Man Camp 2013 — Belton Lake, 22 Fish, 21 June 2013






This morning I fished with returning guest Craig M. of Temple, this time joined by his dad, Billy, and one of his two brothers, Chad.


Billy is flanked by his two of his three sons, Chad (L), and Craig (R). The hybrid was one of 13 we boated today primarily on live shad.

The “boys” were all spending the weekend together on one of the floating barges up in the Cedar Creek arm of Belton Lake. The plan was to eat well and fish when possible.

I’d contacted Craig earlier in the week to see what his preferences were for this trip. I was very candid about the slow, tough hybrid bite we’ve been experiencing lately — something which happens this time of year after the shad spawn and before the thermocline sets up. I offered the option of white bass fishing on Stillhouse, but, they preferred to gun for hybrid, so, that is what we did.

Summertime hybrid usually involves live shad and/or downrigging, and we did a bit of both today.

By far the best action was within an hour of sunrise. As we got launched, we encountered some aggressive but short-lived topwater action by white bass in the vicinity of Area 133. Some well-placed casts saw everyone hookup with whites, allowing us to boat 5 before the fish sounded, never to reappear.

So, now were were off to hunt hybrid. We first began graphing fish down around 29-31 feet in the vicinity of Area 1223. We put a variety of baits down with 4.5 inch gizzard shad being the centerpieces of our offering. We had a number of good takedowns and put fish in the boat consistently for a solid 45 minutes or so before thing dried up here. We bumped over to Area 1023 nearby and picked up a few more hybrid and a few white bass.

After things noticeably slowed, we began downrigging in the vicinity of Area 844-1084 both so we could present baits horizontally and on the move, and so we could cover some water hoping to graph some schooled fish that we could again put baits in front of. We picked up a number of white bass, including a “double” for Billy, as well as one short hybrid on the two downriggers, both equipped with tandem rigged Pet Spoons, hence fishing with 4 lures at one time. By 10:35 we saw our last fish come over the side and the fishery in this area shut down.

I spent another hour searching with sonar, but, in the end wound up with nothing to show for that final effort.

By 11:45 the count stood at 22 fish, including 13 hybrid and 9 white bass.


TALLY = 22 FISH, all caught and released

back to home page


Get my fishing reports sent to your Facebook page

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F

Wind: Winds were S12 at sunrise and stayed within ~3-4mph of that the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were greyed over with some low, thin clouds for about half the morning, giving way to fair and cloudless skies thereafter.








I’m Not Normal … I’m in Camel Mode!! — 14 Fish, Belton Lake, 20 June 2013






This morning I fished with (nearly) 11 year old Miss Abby L. of Virginia and her “Grandpa T”.


What a way to start the day — Abby boated this 11.75 pound smallmouth buffalo on a 3/4 oz. TNT slab.


Our goal was to put Abby on hybrid striped bass so she could attempt to land one unassisted. Abby realized her goal 5 times over today. This hybrid, the last one she boated, was a tough fighter, forcing her to swap hands with the rod a few times during the fight, but, as you can see, she came out on top.


Abby and her big brother, Scotty, flew into Austin around 8pm last night, went to bed after mid-night and Abby was up and at ’em sufficiently early to arrive at 5:45a for our 6:00a trip. Scotty opted for the “sleep until well after 10am” plan.

Abby is quite an accomplished outdoorswoman already. She is essentially fearless, she’s focused, she knows her fish, she casts far and accurately, she is patient when patience is required, she shoots a mean bow, and she can eat a 1/2 pound “Crow’s” burger in 6 minutes flat!

Abby has really been looking forward to this trip to her grandpa’s — so much so that she went into “camel mode” as her mom has termed it. Camel mode occurs when one gets so fixated on an outdoor goal (i.e. catching a hybrid striped bass) that all else (eating, drinking, peeing, personal hygiene, and other optional life activities) are tuned out in the relentless pursuit of that goal.

Indeed, Abby’s goal was to catch a hybrid striped bass without assistance during the fight. With this in mind, I came prepared for topwater, for downrigging, and for fishing with live shad. We searched far and wide for fish, finally encountering some very loosely congregated fish down around 28-31 feet over a deeper bottom in the vicinity of Area 472. As soon as we got our baits down, we saw solid fish returns on sonar near bottom, so, I moved all of our bait rods to one side of the boat so Abby and I could work slabs off the other side. Our first hookup of the morning came on the slab when an 11.75 pound buffalo gave chase and struck. Just minutes later, Abby’s goal was realized when our first hybrid of the morning took a live shad suspended at around 26 feet. The reel’s clicker went off, Abby hit the handle, the rod bent deeply, she pried it out of the rod holder and the unassisted fight was on. She handled the fish well, keeping it out of the other lines and the trolling motor, and soon brought it to the surface and kept it there for me to net. We went on to catch a few more hybrid here on live shad as well, but the bite was very tentative.

We pulled up stakes and gave downrigging a try for a while both for variety’s sake, and to get our baits moving horizontally and cover some ground in hopes of finding some better concentrations of fish that we could once again put baits in front of. We found little, picking up just a single white bass that way.

We then headed to between Areas 512 and 815 and spent the remainder of the morning here. Again, the bite was tentative. We drew one strike for every 20-30 fish we saw enter our bait spread beneath the boat. We added a few more hybrid and a mess of blue cat to our tally here. By around 11:25 we could tell the already tough bite was getting even tougher, so, we decided to head on in (for a Crow’s Burger, of course).

Belton is often a tough nut to crack for several weeks after the threadfin shad spawn concludes and before the water stratifies and a thermocline develops, and this year seems to be no exception. Bait, patience, and a good attitude are required. We had all 3 on board today.

TALLY = 14 FISH, all caught and released

back to home page


Get my fishing reports sent to your Facebook page

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:25a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F

Wind: Winds were SSE12 at sunrise and stayed within ~2mph of that the entire trip.

Skies: Skies were fair and cloudless.