Clear and Hot, with Continued Chances of Clear and Hot – 36 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, August 4, I fished a father-and-son trip with Mr. Hai Tran and his nine-year-old son, Darcy. I can’t tell you how impressed I was with Darcy. He’s a super-sharp kid and really listens well. He picked up very quickly on some of the detailed descriptions I was giving on how to be successful using the various tactics we employed today. Hai runs a family-owned nail business right on the border between Killeen and Harker Heights, Texas, right off of Rosewood Drive.
TODAY’S DATE: 04 August 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING BEFORE PUBLIC SCHOOL RESTARTS: 13 Aug. 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: 9-year-old Darcy Tran and his dad, Hai, got a multi-species introduction to Lake Belton’s summertime fishing as they pursued white bass, catfish, and sunfish all in space of a 4-hour morning fishing trip.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Although we had just a touch more wind than yesterday, it still never got over 5 mph, which certainly did not help things today. As I expected, with clear, bright, windless conditions, the white bass action was extremely brief up shallow – – just a few minutes as the sun was brightening the eastern sky, and that was the end of it. The 5 whites we landed were taken on the MAL Dense worked with a “sawtooth method” in under 15 feet of water.
We transitioned pretty quickly over to our pursuit of other species.
First, we pursued sunfish up shallow for Darcy‘s sake, as this is a surefire way to get fish in the boat and keep younger kids interested during the summer months. Before heading up shallow for those sunfish, we baited an area which we would later return to for catfish.
We stopped at one cove and fished one area for a total of 23 sunfish including bluegill, longear, and green sunfish. Once this area played out, we headed back to the baited area and begin fishing for catfish, but not before baiting a second area.
Once the second area was baited, we returned to the first area and landed a total of eight catfish with about as many missed strikes. This included six channel cat and two blue cat, all on punchbait.
With about 25 minutes left in the morning we returned to the second area we had baited for catfish after Hai gave Darcy an option of fishing for sunfish or catfish.
We got set up on top of these fish, got two strikes right away and missed them both, and by that time, father and son decided it would be a good time to wrap up before the sun really started beating on us without any relief from the wind.
We finished up the morning with exactly 36 fish landed including 5 white bass, 8 catfish, and 23 sunfish.
RESULTS: 36 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:
-Zero topwater with bright, cloudless, windless conditions.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 28 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 87.6F
5 feet 87.8F
10 feet 87.9F
15 feet 87.9F
20 feet 87.6F
25 feet 87.0F
30 feet 85.3F
35 feet 83.6F
40 feet 82.1F
45 feet 75.1F
50 feet 72.3F
55 feet 70.0F
60 feet 68.4F
Taken on Lake Belton on 21 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.1F
5 feet 87.0F
10 feet 87.2F
15 feet 86.4F
20 feet 85.9F
25 feet 85.5F
30 feet 84.3F
35 feet 83.8F
40 feet 80.7F
45 feet 74.8F
50 feet 72.3F
55 feet 70.3F
60 feet 68.6F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation – Lake Belton fell to 0.57′ high, with a 0.05′ loss in the last 24 hours. Flow rate was 52 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 87.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S1-5 all morning
Sky Condition: White cloudless sky under the influence of dry, high pressure with smoke from fires in Pacific NW.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 66% illumination
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 2121 – 5 white bass on sawtoothed MAL Dense Lures
Area 2533 – 23 sunfish on bait under slipfloats
Area JULCAT02 – 6 channel catfish, 2 blue cat 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