WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Thursday, April 25, I fished with the Oliver brothers – Joe, Jack, Jamie, and Jeff. The four have fished with me at least one time each year for most of the eighteen years I’ve been in business.



Today we made an intentional attempt at targeting hybrid striped bass using live shad.



My next open date is Wed., 29 May (AM).



Here’s how the fishing went…





PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jamie and Jack Oliver with a pair of hybrid striped bass taken from the same area just a few minutes apart, both on live threadfin shad.








PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jamie and Jeff Oliver with a multi-species double landed simultaneously. Both fish were taken on live threadfin shad.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 25 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a damp, cloudy morning all morning with east-southeast winds at 10 to 12 mph and light rain for the middle two hours of this four hour trip.



Although we found fish at all but the last two areas we fished, these areas seemed to have all but legal hybrid stripers.



We landed an unusually high number of freshwater drum this morning (perhaps half of our overall catch), as well as blue catfish, two largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass, a mess of white bass (all legal), two short hybrid, and two legal hybrid stripers. Both of these legal hybrid came from the same area on a fairly well-sloped bottom in about 36 feet of water. One of the two short hybrid we landed also came from this same area.



I’m still kinda shaking my head about the freshwater drum. I’ve never landed that many as a bycatch on any fishing trip in 33 years fishing Belton and Stillhouse.



Although I am still reserving judgment on how the hybrid fishery may or may not have come back’, I certainly anticipated a better catch of legal hybrid stripers given the time of year and the conditions we had today.



Our final tally was 48 fish



TALLY: 48 fish caught and released



OBSERVATIONS:

With 2+ days of southerly winds and increasing warmth and humidity, I rather easily netted shad at Area vic SHAD039. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F




WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 9.07 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE9-12 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning with light rain from 8:30 to 10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 50



Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Best two producers were Area vic 1209, and BG0026 (3 of our 4 hybrid came from this location)

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

Solid post and fish. Good job as always.

...

Those drum can grow to extra large proportions. They can fight too. I’ve caught drum in the creeks and thought I had a hybrid. I still have yet to catch a hybrid striped bass. Great post.

Back in the day, late 70's early 80's, fishing for white bass on Lake Buchanan at night, it wasn't unusual to catch equal amounts of drum along with the whites. Didn't happen every time, but it wasn't rare. Folks fishing with minnows were always hot that they were losing bait to those "trash fish"