I fished an “exploratory” trip on Belton today after spending the last several weeks on Stillhouse exclusively. Stillhouse still has a good bit of hydrilla which up until this most recent cold front has been holding sunfish which give me a “backup” plan when I conduct trips for younger kids.
One of six keeper hybrid I boated today amidst a mixed bag catch of 114 fish, mainly taken by way of vertical jigging with a TNT 180 3/4 oz. slab
In my advertising, discussions with current and future clients, etc., I “close the season” for kids 2nd grade and younger at this point in the year and focus on adults, teens and older kids as the fishing will be more technical from this point on through around the Spring Break time in March.
I enjoy fishing Belton in the cold months as there is always the shot at some quality hybrid that Stillhouse doesn’t offer. Oftentimes bird activity can be helpful at Belton, but, as of this fishing trip, no large numbers of birds had yet migrated down.
Today, I boated a total of 114 fish in 11 hours of focused fishing. There were definite spikes in activity between 7:30a-8:30am and again from 2:30 to 3:30pm, and a definite lull from noon to 1:30pm with otherwise average fishing outside of these times. We had such wacky weather today that I don’t think these peaks and valleys in activity will hold up over time. We had pre-frontal warming today with a wet, warm SE wind up to 15-16mph mainly in the morning, with afternoon winds settling to calm by 5:00pm.
In some years we’ve seen bird activity by this first week of November, but I saw very little in the way of birds today so far.
A summary of success is as follows:
Area 952 (BA:3T) — 6 keeper hybrid on slab/swimbait
Area 953 — 2 whites, 1 channel cat on slab
Area 954 — 20 whites/hybrid on slab; left them biting
Area 955 and to the S. of it — 24 whites/hybrid on slab
Area 956 — 7 whites on slab
Area 957 — 29 whites, 1 drum on slab; left them biting
Area 958 — 10 whites on swimbait
Area 930 — 14 whites
TALLY = 114 FISH, all caught and released
Start Time: 6:30a
End Time: 5:30p
Air Temp: 67F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 67.1F.
Wind: Winds SE14-17 all morning, lightening up by 11:00, then puffing and gusting through 3:00 at no more than 11mph, then going slack by sunset.
Skies: Skies were 100% greyed over.