This morning, Monday, November 21st, I fished with Steve Niemeier, Caleb Fowler (age 11), and Tevan Gilmore (age 13) on Belton Lake. This was a half-day multi species trip focused primarily on white bass.
From left: Steve Niemeier, Tevan Gilmore, and Caleb Fowler with a sampling of the 115 fish we found ready and willing to strike once the wind began to blow this morning on our Lake Belton white bass fishing trip.
Tevan Gilmore of Belton landed this nice hybrid striper after it chased a silver slab, mistaking it for a threadfin shad. This was our largest fish caught this morning.
Thanks to the most severe cold front of the season thus far which came in this past Friday, the water temperature finally fell out of the 70s and now sits in the high 60s. We encountered 68 to 69° water depending on location this morning.
Although the skies were still bright and cloudless following the cold front, the winds returned from the south today and put the fish in a biting mood once the winds picked up to over 8 mph and began to move the water.
We got off to a bit of a slow start, picking up just one crappie at our first stop, then catching only a few fish at our second stop.
As we made our way to the third area we would attempt to fish, the wind kicked in, and continue to ramp up to the 13 to 14 mph range, and the fish responded very positively. From roughly 8 AM through 10:30 AM, we never moved outside of a 70 yard diameter area, and picked up right at 100 fish sitting atop this single feature.
We used small, silver slabs with both a smoking tactic and an easing tactic, depending on where the fish were positioned in the water column.
Once we hit the 100 fish mark right at 10:20, we decided to give one more area a try before the fellows cut loose to head out to eat Chinese food for lunch. At our last stop, and in about 25 feet of water, we encountered a tightly grouped school of white bass. With all three of the fellows now well polished on the tactics we needed to use, they made short work of putting a final 15 fish in the boat by 10:45.
We called it a day right then and there while the boys had fond memories of the trip and so as to go out on a strong note.
Although lunch was on everyone’s mind to some degree, it was evidently foremost in Caleb’s mind. As Caleb rattled off the names of good Chinese restaurants aloud, Tevan chided him about staying focused on the fish because, as a group, we were gunning for at least 100 fish caught today. Undeterred, Caleb continued naming restaurants, “… there’s Jake’s, and then there’s Dynasty…”. Again, Tevan told him to focus on the fish. Without missing a beat, Caleb exclaimed that Dynasty had seafood on their buffet!!!
TALLY = 115 fish, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:30a
End Time: 10:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F
Water Surface Temp: 68-69F
Wind Speed & Direction: S12-13 by 8:00a
Sky Conditions: Clear and cloudless
Water Level: ~0.08 feet high and slowly falling at ~0.01 feet per day
GT = 30
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1665 – 1 crappie; incredible amount of shad, but no white bass
**Area 138/137 – a handful of white bass and 1 hybrid
**Area vic 1622, 1626,1629 – took tally to 100 fish here in ~2.5 hours
**Area 1847 – 15 white bass in short order at close of trip
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
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