WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 2nd, I fished with returning guests Dr. Jim Wood and Sky Sparks on Lake Belton in pursuit of white bass.

This trip came together at the last minute when the gentleman due to fish with me called in sick. I posted the opening on Facebook just after noon yesterday and, 20 minutes later, Jim called and booked the trip.

This was our first 200 fish trip since the spring.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dr. Jim Wood and Sky Sparks with a handful of the 200 fish they landed on a nearly-deserted Lake Belton which started out cool and damp under fog.




PHOTO CAPTION: Sky landed our largest fish of the morning — a 3.5 pound hybrid striper which took the same MAL Original with white tail which all other fish were taken on this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 02 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I was a bit concerned this morning as we got going due to a pretty persistent fog over the lake; foggy conditions often lead to slow fishing, but, foggy conditions are often accompanied by calm conditions, and that was not the case this morning. A nice, 8mph SE wind was blowing before sunrise and kept blowing right up until we finished up just after noon.

The fishing this morning was as simple as shampoo, rinse, repeat. I found the fish, parked over top of them, had Jim and Sky drop MAL Originals with white tails down and crank them back up through the fish. The fish were fired up and took care of the rest.

We enjoyed the fastest action in the first hour, but the entire morning was very productive. No helpful bird action quite yet, in fact, I spotted only one ringbilled gull all morning.

At 11:55A, our count had climbed to 182 fish. I told the fellows that we’d give it until 12:15 or 200 fish, whichever came first. Well, those two events coincided and, with the bite then really slowing down thanks to calming winds and brightening conditions, we called it a good trip right then.

We stopped fishing when the 200th fish came over the gunwale. Of those, 16 were hybrid striped bass, 4 were freshwater drum, 2 were largemouth bass, and the remaining 178 fish were white bass.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 200 fish caught and released

Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Lake Belton is now dropping slowly once again at a rate of about 0.03 feet per day (that’s 1 foot every 33 days) after a small bump from recent rains. Fortunately, the dam has been shut, so there is no loss other than from pumping and evaporation now. No bird action.



WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:50A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 53F

Elevation: 13.22 feet low, 0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 0 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 67.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8 right up until ~11:45 when rapid clearing and warming took place, accompanied by calming winds

Sky Condition: 100% foggy for ~2 hours, then slowly clearing to 100% grey cloud cover until ~11:45A, then rapidly warming and clearing to ~25% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 64% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:




AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0078C (78 fish), vic B0081C (39 fish), 300/B0158G (23 fish), B0164G (60 fish)



Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

Nice post and fish. Good job.

That's a haul of fish. Positive report on water level and hybrids are looking healthy too. What year do you estimate that 3.5 lb fish was stocked?

A 3.5 pound hybrid on Lake Belton in the fall is most likely a 3.5 year old fish, stocked during the spring of 2019.