WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning, May 1st, I fished with Eddy Howton, Jimmy Cox, and Dwayne Jones on Lake Belton in pursuit of hybrid striped bass.
All three men are retired. Eddy served in law enforcement and emergency operations his entire career, retiring from Fort Hood. Jimmy retired from a career as an educator, with his last assignment as the principal at Troy Junior High School. Dwayne retired as a federal parole officer.
Just for fun: If you ever want to get Jimmy laughing, ask him about the red rod covers I use to protect my hybrid rods during transportation!!
PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Eddy Howton, Jimmy Cox, and Dwayne Jones. There is something about those grey skies, humid, warm conditions, and southeasterly breezes that really turn these fish on. We landed 47 fish, of which 41 were legal (18-inch or longer) hybrid striped bass.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid striped bass using live shad.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: 01 May 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip was the single most productive hybrid trip of the 2019 season thus far. Of the 47 fish landed, exactly 41 were legal hybrid up to 5.25 pounds
Once again, we fished strictly live bait in pursuit of hybrid striped bass this morning. This morning’s best action took place between 7:00am and 8:30am, with a lighter feed from 8:30am to 9:30am, a lull through 10:45am, and then an end-of-morning feed from 11:00am – 12:30am.
Every hybrid we caught today came on livley shad. Medium-sized shad of about 3.25″ in length seemed to produce best. Larger shad were readily struck, but often resulted in dead baits instead of hooked fish. Cutbaits produced no hybrid this morning.
OBSERVATIONS: Area SHAD014 once again produced sufficient bait this morning with minimal effort. There is a definite wrinkle in the weather headed our way, and I’m concerned that our water temperature is still too cool to trump the impact which that weather may bring. Only time will tell.
TALLY: 47 fish caught and released – including 41 legal hybrid
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 12:30p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation: 1.96 feet high with a 0.20 foot 24-hour drop, and a flow of 2706 cfs
Water Surface Temp: 69.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE10-12mph
Sky Conditions: leaden grey skies with sparse, short-lived episodes of drizzle
GT = 85
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 717 early
**Area vic B0150C late
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
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