WE WENT TOPLESS! — 46 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, 28 July, I fished Lake Belton with Dwight and Connie Stone of Georgetown. Dwight gave me a ring about this time last year and has since booked a number of trips with me, and has also referred a number of others, for which I’m very grateful.

Dwight is a retired small businessman, a good angler, a Christ-follower, and so the two of us just hit it off right away.

This was the first time Miss Connie came aboard. She does the term “better half” much justice!!

We set out with high expectations of topwater action after yesterday’s resurgence following Hurricane Hanna’s weather anomaly. That topwater action just was not in the cards, however. Between an easterly component to the wind and a more dry than humid feeling to the air, the morning just didn’t have that “topwater feeling” to it.

So, when I say we went “topless”, I mean we did not have ample opportunity to sight-cast to aggressively feeding topwater feeding fish this moring whatsoever.

PHOTO CAPTION: A dry atmosphere and winds just east of SE put the fish down today. They bit, but not on topwater. Our fish were caught via downrigging and working MAL lures vertically.

WHEN WE FISHED: 28 July, 2020, AM

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

HOW WE FISHED: We tried mightily in the first 70 minutes under low-light conditions to find topwater action, but there was none to be found. I noted a number of the weekday “regulars” also spot-hopping looking for a topwater bite, but finding none.

By 7:40, we gave up on that, settled in to use the downriggers to find fish, and then, when the situation allowed, sealed the deal with MAL lures worked vertically.

We hit 3 distinct areas, catching best early on, then finding the bite waning slowly toward 10:45 when we called it a day and headed in.

We only found one opportunity to work lures vertically. All of the other scenarios in which I identified bottom-hugging white bass resulted in those fish moving off before we could get locked on them, despite our efforts to hustle and get on them promptly.

Summer, with its high water temperatures, mean fish metabolism is at a peak. These fish must feed to meet the demands of their bodies, and the white bass are nearly constantly patrolling after shad, not staying put very long.

TALLY: 46 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Beating/thrashing the water definitely kept fish pulled in under the boat and helped reignite a waning bite several times in the one instance we had to fish vertically with MAL lures today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:20A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:  1.29′ low, 0.03′ 24-hour change, 54 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  84F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6-7 all morning

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon +1 (a.k.a. waxing gibbous moon)

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0123C – encountered multiple, hesitant schools of mid-depth white bass in ~20 feet of water; took 3 on downriggers anticipating they would emerge on the surface shortly thereafter, but, they never did.

**Area B0031G – the one location where downrigging resulted in a nice take of white bass fished vertically, hitting MAL lures in about 38′.

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)

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Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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