Our family just bought a fishing boat and we are excited about chasing the whites/hybrids on Belton and Stillhouse Lakes this year. I have fishing on and off for most of my life, but have never had a decent fishing boat of my own until now. I've given away most of my old gear and am looking to build my gear/tackle back up. That being said, what gear/tackle would you recommend as "essential" to a guy starting out with nothing? Primary targets will be whites and hybrids on Belton and Stillhouse, but we have family in Dallas and will venture that way as well to sample Tawakoni, Ray Hubbard, Lewisville, and several other lakes.

Everyone is different and prefers different baits/styles of fishing, so I'm excited to hear your recommendations and to build up our arsenal of fishing catching accessories. Thanks in advance for your input!

Might be helpful to list what I have already. Not looking for anybody's personal secrets. Just what you think is helpful/important.

I have an assortment of swim baits, mostly gulp or zoom 3" to 5" in white, silvers, grays, and lots of different jigs heads in 1/16 oz up to 1/2 oz. Have a few packs of crappie jigs to use as second tie ones up high. Also have some slabs in white, chartreuse, and holographic in various sizes. Some rat'l traps, crankbaits, and spinner baits for when the fish are feeding up higher and top waters for when they are feeding on top.

Lots of different rod/reel combos, but nothing uniform or high end. Yet... ;0)

Hi! You might look into RSR lures, theyre based out of Red Oak and make some fine quality slabs. A lot of guides on the lakes you mentioned use RSR lures. Also some topwater spinners such as berkleys Spin Bomb work great when theyre busting the surface. The MAL lure, search the forums on here, he makes some great spinners that tear up the sand bass.

You might look at Holding THE LINE GUIDE SERVICE website he fishes Belton and Stillhouse. Also has articles on what gear he uses.

Welcome!
All good info. You just need 18 lbs of slabs (White, Chrome & Chartreus) 3/4oz to 1 oz. Need a hand full of Rattle Traps (chrome) and a bunch of crappie jigs as Ace's and HWV5 said.
I have a few MAL lures (Mepps) too, but only a few till I figure out how to use them correctly.

Invest in some good electronics (depth finder), and if you can swing it spot lock.. Will help you tremendously.. As for the essentials, I would not go out and but a bunch of stuff until you spend some time chewing the fat with someone who knows those lakes. Stillhouse is a awesome lake, smallies (Woohoo).. Both are good in my book, but very different. It's not the arrow, it's the indian. You would probably really benefit with some time with a guide to show you around and how he fishes the lake. Once you get this info, you can run and gun all you want. There used to be a tackle shop called Kileen tackle that had some really good spoons. Think the owners last name was Poe. Good luck, and keep us updated.

Our goto rod for sandies is a 7ft fast tip spinning rod shimano nasci with 6lb flouro (when I feel like scaling down), 7ft fast tip med rod shimano sedona/nasci with 6lb braided Kastking (amazon) with a 12 inch leader of 12-15lb mono. Easier to grab the line. Both of these rods are the bass pro tourney which are 50$ and a great bang for the buck. For the larger size spoons I use a 7ft bait cast (castaway croaker smoker) which is the same feel as the old castaway launcher which was discontinued. This with 12lb flouro is lights out, and I can launch it if we get into some schooling fish. Im old school on reels, I have a pile of the old shimano chronarch 100's that were put out from the early 90's to last 2000's.. With new bearings they are wicked..

Prosise

I haven’t used the MAL lure very much. My brother threw it at Whitney for a bit and caught a couple stripers on it. Said they hammered it! I’m in the same boat, I need to go back and read his working instructions again.

During the White Bass spawning run you don’t need very much. Put in at Cedar Gap on the Stillhouse and head up the Lampasas to Gravel Crossing. Start fishing your way up river from there until you hit them. A nice ultralight rig and throw white Sassy Shad with a light weight jig head. That’s all you need.

Where do you guys like to shop for your tackle? Can you list some places that usually have the best price?

Academy or Walmart for the best prices. However for having the best supply of tackle it's Bass Pro Shops.

As much as i hate to admit it, Amazon usually has the best prices on the reels i like. The prices fluctuate day to day to.