Flat Calm – 10 Fish, Belton Lake, 01 May 2015

This morning I fished on Belton Lake with Mr. John Stephenson, Mr. Bob Bearden, Bob’s son, Terry Bearden, and Tucker Glaske.
 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

From left: Tucker Glaske and John Stephenson with one of the hybrid striped bass we boated this morning.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
WWII veteran and former prisoner of war Bob Bearden, age 92, hung with the young guns today and boated a few fish himself, including this Belton blue catfish.

John is a U.S. Army veteran who, among other things, served as a Bell County Commissioner several years ago.  Bob Bearden is a 92-year old WWII veteran and former prisoner of war.  Terry, who works in the off-shore oil industry, is one of Bob’s five children, and Tucker is an assistant director in the the Development Department at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where he focuses on fund-raising.

We had a very tough trip this morning thanks to near-windless conditions and bright, cloudless skies, but, that is from my perspective, knowing that Belton is capable of producing much better, and knowing that we are in a season where high numbers of quality fish are very catchable.  Tucker, for example, had an entirely different perspective.  He’d been fishing perhaps only 4 other times in his life and had never caught as many fish during those trips as we did today.

Regardless of the mood of the fish, there was good company and good conversation throughout our time on the water.

Bob chided me about all the tactics and gadgets I employed trying to get stubborn fish to come bite our baits this morning, saying I was creating an unfair advantage, and hinting that I might have to give an account to the Lord about all of this taking advantage of His creatures one day.  They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but, I’d have to disagree, since Bob’s son, Terry, was all for me using sonar, bait, an automatic trolling motor, acoustic attraction, line-counter reels, audible bait clickers and more to put every last fish we could in the boat that we possibly could!!

When we cranked up the outboard to head in, we’d boated 5 hybrid striped bass, 4 blue catfish, and 1 smallmouth bass.

 

TALLY = 10 FISH, all caught and released

 

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  65F

Water Surface Temp:  72F on lower lake

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable

Sky Conditions:  Fair and cloudless

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 346

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Oh, for a Little Wind — 35 Fish, Belton, 30 April 2015

This morning I fished on Belton Lake with Mr. Rick Klein, his son, Doug, and Rick’s friend, Randy Pritchett.
 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Rick took this, his largest fish of the day, in the closing minutes of the trip as the wind, which had gone slack, finally kicked in from the SE.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Randy Pritchett caught these hybrid back-to-back; one on the live bait rod he was tending to, and the other on a cut-bait rod we had setup next to it.  As I took the first fish off and Randy was standing by, the second rod went down just seconds later.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Doug Klein took this nice crappie on a live shad fished at 27 feet over a 38 foot bottom.

In my “day-before-the-trip” note to Rick I stated, “If you are a man of faith, pray for some wind!”.  The forecast for this day showed very low wind speeds and very low cloud coverage.  Bright, calm conditions are always very tough on Belton.  The fish we caught were caught mainly in the first half of the trip when a gentle west wind was blowing, and then again towards the end of the trip when an even lighter SE breeze kicked in after the breeze stopped altogether in the middle of the trip.

We caught a variety of fish on live shad today including hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, blue catfish, white bass, and crappie.

I appreciated Doug’s comment that he learned a lot on today’s trip as I answered his questions about gear, methods, fish behavior, and more.

 

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

 

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8:30a

End Time:  1:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  58F

Water Surface Temp:  71F on lower lake; 72-73F in upper Leon River

Wind Speed & Direction:  W5, dying and shifting to SE3-4

Sky Conditions:  Fair and cloudless

Other: GT=45

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 346/976

**Area  1554

**Area 1344

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com