Buds from the Valley — 134 Fish @ Belton

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Saturday morning I fished with long-time buddies from down in south Texas, Lucas Rodriguez and Chris Dyer.  Lucas is the CEO of a medical research company in Dallas, and Chris is in the produce business in the Houston area.  The two met half-way and did an overnight camping trip to Dana Peak Park on the north shore of Stillhouse and then met me at Lake Belton for a half-day of fishing the following morning.  Under ideal conditions we put together a nice catch of 130 white bass in just under three hours, then shifted gears and went on a hunt for hybrid.  That didn’t go nearly so well, yielding just 2 white bass, a largemouth bass and a smallmouth bass, but no hybrid today.

 

Lucas Rodriguez with a nice Lake Belton smallmouth bass that went for one of the six live shad we had presented in a search for hybrid stripers.

 

Lucas Rodriguez (left) and Chris Dyer took 130 white bass in just under 3 hours on a combination of slabs fished vertically and bladebaits fished horizontally and via sightcasting.

 WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 24 March 2018

HOW WE FISHED:   We had near-perfect conditions today — “squinting” light levels through grey clouds, a manageable, southerly wind, and another warm overnight on a string of warm days.  The fish were in high gear this morning with surface action routinely occurring in the first 90 minutes following the obscured sunrise.  We caught white bass for 3 solid hours on slabs and blades, and could have kept right on catching, but decided to shift gears in hopes of getting a few “last hour” hybrid.  That didn’t happen this morning, but Lucas got a nice bonus smallmouth bass on the live shad we suspended for hybrid.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:   1) Perfect conditions matched to a strong bite this morning.  2) Late morning hybrid were hard to find.  By the time we quit the white bass and started looking, the clouds had begun clearing and a lot of other boats were starting to run and look for fish.

TALLY: 134 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:20a

End Time: 11:50a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp:  63.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:   S12-13 all morning

Sky Conditions:100% grey cloud cover

Water Level: 2.42 feet low and falling

GT = 70

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 380 for white bass on slabs

**Area  B0063/4C – for white bass sight casting with blades

**Area vic 692 for white bass on slabs

 

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

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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