We boated 27 white bass and this “lone wolf” largemouth.  Largemouth caught from deep water, like this 16.25″ fish was, are typically much more pale than those taken in the shallows.

We spent our first 2 hours on the water fishing under such bird activity with jigging spoons, and then, when the birds were done feeding, began trolling to cover more water.  When the birds finish feeding, this usually marks the beginning of the end of the morning or evening feed.  In fact, while the birds fed, we boated 24 fish.  Once the birds stopped feeding, we only boated another 4 fish in the last 90 minutes of our trip.

This nice 5.25 pound hybrid striped bass struck Pat’s slab in 27 feet of water.  It was mixed in with a school of whites on a bottom with limestone and some old submerged cedar trees.



We also picked up some unusually large white bass for Belton.  The fish on the left measured 14 3/8 inches which is pretty rare on this fairly infertile water body.

Pat hails from “up north” where walleye and pike rule the water and where fishing in and around visible cover (weeds, timber, etc.) is the norm.  So, today’s trip out in open water which was anywhere from 22-27 feet deep, and where we never once laid eyes on the bottom features holding the fish we caught, was a real learning experience for Pat.

Over the course of our trip we used a variety of vertical jigging tactics combined with the use of sonar, we used bladebaits, and we used a combination of flatline trolling and downrigging to put together our catch of 31 fish.

Vertical jigging was definitely the standout technique today and accounted for the lion’s share of our success.  We found that a combination of jigging and “easing” did the trick for these still-cold fish which were generally unwilling to move very far or very fast for a bait.

Although birds are still abundant on Belton, no helpful bird activity took place this evening.  All the fish we caught we caught by first finding them with sonar and then fishing for them.

Everyone was all smiles when daddy pulled in this 8.25 pound yellow cat that grabbed his jigging spoon for breakfast in about 20 feet of water.

Come to find out, mom (Robyn) had planned out a local family adventure for every day of the week of this Spring Break, so, I was honored to be a part of that plan and a part of strengthening the bonds of an already strong family.

Over the course of the week the Knight’s had ventured to the Austin Junk Cathedral, to scenic Mount Bonnell overlooking the Colorado River, to TopGolf (a modern twist on the driving range), and, later this evening, indoor skydiving!!!

Our fishing was tough today.  We had a wet east wind to start off with, followed by fog that came and went and some extended periods of calm.  After last night’s bird extravaganza, this was a bit of a let down as we never saw a single bird this morning dip to the water’s surface after bait.

We searched far and wide and burnt a lot of gasoline and, in the end, picked up exactly 12 fish, so, at least everyone got to get their string stretched a few times this morning.  With what I figured is her typical positive outlook on things, Robyn said, “Well, that’s 12 more fish than we would have caught sitting at the house!”.   Well said!!

We caught quite the mixed bag of fish even if we didn’t catch a boatload of them.  In fact, our first 5 fish consisted of 5 different species: white bass, hybrid striped bass, yellow catfish, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

We used primarily jigging, downrigging, and flatline trolling to land the fish we caught this morning.

Jigging accounted for 7 fish, the downriggers for 3, and the flatlines for 2.

It was a joy to have this family on my boat!!

Charles took “high stick” honors tonight with this 24.5″, 6.5 pound hybrid striped bass taken on a slab in 35 feet of water.

Our first success came at Area 1356.  I noted some birds working over this area on Tuesday evening but couldn’t find what they were interested in.  Thinking that the feed there may have just wrapped up, I went there a bit earlier this evening and was glad to find tightly bunched white bass and short hybrids mixed together right on the bottom and ready to eat.  The water here was the highest I’ve encountered thus far this year — 55.7F.  This, plus a nice mild southerly breeze which began around noon, kicked things into high gear.  Most of the fish here were smallish, but the action was steady, so, we stuck with these fish as long as they bit us.  We boated over 70 fish from this roughly 30′ x 30′ area — amazing!

Around 6:50pm we noted a concentration of gulls getting “antsy” in the vicinity of Area 1357.  We poked around for about 10 minutes waiting to see if anything was going to coalesce out of this activity.  Well, it did!!  We put a final 30+ fish in the boat at this area, including our largest hybrid of the trip, a 6.5 pounder boated by the patriarch, Mr. Charles!  The average white bass caught here was substantially larger than at the site of our first success.   By the time dark was falling, we’d boated exactly 108 fish.

By trip’s end we’d had fun, worn the kids out to the point of needing an afternoon nap, and had given mom enough time to get caught up on laundry and do some shopping with a girlfriend from church.