Belton Lake Fishing Guide Report – 22 April 2010 – 30 FISH






I fished a full day educational trip today with returning guest Ben W. of Taylor, TX. My early week enthusiasm over the forecast (S. wind at 9 with 100% cloud cover) took a nosedive when what we actually experience was ESE winds at up to 15 with fog, drizzle and rain. We thus had to work for every fish we caught today. Part of the education experience I try to offer to those specifically requesting such a trip is the real-life repetition of successful habits so the individual can return to his or her home waters and replicate success. For today, we covered live shad fishing for hybrid stripers (easily transferable to catfish, white bass, largemouth, etc.), we covered working a surface bait by “walking the dog”, we covered jig-worm fishing for largemouth, and we used blade baits and then slabs in conjunction with sonar targeting white bass.

Ben with our largest fish of the trip which was also a personal best for him — the largest fish he’s ever caught — a 5.50 lbs. hybrid striper

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 8:05p

Air Temp: 69F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~66.1F

Wind: Winds were out of the ESE all day starting off around 9mph, increasing to around 15 by 1pm, then dying back to less then 10 by 5pm.

Skies: Skies were leaden grey all day with light rain beginning around 3p, and continuing until after dark.


With the revised forecast calling for winds building and gusting by mid-day, I chose to fish for hybrid early on so that heavy wave action later in the day wouldn’t foil our efforts at anchoring or presenting baits naturally. We chose one anchorage well and in a four hour span boated 10 legal hybrid striped bass, 1 short hybrid, 1 white bass, and 1 blue cat, all on live shad. The largest hybrid (which was also the largest fish Ben has ever caught) went 5.5 pounds and was a stocky, thick fish. This took place at Area 98.

From 11a to noon, we gave Area 168 a try. We got 2 big bites on 9+ inch long shad, but missed both of them. We then slabbed for a bit near Area 181 and picked up 2 small fish.

We then relocated and fished coves 184, 183, 503, 580, and 589 with a jigworm. Ben did really well at this, starting off kind of stiff and mechanical, but quickly getting the hang of maintaining contact with the lure without alerting fish to his presence. He got a hook in at least 3 fish, but never did land one.

As the skies got darker and the rain heavier, we transitioned to fishing for white bass around 6:15pm. We looked over several areas with sonar, finally stopping at Area 380. We found very reluctant white bass here in 24-25 feet both on bottom and suspended up as high as 9-12 feet. We experienced a bit of success by smoking these suspended fish, but, they were smallish.

We headed on to Area 613 and gave bladebaits a try on a shallow flat but had only one hit in about 20 minutes. If the fish were in here, they just weren’t willing to do much.

We returned to Area 380 and had some fair action again on suspended fish as well as off bottom on occasional packs of fish passing through this area. In a 15 minute flurry we boated 10 fish and then “pulled teeth” for 5 more right up until it the action shut down completely.

For the day we landed a total of 30 fish taking lemons and making a bit of lemonade, but, more importantly, handing the recipe off to someone who appreciated it!!


TALLY = 30 FISH, all caught and released