69 More Reasons to be Thankful – Thanksgiving 2025

CLIENTS: This morning, Thanksgiving Day, 2025, I fished with returning guests Brett and Vilma Jordan of Pflugerville. Vilma is originally from Guatemala. She and Brett met when both of them worked at Dell Computers in the Austin area.

TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 27 November 2025 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 01 December 2025 (AM or PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brett and Vilma both landed legal hybrid striped bass this morning as nice “icing on the cake” of their white bass catch. 67 of their 69 fish were taken on MAL Dense lures worked vertically.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Of all the days this week, this was the one trip I was most concerned about because the forecast called for light winds and bright skies. Fortunately, the fishing is so good right now, we are still catching fish even with difficult weather. We were blessed in that the weather that was forecast did not come to fruition. We had a light northwesterly breeze right up until 11 AM, and we also had light gray cloud cover until that same time.

The shallow water bite we enjoyed yesterday morning did not develop this morning thanks to the turbidity stirred up by yesterday‘s stiff winds. The bite this morning got going a little later due to the cloud cover, but, once the fish began feeding well, around 8 AM, they stayed feeding until the skies cleared and the winds dropped off right at 11 AM. All but two of the fish Brett and Vilma landed today were taken on the MAL Dense lures fished vertically in 30 to 42 feet of water.

I noted there were a lot more suspended fish today than I have encountered up to this point in the fall. I suspect that is related to the slowly rising water we’ve seen come in with the rain which fell this past Saturday and Monday. That rise has now stopped, but it brought Lake Belton from about .8 feet low to just .25 feet low.

The suspended fish were typically more aggressive than bottom-oriented fish, and, with a well-presented MAL Lure reeled up about 2 feet in front of one of the suspended fish, my clients typically had about an 80% chance of hooking that fish. Brett did well at this, but language served as a bit of a barrier in me communicating this tactic to Vilma. Luckily, the translation app on my iPhone helped bridge that gap somewhat. By the end of the morning, this couple had landed exactly 69 fish including 66 white bass and 3 hybrid striped bass.

69 more reasons to be thankful for 2025.

RESULTS: 69 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:

-I noted there were a lot more suspended fish today than I have encountered up to this point in the fall. I suspect that is related to the slowly rising water we’ve seen come in with the rain which fell this past Saturday and Monday.

-No helpful bird action on Lake Belton this trip.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Measured around 6:45 AM on Thursday, 27 Nov. 2025…

Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 6:30 AM on Saturday, 22 Nov. 2025…

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area 190 – 3 fish by sawtooth/smoking MAL Dense Lures (1 hybrid, 2 whites)

Area 1678 – 18 fish by smoking MAL Dense Lures (all whites)

Area 2309 – 21 fish by smoking MAL Dense Lures (all whites)

Area 2310 – 20 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (2 hybrid, 18 whites)

Area 2311 – 7 fish by 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