That Belton Lake turned into a hell hole.

That could mean a number of things. One would be that eventhough it is 7.5 ft low, we have had an influx of big speed boats and jet fleas from down South where the lakes are much worse. It is a tough lake to fish when the wind is blowing for sure. Fishing, for crappie, is never better than mediocre compared to some of the other Texas lakes. But none of the lakes are more beautiful especially with one of those incredible sunsets that we often have in Texas.

Yeah...I know. I grew up on that lake and it gall's my [censored] to see what it's become. Guides aren't even interested in hittin' it. I give up.

What do you mean it's become a hell hole? explain?

Last year Belton was a tough cookie too, spawn was mediocre, and post spawn was horrible . I did pretty good in the fall, fishing piles that were exposed. I think a few years of stable water levels would make all the difference. Belton has it all, lots of influx of nutrient rich water, maximum shad population, plenty of habitiat,, it just need stability.

It wasn't bad back when I was a guide. That's been a few years ago as a friend told me. Seems I keep hearing how things have changed. Maybe I'm living in the past. But it was good then........

Im a firm believer that with the increased intelligent fishing pressure, and high tech side imaging sonar units becoming more and more affordable, alot of lakes that are just fair crappie lakes, are going to get alot tougher in the coming years.
Honey holes that used to remain secret for years, now can be found fairly easily, and cleaned out. If you go pull 20 fish off of a pile on belton, you can forget abt that pile for a while for the most part. it just doesnt have a huge population of fish waiting to take the ones who were caughts place, like other lakes. It takes time to regenerate. not long ago most folks u talked to, believed you could only catch crappie during the spawn, or at night. They didnt even know where crappie ;lived in the daytime. Now, its the information age, things are changing fast. Someone can get a decent boat, decent fishfinder, read a forum for a few weeks, then go spend a day on a lake locating brushpiles, then from then on, hammer crappie at will. now multiply that by a hundred a year, and see what u get. You get alot of well informed, well prepared, capable anglers pursuing these fish. Its the way things are, and things to come.

Wha? You mean crappie aren't an inexhaustible resource..., and if there was a problem TDPW wouldn't just step in and change the limit?

go fish stillhouse hollow reservior .,it used to be a poor crappie lake, now..its horrible to hellish.. its not too far from Belton. TPWD doesnt have a clue of the crappie population on that lake,(ive asked ) and they basically said its too deep to electro fish, nets arent effective, and thats the end of that. They have basically wrote the lake off claiming it does not have adequate inflow of nutrients, zooplankton, ect, to support a good baitfish population, so why even bother trying to stock it. Ive watched that lake gradually decline over the last 10 years. TPWD s position on crappie is that they will take care of themselves. They will not stock texas lakes with crappie, and the main goal of corps lakes is flood control. So when things really go downhill, dont expect any help from the US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, TPWD, or anyplace else. If they were going to do anything to help suffering lakes they would already have. Belton could get as bad or worse than stillhouse, and TPWD, OR CORPS will likely do nothing at all, but insist that the lakes were built for flood control, and recreation, fishing ect, are all just a bonus.

Well after thinking about all this info, I just don't have the will to even try Belton.