Last One to Catch a Fish Unloads the Dishwasher!! … 42 Fish, Belton Lake, 11 Nov. 2011






This morning I welcomed Tom and Kimmi D. of Harker Heights aboard and headed out on Belton Lake after a mixed bag of hybrid striped bass and white bass.

Kimmi and her long-awaited big hybrid! This fish struck a Swimmin’ Image crankbait rigged behind a downrigger.

Tom with his first keeper hybrid of the trip taken just moments after sunrise on a horizontally retrieved TNT180 slab.

Kimmi didn’t have prior experience with spinning gear but very quickly got accustomed to using it during our “practice round” near the boat ramp. This “practice round” is useful for getting my guests through any learning curves BEFORE we get on fish. This allows us to maximize our fish catching potential once fish are found having worked out all the kinks ahead of time.

This morning we found fish (BA:30HG,10T) primarily within an area triangulated by Areas 836, 683, and 300. The best action came from sunrise to around 9:15, and then slowly tapered down thereafter. During the peak of the action, most fish were up in the upper 1/3 of the water column during which time Tom took fish by casting a slab horizontally and Kimmi took fish working a slab vertically. The fish were scattered over a large area and were moving about quickly, so, we transitioned over to using downriggers set up high in the water column and, one rigged with a Pet Spoons and the other rigged with a Swimmin’ Image, scored more consistently with these than with the slabs.

By the time the early feed had ended the couple had boated 29 fish including 3 keeper hybrid, and a mix of short hybrid and white bass. There was a good bit of good-natured banter that went back and forth over the course of our trip today. I’ve heard wives “lay down the gauntlet” for their spouses before, but never quite like this … Kimmi stated (before the first fish had been boated) that the first one to catch a fish would avoid being sentenced to the unenviable task of unloading the dishwater!! I made a mental note to myself to issue that same challenge the next time I’m sure I can beat my wife at something…

Anyway, when the early bite died around 9:15, we began fishing in the lower 1/3 of the water column by hovering over small groups of fish as we encountered them on sonar. We made 3 short stops all in the vicinity of Area 959 and boated 6 fish in about 25 minutes time. Eventually, even the bottom hugging fish got sparse and we moved on.

We moved on to Area 960, searched with sonar, found fish in short order and began putting fish in the boat, but found all were short whites here. We pulled up after boating 6 to look for some better quality fish.

Tom and Kimmi are both avid bird watchers, so we counted it fortunate to sight an osprey as we motored toward Area 954. Once we got there, I immediately saw fish on sonar up high in the water column. As we got set up in a hover over this area, Tom had his slab dangling in the water just 18″ under the surface waiting for me to get the boat near-stationary when a white bass got brave enough to attack it at boatside!

By around 10:40 it was clear that we’d seen the best of it this morning, and, with an appointment Kimmi had to keep in Waco, we decided to call it a good day right then and there.

We ended our day with 42 fish boated.

TALLY = 42 FISH, all caught and released


Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp: 34F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F.

Wind: Winds S7 at sunrise, going nearly slack by 9:00a, then slowly building to S14 by 11a.

Skies: Skies were fair.








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