This morning I fished with long-time client Shayne O. who brought as his guests his son, Jayce, as well as his brother-in-law, Dave, and Dave’s son, Drew, both of Denver, CO.

Dave took big fish honors this morning with this 3+ pound hybrid. A resident of Denver, Dave is more accustomed to trout fishing in moving water. This was Dave’s first experience tangling with hybrid stripers.

My crew today: from L to R: Jayce, Shayne, Dave, and Drew.

All four men had prior fishing experience and although the solid numbers that Stillhouse has been producing lately were tempting, we decided to roll the dice for a shot at some hybrid and chose to fish Belton today instead.

Regardless of where one fished today, it was going to be a struggle. Despite a “Wunderground” forecast for winds SE at 6 mph, we had no sustained wind to speak of, and the cloud cover was just marginal.

We were on the water at sunrise and the birds did come off roost and search for gamefish-pushed bait, but they, too, found little on top and headed back to the shoreline hungry this morning.

We caught only one fish via downrigging in the vicinity of Area 1144 during our first hour on the water.

We relocated entirely to Area 955/1152 and, on a gentle slope in about 38 feet of water found a large, mixed school of white bass and hybrid stripers. We caught the majority of our fish in this area over a 75 minute window, taking our tally up to 37. Even though the fish were active for quite a while, they never really got going strong and, even when we did get some fish to pull up off bottom and respond to our presentations, they would settle right back down again. We used a combination of smoking and slabbing here to boat these fish using TNT180 slabs in 3/4 oz.

From here, we moved back over to Area 1144 and put 3 more fish in the boat after idling through and finding a school of about 60-70 fish right on bottom. Again, this school lost interest very quickly and despite plucking fish off bottom, very few other schoolmates gave chase or got excited enough to provoke feeding.

Our final flurry of activity accounted for our last 13 fish of the day. These fish were caught after noontime on Area 717 in over 40 feet of water. These fish first presented on sonar as loosely congregated and tight to bottom. As we began working our slabs among them they tightened up out of curiosity right beneath the boat allowing us to take a few, but, again, the sustained interest just wasn’t there.

By nearly 1pm we knew we were looking at diminishing returns and decided to call it a day right there. This wasn’t all I was hoping for, but I felt we did the best we could with the conditions we faced.

TALLY = 53 Fish, all caught and released, including 4 hybrid bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 47 white bass

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 1:00p

Air Temp: 56F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.5F

Wind: Calm at trip’s start, with calm to light and variable puffs for the entirety of the trip.

Skies: High thin clouds until noon, then clearing to partly cloudy at 15%.

This morning I fished with Harker Heights-based chiropractor Jason D., and his two boys, Dylan and Drake. The boys were fast learners and our trip tally of 112 fish reflected that!!

Jason took this nicely colored largemouth on a slab. It was no doubt “ghosting” along near the school of white bass looking to make a meal out of a small one. With her fist-sized mouth, she could easily have done so!!

White bass action for fish up to ~13.5″ was excellent this morning. From L to R that’s Dylan, Jason, and Drake.

The morning started off looking tough — no wind, bright sun, and no helpful bird activity. So, we relied on our eyes, ears, and sonar as our means of finding fish today. Our first stop came as we witnessed multiple small white bass chasing shad to the top on the glassy surface. We idled in, looked around with sonar, saw fish primarily in the top 10 feet of the water column, and picked up one fish to “break the ice” (nice going, Dylan!), but decided to move on after a few minutes as the fish were not showing consistently.

We headed over to Area 1146 which has been very productive of late. As the depth rose out of 40+ feet of water up to the 25 foot range and shallower, we saw schooled, active fish in a feeding posture right at a gentle breakline at the 25 foot mark. I buoyed these fish and we got down to business. We boated 15 more fish here in about as many minutes, including 4 fish that went over 14″. The action died here pretty quickly, and sonar scans of the general area revealed little in the way of fish holding nearby. So, off we went again in search of fish.

We contacted fish, fortunately, at the very next location we checked (Area 371). This area treated us very well, especially given the less than optimum conditions. We had bright skies and just a breath of wind, but, that wind was from the west and a westerly wind nearly always gets the fish into a feeding mode. Long story short, we stayed over this one patch of bottom and boated 96 fish at that location, hitting the 100 fish mark at exactly 9:50am.

While here, we began with a “smoking” tactic which accounted for a vast majority of our fish. We used TNT180 slabs in 3/4 oz for this work. For variety’s sake, I spent some time with Dylan (a 3rd grader at Central Texas Christian School in Belton) teaching him to cast and retrieve with spinning gear. He picked this skill up in about 3-4 practice casts and was casting very smoothly and consistently thereafter. I put a bladebait on for him, thus allowing him to work in a horizontal plane out away from the boat (lift-drop style), while Dad and Drake kept the fish directly under the boat on their toes (fins?). Of the fish boated in this area, 4 were largemouth bass, 1 was a freshwater drum (gasper gou), and the other 91 were white bass primarily 1, 2, and 3 years old.

By 10:10, the morning bite was beginning to fade, so we geared up with downriggers in an attempt to comb out from among the many inactive/uninterested fish a few that were still willing to give chase and strike. We spent the next 40 minutes working the downriggers for a final 8 more fish including 1 largemouth, 1 drum, and 6 white bass, 4 of which were landed in pairs (one pair for each boy) as we used twin Pet Spoons on a tandem rig. This all took place at Area 371, where we’d been “smoking” slabs earlier.

By 10:50, nature’s “bell-shaped curve” had played out once again, going from zero activity at sunrise, slowly building and peaking, then slowly declining, and finally going back to zero. We watched the whole cycle unfold today and were grateful it lasted as long as it did.

This turned out to be just a great trip — having active fish all through the 4 hour span where younger kids are involved is an ideal situation. I thank the Lord for every trip I get to conduct, but I can’t help having a little extra enthusiasm in thanking Him when it all comes together nicely like it did today!

TALLY = 112 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp: 55F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 63.5F

Wind: Winds were SW2-3 for the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were fair with 10% high, wispy clouds.

This morning I fished with long-time clients Jim and Shena S. of Cedar Park, TX. We were anticipating vertical fishing today for white bass on Stillhouse.

Shena, rosy-cheeked from the cold, with a few of the larger white bass that came from among the first 80 fish we boated in our first 2 3/4 hours on the water.

Jim used a combination of “easing” and “smoking” to boat these 13+ inch white bass.

On the heels of a 100+ fish day yesterday, I was hopeful we could squeeze out yet another trip eclipsing the century mark. The forecast looked “just okay” the closer we got to start time … easterly winds all morning from 4-7mph. As I launched, we actually had a SW breeze at ~6mph which, fortunately, lasted about 2 3/4 hours. It was during this time that we caught the majority of our fish.

We fished in the vicinity of Area 1146/1150 and channel-ward from there. We found white bass in large schools moving steadily through this area and feeding as they moved, primarily in the lower half of the water column, but occasionally pushing bait to the surface (BA:6HG). We began up shallower early in 25-28 feet, and, as the sun rose higher, moved deeper into as much as 36-38 feet.

We began with an “easing” technique using light TNT180’s in 3/8 oz., but the fished showed they were plenty aggressive enough for us to switch to larger baits (TNT 180’s in 3/4 oz.) and a faster presentation, so, we “smoked” for a majority of the time the favorable SW wind blew.

During the time the SW wind blew, we boated exactly 80 fish (78 white bass, 2 largemouth). At around 9:45, the wind died, and with it the fishing. In less than 10 minutes’ time after the surface went calm, the fish completely went off their feed, and we boated only 3 more fish during this time.

We then spent the next hour and 45 minutes searching for fish with sonar, primarily in deep water which occasionally buffers the impact of calm conditions. We found bait, but no fish, save a lone sunfish out in no-man’s land.

As the noon hour grew closer, I decided to deploy the downriggers so we could have baits in the water, running near bottom so that lethargic fish holding so close to bottom that they remained undetected by sonar could be tempted by these low riding baits. This tactic produced very quickly, producing two sets of doubles on tandem-rigged Pet Spoons. These hooked fish, as they were reeled in, caused their schoolmates to get agitated and rise slightly off bottom, just enough for sonar detection. Once I saw them, I buoyed them, and the game was back on.

We fished over these buoyed fish near Area 148 for about an hour using blade baits with a “lift-drop” technique, and boated another 27 fish, about 40% of which went 13+ inches (3 year old fish).

By 12:45 we’d pulled just about all the fish off this area that it was going to give up and so, at the six hour mark decided to call it a good day having once again pushed pass the magic “100 fish trip” milestone.

TALLY = 112 Fish, all caught and released, including 4 largemouth bass, 1 bluegill sunfish, and 107 white bass

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 1:00p

Air Temp: 33F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.5F

Wind: SW5 at trip’s start, calm from 9:45 to 11:00, then ENE to NE wind at 5-6 thereafter.

Skies: Skies were clear.

This morning I fished with Adrian and Melinda A. of Harker Heights, TX.

Adrian and Melinda boated 103 fish in a shade over 3 hours of fishing this morning. Melinda boated this 1.75 pound black bass from among schooled white bass.

Adrian seemed to have the knack for outsized white bass today. We boated many whites exceeding 13.5″ this morning.

After waiting out the last 2 very calm days, we hit the water again hoping the forecast wind would materialize, and, thankfully, it did.

Adrian and Melinda are occasional anglers with their own boat who hoped to “put the pieces together” on Stillhouse and learn how to fish better. In trying to meet their expectations, I focused on fish location. Many times on the water and in this blog, I’ve stressed that fish are not all that difficult to catch, but can be extremely difficult to find. Thus, location is the key.

As we fished today I gave them some pointers on natural signs to look for in this cool season, showed them what parts of the lake to focus on, demonstrated how to get the most from sonar equipment, and explained what weather conditions tend to produce the best action.

We caught fish essentially non-stop from 7:15 to 10:15. Our first success came at Area 1043 (BA:3HG,3C). We found a school of yearling white bass here and used small TNT180’s (in 3/8 oz.) to target these fish using an “easing” technique. We put 7 fish (all white bass) in the boat very quickly before this action dried up.

Next, we hit Area 1146 (BA:9HG) and found a significant feed underway here. Fish were spread throughout the water column and were actively driving bait to the surface. We kept our TNT180’s on, but upped our size to 3/4 oz., and fished them using a “smoking” technique in order to take advantage of these fishes’ willingness to chase. We boated an additional 36 fish here including 34 white bass, 1 drum, and 1 largemouth bass. By 8:15 this action ended.

We moved to the vicinity of Area 037, made several sonar passes, and spotted fish holding just off bottom in a feeding posture right on the gentle breakline at 25 feet. We got the boat hovered right over top of these fish, let our slabs down and used a smoking technique initially (as fish were aggressive), followed by an easing technique (after they settled down). We added another 42 fish to our tally here, including white bass from the 1, 2 and 3 year old year classes, as well as another drum.

Once this action died, I moved us to a deeper, more wind-exposed area as the sun was getting higher and the wind was fairly light due to the somewhat protected area we were in.

We moved to Area 1147 and, at the deep end of a 28 to 41 foot breakline, found another large concentration of white bass. As we experienced at the previous location, these fish were very aggressive at first, but then calmed down more quickly here, so, we used appropriate tactics to match the activity level and came away with 17 more fish here. As we transitioned into an “easing” technique, we could see at one point on sonar that there still remained plenty of fish beneath us, but, they were quickly and increasingly becoming unwilling to strike. The morning feed was fast coming to a close and I let Adrian and Melinda know this was the “beginning of the end”.

We decided to do one thing before wrapping up, and that was a demo on the use of downriggers. This could not have played out more perfectly … I explained the equipment and the purpose of it — to precisely control the depth of a trolled bait so as to effectively cover lots of water. I rigged up a tandem Pet Spoon, saw bait holding around 25 feet over a 35 foot bottom, and so lowered the ball to 25 feet. We covered about 50 yards during which time I pointed out the appearance of the ball on sonar. Right at that moment, a fish appeared on sonar at 28 feet. I made a fast, manual adjustment, lowering the ball an additional two feet to get the ball closer to, but still above, that target fish. A few seconds went by during which time our bait traveled close to this target fish, and BAM!, that fish hit the lure and allowed Adrian and Melinda to see a “turnkey” demo of downrigging. Adrian landed the largemouth, thus putting our 103rd fish in the boat for their trip.

The couple was ready to head in, warm up, and sip some coffee, so, we took a few photos of our largest white bass and got them headed home after a very productive morning. Adrian paid a nice complement saying, “This was an excellent transfer of knowledge.”, meaning he had gained insight on many of the things necessary to be consistently successful in his future angling pursuits.

With a trip on the books tomorrow, I set back out to check a few more spots. I looked over seven areas with sonar, found fish on two of them (Areas 1148 and 1149) and boated an additional 28 fish off of these areas over the next hour and 45 minutes (that’s a far slower catch rate than the first 3 hours provided). This was much more technical fishing as the fish were now holding tight to bottom, unwilling to chase, and bit very subtly. Every one of these fish came on a light 3/8 oz. TNT180 fished “slabbing” style.

TALLY = 131 Fish, all caught and released, including 4 largemouth bass, 6 drum, and 121 white bass

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 10:15a

Air Temp: 48F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.5F

Wind: NE6-8.

Skies: Skies were fair with <10% cloud cover.

This morning I fished with returning guests Steve N. of Temple, his son-in-law, Ryan, and Ryan’s son, 7 year old Caleb — 3 generations of anglers.

As yet another cold front blew in, the white bass and hybrid striped bass cranked up at dawn today and stayed active until around 10am.

The fishing was strong yet again today! The high pressure behind yesterday’s cold front continued to build in today, thus keeping the NW winds strong and dry. This typically equates to good fishing with the water temperatures as high as they still are.

We got on the water 15 minutes before sunrise and boated our first fish about 20 minutes thereafter, at around 7:15. From 7:15 to 9:45 the fish fed hard and we caught fish consistently, but had to keep up with the fish to do so. This was a matter of being on the lookout for fish breaking the surface which was tough at times given the winds which were at 13-14 mph (BA: 70G).

When we saw fish breaking, we’d run to that vicinity, search with sonar, stop when sonar revealed fish, and worked slabs for them as long as the fish would stay put. Once they moved, we searched for more fish with sonar until the next visible cue got us closer.

The number of hybrid striped bass we caught today was once again remarkable. Of the 65 fish we boated, all were white bass and hybrid stripers, with hybrid making up a majority of our catch. Sixteen of our hybrid were legal fish.

We did all of our fishing with TNT180’s and KastMasters using a smoking technique. I experimented with an easing technique using the TNT180 once things slowed down and did well on that, too.



By 9:45a the bite was winding down and so we gave downrigging a try. We boated a set of double white bass on Pet Spoons fished on tandem rigs, then picked up a third white bass, and, realizing things were winding down, decided to call it a day and head back in to thaw out.

I was really impressed with young Caleb on this trip. He’s been coming out with his grandpa now for about 4 years and has really progressed to where he doesn’t just “do” a technique as he’s told, rather, he’s beginning to understand “why” a technique works, thus allowing him to “do” it even better. Truth be know, I think he outfished his grandpa on this go-round!!

As we ease into our cold weather period, “reading” or “playing” the fronts will become critical. The best fishing typically happens on the stiff winds and cloudy conditions immediately preceding a front (from SSE to WSW) and on the W to N winds blowing hard as the front comes in and as high pressure builds in after that front’s passage. The calmer, warmer, bright, pleasant days following a front’s passage tend to make for a difficult bite even though they make for more comfortable conditions to be outdoors in. Wet cold fronts, typically with a NE wind direction tend to sour a bite, as well.

TALLY = 65 Fish, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:00a

Air Temp: 41F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 66.5F

Wind: NNW13-15.

Skies: Skies were clear and bluebird bright.

This morning I fished with returning guest Coleman R. and his fishing buddies, Craig and Will, all proud “Kangaroos” from Killeen High School in Killeen, TX.

The fishing was truly in overdrive this morning as pre-frontal warming and winds turned the bite on big-time. This was one of many times all 3 boys landed fish at the same time. From L to R: Will, Craig, and Coleman.

Many times this morning sonar showed the water column completely filled with fish as we worked our shad-imitating baits amongst the white bass and hybrid stripers foraging on shad. This screenshot off of my sonar unit shows literally hundred of fish on a heavy feed.

Coleman took Big Fish honors today with this hybrid striper weighing in at 4.00 pounds and measuring 20.00 inches.

The fishing was just phenomenal today! We’ve got a cold front on the way and the fish were cranked up to feed in advance of its arrival.

We got on the water about 15-20 minutes before sunrise, but, for the 3rd day in a row had no action until the sun rose and began to shine directly on the water. Due to a low cloud bank in the east, the sun actually shone a bit after it rose above the horizon, around 7:30. Literally the moment it directly appeared the first of the fish in our vicinity began to break the surface chasing bait and a few birds began to work over top of this bait.

From 7:30 until 10:15, we never went more than 3-4 minutes without boating a fish, and, often times had 2 or 3 fish being caught at the same time. We encountered all of our action today within an area bounded by Areas 1143/837/344/1144 (BA:70G).

The number of hybrid striped bass we caught today was remarkable. Of the 121 fish we boated, all were white bass and hybrid stripers (no crappie, no blue cat, no largemouth as is typical). More than 60% of our catch was made up of hybrid stripers, and not a single one of them was less than 16″, nor more than 20″.

The fishing was very straightforward. We observed for fish striking the surface and or bird activity, went to it, searched in that immediate vicinity for fish schooled in that vicinity, set the trolling motor to hover us in that spot, and fished until the fish moved on using slabs (both TNT180’s and KastMasters) to replicate the bait size which was around 2 1/8 inches based on what we observed the fish we caught regurgitating.

I normally toss a line in when things get slow in order to locate fish near the boat and to gauge what the fish are doing or preferring. I rarely touched a rod today as I was busy unhooking fish, keeping the boat maintained in the wind, and untangling the occasional knot or fouled line.

By 10:15 the bite was winding down and so we gave downrigging a try. We boated 2 sets of doubles (all white bass) on Pet Spoons fished on tandem rigs and then, with the winds increasing to over 20mph, decided to head for safety’s sake.

Congratulations to Will! He caught the first fish of his life today and earned a Texas Parks and Wildlife “First Fish” certificate for it.

TALLY = 121 Fish, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp: 68F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 68F

Wind: SE at 9-11, ramping up suddenly to SSE20 with higher gusts by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were 25% clouded on an otherwise fair sky.

This morning I fished with returning guests Mike M. and his son-in-law, Keith, all thanks to Mrs. M who gave Mike a fishing gift certificate last Christmas.

Roughly 40% of our catch today consisted of hybrid striped bass. Today’s conditions were ideal — grey, warm, and breezy — just right!

Mike & Keith were a lot of fun to fish with. Poor Mike has some chronic hand problems, and reeling in his share of 72 fish didn’t bring any relief to that particular condition. It got to the point where he’d feel a fish hit and would make a noise that sounded like a excited “ooh” as he set the hook, but then that hand problem would immediately kick in and the noise changed over to a plaintive “ow”. Keith and I agreed that it kind of sounded like Mike was having a stroke, or at least significant intestinal issues. We joked that we weren’t sure if we should get the net or the defibrillator! Mike was not impressed.

For the second day in a row, the fishing didn’t start until sunrise. At sunrise white bass and hybrid striped bass began to push bait (primarily 2 1/8″ long shad) to the surface. This is not like summertime schooling action; it is much more subtle. Fish tend to be near the surface but not at the surface, and, they don’t stay there long. Sonar will typically show for every 1 or 2 fish you see on the surface, there will be 40 or 50 more down below.

This “open window” feeding time lasted for nearly 2 1/2 hours, aided by a good 7-9 mph breeze and grey cloud cover. During this time we either spotted surface action, drove to it, and slabbed, or slowly motored while watching sonar and stopped on top of significant schools. The best results today came on white & silver TNT180 slabs in 3/4 oz. fished “smoking style” for fish holding within 6 feet of bottom directly under the boat. When we knew fish were nearby but not showing on sonar, we cast both TNT180’s & large KastMasters out and worked them back horizontally. We occasionally cast to nearby fish breaking the surface, but only in quick reaction scenarios.

All of our action today came within the bounds of the roughly diamond-shaped area bounded by Areas 086/836/837/1142. This was quite similar to the terrain the fish used yesterday.

As 9:45 rolled around, the fishing was just about over. We poked around at a few areas hoping to find some still-active fish but came up with only 3 more small white bass on the downriggers. With the wind now well over 17 mph and the bite clearly done, we called it a day around 11:15.

We caught a total of 72 fish today including 2 largemouth bass, 13 legal hybrid, and a mix of 57 white bass & short hybrid.

TALLY = 72 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:25a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 68F

Wind: SSE at 7-9, ramping up to SSE17 by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were 100% greyed over, but still bright, then entire trip.

This morning’s trip included 3 generations of fisherman: Grandpa Butch, his son-in-law, Aaron, and Butch’s grandsons, Ethan (12) and Owan (8).

Ethan kicked off the day with a double (two fish at the same time on one rod)!!

Owan gets by with a little (fish holding) help from his friend — Grandpa!!

As I arrived at lakeside well before sunrise this morning, I was glad to see a light breeze already blowing. Belton is notorious for giving up few fish in bright, calm conditions like we’ve encountered the past several days, so today looked much better than the past 2 or 3.

As we got on the water, there was not much of a low-light bite this morning. In fact, our first fish boated came after the sun had already risen.

Although some birds (gulls and terns) are now found at the lake, they were not feeding much, and, what fish they did feed over, we’d already found on our own. (Could it be they were following us for a change??) Anyway, just after sunrise, we could see the spray being blown up into the air by fish feeding lightly on topwater, so, we headed right to the action and got into fish for about 45 minutes. We found concentrations of fish with the downriggers and then hovered over top of the fish we’d found and slabbed for them. The best action came at between Areas 836 and 837. We boated 13 fish in very short order. Just when things were starting to heat up, a very thick blanket of fog moved over the lake, reduced the light to pre-dawn levels and killed the bite. We had little success over the next 90 minutes or so and until the fog completely cleared.

Although we picked up a fish here and there, we only encountered one other significant concentration of fish the rest of the morning, at Area 1141. Here, a breakline and an ample supply of shad held the fishes’ attention. We initially contacted the fish with the downriggers, pulled one fish in, then cleared the gear and got slabs in the water and went to work. We put another 12 fish in the boat here (a mix of white bass and short hybrids), and that was all she wrote for this day. By 11:15 all was done, the winds were picking up and we decided to call it a day.



TALLY = 30 Fish (1 largemouth, 4 legal hybrid, 4 short hybrid, 21 white bass)

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 68.5F

Wind: SSE at 6, steadily building to SSE16 by trip’s end

Skies: Skies were partly cloudy at~20% at sunrise and stayed that way until ~7:40, when a heavy bank of fog rolled in and obscured everything for ~1 hour; skies cleared back to 20% clouds on a fair sky thereafter.

This afternoon I was joined by brother and sister John and Mariah G. of Temple.

John and Mariah both qualifed for TPWD “First Fish Awards” today as they both caught the first fish of their lifetime on this trip!!

John and Mariah, age 22 and 20, live full time with their grandfather, John. John is single-handedly raising them and providing for their special needs, and so although this trip was a gift from him to his grandkids, it was also a bit of a well-earned respite for him.

Mariah, who loves Denny’s, reading science fiction, and working as a volunteer at a local animal shelter, was a fast learner. Once I showed her a technique one time, she picked it right up and helped keep both her line and John’s squared away.

John was our comedian. With his creative imagination he had Mariah and I aboard his pirate ship complete with parrots and mateys and the like. I discovered John’s favorite dish is the shrimp served at Long John Silver’s, and, in his spare time he likes to play air guitar and watch Power Rangers (the Samurai version!).

I had a morning trip that concluded just prior to noon today and “laid over” on the lake before setting out on this afternoon’s trip at 3:30pm. I invested the downtime in some scouting and that paid off big time, as I was able to pick the kids up at the dock and put them immediately on the fish I’d previously located in less than a 7 minute boat ride.

Neither John nor Mariah had ever fished before, so, when each “broke the ice” today with a double catch of white bass landed on a tandem rig, they each qualified for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. “First Fish Award”.

We encountered some turbulent weather today and the fish were not very inclined to feed well until it was nearly too dark to see, after the sun had set. So, we wound up downrigging the entire trip, finding all but 6 of our fish right on top of Area 1140. As with this morning’s trip, these fish were deep, being found within 5 feet of the bottom in 42 feet of water.

During a lull at Area 1140, we ventured elsewhere, picking up 2 very small white bass at Area 983, then returning to Area 1140 to find the fish interested once more. As dark set in, a post-sunset surge of white bass moved shoreward here in around 20 feet of water. We moved our downrigger balls up to 12-15 feet and caught our last 4 fish of the evening between Areas 211 and 192.

When all was said and done today the kids had put 37 fish over the side of the boat. As we returned to the dock the kids were very excited to show their grandpa some of their catch. We kept 7 of or larger white bass for show and tell and then let them go after the kids returned to the car to go home.

Thanks, John, for giving John and Mariah the chance to do this!

TALLY = 37 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 3:30p

End Time: 7:00p

Air Temp: 78F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 70.5F

Wind: SSE at 5-8

Skies: Skies were partly cloudy, up to 70%, with thunderheads building to the N and S of us all afternoon and the distant rumble of thunder heard for the entire trip.

This morning, Nov. 3rd, I was joined by father and son team Brian and Trevor M. of Cedar Park.

Brian and Trevor with our best fish of the trip, a 19.25 inch hybrid that fell for a Pet Spoon fished down in 40+ feet of water.

The last time these fellows came out with me was back in June of 2011 on Stillhouse. Today, we gave Belton Lake a try as it typically fishes a bit more consistently during this portion of the autumn.

Our conditions were less than ideal today with a persistent morning fog that didn’t burn off until around 9:30, thus keeping the conditions murky and “low light”. I find, especially on Belton, that the sudden brightening of the skies just prior to sunrise is a real feeding trigger for white bass and hybrid, and on low light days the bite tends to ramp up very slowly with topwater action virtually unheard of on such days.

Regardless, we took the conditions in stride and methodically worked through them to put together a respectable catch by morning’s end.

We began our day downrigging over a “circuit” for suspended fish showing clearly on sonar 19-24 feet down between Areas 473 and 1079. We ran two sets of Pet Spoons on tandem rigs behind the down riggers and put 11 fish in the boat before this early bite died.

We then went hunting with sonar, this time finding abundant bait unusually deep — between 45 and 50 feet. Where shoals of bait were found, gamefish were also present, but still not “jazzed” and hitting all that well as long as the fog remained and the calm winds prevailed. We did best at Area 682, both combing it over with downriggers to confirm the presence of active fish, then working these active fish over with TNT180 slabs. We added 12 fish to our tally at this location, including 3 hybrid stripers, the best of which went 19.25 inches and weighed in at 3 3/16 pounds. It was interesting to note that all 3 of these hybrids hit immediately after the fog lifted and the direct sun began to shine on the water for the first time this day.

After we caught all that Area 682 would give up, we continued hunting with sonar and found one last concentration of fish at Area 294/1012. Given the way these fish presented on sonar (up off bottom by 18+ inches versus belly-to-the-bottom as we had encountered elsewhere), we skipped the downrigging and went right to slabbing for these fish. We used a “smoking” tactic to put a final 10 fish in the boat including 8 white bass, 1 largemouth and 1 hybrid striped bass. By the time these fish slacked off around 11:05, the fishing was over for the morning.

We finished up our trip with exactly 33 fish boated.

Once we arrived back at the dock, we worked on some Boy Scout fishing merit badge tasks for Trevor, including some knot tying and presentation of certain artificial and natural baits.

TALLY = 33 FISH, (4 hybrid stripers, 1 largemouth, 28 white bass)

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:20a

Air Temp: 68F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 70.5F

Wind: SSE at 2-5

Skies: Skies were fogged over until 9:30, then cleared to partly cloudy, 30%.