This past Friday morning, June 17, I fished Lake Belton lake with Danny Marriott and his parents, Harold and Bonnie Holmans, who traveled in for a visit with kids, grandkids, and great grandkids in the Georgetown, TX area.  The two drove in, without stopping overnight, all the way from Hobbs, New Mexico — Harold is 86 and Bonnie is 79.

From left: Bonnie and Harold Holmans of Hobbs, NM, cashed in on some Belton Lake hybrid fishing while here in Texas visiting family for a few days.

Although the most aggressive bite occurred in the first 75 minutes of our trip, a slower, but steady bite continued right through around 10am.  Harold doubled up while fishing live shad in around 32′.

Lake Belton is still over 22 feet high, but is now slowly dropping. I came equipped this morning with top water rods, slabs, downriggers, and live shad, not knowing exactly what to expect.

We begin our search for fish around 6:15 AM, searching for signs of schooling fish feeding on shad on top water. I found no such action this morning. I transitioned to studying sonar in 25 to 45 feet of water, above the developing thermocline. Sonar revealed both suspended and bottom-oriented fish in 25 to 32 feet of water.

The posture of the suspended fish led me to believe we could capitalize on these fish with downriggered baits run horizontally. Running a tandem bait on the port side, and a three armed umbrella rig on the starboard side, we landed numerous singles and doubles on Pet Spoons, allowing us to boat a total of 17 fish in our first 75 minutes on the water, including a number of legal hybrid striped bass.

After this active downrigger bite softened, we remained in the same general vicinity and fished live bait just up off the bottom and continued to pick up both short and legal sized hybrid striped bass right up until 9:45 AM when this bite also weakened. By 10:15, things had slowed to a crawl and we decided to call it a day with exactly 52 fish boated, including one blue catfish, several white bass, and both short and legal sized hybrid striped bass.

From our fixed position while fishing bait, I observed all morning for top water action, no matter how brief.  I never saw any top water action today with the winds less than 12 mph the entire time.  The absence of topwater action in the summer months often correlates with the several days either side of the full moon.

 

TALLY = 52 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time:  10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE8 at trip’s start, increasing slowly to SSE12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Variable clouds from 30-40% on a fair sky all morning.

Water Level: ~22  feet above full pool with a release of 5,744 cfs ongoing.  Lake is falling ~0.2 to0.3 feet per day

GT = 80

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1641 to 1762 downrigging for heavily schooled white bass and hybrid in the first 75 minutes of light

**Area 1762 – live shad fished near bottom in 32′

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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