Action:
I decided I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather with the few remaining hours of daylight to go Easter bass hunting. The past several trips I concentrated on using baits or colors to improve my confidence using patterns I don't employ much and to assess effectiveness of colors I own but don't use, all in the hopes of becoming a more dynamic angler. I grabbed three different packs of bargain bin plastics and went to work.

I started with a stick bait in watermelon slice working the banks from secondary points to the back of pockets. I stuck two in shallow water but they came off. The only one I landed with the stick bait came in about 5 feet of water letting it sink. Once we got to the back of a cove we noticed a big ball of bait fish cruising around so I switched to a soft twitch bait with some clever name I can't recall but orange-y shrimp-y color.

I worked that bait very, very slowly, tossing it 8-10 feet from shore. Twitch - lonnnng pause - twitch - twitch extra long pause letting the bait fall to 6-8 feet. Fishing weightless this took some time to get the bait down in the water column. I picked up two more keepers and then landed the biggest one of the evening. This isn't normally the way I choose to fish but hopefully I can gain more confidence with this for those times you need to call an audible.



Areas fished: We launched and concentrated in the Cedar Ridge arm of the lake.

Observations: Water clarity is improving but small clumps of floating algae are steadily increasing in the coves and pockets with larger patches forming along the shoreline. It's a little bit of a nuisance having to clear off the bait almost every cast. There are signs of bedding activity but I don't think the big wave has started.

Start & Start Time: 1800 - 2000

Conditions
• Water Temp: 61-63
• Visibility: 2-4 feet, slightly colored water
• Water Level: 593.20, -0.80 ft below conservation pool, 97.8% full



Source: https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/belton

Weather
• Air Temp: Mid 70's in the late afternoon
• Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy skies all day
• Precipitation: None
• Wind Direction & Speed: Calm to Light SE
• Barometric pressure:

Moon Phase: Last Quarter 49%

ive caught some nice ones back there, in front of the rock wall that has the hole in it that looks like a football, or tulip; theres a hugh brushpile and trees that can hold alot of bass.

Awesome post and a nice fish. Good job and thanks for sharing.

Well done sir. That’s a great report.