I fished a half-day morning trip with Grandpa Dave D. of Austin, and his grandsons, Eric & Benn of Idaho. We caught fish, but we had to work for every single fish we caught. The conditions were tough — windless until 9a, then only a light breeze with clearing and brightening conditions to follow, and no bird activity.

GRANDPA DAVE, ERIC & BENN AFTER A NICE WINTER’S DAY ON BELTON

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 1:30p


Air Temp: 57F at trip’s start. Temps peaked at 74F in the afternoon.


Water Surface Temp: ~56.6F

Wind: Winds were very light from SSE if not still the entire trip.

Skies: A thin overcast layer existed until just after sunup, then cleared and brightened afterwards.

We began our day just trying to get a feel for things by running downriggers from Area 366 to 367 while watching sonar. We saw a lot of fish both suspended and on bottom and picked up one hybrid, the largest fish of the day, on a White Willow spoon running at 18 feet. We did stop to slab one time after a solid group of bottom-oriented fish showed, but to no avail

We moved over to Area 365 and fished it through to Area 211 catching a few fish on the downrigger, stopping to slab when good concentrations of fish showed, and scratched up a few more fish, 10 in all, including white bass, short hybrids, and 1 small black bass.

We then headed over to Area 171 and found a tremendous amount of bait out at 34-40 feet but with no gamefish appearing mixed in at all. We continued to probe shallower and encountered white bass sprinkled along the bottom in 19-23 feet on a slight break here. We fished via downrigger and slabs and managed another 7 fish here (5 whites, 1 short hybrid, and 1 largemouth), again, all one at a time with no schools moving by and no multiple catches at any time.

We made one final move after the S. wind picked up speed again over to Area 211 and found the fish a bit more perky. We only slabbed this time in 37-40 feet of water for fish that appeared tight to the bottom. For our efforts here we added 12 fish the the tally including 1 largemouth, 2 crappie, and 9 white bass. The last 3 whites came on the downriggers as the slab bite died off after a brief flurry. So, we ended the trip with a nice 12 fish run and the kids went home happy campers.

TALLY = 30 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing