Cat Fight! – 80 Fish with the Prietos
CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, August 11, I conducted the 12th SKIFF trip of the 2026 season welcoming aboard the wife and three kids of Sergeant Major Prieto currently stationed at Camp Mabry in Austin as he serves in the Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) program. Mrs Daisy Prieto is a disabled veteran. Both work(ed) in personnel and administration.
Doing the fishing today were the Prieto‘s three kids, Victor (12), Lucy (10), and Natalia (8).
ABOUT SKIFF: Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009. SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, The Great Place Spouses’ Club, The Great Place Thrift Store, and VFW Post 4008 in Belton, TX. SKIFF provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish. SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member, and kids of bona fide disabled veterans. I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411 to make your reservation. We’ve provided trips for over 660 children, and those kids have landed over 18,000 fish.
TODAY’S DATE: 11 August 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 19, 20, 26, 27 Aug. 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Natalia, Victor, and Lucy Prieto with a few of the white bass they took under low light conditions early on in our 3.5 hour SKIFF trip on Lake Belton.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Victor, Natalia, Daisy, and Lucy Prieto with both channel and blue catfish taken during a very aggressive bite on punchbait as wind blew into a sloped bottom in the 20-foot range.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Fishing neatly broke down into three portions. Part one, under low light conditions, included sightcasting to and downrigging for white bass in under 25 feet of water. The action began at first light and ended once the sun’s direct rays struck the water. While the fish were on top, we used the Cork Rig with the Sandy Sandwich Streamer to imitate young-of-the-year shad. Although the white bass will occasionally hit larger lures, the number of strikes you get, and the number of fish you catch will be considerably less than by matching the size of these juvenile bait fish.
After the fish left the surface, but were still in the area, downrigging a pair of three-armed umbrella rigs, each equipped with #12 Pet Spoons continued to get us bit. We landed a total of 25 white bass during this period.
Once the white bass were done for good, we headed up shallow and targeted sunfish in visible cover, using live bait suspended just off bottom under slip floats. We landed 38 sunfish during this period.
We closed out the morning, returning to a previously baited area and targeting catfish in approximately 27 feet of water. This was the single most aggressive round of catfishing I’ve seen so far this year. Baits got bit almost instantly when they struck bottom. Some fish actually carried the bait well up off the bottom instead of pulling it more slowly downward, and, the fish struck hard enough routinely enough such that even my 8, 10 and 12-year-old clients unfamiliar with this kind of fishing were able to feel and respond to a majority of the bites they received.
After landing 17 catfish in under 45 minutes, the three kids began to play out in order from youngest to oldest. We brought the lines in right around 9:50 AM, took a quick swing by the Lake Belton waterfall just for grins, and called it a great morning on the waters of Lake Belton.
RESULTS: 80 fish, all caught and released
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
SEE THE “SMOKING TACTIC” TUTORIAL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE has finally reduced the flow of water through the dam to the “normal” summertime rate of 52CFS — just a trickle to keep fresh water moving downstream.
-Fishable topwater action was limited to the 40 or so minutes prior to sunrise with very little “popcorn” schooling witnessed thereafter.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 11 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.5F
5 feet 86.7F
10 feet 86.7F
15 feet 86.7F
20 feet 86.7F
25 feet 86.2F
30 feet 85.1F
35 feet 82.6F
40 feet 80.3F
45 feet 76.3F
50 feet 71.6F
55 feet 69.4F
60 feet 68.2F
Taken on Lake Belton on 06 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.5F
5 feet 86.7F
10 feet 86.7F
15 feet 86.7F
20 feet 86.7F
25 feet 86.5F
30 feet 84.8F
35 feet 83.1F
40 feet 80.1F
45 feet 75.2F
50 feet 72.8F
55 feet 70.3F
60 feet 68.1F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:20A
End Time: 9:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation – Lake Belton fell to 0.27′ high, with a 0.05′ loss in the last 24 hours. Flow rate was 52 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 86.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S7-12 all morning
Sky Condition: 25% white clouds on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 2% illumination
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic B0104G- 25 white bass on Cork Rig with Sandy Sandwich Streamer, then downriggers to mop up
Area B0169C – 38 panfish on bait under slipfloats
Area AUGCAT05 – 17 catfish on punchbait
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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle