WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, June 14th, I fished with Doug Hicks and his fiancee, Mallory Kurpinsky, both from California. Doug is stationed at Fort Hood where he serves as an enlisted man in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He and Mallory plan to wed once she has earned her bachelor’s degree. This trip was originally scheduled for January when Mallory flew out for a visit over the holidays, but foul weather prevented us from going.
PHOTO CAPTION: Mallory Kurpinsky and Doug Hicks with a pair of the 36 legal hybrid striped bass we caught on Lake Belton using live shad fished near bottom.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species, focusing on hybrid and white bass
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: 14 June 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: Because the seasonal change from spring to summer is underway thanks to steadily warming temperatures, we designated this as a multi-species trip. I hesitate to focus exclusively on hybrid outside the mid-April to early June timeframe as summer hybrid fishing can mean a lot of waiting between fish which just doesn’t compare with the rapid-fire action seen in the springtime.
As we began our day, we found some deep, heavily congregated white bass and worked them over with a vertical presentation at first, then, when they tired of that rather quickly, we tried tempting them by going horizontal with a downrigging approach. That also took a few whites and a few short hybrid, but we were only scratching the surface given the number of fish present (but not biting).
We looked over two more areas finding little before encountering a solid bunch of hybrid in about 42 feet of water right around 9:30. These fish would keep us busy for a full 2 hours, providing action on live shad rods fished on one side of the boat and providing action on spinning rods equipped with tailspinners on the other side of the boat. Over these two hours we picked up exactly 36 legal hybrid and a handful of white bass before the action tapered off around 11:30.
TALLY: 46 fish caught and released, including 36 legal hybrid striped bass
OBSERVATIONS: I was surprised to find as many hybrid as we found congregated like they were on bottom. Normally dispersion due to thermocline development becomes an issue, but that has not been the case yet. Here is the temperature profile I took:
0 feet 81.7F
5 feet 81.7F
10 feet 81.7F
15 feet 81.7F
20 feet 81.7F
25 feet 81.5F
30 feet 80.7F
35 feet 79.6F
40 feet 78FF
45 feet 77.5F
50 feet 76.6F
55 feet 75.6F
60 feet 75.2F
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:
Elevation: 1.72 feet high, 0.19 ‘ 24-hour drop, 2197 flow
Water Surface Temp: 81.7F
Wind Speed & Direction: Steadily ramping up from S6mph to S15mph over the course of the morning
Sky Conditions: Very thin, high clouds appearing like a white haze more than organized clouds
GT = 35
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1298 for early white bass/short hybrid action going vertical and via downrigging
**Area 1374 two hours of solid hybrid action on shad and artificials
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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