This morning I targeted hybrid striped bass on Belton Lake with a crew of four. Ken Wilkins of Tex-Mix Concrete hosted the owner of Landreth Construction, Paul Landreth, and two of his employees, Ray Austin, and Brad Haas.
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From left: Ken Wilkins, Paul Landreth, Brad Haas, and Ray Austin pose for a group shot with a sampling of the hybrid striper we caught on Belton today.
Above: Paul Landreth with a Lake Belton hybrid taken on live shad.
Above: Brad Haas holds one of the better hybrid stripers he boated today on circle hooks.
Above: Ray Austin, who guides for catfish on Choke Canyon and other San Antonio-area lakes, left the whiskered fish alone today for some deepwater hybrid.
Above: Ken Wilkins saved his best for last, and came up with this nice 7.25 pound blue cat just as we were about to wrap up for the day.
Bait gathering before the trip was made a bit easier by spawning threadfin shad which require fewer throws of the cast net for more and larger baits than are typically encountered when “blind throwing” otherwise.
We began the trip at 8:15am and were fortunate enough to find fish at the first area we searched. With live baits in the water and a steady feed of chum, we were able to boat 45 fish at this first area. The fishing there stayed solid until around 10:20 AM and then weakened as the south-southeast wind weakened.
I then moved us to a more wind exposed area, failed to find fish at the first area we checked, and then really got into them well in our last hour on the water at the second wind exposed area we checked. With our bait set at about 27 feet over a 35 foot bottom, we experience the best run of quality fish I’ve seen come over the side of the boat so far this season. We added 57 fish to our count at this area, and roughly half of these were 18+ inch hybrid striped bass.
It seems like there is some little funny thing that happens on most every trip, and today that little thing was the word “sustain”. Before each fishing trip begins, I try to thoroughly explain the importance of going slowly and methodically once a fish grabs ahold of a bait while using circle hooks. Today my word choice was “do not turn the handle until the rod tip is being pulled down in a sustained manner.” For whatever reason, that really stuck in the fellows’ minds, and they chided one another the entire trip by using the word “sustained” in a number of applications (both appropriate and inappropriate!). Regardless, the point was driven home about being methodical with the circle hooks, and this crew kept their learning curve very flat as a result of being disciplined about how they handled the rod once a fish had grabbed the bait. Hey, whatever works!.
For our efforts today we boated a total of 102 fish including white bass, blue catfish, and hybrid striped bass. Today’s results far exceeded any other trip’s results so far this season in regards to the ratio of keeper hybrids to the over all catch.
TALLY = 102 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 8:15a
End Time: 12:45p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Water Surface Temp: 69-70F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10 for first 2.5 hours, then decreasing to SSE7-8
Sky Conditions: Grey but bright enough for sunglasses
Other: GT=100
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Shad at Area 185 and 186
**Area 1552
**Area 1553
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Salado, TX
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com