Dad, My Fish was Bigger than Yours! — 70 Fish, Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report, 29 March 2013






This afternoon I fished with returning guests Will M. of Salado, and his 10 year old daughter, Amy



Yes, Amy won the big fish contest by a landslide today — this largemouth weighed 3 1/8 pounds on a certified scale.


Larger white bass like these were in short supply this afternoon, but we managed a few photo-worthy rascals.





As with most afternoon trips this time of year, this one got off to a slow start but ended handsomely.

We had to hunt and peck for the first two hours by which time we’d only managed to put 23 fish in the boat. We found fish at two locations between Area 074/1017, then found a few on top of Area 946, then a few more in the vicinity of Area 1181, but each of these areas only gave up 5 or 6 fish each, and even those few were smallish.

Around 6pm, halfway through the trip, Will mentioned to Amy that we may not do as well as during our last trip (May 2012, 52 fish caught primarily via downrigging). I encouraged them not to give up hope yet, as the better half was just about to begin.

It was then that we made our way over to Area 103/549. Right at the upper end of the 20-25 foot breakline the bottom was carpeted with white bass. We made a good buoy throw right on them then circled back and hovered over top of them for over an hour. We made up for some lost time here, more than doubling our catch and pushing past the magic “52 fish from last trip” mark, as well. By the time these fish quit, we had amassed a catch of 58 fish. These fish were very aggressive and fell to both a vertical jigging technique, as well as to a slow-smoking tactic.

For variety’s sake, we decided to head shallow at last light to do some flatline trolling, but, as we geared up to move out, we spotted another patch of bottom blanketed with white bass in the vicinity of Area 702. We stopped and again used a slow-smoking tactic to boat a final 12 fish before the action died for good.

We did give flatline trolling a try just briefly, but, given the heavy cloud cover and the late start we got due to our unexpected find at Area 702, it was too little, too late.


TALLY = 70 fish, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:00p

Air Temp: 69F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: ~60F

Wind: Winds were SSW11 tapering off to SSW8.

Skies: Skies were leaden grey the entire trip.








That’s a Good Call, Steve! — 34 Fish, Belton Lake Fishing Charter Report, 29 March 2013






This morning I fished with Mr. Steve N. of Temple, and his grandson (and veteran of many trips), Caleb. We shot for quality over quantity today and hit our mark, catching and releasing 26 legal hybrid striped bass (18+ inches).



Steve and Caleb kept the shad going down and the hybrid coming up this morning.



Steve holds one of our better fish of the morning — this one went 22.75 inches.





For a second day in a row our weather conditions were ideal — heavy grey skies with a southerly wind. We only had to make 2 stops today to find all the fish we needed to keep us busy. I came prepared to fish 6 rods, but only needed to put 4 out as the action was very steady for the majority of our morning.

Our first stop came at Area 1191. We fished on the deeper, 30′ side of a breakline and set our baits at 27 feet deep. Over about 50 minutes’ time we put 5 fish in the boat with a few more missed as we worked the bugs out on bait fishing, which was all new to Caleb. I felt with the great weather conditions we could be doing better, so, we moved on.

Our next and final stop came at Area 1190. Again, we fished the deeper, 34′ side of a breakline and set our baits at 29 feet deep. The fish came in waves and seemed to be patrolling steadily through the area. Although we detected schooled fish on sonar that were suspended primarily between 15-21 feet, we did best on the deeper lines, although I did adjust at least 1 rod upwards when we saw good reason on sonar to do so. We enjoyed a solid 2 hours of hybrid fishing at this location before the bite died around 11am.

For our efforts today, we boated 26 legal (18″ minimum) hybrid striped bass, 4 white bass, and 4 “short” hybrid. The fish showed no preference on bait size. I had everything from 2″ threadfin barely large enough to hook, all the way up to 8″ gizzards. It seemed the larger threadfin (3 to 3 1/8 inches) got hit faster, but the smaller shad resulted in more sure hookups. My jumbo gizzards were just a bit much for these still-cold hybrid. One 6 inch gizzard had 5 different fish hit it before one took it well enough to get hooked. One 8 inch gizzard never even drew a look.

Caleb was a real trooper and it is great to see how he’s progressed in his angling abilities over the years. Our last trip was in November when a screaming cold front put the hybrid into overdrive. He worked a slab rod for 3 hours straight in the cold wind and never whimpered a single time. As Steve and I compared notes on this trip, I told him I thought Caleb could handle the waiting that goes with the reward of fishing for larger hybrid stripers, and he agreed. To his credit, once Steve saw Caleb’s enthusiasm was beginning to wane, he made a good call to wind up the trip a bit earlier than we would have were it just he and I out fishing. That’s the way to make a fishing buddy for life by not wearing a kid out by insisting he or she grind it out to the bitter end when the fishing gets slow. I wished more folks would do like Steve did today.

As the live shad bite gets stronger on Belton, shad are still somewhat difficult to come by, but, that ought to change before too long. Should be a good April!!


TALLY = 34 fish, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30p

Air Temp: 59F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: ~60F

Wind: Winds were SSE8-10.

Skies: Skies were leaden grey the entire trip.