This morning I fished with cousins Zach (10 years old) and Reese (14 years old), the grandsons of Elaine W. of Fort Worth. She’s RV camping at Belton Lake and was kind enough to treat the boys to this day on the water.
We finished our trip with a bang today with 5+ pounds of fish landed in the last 10 minutes, including Reese’s 3.00 lbs. largemouth (above) and Zach’s 2.50 pound channel cat (below).
The fish were a bit “moody” today for whatever reason. We got on a strong bite right off the bat; it lasted about 40 minutes and then there wasn’t a fish to be found where just minutes prior there was wolfpack after wolfpack of 3-10 fish each just about everywhere we looked.
So, we had to hit several areas today to put together the catch that we did and, although we tried on two separate occasions to exploit some congregated fish near bottom, those fish would have none of it. If we weren’t downrigging, we weren’t getting bit — it was as simple as that.
So, with 4 full hours of practice, the boys both became darn good downrig riggers today, each learning how far back and how far down to set their baits based on sonar readings, how to “clip in”, how to adjust the drag for lowering baits and then how to adjust the drag once the baits were set — pretty technical stuff, actually.
We encountered significant concentrations of fish at Areas 1103, 476, 459, 1113, and 644/1114. A look at the map clearly showed me these fish were all interested in the same kind of bottom topography. This gives me clues as to what to look for elsewhere should I have to go hunting for them again before long on another “moody” day.
This was a trip of superlatives for the boys. They each caught the biggest fish they’d ever caught, and they each caught the most fish they’d ever caught on a trip. Up until this trip most of their efforts have been from the shore off of “Crappie Point” on Navarro Mills lake.
The boys were a pleasure to have on board and, from what I understand, greased the skids for their brothers to be able to go out with me next week!
TALLY = 41 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 10:45a
Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 87.1F
Wind: SSW7-12.
Skies: Skies were hazy and ~65% cloudy.