Good Weather, Good Fishing, and One for the Record Books — 104 Fish on Belton

This past Tuesday morning, October 25, I fished with longtime Killeen resident, Phil Moore, and his brother-in-law from South Dakota, Garvon Golden.

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Garvon Golden with one of just a handful of hybrid we boated on live shad in the final hour of our trip this past Tuesday on Belton.  The white bass were hitting so well it was tough to leave them alone!

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Phil Moore with a nice blue cat taken on live shad in 32 feet of water with our baits set up off bottom just a few feet.  Phil and Garvon landed 104 fish in just over 4 hours this morning.

We started up shallow in under 20 feet of water looking for aggressive white bass. We found what we were looking for in 12 to 20 feet of water, with white bass actively feeding from top to bottom. We caught white bass from 0 to 4 years in age both on top water baits when schools briefly broke the surface, and more consistently on slabs work vertically.

After three full hours of nonstop action, our count stood at 77 fish boated. This catch consisted of 100% white bass.

I suggested that we spend our final hour or so targeting fewer, but better quality fish. As the white bass bite was tapering down, we headed out to deeper water, we searched with sonar until I found what I believed were hybrid, we used the Ulterra’s Spot Lock feature to hold us in place, and then got four baited rods down with various sizes of shad ranging from 3 to 5 inches.

The response was nearly instantaneous. From this one area we wound up catching an additional 27 fish in our last hour. This catch consisted of white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, blue catfish, and channel catfish. As we approached 11:30, the bite began to soften quickly and, as Phil pulled our 104th fish aboard (a blue catfish), we decided to call it a good day.

The highlight of this morning’s trip was Garvon’s capture of a new Belton Lake catch-and-release white bass which measured 16.375 inches, eclipsing the previous record by 0.625 inches.  More on the details of this record catch, plus photos, in this coming Sunday’s Killeen Daily Herald fishing column – check out Section C, the sports section.
TALLY = 104 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp:  76.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE8

Sky Conditions: Light fog lifting within the first 60 minutes, with lingering thick grey clouds allowing for low-light conditions through 11am

Water Level: ~0.01 feet high with only evaporative losses

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1129/1817/1808 – 100% white bass for 3 solid hours, first on top, then via slabbing

**Area 1805 – live shad for the last hour for a multi-species catch including several keeper hybrid

 

 

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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YouTube Channel: Bob Maindelle’s Fishing Video/How-to Collection

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