This morning I fished on Belton Lake with Steve Niemeier of Temple, TX, his grandson, Caleb Fowler, and his great nephew, Tevin Gilmore.
Caleb Fowler with a deepwater smallmouth bass taken after noon today.
Tevin Gilmore with a deepwater largemouth bass taken just minutes after we boated Caleb’s smallie.
“The Team” worked together for a 30+ fish day resulting in cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes for all.
Long story short, I expected a better day than we had this morning. Although the winds got off to a sluggish start, once they picked up, they came from a typically productive direction (SW, W, and WNW) and at a manageable speed (12-15mph), but the fish just never really turned on real strong for us today. I noted that the few other anglers out chasing whites and hybrids were moving from place to place frequently, as well, indicating they were struggling, as well.
We caught no fish before the winds began. As soon as a SW breeze picked up, the bite began, allowing us 2 fish at Area 1490. After the wind had worked on the water for about 20 minutes, I moved us to what I felt, based on the past few trips’ results, would be the most productive area. We found biting fish here at Area 1485/1487 in ~45 feet of water, and caught 16 fish, but once the bite died after about 30 minutes, we could not find solid fish or bait elsewhere for quite some time.
Around 10:35-10:55am, I spotted 2 gulls and a flock of cormorants flying, 6 deer feeding, and a few crows moving about, all of which is unusual for this late in the morning. I felt that perhaps a feeding window was about to open, so, we stuck with our pursuit, and, finally, around noon, got into another school of fish. This time, we encountered a mixed bag of white bass, short hybrid stripers, largemouth and smallmouth all bunched up together in 49 feet of water at Area 1491.
As often happens on a late morning bite, these fish got excited for a while, but then turned off fairly quickly and the bite died.
To keep the boys engaged, Steve opened the bidding this morning offering a cheeseburger at a restaurant of the winner’s choice to whichever boy caught the first fish. Once that milestone had been surpassed, the boys took it upon themselves to up the ante. Caleb chimed in first, making a new “rule” that whoever got to 10 first would get fries, then Tevin voted to change that to a shake, and so it went. Wisely, Steve, by executive order (those are popular lately), declared that if the “team” got to 30, the “team” would go get cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes. Now, we were competing against the fish and not one another.
We stayed hard on it until we had cleared the 30 mark by 2 and then called it a day having had to work for each of the fish we caught this morning.
TALLY = 32 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 12:30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F
Water Surface Temp: 59.8F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE3-4 at sunrise, turning quickly from the SSW and ramping up to 11mph by 8:30a, then shifting steadily through the W to NW at 13-15 by trip’s end
Sky Conditions: Cloudless bluebird sky.
Other: GT=55
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1489 early
**Area 1383 mid-morning
**Area 1487 mid-morning
**Area 1488 late
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)