Having established a reliable pattern of fish behavior on the lower end of Belton Lake over the past two weeks, I went out today in search of other concentrations of fish in the Leon River arm.

This morning’s low-light conditions fueled by cloud cover and the still-warm water temperatures made conditions just right for flyfishing for shallow white bass and hybrid striped bass.

I first looked over Area 725 (BA:15 RBG) and liked what I saw in the way of both active gamefish and quantity of shad showing on sonar. I fished in this general vicinity for about 2 hours boating a total of 37 fish of which roughly 1/3 were hybrid and the balance white bass. A number of times some light surface and near-surface action erupted allowing for some pretty non-technical flycasting to be done. I boated 7 fish (2 hybrid, 5 whites bass) on the fly before the low clouds cleared and pushed the fish down toward bottom. At that time, a bladebait did the trick worked in a lift-drop manner — a blue and white pattern did the best.

Once I’d figured out all this area had to offer, I left with the fish still biting there to find other concentrations of fish. I found loosely schooled, bottom-hugging white bass at Area 968 and boated one on my very first downrigger pass on a Pet Spoon. I’ve fished this area enough in the past to know that once fish are here in the winter, they’ll stay here, so, I moved on looking for yet more fish concentrations.

I located one more good group of fish at Area 211. These fish were really glued to bottom and would only respond to a slabbing tactic with an occasional fish perking up to an “easing” tactic. I used both the 3/8 and 3/4 oz. slab and did equally well on both. I boated a total of 35 fish here including a mix of white bass and hybrid (only 1 hybrid from this area was 18+”).

If you’re reading this and are contemplating a Christmas holiday fishing trip, please don’t delay in getting that on the books. The week between Christmas and New Year is typically booked solid 2-3 weeks in advance.

Also, remember I do have gift certificates available.

I’m at:

Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.3F.

Wind: Winds were NW5 at obscured sunrise, tapering off to light and variable by 10:15am.

Skies: Skies were heavily clouded and grey with overcast at ground level not quite turning into a fog for the first 2 hours.