27 | September | 2020 | Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Friday, 25 September, I returned to the water after a few days off due to foul weather early in the week, and a string of sonar training sessions thereafter.

I fished Belton for the first time in quite a while, mainly because I had two youngsters, ages 5 and 6, aboard, and the water level being closer to normal at Belton meant that sunfish would not be dispersed into flooded brush as is the case over on Stillhouse, which is 3+ feet high now.

I fished with Alberto Bursian and his 5-year-old son, Tiago, and with Alberto’s friend, Greg Crisp, and his son, 6-year-old Brigs.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: This “bottom-hugging” scenario in warm water just screams for a vertical method using the MAL Lure. Fish were blanketing the bottom over a ~40 yard stretch and were ready to feed. Each one of those blue, oval-shaped dots holding just off bottom is a white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Alberto and Tiago Bursian, left, and Greg and Brigs Crisp.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday afternoon, 25 September 2020

HOW WE FISHED: Thanks to a returning southerly wind, the fishing was pretty easy this afternoon. We got on our first bunch of fish just minutes after launching at 4P, and stayed on them for a full 2.5 hours. We alternated between vertical work with white MAL Lures and chartreuse MAL Lures and horizontal work with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons. The vertical bite was better earlier on, then faded. The MAL’s definitely took better fish. Many of the fish we took on the downriggers were smallish. By the time 6:30P rolled around, we’d boated 84 fish and the bite was waning in this general location.

We moved on and changed up our approach in order to target sunfish up in shallow water. In about 30 minutes’ time we put 26 sunfish in the boat using live bait under floats in under 4 feet of water. Our catch consisted of bluegill, green, redear, and longear sunfish.

From 7PM to 7:40PM we took one last shot at the white bass. I’d hoped to find another bottom-hugging school which would be susceptible to vertical tactics, as the boys, despite their young age, were doing well with the retrieve cadence needed to provoke fish to bite, thanks to hands-on coaching and encouragement by their fathers.

We did pick up a final 9 white bass, but all via downrigging. We wrapped up right at 7:45 with exactly 119 fish boated.

TALLY: 119 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00P

End Time: 7:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 84F

Elevation: 0.64′ high with a 0.03′ 24-hour rise and 17 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 79.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-7 Sky Condition: Blue skies with <5% white, high cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 66% illumination

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: