This past Friday afternoon, April 7th, I fished with Mr. Michael Apodaca and his wife, Jane, of Salado, Texas, as well as Jane’s brother and nephew, Jack and John Durstock, of Florence, Kentucky.
Michael and Jane Apodaca of Salado with a pair of hybrid caught just seconds apart on livebait while fishing Lake Belton. Jane works for the Killeen Independent School District and Michael is a part of the Operational Test Command (OTC) at Ft. Hood.
Brothers-in-law (from left) Jack Durstock and Michael Apodaca, each with a hybrid going over 4 pounds which fell for large, lively threadfin shad.
John Durstock of Florence, KY, with one of the first two hybrid of many he would land over the course of this 4+ hour trip. He commented on how much larger these fish were than the hybrid he’s accustomed to seeing come from the waters back home. His dad, Jack, looks on in the background.
This was the first time I had fished Belton in the afternoon since the middle of March, but, given the fair skies and south-southeasterly breeze, as well as my positive morning results, I felt our chances were very good this afternoon.
When all was said and done, we fished three areas. The first area produced just two keeper hybrid, and as they were being reeled in, I did not see other fish activity stirred by that commotion, therefore we moved on. Regardless of the scarcity of fish at this first area, it provided John with his first taste of Texas hybrid stripers. He commented a number of times about how much larger these fish grew than did the hybrid he’s accustomed to seeing in Kentucky. I chided him that, as the old saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Texas!”
The second area we fished produced a majority of our fish. We stopped at this location in 43 feet of water because I saw tightly grouped and bottom hugging white bass which I felt we could jig for using light spinning tackle. As we begin to catch white bass after white bass, I noted that multiple small “wolf packs” of hybrid stripers were moving in to check out the action at mid-depth, between 25 and 33 feet above the white bass. I sampled this opportunity by suspending a single livebait down amidst these arches showing on sonar, and immediately came up with a nice hybrid. We quickly put away the spinning gear, hung bait, and as Jane put it, enjoyed Hybrid–Palooza for about two hours.
Eventually, the bite at this area softened and we moved on.
The last area we hit produced the best run of quality hybrid I’d seen come from one area thus far this season. Everything we caught was right at 21 to 22.25 inches, and there were no white bass in the mix.
By the time the sun set and the bite died, we’d boated a grand total of 80 fish.
TALLY = 80 FISH, all caught and released
Wx Snapshot:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 3:45p
End Time: 7:45p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F
Water Surface Temp: 67.4 – 69.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11-13 for the first 3 hours, then tapering to SSE7 by the last hour
Sky Conditions: Clear and bright
Water Level: 1.30 feet above full pool
GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1749 – 2 hybrid and moved on with little showing on sonar
**Area – 1751 – hybrid on live shad in 43′ which showed up after we’d begin vertical jigging for white bass with slabs; best producer of the PM; 2 hours of catching here
**Area 081 – hybrid on live shad in 38′; consistent quality fish all right at 21-22″
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
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