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Lake Belton Fishing Report and Texas Fishing Gift Certificate Update
#11257127
12/02/15 02:09 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,690
Holding The Line
OP
Extreme Angler
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OP
Extreme Angler
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,690 |
Following our recent cooldown, I welcomed aboard Mr. Steve Niemeier and his 10-year-old grandson, Caleb Fowler. The pair has been fishing with me several times each year since 2011.
Caleb, a student at Kennedy Powell Elementary School in Temple had the day off, along with the rest of the Temple Independent School District, and Steve, like a lot of (wise) middle-aged hard-chargers, has come to realize that if he's going to stay with it for the "long haul", periodic breaks to go fishing are a must!
The weather and the fishing were both kind of funky today. We started off dry, cold, clear and windless and finished up humid, warmer, cloudy, and breezy. We went nearly 1.5 hours without catching a fish under the calm, bright conditions, but, about 20 minutes after the wind came up, things started happening. The fishing peaked from 9:30 to 10:30 as the grey clouds built in and the wind increased steadily up to about SSE12.
The very productive pattern that we've been on just fell apart with the strong cold front that pushed through on Saturday. That fishing involved finding heavily concentrated fish in 12-26 feet of water depending on time of day, and working both vertically and horizontally for them within 24" of bottom.
Today, we found fish inhabiting the upper third of the water column, chasing bait long and hard over great spans of open water. For the first time this season bird activity made a significant contribution to our success. This isn't to say one can expect to find fish anywhere birds are found. Rather, they have to be "read" and responded to accordingly.
By watching the rate of travel of the birds as they kept up with hungry schools of white bass and hybrid stripers, we could tell the fish were really moving quickly -- too quickly, in fact, to make a stationary approach inadequate. So, we stayed on the move by using downriggers with our baits kept constantly adjusted so as to be just slightly shallower than the fish we saw on sonar.
We wound up with a mixed bag of keeper hybrid, short hybrid, and white bass of all sizes. The baits we chose -- Pet Spoons on one rod and White Willow Spoons on the other rod -- worked equally well in imitating the bait which was generally around 2 to 2.25" long.
The fish quit feeding at right around 10:45. We stayed a bit longer, but boated only one "straggler" for the additional 45 minutes of effort.
TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released
TODAY'S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp. @ Trip's Start: 47F
Water Surface Temp: 66.5F
Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at trip's start, tapering up to SSE12 by trip's end
Sky Conditions: Bluebird, transitioning to 100% grey clouds
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** Fish followed contour from Area 715 through 1546 through 841 through 952 -- downrigging worked best; smoking produced a few, as well.
Some of you have asked about Fishing Gift Certificates: Here's the scoop -- I offer gift certificates with no "blackout dates" and no upcharges versus my normal rates.
Gift certificates start at $220 for a half-day catch-and-release trip for up to two anglers. Add $45 per person up to four.
The certificate is good for a year. If not used within a year, I would simply ask that the holder pay the difference should my rates have increased after the 1 year mark.
I can do this all electronically by sending you a PayPal request via e-mail so a credit card can be used (whether or not you are a PayPal subscriber). Once payment is complete, I'll send you a two-sided, color .pdf file to print and present.
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Re: Lake Belton Fishing Report and Texas Fishing Gift Certificate Update
[Re: Holding The Line]
#11257437
12/02/15 04:48 AM
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 75,759
banker-always fishing
Pumpkin Head
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Pumpkin Head
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 75,759 |
Awesome report!
IGFA World Record Rio Grande Cichlid. Lake Dunlap. John 3:16 Sinner's Prayer. God forgive me a sinner. I accept Jesus Christ as my Savior !
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Re: Lake Belton Fishing Report and Texas Fishing Gift Certificate Update
[Re: Holding The Line]
#11257931
12/02/15 03:46 PM
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 413
mbsfish
Angler
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Angler
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 413 |
Nice report! Kinda surprised the water temp is still 66.5F.
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