22 | November | 2019 | Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, November 22nd, I fished with long-time friend and client Jerry Worley and, for his second time out with me, David Vahrenkamp of Harker Heights. Jerry owns and operates the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency, co-located in the Harker Heights Chamber of Commerce building on Knight’s Way in Harker Heights. David is part of the sales staff at Bates Nissan dealership in Killeen.

As the days went by and the forecast got more grisly, the size of our party dropped down to just two. These two were bound and determined to catch at least as many fish as the last trip when they were accompanied by two others. The tally that day was 125 fish for four anglers. We persisted today, did a lot of looking and, in the end, blew their goal away, landing exactly 216 fish, thanks, in part, to frontal activity really stirring the fish into a feeding mode.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: David Vahrenkamp (left) and Jerry Worley with 1, 2, and 3-year class fish. These fish, all spawned in March and April each year, are now 1 year and 7 months old for the 2018 year class, 2 years and 7 months old for the 2017 year class, and 3 years and 7 months old for the 2016 year class. All of these year classes are of legal (10″) size now. This year’s crop (7 months old) are around 7 inches and are in great abundance, making up the majority of the catch on Belton. If the forage base holds up, we ought to see the 2019 year class do very well going forward.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 22 November 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: The operative word today was: SLABBING. The fish, due to falling water temperatures, have turned off to the faster, flashier tailspinners now and are falling hard for the slab. We caught 100% of our fish today on white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs of my own making, complete with stinger hooks attached. The stingers accounted for about 40% of our catch today, and this percentage will rise as the water temperature drops.

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Although we experimented on occasion, the go-to tactic was the easing tactic this morning. We caught all of our fish in the first 2 hours from around the 25-foot mark; all of our fish thereafter came from around 33 feet.

I truly believe the zebra mussel infestation has provided the freshwater drum with a bumper crop of food. These fish are bigger and more abundant than ever before. A slab “snap-jigged” on bottom instead of “eased” was more likely to catch drum than white bass.

We didn’t find fish everywhere we looked, but, where we found them, we found them in abundance. The bite got stronger as the day progressed and as the front continued to move in.

Although birds are not yet abundant, they are present. Only one of our six successful areas fished was indicated to us by bird action, and this was very tentative behavior by just 4-5 gulls.

TALLY: 216 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The damp cold front conditions got the fish fired up this morning. The cooling water, now teetering at 60F has shut down the tailspinner bite and turned on the slab bite. An easing tactic was best.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 1:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F and falling with an incoming coldfront

Elevation: 2.51 feet low, 0.03′ 24-hour rise, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW14-15 entire trip with incoming cold front

Sky Conditions: Grey overcast the entire morning, with drizzle in first 45 minutes

GT = 105

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

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