Controversy Onboard!! 118 Fish, Belton Lake Fishing Guide Report, 22 March 2013






This morning I fished with Don K. and his friend, John. These fellows are partners in crime and buddies in retirement! They drove down from Dallas to fish with me today after winning a trip I’d offered to the American Fisheries Society’s fundraiser last year.



Don boated our largest fish of the trip – this 6.00 pound largemouth fell for a live shad on a flat in about 25 feet of water.


John took our largest hybrid of the day, also on a live shad.





It was a really nice day to be outside today. A long-sleeved shirt was sufficient dress for the mid-60 degree weather, we had some nice, grey cloud cover and the winds were manageable all morning.

As we got underway this morning I began to search between Area 903 and 1129. I regularly saw what I suspected were white bass both tight to bottom and suspended up as much as 3 feet off bottom, so, as I searched for large concentrations of fish, we put both downriggers down to give us a shot at hooking up as I continued searching. We boated 9 white bass before coming upon an area that looked like it would produce some hybrid on live shad.

Evidently a bet was placed in the parking lot concerning first fish and largest fish. Controversy immediately broke out when the first fish caught was a sub-legal white bass. There was evidently a question as to whether a fish not meeting the minimum legal length of that species qualified for the first fish prize at all. Next, more controversy broke out concerning the amount that was wagered. The truth laid somewhere between $1 and $20. Yet more controversy broke out when Don landed what we felt would be the biggest fish of the trip — a 6.00 pound largemouth (and personal best of that species for him), but John claimed that because this was a hybrid striper trip, Don’s largemouth was “by-catch” and did not qualify for the prize. And so it went … all in good fun!!

At Area 1186 we put the boat into a hover and put out 4 downlines baited with shad of various sizes. Over the next hour we steadily caught fish until the sun briefly broke through the clouds and the breeze temporarily died, thus squashing the bite for a while. We picked up 9 hybrid, a crappie, a 6.00 pound largemouth and a number of white bass here for our efforts.

We moved on around 9:30 to Area 098. White bass were tightly schooled right on bottom here and sonar did not indicate hybrid mixed in, so, we vertically jigged slabs for these fish and did well for about a 15 minute span before these fish drifted off.

We were fortunate at that same time to spot a mixture of diving terns and gulls spread between Areas 1187 and 1188. We idled into the action, saw very aggressively feeding fish chasing bait up to within a few feet of the surface and used a smoking tactic to take advantage of this aggression. While Don and John worked the slabs, I set out just a single downline baited with shad using some of our larger baitfish hoping to cull a few larger hybrid out of the melee beneath us. We were able to add a number of additional legal hybrid to our catch while literally boating white bass after white bass after white bass for about 90 minutes.

We finished our day with a nice mixed bag which included white bass, hybrid striper, crappie and largemouth.

Over the course of the day we traded opinions on fishing gear, fish recipes, best places to go for certain species, and more. Fellows, thanks for coming out with me, and thank you both for your service to the nation in the U.S. Air Force.

TALLY = 118 fish, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:


Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp: 63F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: ~59-61F

Wind: Winds were S7-8, shifting suddenly to WNW12-13 by 10:30a

Skies: Skies were grey but still bright.