Gulls Lead the Way to a 186 Fish Morning on Belton, 26 Nov.

by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday morning, November 26th, I fished a multi-species trip on Belton Lake with Dave Hanlin, his 82-year-old father, Dick Hanlin, Gary Pretzsch, and his 11-year-old son, Griffin.

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From left: David Hanlin, Dick Hanlin, Griffin Pretzsch, and Gary Pretzsch with a sampling of the better sized white bass we landed, in addition to numerous hybrid striper, largemouth, and freshwater drum — 186 fish in all.

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Griffin landed our largest fish of the trip with this nice hybrid striper, although several of the drum we boated came very close to this size, too.

 
The same ideal conditions that provided two 140+ fish trips yesterday continued into the first half of this day. Although the northwest winds lightened a bit, the nice grey cloud cover persisted with winds that at least rippled the surface at the beginning of our trip, and then built to about 7 to 8 mph for the remainder of the morning.

We fished only two areas this morning, both under ample bird activity, and “spot – hopped” quite a bit at both of these areas in order to keep up with the birds/active fish.

Our go-to techniques were using a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig, as well as a single, small, 3/8 oz. slab. We used the Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig when the fish were more aggressive, and switched over to the single slab whenever the fish became more lethargic.

The fishing was very simple, and very straightforward. My four anglers boated a total of 186 fish in exactly 4 hours.

Things had really begun to slow down in the final hour, but then a small storm cell began to move in from the west, and just as the outer band of sprinkles begin to ever so lightly dimple the surface, the fish went on another rampage, accompanied by a resurgence of the gull and tern activity. We quickly hopped on top of this action, and put our last few fish in the boat, wrapping up right at 10:45 AM and beating the rain by just minutes.

 

TALLY = 186 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  67.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW5-8 all morning

Sky Conditions: Heavy, grey cloud cover all day in conjunction with a slow moving cold front.

Water Level:  0.20 feet above full pool

GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1643- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1654-1804 – smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

**Area 1642- smoking with Hazy Eye Shad tandem rigs and easing with 3/8 oz. slabs for fish under birds

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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