Well, they say “All good things must come to an end.” And so they did this morning as a mid-March cold front came rushing into Central Texas, temporarily halting the strong pre-spawn white bass and hybrid bite we’ve enjoyed on Belton of late.

Daniel M. of Round Rock with a stocky hybrid striped bass — our first fish taken on downriggers in this calendar year!

Jackson M. and his dad, Kris, with a hard-fighting hybrid taken on Jackson’s first fishing trip of his life.

This morning I fished with Kris M. of Round Rock, who brought his sons, Daniel (13) and Jackson (7) out for a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip. This was both of the boys’ first fishing excursion. Neither came with experience, nor had either ever caught a fish before.

I explained to the threesome the impact that weather has on fishing and that we’d likely have a tough day of it, but, being the adventuresome band of Boy Scouts that they were, they were more than up for the challenge.

We had a rough, damp ride to the fishing grounds, driving right into the teeth of a 15-18mph NW wind. I was hopeful based on the heavy bird activity I’ve been seeing that at least there would be some remnant of that today, and, indeed we did find some helpful bird action.

Our first fish, a white bass landed by Daniel, came off a flatline troll in the vicinity of Area 738 over 18′ of water.

Our next action came close to the bank between Areas 592 and 740 as a mixed bunch of whites and hybrid drove shad to the surface and toward the bank and brought some birds down on top of themselves. Both boys picked up a white bass out of this short-lived action and both missed one fish.

Next, the lengthiest action of the morning came out over 40′ deep open water between Area 593 and Area 299. Schools of white bass and hybrid striper were feeding upwards on heavy schools of ~3.5 inch long threadfin shad which were holding at about 12-14′ beneath the surface. These gamefish were holding down between 14-24′ and would “raid” shad passing overhead.

With the boat pitching in the wind, the limited experience of the boys, and the fact that suspended fish (even when they are active) can be tough to target, we went with a downrigging approach to keep our baits in the sweet spot. This worked out well and allowed us to boat 6 more fish, including a short, stocky hybrid for each of the boys.

Our results were not impressive by any means, but, I felt we did the best we could do given the circumstances we faced. Yes, it is nice to “cherry pick” your days, but school calendars and shift work don’t always allow for such things. In such cases, the best time to go fishing is whenever the opportunity presents itself.

TALLY = 9 FISH

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:45a

Starting Air Temp: 55F

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind: NW15-17

Skies: Heavily overcast and grey.