A Bit Lobsided this Morning — 95 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Good Friday, April 3, I fished with a crew of five. Organizing everything was Joey Sapien, and along for the ride was Joey‘s dad, Joe, Joey‘s two sons, Easton (age 8) and Wyatt (age 15), and Joey‘s brother-in-law, Todd Westbrook.
You could definitely tell it was a holiday weekend with the increased tempo at the boat launch this morning.
TODAY’S DATE: 03 April 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 20 April 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Todd Westbrook, and Joe, Easton, Joey, and Wyatt Sapien, each with one of the Lake Belton white bass they landed in 4.5 hours of effort. We found the bite much stronger in the first half of the morning today, before increasing winds and light levels seemed to turn the fish off.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
In summary, this morning’s four hour trip was front-loaded. The fish bit well for right about two hours during which time this crew of five, while still going through the learning curve, landed 70 fish. Then, in the last two hours, with everyone now well-seasoned, we managed to add only 20 additional fish as fish just became difficult to find and, once found, difficult to convince to chase and bite.
In the first two hours, we enjoyed completely greyed over skies and a steady breeze at around 11 mph. All the fish we caught during this time we caught in less than 25 feet of water. At the two hour mark, the winds picked up, thanks to compressional warming in advance of a significant cold front coming in around midnight tonight. At the same time the winds picked up, breaks in the clouds began to form and the sun shown through intermittently.
Young Easton began to fade on me at this point, which is to be expected for someone as young as he is. So, at this point, we dropped back to four lines in the water.
It was at this point that the fishing got much tougher. The fish we found we found between 30 and 42 feet, oftentimes suspended save for one group of fish on a fairly flat area in about 18 feet of water, which we threw MAL Bridge Lures to successfully for about a 25 minute span.
Other than that, we fished the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab vertically with a smoking tactic for fish on bottom, slightly up off bottom, and as much as halfway up in the water column. As usual, we used a splashing device to consolidate fish beneath us, and Garmin LiveScope to present with precision.
When all was said and done, my crew of five landed 95 fish, including 93 white bass and two largemouth bass.
RESULTS: 95 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-The water warmed a full 2 degrees throughout the water column this week.
-Spawned out fish are now outnumbering those fish yet to spawn in our catch.
-1.1 inches of rain fell from 5-10A yesterday, with another 1.5 inches forecast to begin falling tonight into the following day
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 02 April 2026, approx. 7:20AM…
0 feet 70.2F
5 feet 69.9F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.0F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.4F
30 feet 68.1F
35 feet 68.1F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 65.9F
50 feet 63.7F
55 feet 61.7F
60 feet 60.0F
Taken on Lake Belton on 27 March 2026, approx. 7AM…
0 feet 68.4F
5 feet 68.4F
10 feet 68.2F
15 feet 68.2F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.6F
30 feet 66.3F
35 feet 64.5F
40 feet 62.9F
45 feet 62.4F
50 feet 60.8F
55 feet 58.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:20A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F
Elevation: Belton is 1.19′ low with a +0.02′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 51 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 8.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE11 for first two hours, then ramping up quickly to SE14 with higher gusts thereafter.
Sky Condition: 100% greyed over skies until 9:20, then clouds thinned with occasional breaks, making for brighter conditions.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 97% illumination
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 169 – 31 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2415 – 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2416 – 29 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2417 – 2 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 1673- 11 fish on MAL Bridge Lures
Area BG0022CH- 6 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2392- 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
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