Fishing Belton with Dave & Stephanie Covington — 82 Fish

WHO I FISHED WITH: Today I fished with Dave and Stephanie Covington of Belton, TX.  Dave makes his living as part of his family’s real estate business (Covington Real Estate, Inc. on Main St. in Belton).  He has been out with me twice before, once with his brother, Barrett, and once with his then 5-year-old son, Levi.  This was Stephanie’s first trip with me.  I could tell right off the bat that cold, dark, damp early mornings in the outdoors were not particularly high on Stephanie’s list of fun things to do, but, she was a trooper and a good student, and did very well this morning.

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Hybrid, birds, and bait were a winning combination this morning.  The first significant number of migratory gulls and terns arrived with this strong cold front and immediately began to assist in the fish-finding equation.  Here, Dave and Stephanie hold hybrid landed seconds apart as we fished under birds.

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The white bass were in a much more active mode right at (obscured) sunrise this morning.  We caught them on bladebaits fished horizontally and slabs fished vertically.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday morning, 09 November 2017

HOW WE FISHED:  With continued cold, cloudy, breezy conditions, the white bass and hybrid striper put the feed bag on once again this morning right at sunrise (obscured).  We found fish shallower (20-25′) early on under birds and amassed a catch of 40 fish, half on blades and half on slabs (smoked).  After this shallow water bite died we moved on to deeper water where white bass in the 0-2 year classes just carpeted the bottom in 34-38 feet and fell for smoked slabs.  The small 3/8 oz. bait in white with a Hazy Eye Stinger hook attached was all that was needed.  The fish were so aggressive that Stephanie actually caught 2 fish on one lure at the same time.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The number of birds on Belton continues to increase. 2) Once again, birds led the way to the morning’s first catch.  3) Stephanie had enough of the cold at the 2.5 hour mark, hence a lower tally than over the past few days, with 82 landed this morning; the indicators were all in place for a morning of at least 100 fish had we gone the full 4 hours.

TALLY: 82 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time: 9:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Water Surface Temp: 68.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: N13 at (obscured) sunrise, tapering quickly back to N9 for the remainder of the trip

Sky Conditions: 100% heavy grey cloud cover

Water Level: 2.22 feet low

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

09NOV17

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 818 and 2037 – blades and smoked slabs in under 25′ for 40 fish

**Area 211 – smoked slabs in 34-38′ for 42 fish

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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