This past Friday evening, December 30th, I fished with returning guests Steve and Mary Robar who “snowbird” in Kingsland, Texas, in their RV each winter. On this trip to Belton Lake, Steve and Mary invited along their niece, Melissa Haley, and her friend, Kelly Irwin, both from Sioux City, Iowa.
From left: Steve Robar, Mary Robar, Melissa Haley, and Kelly Irwin with the largest 5 of the 80 fish we landed on this raw, grey late December afternoon.
Steve is retired from finance work as a federal employee who worked for NOAA, and Mary is retired from the medical field where she worked in the x-ray department at a hospital in Denver, CO. Melissa is a third-grade public school teacher, and Kelly works in a bicycle shop.
After finishing up an 80 fish morning trip just an hour and 15 minutes earlier, I picked up where that trip left off and began searching for deep white bass on breaklines.
Our first stop of the day was our best. We enjoyed 75 minutes’ worth of consistent action, and during this time put 42 fish in the boat. From roughly 2:30 to around 3:30, we were able to find fish, but they were not all that enthusiastic, nor did we find schools near the size of that first one we encountered. By 3:30, we found another loosely congregated group of fish over a 60 yard span holding at the same contour level on a breakline in 42 feet of water. We spot-hopped along this contour, and put white bass in the one, two, and three year class in the boat, as well as occasional hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, and drum. This area held up until approximately 4:45 when I headed back to the shallower main lake area that has produced for me over the past several evenings.
This evening was to be no different – – Area 1001 produced a final 11 fish to close out this evening’s trip with exactly 80 fish, thus matching the morning trip’s results.
TALLY = 80 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 1:00p
End Time: 5:30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F
Water Surface Temp: 58.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE8-10
Sky Conditions: 100% heavy grey cloud cover
Water Level: 0.49 feet above full pool
GT = 20
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1023 – white bass action on a 42′ breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic
**Area vic 1870 to 1679 – white bass action on a 40-42′ breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic
**Area 1001 – low-light bite on slabs in ~25′
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
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