A Thanksgiving Week Tradition – 158 Fish
CLIENTS: This past Sunday afternoon, November 22, I fished a rare Sunday trip with a great group of kids who have been coming out with me around Thanksgiving time each year for many years now. Joining me this evening was Guy Slimp of Salado and three of his four kids, Lorelei, Townes, & Calvin (Hudson got sick and couldn’t make it), as well as the kids’ cousin, Cam Miller who traveled in from Louisiana.
Don and Connie Bousquet were responsible for making all the arrangements. We had originally planned to fish on Monday morning, but every meteorologist insisted that Monday was going to be a rain out from sun up to sundown, so, I squeezed this in for the last four hours of daylight today.
TODAY’S DATE: Sunday, 22 November 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 01 December 2025 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Guy, Lorelei, Townes, and Calvin Slimp and Cam Miller just “wore ’em out” this afternoon. An easterly wind in advance of a cold front which slipped in over night got the fish fired up. My crew of five landed 158 fish in a little over 4 hours’ time.
PHOTO CAPTION: Although we were not targeting them, we managed to pick up 9 hybrid striped bass this afternoon; these were the two largest, with Townes’ fish (right) going 4.125 pounds on a certified scale.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The fishing was pretty easy this afternoon for the first three hours as complete, but thin, gray cloud cover allowed for enough light penetration, coupled with a nice easterly breeze, to keep the fish feeding aggressively now that the water temperature is trending back downwards thanks to Friday’s cold front which pushed through.
Once again, we did not overcomplicate things. We fished one lure one way for a 158-fish catch which included white bass, both legal and short hybrid striped bass, and a single largemouth bass.
The lure I had tied on to everyone’s rods was the MAL Dense with a silver body, and everyone used the vertical “smoking“ retrieve to provoke these predator fish into chasing what appeared to be a shad fleeing upwards off the bottom.
Things went along well until our wind reduced and cloud covered thickened up right around 4:20 PM.
Observing this, I headed directly to the nearest shallow water areas I suspected would be holding fish and, we connected one final time taking our count from 139 fish to 158 fish in the last 35 minutes before the fish quit all altogether.
RESULTS: 158 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-An easterly breeze blowing before rains moved in overnight from the west, coupled with thin but complete grey cloud cover had the fish in overdrive this afternoon. The cooling water nudged by Friday’s cold front also help things.
-No helpful bird action on Lake Belton this trip.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Measured around 6:30 AM on Saturday, 22 Nov. 2025…
0 feet 69.8
5 feet 70.8
10 feet 71.0
15 feet 71.0
20 feet 71.2
25 feet 70.5
30 feet 70.0
35 feet 69.8
40 feet 69.4
45 feet 69.1
50 feet 68.8
55 feet 68.4
60 feet 68.1
Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Saturday, 08 November…
0 feet 69.6
5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.6F
15 feet 69.6F
20 feet 69.6F
25 feet 69.4F
30 feet 69.0F
35 feet 68.8F
40 feet67.4F
45 feet 66.9F
50 feet 66.9F
55 feet 66.8F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 1P
End Time: 5:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F
Elevation: Belton is 0.28′ low with a .11 rise in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 26 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 69.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-7 for 3.5 hours, then slacking off to SE2-4 for balance of trip
Sky Condition: 100% thin, grey cloud cover for 3.5 hours, then thickening in final hour
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 17% illumination.
GT = 455
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0031G – 50 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (4 hybrid, 1 largemouth, 45 whites)
Area 2302 – 4 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (1 hybrid, 19 whites)
Area B0301G – 3 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (all whites)
Area 2303 – 52 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (3 hybrid, 49 whites)
Area 2304 – 14 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (4.125 lbs. hybrid and 13 whites)
Area 574 – 19 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (all whites)
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