Chartered Bass Fishing Trips

FCS has an annual chartered hybrid/striped/white bass fishing trip usually on Monday afternoons each Mary or June.  We’ve fished on Lakes Belton, Buchanan, and LBJ.  The most that we have taken is sixteen participants, which required three guides/boats.  In addition to catching hybrid/striped/white bass, we have caught largemouth bass, catfish, and crappie.

Striped bass grow larger than hybrid striped bass.  For both species, the minimum length is 18″ and the limit is five.  If you catch white bass the minimum limit is 10” and the daily bag limit is 25.

Here are pictures from some of our chartered hybrid/striped/white bass fishing trips:

If we have four to five fishermen on a boat the cost is $125 per person.  The guide(s) will supply the boat, rods, bait, landing nets, and a fish box.  They’ll clean the fish and bag them.  The price does not include shared gas, eating out on the way home, and an optional (but highly recommended tip.  A 20% tip would be $25.

FCS also had a chartered largemouth bass fishing trip on 4/2/22.  Zack Tumlinson and Chris, a friend of guide and FCS member Kevin McConnell, fished with Kevin on Lake Fayette.  They ended up with 19 bass – two of which were 5 pounders!  Zack loaded the boat using green crawdad soft plastics.  Here are a few pictures from that trip:

Kevin also had four other trips in late September 2022, but the heat and lack of wind hampered the fishing.

The cost is $100 (weekdays) – $125 (weekends) per person.  Kevin can take up to three fishermen.  He will supply the boat, rods, lures, and landing net.  The price does not include shared gas, eating out on the way home, and an optional (but highly recommended tip.  We do not usually keep largemouth bass on these trips, as Lake Fayette has a 14 – 24″ slot limit (no bass within that slot can legally be kept).

What to Bring

• Freshwater fishing license.
• Clothing appropriate for the season (including a cap).  You never know when it will rain, so bring rain gear.
• Drinks and snacks (optional; drinks are highly recommended).  There are storage compartments in the boats to put your drinks and snacks in.
• Sunglasses (optional, but highly recommended).
• Bug repellent (optional).
• Headlamp or cap light (optional; waterproof is recommended).
• A medium-sized hard or soft ice chest to take your fish home in (if you get any; leave it in your vehicle).

The captains are required to have a life jacket for every passenger, so you won’t need one.  For the hybrid/striped/white bass fishing trips, the captains will fillet the fish (if we’re keeping them) and put them in Ziploc bags, so you won’t need to bring a fillet knife, knife sharpener, fillet board, or Ziploc bags.

Expectations

These fishing trips are a service to FCS members and guests, but the Event Coordinators/leaders will enforce the following expectations:

• Follow the captain’s instructions and abide by the FCS Bylaws Regarding Conduct.
• Pay for your share of vehicle gas.
• Help when the captain asks you to.
• Talk quietly – fish can hear you also and will swim away.
• Show up.
• Be on time.
• Don’t have a pattern of canceling at the last minute.
• Don’t ask questions regarding information that has already been conveyed in the Event Coordinator’s/leaders emails (and you would have known the answers if you had read the emails).
• Return the Event Coordinator’s/leader’s emails, phone calls, and/or texts, if he or she asks a question or asks you to acknowledge something.

RSVP’s and payment in full are required to Daryl Shipper at shipperdog@gmail.com or 512-638-6971.  Also contact Daryl if you have any questions.