Teetering on the Edge of Hybrid – 79 Fish @ Belton

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, April 17th, I fished with Jerry Worley and Jerry Blalack, both of Harker Heights.   The two men got to know one another when Jerry W., owner of Jerry Worley Insurance Agency, helped Jerry B. out with homeowner’s insurance.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Jerry Blalack of Harker Heights with a Lake Belton hybrid taken on live shad.  The hybrid bite is just now coming around after an unusually late start thanks to an unusually cool spring and very frequent cold fronts moving through making the fishing tough.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Jerry Worley, owner of the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency in Harker Heights, with another bait-caught hybrid going between 4-5 pounds.  Our last two hours was better than the first half of this morning’s trip.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:   This was a multispecies trip focused on white bass. using artificial baits and hybrid striped bass using live shad

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:   17 April 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  This trip broke down into 3 parts.  Part 1 was a largely unsuccessful bait fishing effort targeting hybrid  which resulted in just a handful of fish, none of which were hybrid.  We then took about an hour and a half in the middle of the morning to get our strings stretched by targeting white bass.  As the trip closed out, and knowing that the white bass were still active based on both our results and sonar returns, we once again hung bait to see if we could interest a few hybrid stripers.

This was the first time this Spring 2019 season I saw any rhyme or reason to the hybrid activity I observed — that’s promising!

OBSERVATIONS:    The shad spawn appears to be making its way down the tributaries.  Zero bird activity seen. Light topwater feeding action observed under less windy, rainy conditions towards trip’s end.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 0.52′ above full pool with a 0.05′ 24-hour rise

Water Surface Temp: ~65.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:

Sky Conditions: 100% murky grey clouds the entire time with drizzle the last 75 minutes prior to post-trip clearing later in the day.

GT = 55

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 788/1024 – smallish white bass

**Area v380/B0148C – 2 year class white bass

**Area vic B0074C – whites and hybrid mixed; whites stayed on bottom; hybrid rose up for live shad

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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