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Belton Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Belton Lake: a 12,385-acre Corps reservoir on the Leon River with steep, rocky shores, where TPWD has stocked hybrid striped bass since 1977 and smallmouth since 1978.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
592.81 ft -1.19 vs pool
Air / High
76 / 78 F
Wind
SE 6 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 08102000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Belton Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. The gauge reads 592.81 ft, 1.19 ft below pool, easing 0.29 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 6 mph, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 78. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Smallmouth bassGood

Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar at 78 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Texas requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $30.00 for residents. What a Texas licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with TPWD before you keep anything. The season dates for Texas, read off the agency, are on the Texas seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Belton Lk nr Belton, TX.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 08102000. Conservation pool is 594 ft.

592.45593.06593.67pool 594592.81 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp76 F
High / Low78 / 56 F
WindSE 6-9 mph
Pressure1019.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:38 / 18:49
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Belton Lake this week

The best day on Belton Lake this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM
Minor period
4:29 AM-5:29 AM
Sun
07:38 to 18:49
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 8 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Belton Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

When to come: the Belton Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Hybrid striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Smallmouth bass
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Belton Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 81 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 5 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 78 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Texas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Texas fishing license. TPWD rules for Belton (valid Sept. 1, 2026-Aug. 31, 2027): largemouth and smallmouth bass 14-inch minimum, 5 black bass a day; blue and channel catfish 25 a day combined, no more than 5 of 20 inches or longer and only 1 of those 30 inches or longer; flathead catfish 18-inch minimum, 5 a day; hybrid striped bass 18-inch minimum, 5 a day; white bass 10-inch minimum, 25; crappie 10-inch minimum, 25. Drain boats when leaving: zebra mussels are present.

Access

Corps of Engineers parks around the lake (TPWD list: Iron Bridge, Winkler, White Flint, Leona, Owl Creek, Cedar Ridge, Rogers, Westcliff, Temple Lake, Live Oak Ridge and Belton Lakeview) with ramps and courtesy docks at most; day-use fees at most parks; three marinas sell supplies and fuel.

About this water

12,385 acres (TPWD) on the Leon River, Bell and Coryell counties, TX; Corps of Engineers, impounded 1954. Lake level on this page comes from USGS gauge 08102000, Belton Lake near Belton.

Fishing Belton Lake: the full guide

Lake facts

TPWD lists Belton Lake at 12,385 acres and 124 feet deep on the Leon River in Bell and Coryell counties, 5 miles northwest of Belton off FM 317. It was impounded in 1954, the Corps of Engineers controls it, conservation pool is 594 feet and the level usually moves 3 to 5 feet. Most of the shoreline is steep and rocky, with bluffs and long rocky points, and zebra mussels are established.

Hybrids and white bass

Hybrid striped bass were introduced in 1977 and are now a very popular sport fish; they school through the main lake and are taken on live bait or by trolling jigs and crankbaits, with or without downriggers. TPWD stocked sunshine bass again in 2025 and 2026. White bass run up the Leon River from March through May, and TPWD points to the water from the Highway 36 bridge north to Mother Neff State Park.

Smallmouth and largemouth

TPWD has stocked smallmouth bass many times since 1978, most recently in 2024, and finds them from the dam to the Cedar Creek area, best in early spring and late fall when the water is 55 to 65 degrees. Largemouth fishing peaks from late February through April in the backs of creeks and coves sheltered from the north wind, such as Cedar, Owl, Stampede and Cowhouse creeks, then moves to main-lake points and flats near creek channels from May through September.

Catfish and records

TPWD suggests targeting large blue catfish from February through April and asks anglers to consider releasing blues over 10 pounds. The lake record blue catfish on TPWD's list weighed 75.02 pounds and was caught on June 6, 2026; the hybrid striped bass record is 13.56 pounds (1994) and the largemouth record 13.97 pounds (2017).

Common questions

Where are Belton's smallmouth bass?

TPWD finds them from the dam to the Cedar Creek area, spawning in rocky coves out of the north wind and on long, gently sloping rocky points in summer and fall; TPWD last stocked them in 2024.

When do white bass run at Belton?

From March through May, when they move up the Leon River; TPWD suggests the Highway 36 bridge north to Mother Neff State Park.

Does Belton have a special catfish limit?

Yes. Blue and channel catfish are 25 a day combined, with no more than 5 of 20 inches or longer and only 1 of those 30 inches or longer.

Is fishing good at Belton Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Stillhouse Hollow Lake10 miLake Waco34 miGranger Lake35 miLake Whitney50 miLake Aquilla55 miLake Buchanan56 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 08102000 β€” Belton Lk nr Belton, TX
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 17:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 31.1645, -97.5713 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.