Scouting Pays Dividends — Lake Belton, 29 Oct. 2013, 67 Fish

After returning home to central Texas after my annual trek to Juarez,
Mexico, to build a home with teammates from my church, I got on the
water to do some scouting and get back in touch with fish locations and movements, bait location, and to check if any helpful migratory birds had yet come down this way.

The photo I’ve attached shows gamefish throughout the water column
after I “worked them up” by catching a few in rapid succession.

I headed over to Belton Lake as it tends to fish a bit better than
Stillhouse through around Thanksgiving time as the water begins to cool.

As I do on most of my scouting trips, I tried today simply to locate
gamefish willing to bite, catch a few to verify that they are gamefish,
that they are willing to bite, and to check on their size. I typically
shoot for catching just a few fish and then moving on instead of sitting
in one area catching all I can.

Today, that practice allowed me to identify 6 distinct areas where I felt confident that fish would continue to use.

At each location, due to the low pressure conditions, the fish were
sluggish and had to be finessed a bit to provoke the school into biting.
The first fish was always the hardest to dupe, then the others
“loosened up” and bit more willingly.

All of my fishing today was done with either a 3/8 or ¾ oz white TNT 180 slab.

TALLY = 67 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:25a
End Time: 11:15p
Air Temp: 73F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 70F
Wind:Winds were SSE8-10.
Skies: 100% heavy grey cloud cover with
drizzle for the first 2.5 hours after sunrise.

Areas Fished with success:
** 1271
** 843/845
** 1272
** 840
** 1269
** 1270

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

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