On Saturday morning, April 2nd, I met up with a 3-man party for a morning chasing hybrid stripers on Belton Lake. Joining me were Matthew Grout, Peter Shimeall, and James Choi.
Matthew, James and Peter used neither nets, nor the other side of the boat, to bag their catch of 133 fish this chilly April morning.
Peter and Matt are brothers-in-law (Matt married Peter’s sister). Back in September of 2015, Peter’s mom got a fishing gift certificate for Matt. Matt invited Peter and James, a fellow lieutenant from his military unit, along for the excursion.
It was nippy this morning after a wet cold front passed on Friday. The 43F north winds killed any chance of shad spawning this morning, so, it was fortunate that I’d planned ahead and collected enough bait while the getting was good last Thursday (then meticulously baby-sat them!).
The bite started slowly, and gulls rafted out in open water (not flying nor feeding) further verified that not much was going on beneath the water’s surface.
We used a combination of live bait and slabs at our first stop to take white bass and short hybrid with a blue cat or two thrown in for good measure. Seeing that most all of the fish were smallish, we moved on after about 30 minutes
We searched 2 mores areas with sonar without seeing much, then hit a third area off the tip of a deep point, found ample fish and bait, and got a few average white bass and a few short hybrid, but the results were a bit disappointing considering all we saw on the sonar before Spot-Locking on it with the #Ulterra.
It was about this time that I saw what looked the makings of some gulls looking tentative about feeding over fish. What started as 8-9 birds, quickly turned into about 40 (ring bills and laughing gulls) and within 6-7 minutes we found ourselves in the midst of a full-blown feed.
Over the next 2 full hours (~9:30 to 11:30) we consistently boated short and legal white bass, short and legal hybrid stripers, drum, and blue cats. The fishing was so fast and furious that it just did not make sense to use the live bait I’d come prepared with. In the time it took to bait up, let the shad slowly sink, set the bait clicker, put the rod in the rod holder, and observe for a bite, we could have caught and released two fish and had a slab halfway to bottom for a third. I also find when fish are really frenzied, and white bass or short hybrid are in the mix, I get a lot of shad killed without a hookup resulting. So, we stuck with a more efficient approach.
And so it went, right up until about 11:30a when the bite died. Over the course of the morning the fellows wound up putting 133 fish in the boat.
Since I’ve only fished two trips on Belton now during this season that traditionally involves the threadfin shad spawn, it is too early to tell if this is a trend, but, most all of the legal hybrid I’ve landed thus far have been just right at the 18.00 to 18.75″ mark, with only one fish out of the 192 boated thus far going over 22.00″. Time will tell.
There are now only 7 half-day trips remaining during this peak bite (now until mid-May). Please give me a call if you are interested; these catch-and-release trips run $305 for up to 3 anglers…
Thursday, 07 April AM (7:45a – 11:45a)
Thursday, 28 April AM (7:30a – 11:30a)
Friday, 29 April AM (7:30a – 11:30a)
Tuesday, 03 May AM (7:30a – 11:30a)
Friday, 06 May AM (7:15a – 11:15a)
Thursday, 12 May AM (7:15a – 11:15a)
Friday, 13 May AM (7:15a – 11:15a)
TALLY = 133 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30a
End Time: 11:50a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F
Water Surface Temp: 65.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: WNW11-13 the entire trip
Sky Conditions: Blue bird skies.
Water Level: 594.21 and neither rising or falling with 594.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1026 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.00 feet in the past 24 hours
Other: GT= 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle