This afternoon I fished with the Newsome and Mitchell families of Central Texas and enjoyed what was my most productive fishing trip of the year thus far as we boated exactly 108 fish on Belton Lake this afternoon.
Charles took “high stick” honors tonight with this 24.5″, 6.5 pound hybrid striped bass taken on a slab in 35 feet of water.
Everyone shared in the catching this evening as the fish really put on the feedbag around 5:15pm and fed well until after sunset around 7:40p. L to R: Jacob Mitchell, David Mitchell, Gladys Newsome, and Charles Newsome.
We worked through a very slow first 90 minutes, only boating 3 fish with 2 downriggers and 2 flatlines set out. I noted the water was a bit off-colored in this area due to high winds yesterday, so, we moved on to clearer water and fared much better when we did.
Our first success came at Area 1356. I noted some birds working over this area on Tuesday evening but couldn’t find what they were interested in. Thinking that the feed there may have just wrapped up, I went there a bit earlier this evening and was glad to find tightly bunched white bass and short hybrids mixed together right on the bottom and ready to eat. The water here was the highest I’ve encountered thus far this year — 55.7F. This, plus a nice mild southerly breeze which began around noon, kicked things into high gear. Most of the fish here were smallish, but the action was steady, so, we stuck with these fish as long as they bit us. We boated over 70 fish from this roughly 30′ x 30′ area — amazing!
Around 6:50pm we noted a concentration of gulls getting “antsy” in the vicinity of Area 1357. We poked around for about 10 minutes waiting to see if anything was going to coalesce out of this activity. Well, it did!! We put a final 30+ fish in the boat at this area, including our largest hybrid of the trip, a 6.5 pounder boated by the patriarch, Mr. Charles! The average white bass caught here was substantially larger than at the site of our first success. By the time dark was falling, we’d boated exactly 108 fish.
TALLY = 108 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 3:15p
End Time: 7:50p
Air Temp: 65F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 55.7F
Wind: S10-12
Skies: Cloudless fair skies.
Other Notes: GT15
Areas Fished with success:
** Vertical jigging/easing/smoking at Areas 1356 &1357
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas