 1/4″, and a 15 1/4″. He also had two bass miss his Yo-Zuri topwater, and it’s 5″ long and has three treble hooks! Clayton Carrier caught two bass, including a 19 3/4″ and a 19″ bass, both on River2Sea Whopper Ploppers (one was Loon color and the other was Bone color).
Clayton had another one get hooked on his Loon colored one, but it got off. Russ Gibbs practiced casting, which he did very well – it’s one of those fishing mysteries why he didn’t hook one.
They saw little schooling activity, and chased splashes around for a couple of hours, but most were solo bass, and they didn’t stay up long. Briefly, as they were chasing splashes, they drowned some small minnows. Also, unbelievably, Decker had no wind! This probably hurt them, as reports from six days earlier told of heavy schooling activity – the lack of wind might have limited schooling activity.
6/29/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Decker, but Randy Rowley had a great day. He caught his personal best (weight-wise) bass at 4.72 lbs., and 21 1/2 inches long on a Lunkerhunt Prop Frog (years ago, he caught a 22″ long bass on Lake Bastrop that weighed 4 1/2 lbs.). He also caught a 15 3/4″ bass on a Bass Mooch Poppa Chewy Topwater Killa. Jim McGee landed a dink bass on a lipless crankbait.
Clayton Carrier had a bass on, but it got off his Whopper Plopper, and Randy had a gar on, that shook off at his boat. Jim had two bass miss his lure, and Randy had one bass miss his lure. They saw no schooling activity.
Randy’s bass was the first bass longer than the 14″ – 21″ slot caught on Lake Decker on an FCS fishing trip, in 14 years of fishing. It was also the third largest bass caught in his boats.
6/19/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three fishermen enjoyed a windy and cloudy morning on Lake Buchanan, that constantly threatened rain, but never did. Unfortunately, fishing was slow.
Russ Gibbs led the way with two blue catfish, Jim McGee caught one, and Randy Rowley caught a white bass. They had tons of fish under them, but they didn’t know their secret password. All fish were caught on minnows. They tried jigging, without success, and saw no topwater activity. They also tried to catch shad in a cast net, with no success.
They ate lunch at Mama’s Kitchen in Burnet. It was good, as usual, but Randy reported that Mama’s chicken fried steak wasn’t as good as Crazy Gal Cafe’s chicken fried steak was on Sunday (it wasn’t as big and the batter didn’t stay on as well).
They learned the hard way that Whataburger and McDonalds’ in Burnet and Ingram Bait and Tackle and the Longhorn Bait Shop don’t open until 6:00 AM on weekdays.
6/16/24 Chartered Hybrid/Striped Bass Fishing Trip
Six fishermen had a great time at the 6/16/24 Chartered Hybrid/Striped Bass Fishing Trip with Seth Hobbs of La Belle Guide Service on Lake Buchanan. They limited out on hybrids/a striper, plus Hunter Rowley caught a gasper goo (freshwater drum) and a blue catfish, in under two hours! They fished with live shad (no lures were used) and saw no topwater activity. Either Hunter, Ryan Rowley, or Chris Rowley caught the most fish.
Seth is a great guide! This was the first limit on an FCS chartered hybrid/striped bass fishing trip since 5/12/16!
Afterwards, they ate breakfast at the Crazy Gal Cafe in Burnet. Randy Rowley highly recommends meal #5 – a full chicken fried steak, two eggs, hash browns, a biscuit, and gravy – it’s slap your momma good and the portions are huge!
6/1/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Two fishermen had a mostly slow, but fun morning on Lake Decker.
They each boated two largemouth bass, all on Whopper Ploppers. Randy Rowley’s were 18 1/2″ and 17 3/4″ long (it was heavier than the longer one). They didn’t measure Jim McGee’s, but they were under 14” long.
Randy had two more get off, and Jim had one more get off, due to the bass shaking their heads vigorously. Five missed Randy’s Prop Frog, and two missed his Whopper Plopper. Four missed Jim’s Whopper Plopper.
The first bass that Randy hooked was at the southwest corner of what is usually a lily pad field. It threw his Prop Frog. They fished the rest of that cove, then fished the bigger cove beyond it, then came back the same way. Randy boated his first bass in the same corner where he hooked the first one that he lost – it was the same size as the one that threw his Prop Frog there and might have been the same bass.
They had a lot of fish under them at several places but couldn’t get them to bite their slabs or MAL lures. Kevin McConnell later identified them with his Garmin Live Scope as mostly shad.
5/27/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three fishermen had a slow and foggy morning on Lake Buchanan, with very little wind.
There was sporadic schooling activity early. A fish swirled by the stern of the Rowley’s boat and Randy Rowley spun around and threw his clear Super Spook at it and was rewarded with a white bass. Later Chris Rowley caught a nice blue catfish on a minnow.
While they were drowning minnows, they sporadically chased and chunked at schoolies. It was frustrating as the white bass rarely were up for more than three seconds. But Randy finally got them within casting distance of a tightly packed school and Jim McGee connected with a white bass throwing a Whopper Plopper. Randy threw his clear Heddon Super Spook in the school three times, and Chris threw her clear Storm Rattlin Chug Bug in the school at least twice, but they didn’t get bit, which is very unusual.
They ended the morning with Randy having a blue catfish on a minnow, but it got off at the boat.
5/7/24 Chartered White Bass Fishing Trip
Five fishermen had a great time with Guide Bob Maindelle on Lake Belton, catching an FCS record 331 fish (330 white bass and one largemouth bass – an average of 66.2 each)! For comparison, on our 6/5/23 Guided White Bass Fishing Trip with Bob (our former best trip) 204 white bass were landed.
Most of the bass were caught using Bob’s nickel-plated lead body MAL (Maindelle’s All-purpose Lure) Dense lure, which sink very quickly when getting back to the bottom is critical, and give a more subtle, less “showy” appearance than the white or chartreuse bodied MAL Dense versions do. They also tried Bob’s Hazy Eye Slabs and caught a few bass. They fished in water as shallow as 28 feet and as deep as 52 feet, finding abundant, aggressive schools, some with hundreds of fish in them.
Bob also made extensive use of a splasher (fish attractor) and a Garmin Live Scope where they could see the MAL lures dropping to the bottom and then when they’d start to burn them back up, they’d see the bass rise from the bottom and smash the lures! It was incredibly fun!
Here is Bob’s incredibly detailed report – https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/fishing-report/.
5/4/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three fishermen mostly enjoyed the scenery on Lake Buchanan, but Randy Rowley had a good day. He caught a 19″ hybrid bass, two 18 1/4″ blue catfish, and two blue catfish that they didn’t measure. He let Burl Fulenwider reel in the last one, as Randy had a catfish on his other pole. Randy had the blessed poles – no other fish were caught.
Burl had a fish hit a minnow, but the knot at the swivel failed.
They saw a lot of schooling activity at the dam by the spillway, but it was in the ‘Boats Keep Out’ zone and they were out of range. They had a guide boat fish near them for over an hour but never saw them net a fish.
4/18/24 – 4/21/24 Self-chartered Bay Fishing Trip
Six fishermen with two boats went to Port O’Connor on the Texas coast for three days of fellowship and inshore fishing. Despite tough fishing conditions, the group managed a number of large redfish and black drum that made for great photographs and a quick release. A record nine bull redfish were caught. Everyone caught at least one fish over 30 inches with the largest going 45 inches. Unfortunately, eating fish were largely absent with only a single trout and bonnethead shark caught and retained.
In addition to fishing, they ate at two new Port O’Connor restaurants, namely POC Oasis and Los Delfines. They gave both of them a thumbs up. Additionally, during the course of the weekend, they towed two disabled boats back to the dock. The trip ended on a low note because they couldn’t fish on Sunday morning due to 30 mph winds.
Fish of note included:
Wayne Weilnau – 45 inch long bull redfish (the longest redfish on an FCS trip to date), 40 inch long bull redfish, and 39 inch long bull redfish (the first time that three bull redfish have been caught by one person on an FCS trip)
Bobby Beal – 43 inch long bull redfish, 39 inch long bull redfish, 38 inch long black drum, and 26 inch long bonnethead shark
Blake Lieb – 40 inch long bull redfish
Daryl Shipper – 41 inch long bull redfish and 40 inch long bull redfish
Russ Gibbs – 38 inch long black drum
Binh Chu – 37 inch long bull redfish and 35 inch long black drum
Thanks to Daryl and Wayne for bringing their boats.
4/6/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Four fishermen caught seven blue catfish and one gasper goo (freshwater drum) on Lake Buchanan.
Hunter Rowley, Ryan Rowley, and Burl Fulenwider caught two blue catfish each, Randy Rowley caught one blue catfish, and Hunter caught the goo.
All fish were caught on minnows – there was no interest in slabs of MAL lures jigged vertically and no topwater activity.
There was a strong south wind, which often means good fishing – ‘Winds from the South Blow the Hook Into the Fish’s Mouth,’ but not this day.
3/29/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three participants had a very slow morning on Lake Fayette, with no bass caught and no hits. There was some topwater activity, but it was either mostly or all gar.
3/23/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three participants had a slow morning on Lake Travis.
Randy Rowley caught a 17″ flathead (yellow) catfish on a Booyah lipless crankbait (the first time he’s caught a yellow cat on a lure) and Ryan Rowley caught an undersized largemouth bass (around 12″) on a Norman DD22 crankbait.
There was only a little topwater activity. There was a full moon the night before the trip, so the bass were probably feeding all night.
2/19/24 Self-chartered Freshwater Fishing Trip
Three participants had a slow morning on Lake Decker.
Russ Gibbs caught an undersized (around 14″) hybrid bass on a slab, Harley Chu hooked a hybrid bass on a minnow but it got off as he was flipping it in the boat, and Randy Rowley caught an undersized largemouth bass (around 12″) on a minnow.
Randy’s crew joined Kevin McConnell, who had found schooling hybrids and mainly watched his clients boat several, but that’s where Russ caught his fish and Harley almost caught his.
A significant cold front hit a couple days before this trip that mostly gave the fish lockjaw – the largemouths had no interest in lures.