I fished Belton Lake this morning and was specifically out to beat my own current hybrid striped bass record on the flyrod, but the higher than expected winds quickly put an end to that hope.

This pair of hybrid came on consecutive casts out of 29 feet of water on a small swimbait imitating the size of shad most fish in this area were feeding on.

Fishing this morning was very “straightforward”. The fish fed up high in the water column at first light, allowing me to take 4 hybrid and 5 white bass near the surface on swimbaits just north of Area 836 over ~30 feet of water (BA:8RBG). To make sure I found active fish in multiple locations for forthcoming trips with clients, I moved while this action was still going in search of other active populations of fish in other locations.

I found lots of white bass, although most were smallish, at Area 960, boating 13 before moving on while they were still biting. These were all jigged with a TNT 3/4 oz. slab in HTLGS pattern.

The morning bite came to a close as I fished Area 187 and vicinity, mainly to the NW (BA:12T,25RBG). This was by far the most productive area holding quantities of fish, quality fish, and lots of bait. I boated 52 fish here mainly by smoking at first, then, as the fish settled, by jigging. Fish came on swimbaits (larger fish, but lots of missed strikes) and on slabs (caught most every fish that struck, but many of those were smaller fish).

TALLY = 74 FISH, all caught and released

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 71F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 64.7F.

Wind: Winds were S9 at sunrise, slowly building to S16 trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were 80% greyed with high, thin clouds.