09 JANUARY 2008






Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

We had the most productive day I’ve ever shared on the water with clients with exactly 361 fish boated by a party of 3 including Jerry W., Dusty R., and Daniel K. of Killeen and Harker Heights.

We fished a full day trip from 7a to 4:30p. At launch time the air temp was 34F and the water temp was 52F. Air temps rose to the low 60’s during the day.

The day broke down into 3 distinct parts, all driven by wind. From pre-dawn through 11:45 we had a SW breeze gently tapering from 9+ mph pre-dawn down to calm by 11:45. During this time the slabbing bite remained wonderfully consistent. Locating fish was aided by, but not dependent upon, birds. There were several times when birds led us to fish, but fishing stayed hot well after birds departed. As is typical for this cold water season, a still slab did better than an actively jigged lure. A long stretch of water from Area to Area was most productive – we fished about 5 areas in between to account for 282 fish. Of these fish, we experienced a 30/70 hybrid to white bass ratio. 60-70 percent of the whites were legal, but only two exceeded 11.5 inches. Of the hybrids, only 3 were legal, with the largest exactly 3.75 pounds, and the majority of the remainder going just slightly larger than the largest of the white bass, at about 12 to 12.75 inches.

At 11:45 the wind stopped and the fishing crashed. We took an on the water lunch break and I setup downlines with live shad hoping to tempt something a little larger. We tried shallow, deep, points, humps, channels sections, and near timber, and came up with only one short hybrid and a nice blue cat over a 3 hour span.

By 3pm the wind was once again sustained, this time out of the SSE. Once the water started moving again for 20-30 minutes, the fish turned back on. We located fish off a point between Area 19 and Area 84. From around 3:15 to 4:30 we put an additional 79 fish in the boat consisting of the same ratios of whites and hybrids. The very last fish of the day was a jumbo bluegill, the length of which eclipsed the current lake record, but, alas, the weight fell short of that record. It struck a jigging spoon and went 8 7/8 inches and a shade over 0.50 pounds. A great ending to a great day!

Total = 361 fish, all caught and released








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