This past Friday afternoon, December 23rd, I fished with Andres “Andy” Cota and Nick Quintana pursuing white bass and hybrid striper on Lake Belton.
From left: Nick Quintana and Andy Cota with a sampling of the just-legal hybrid we got into in 40 feet of water between 2-3pm under birds. We fished for suspended fish when the birds worked, and fish near bottom when they didn’t.
Both Andy and Nick are nearing the end of their one and only enlistment in the U.S. Army as infantrymen in the First Cavalry division. Nick and his wife, Amanda, are from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Andres and his wife, Christel, are from Arizona. As their time in the military draws to a close, both men hope to get on with the Copperas Cove Police Department. I first got to know both men through Memorial Baptist Church, where all of us worship together.
I chose the afternoon over the morning today because greater wind speed was forecast for the afternoon, and that did come to fruition. The entire day was overcast just to the point of drizzle with the ambient temperature hovering between 50 and 53°. A thin blanket of fog developed right around 11:30 AM and persisted through sunset.
Our first hour on the water was disrupted thanks to a fellow angler in need of a tow back to the boat ramp. As it turns out, the fellow flagging us down from across the water was a past client of mine, who also did an on the water sonar training with me some years ago. We actually got down to fishing by around 1:50 PM, and immediately got under actively working birds feeding on shad driven to the surface by white bass and hybrid stripers feeding on those shad from beneath. As we hovered over these fish in 40 feet of water, we put our first 46 fish in the boat over our first two hours of fishing while spot hopping just two or three times over a roughly 100 yards span to keep up with the birds.
After this action died down, and given that the heavy fog and clouds were obscuring the sun to a great extent, I chose to look shallower, figuring that the low light bite would take place earlier than normal this evening.
As we made our way to the next area I intended to try, we found yet another flock of gulls actively working fish, this time in 30 feet of water. We spot hopped twice over about a 1/8 mile span and, in the last hour, doubled our catch and then some. Fishing slabs equipped with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks, we boated fish after fish including white bass, hybrid striper, and freshwater drum, taking our tally up to 102 before the fish quit at dark.
As it turns out, Andy had never been in a motorized boat before, and neither had any significant prior fishing experience. I hope they did not go home spoiled!
TALLY = 102 fish, all caught and released
Wx Snapshot:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 1:00p
End Time: 5:05p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 51F
Water Surface Temp: 56.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-8
Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with a light but complete blanket of fog over the entire lake
Water Level: 0.33 feet above full pool
GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1866 to 682; whites, drum, largemouth and hybrids by snap-jigging and easing
**Area vic. 560; whites, drum and hybrids by snap-jigging and easing
**Area 561; whites, drum and hybrids by snap-jigging and easing
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
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