Day: December 1, 2011

Belton Lake Report — 40 Fish — 01 Dec. 2011 — Austin, Texas Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

by Bob Maindelle






Got to be honest — I expected better today. We had a forecast for cloud cover and winds S7 and got cloud cover and winds SE5-6 — if you’ve fished long enough you know that east wind is a spoiler.

Leonard landed our only keeper hybrid of the day on a smoked slab from out of 35 feet of water. A white TNT 180 did the trick.

Payton landed this one on a TNT 180 as well, only he was working it horizontally through fish that were aggressively pushing shad to the surface (albeit very briefly).

Today I was accompanied by fishing buddies Leonard N. and Payton D. of Killeen. Leonard is ex-Army, Payton is ex-Navy, and they’re both ex-Postal Service.

We didn’t get “skunked” or anything — in fact the 40 fish we boated most folks would be happy to catch, but, the fish just were kind of in a funk. They fed a little and slowed down and then fed a little more and moved off, and then fed lightly and then settled, and so it went. We never got set up over a strong bite all morning and had to piece our trip together with a variety of techniques.

The best fishing we found happened between Area 300 and Area 976 along the long, south facing breakline here. We found plenty of bait in the upper 2/3 of the water column, and most of the gamefish pushing the bait about were short hybrid. We downrigged, we cast slabs when the fish were breaking, we smoked, and we jigged. Jigging didn’t pan out today — casting to subsurface fish and smoking fish that were nearer to bottom did the best for us today.


TALLY = 40 Fish, all caught and released


HOLIDAY TIP Time to drop a hint to your “honey” for a fishing gift certificate for Christmas. These are a WIN-WIN-WIN. You get a fishing trip, your spouse doesn’t have to wonder what to get you or if you’ll like it, and I get to meet a new customer or catch up with a current client!!

I’m at:

Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

Austin Area Fishing Guide

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com


Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 12:05p

Air Temp: 41F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 60.2F.

Wind: Winds were SSE5-6.

Skies: Skies were nearly 100% clouded over with brief occasional breaks of sun.