On June 29, as a number of local anglers and I were setting up our booths at the fishing tackle swap meet hosted by Marine Outlet in Temple, social media began to buzz about access returning to Belton Lake.

Weekend anglers reported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had opened the boat ramps at White Flint Park and at Leona Park, both located adjacent to the Highway 36 bridge spanning the Leon River on the upper end of the lake.

As the past week unfolded, Temple Lake Park’s north boat ramp, Rogers Park boat ramp, Arrowhead Point boat ramp, the boat ramp adjacent to Frank’s Marina and the boat ramp at Westcliff Park all reopened.

USACE indicates that Stillhouse Hollow Lake’s ramps should begin reopening toward the middle of July.

Please do not read more into this than I have stated. The boat ramps on Belton Leek are open. Period.

The courtesy docks are generally still inaccessible due to remaining flood waters. The day-use areas are closed. The restroom facilities are closed. Further, there are plenty of underwater objects in and around the boat ramps to be aware of.

The 8×8 timbers the USACE uses to cordon off areas to vehicular traffic, signposts, rip rap and the cables used to tether the courtesy docks are now just under the surface of the water.

As was the case when the lake was extraordinarily low, and again as flooding began in May, there are currently no improved areas at which to secure a boat to once it is launched. Hence, boaters need to survey the area before launching to decide if/where they will ground their boat as they leave it behind to go park their tow vehicle and trailer.

Additionally, because courtesy docks are not accessible, boaters will not be able to simply step down off such a dock to get into their boats. Rather, boaters will likely have to step up and over the bow of their boats to get in.

Some boats with high bows, like many center consoles, runabouts, and ski and wake boats will have their bow so high when grounded that passengers may not be able to climb in without assistance from a stepstool of some sort. Word to the wise … think this through and be prepared.

Next, let us talk about the fishing. As I have written many times in this column, fish tend to respond negatively to extensive environmental change if it happens in a short period of time.

Well, this week as USACE continued to gush water out of Belton Lake at a rate of around 3,200 cubic feet per second, the lake dropped just over a half of a foot per day each day this week. That rapid fall is an example of a lot of environmental change in a short period of time, and the fishing reflected that.

I took my first group of anglers out on Belton Lake since the boat ramps shut down on May 13. This was a multi-generational trip and a summertime tradition for the family I took — the Olivers. With one adult son, Corey, living out West and another son and daughter, Thomas and Amber, leading busy lives as with their own children here in Central Texas, it was a “now or never” proposition calendar-wise.

I launched my boat before dawn on Wednesday. I immediately noticed how off-colored the water was as I filled up my 30-gallon livewell. The water had a dark olive-brown tint to it and, although it was not muddy, it did not inspire confidence when it comes to catching white bass and hybrid striped bass, which are primarily sight-feeders.

We covered a lot of ground early in the morning under low-light conditions looking for topwater action.

Normally, by early July, and especially with high pressure weather, light winds and a dark moon (all of which were in place on Wednesday), topwater feeding activity would be readily found.

I checked the Cowhouse Creek arm, the main lake, and well up into the Leon River arm. I found no topwater action whatsoever.

I did note that wherever we went there was a horizontal band of life from 20 to 25 feet below the surface, despite the fact that a true thermocline has not set up yet.

I opted to cover ground with downriggers while closely watching sonar for groups of fish I could park over top of and have my crew work vertically for.

Around 10 a.m., in the Leon River arm, the movement of a white heron caught my eye as we were moving from one area to another. I headed in that direction to investigate and found young-of-the-year white bass, which were all about 3½ inches long, feeding on tiny, young-of-the-year shad.

These white bass emerged to feed on the surface three or four times over the span of about 15 minutes, but I never found any larger fish mixed in with them.

We fished a full four-plus hours, landed 13 short white bass, two short hybrid striped bass andone 6.25-pound blue catfish.

Time will only tell whether Hurricane Beryl will bring a deluge, miss us altogether or bring something in between. Regardless, I suspect the fishing will not greatly improve until the rapid release of water comes to an end.

In the meantime, downrigging, flatline trolling, or trolling with Jet Divers and/or Dipsey Divers to cover lots of water will be the ticket to white bass and hybrid striped bass action. Having a topwater rod at the ready rigged with a small, shad-imitating bait will also come in handy as these predators blitz briefly on the surface, then disappear.