Tell Ol’ Fairow to Let Those Catfish Go – 30 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 10, I fished with a father-and-son team, Fairow and Marcus Taylor. Marcus is a U.S. Army veteran having served in both food service and logistics before retiring. His dad, age 75, is in visiting from the small town of Unadilla in central Georgia. Fellow Lake Belton angler Lee Walker referred Marcus and his dad my way.

TODAY’S DATE: 10 July 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 28-31 July 2026 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Army veteran and retiree Marcus Taylor and his dad, Fairow, teamed up for a 30 fish catch. We focused on white bass in our first hour, then changed over to targeting catfish.

PHOTO CAPTION: Marcus and Fairow landed 22 catfish including a roughly equal mix of channel cats and blue cats, all on punchbait.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The summertime heat has been coming on strong this week, giving us our first two days with high temps above 100° on Wednesday and Thursday. During this time of year, white bass activity is often (not always, but often) limited to the low-light periods right at sunup and again at sundown, especially on cloudless days like today. I had already decided that unless I saw overwhelming evidence to bring me to do otherwise, that I was only going to fish for white bass during the first hour of this four hour trip, then transition to catfish, which are not nearly so light or temperature sensitive.

Our first hour provided opportunities to catch white bass in three different ways. First, there were several brief spurts of topwater, action, each lasting only seconds, but enough to allow Marcus and Fairow to land one fish each in that way using Cork Rigs with Sandy Sandwich Streamers.

Once these fish sounded, they remained in the area and catchable, just not on the surface. At this time, I fired up the splasher and the LiveScope, drew fish in from around us, and had my guests work MAL Dense Lures vertically using a smoking tactic. This put two more fish in the boat. When this area seemed to be out of white bass, we then moved to a different location, downrigged for another four fish, including a triple and a single all taken on #13 Pet Spoons behind three-armed umbrella rigs. By this time it was around 7:30 and there was no evidence that things were going to improve where the white bass were concerned, so, we went to the first of several areas I had baited with soured grain prior to my clients arrival.

The first stop was where everyone worked out all the kinks getting used to how the catfish bite was going to feel, and getting used to properly setting the hook. Despite going through a learning curve here, father and son still landed for fish on punch bait – – all channel cats.

We headed to fish our second baited area and wound up never leaving this area to fish the third baited area because the fishing was good for channel cats as soon as we got there and then improved with blue cats coming in after we had been there for a few minutes. This area would produce a total of 18 catfish with a pretty even mix of channels and blues all coming on punch bait.

In right at four hours’ time, Marcus and Fairow wound up landing exactly 30 fish.

RESULTS: 30 fish, all caught and released by clients

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


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: 

OBSERVATIONS:
-A total lack of cloud cover led to a sudden brightening of the sky right at sunrise, and a corresponding, short, low-light white bass bite.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 01 July 2026, approx. 6:20AM (Note thermocline forming between 35-40 feet!!)

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