JIGGIN’ WITH A JERSEY BOY – 175 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Wednesday, October 21, I fished with John and Mary Lou Post who recently retired to the outskirts of Lampasas, TX.

Following retirement from the U.S. Air Force, John continued working for several years in civil service. He is originally from northern New Jersey.

Mary Lou is a retired hospital pharmacist, originally from Austin.

Our originally planned date for this trip was back on 04 September, but foul weather prevented that from taking place. The weather more than cooperated today … grey skies and gentle SE breezes made for great fishing this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: John and Mary Lou post racked up a catch of 175 fish during their 4-hour morning trip on Belton today. This catch included 170 white bass and 5 legal hybrid striped bass. 22 came on downrigged Pet Spoons; 153 came on white and chartreuse MAL Lures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 21 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was nearly “cookie-cutter” versus yesterday thanks to near-identical wind, weather, and sky conditions. We put 22 fish in the boat under low-light conditions via downrigging with twin ‘riggers equipped with Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs. After that bite ended with the brightening of the post-sunrise sky, we headed out into water deeper than the 30-36 foot water we’d been downrigging over and began working vertically.

We fished just 3 areas this morning, taking white bass in the 0-3 year class at each one in the lower third of the water column. The first two stops each yielded fish for right at an hour, and the last area began to taper off after about 35 minutes.

The white MAL Lure and chartreuse MAL Lure worked equally well when worked properly.

With the water temp at about 73 degrees, the fish were very active and a fast retrieve was essential. Slow retrieves got ignored.

We wrapped up at 11:35. Fish were still willing to bite, but we’d seen the best of it by then, and I had to get turned around and prepped for my PM trip.

TALLY: 175 fish caught and released (170 white bass, 5 hybrid striper)

OBSERVATIONS: Of the 175 fish landed, not a single fish was seen to regurgitate recently eaten or partially digested shad, although many did defecate at boatside.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 0.26′ low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 73.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE breeze starting at 5 and slowly tapering up to 9

Sky Condition: Grey, cloudy skies all morning at ~80%

Moon Phase: A waxing crescent moon at 28% illum.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT: