I fished a half day trip today with Mr. Mike R. and Mr. Gene E. These gentlemen serve our community as the Patrol Commander and Chief of Police for the City of Belton. I was glad to have both aboard as they were both very decent men, eager learners, and were both persistent and hardy, given some tough fishing conditions.

Mike and Gene toughed it out today for some deepwater jigging and sniping on Belton Lake white bass.

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 5:30p

Air Temp: 50F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 49.8F

Wind: S the entire day beginning around 6mph, then building to 16+ by 11:30am, then tapering back to around 10 by sunset.

Skies: Grey, low clouds persisted until around 11:30, then gradual clearing occured leaving behind fair skies with 10% cloud cover.



We found fish in two general locations today. In the morning, through 11:00a, we worked a very loose congregation of fish located between Areas 580 and 583. These fish were very lethargic, suspended, and finicky. Most fish we encountered were spotted on sonar at between 18 and 39 feet deep over 40 to 53 feet of water. We were able to entice 1 in every 10 to 12 fish we spotted into striking, and landed about 3 of every 5 striking fish. We finished up in this area with 15 fish landed in nearly 4 hours of fishing including 3 crappie, 1 largemouth, 2 juvenile hybrid, and 9 white bass. These fish were taken primarily with a sniping technique. All crappie came off bottom with the lures kept down low as we searched for suspended fish.

We made a run to the north of Area 561 (BA: 30T) and found whites feeding aggressively, but only for a short span of time. While they fed hard, they came up on the lip of the breakline here in 32-36 feet. As the feed subsided, they slipped back into 40+ feet of water and suspended. Occasional bursts of bird activity gave us just enough hints to keep up with the more active fish. We took our tally from 15 fish caught in 4 hours, up to 39 fish caught in 7 hours. The first 17 fish we caught in this area came on slabs worked traditionally on bottom. The last 7 fish came via a sniping technique.

By 2:30p my guests needed to head in, and the action had all but subsided.

After parting ways, I met fishing acquaintances Rodney T.and Roy P., and Roy’s son-in-law, at the ramp. They were just planning to launch, so I offered to show them where we’d just enjoyed our success.

Rodney and I fished out of my boat and Roy and Bobby fished out of Roy’s rig. We headed back to the scene of the midday feed, but the fish were shut down pretty hard. Rodney and I jigged for 6 more fish in about 2 hours’ time, including 5 whites and 1 small blue cat.

It was nice to know after finishing up the day that my guests Mike and Gene had seen the best action the day had to offer, and that to have fished any longer would have yielded little more for them.

TALLY = 45 fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.