Catfish Curiosity, with a Side of Whites – 68 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, September 30, I fished with Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen from Troy, Texas, just outside of the city of Temple. Tommy had followed my fishing reports throughout this past summer and the success I reported in fishing for catfish intrigued him.

He routinely pursues white bass on both Belton and Stillhouse and understands how inconsistent summertime fishing for them is in the summers as the fish suspend above the thermocline and roam.

He booked the trip and requested that we focus primarily on catfish so that he could consider whether this species and the approach I take in fishing for them might be of interest to him.

TODAY’S DATE: 30 September 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 05, 19 Oct. 2026

NEXT OPEN AFTERNOON DATES: 12, 13 Oct.. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: We got a pre-frontal boost today thanks to that magical combination of wind and grey cloud cover. The white bass, though scarce on top, fed well in the first hour, then the catfish put on a show thereafter, just chowing down on the punchbaits Tommy and Sylvia presented.

PHOTO CAPTION: As has been the case all summer, the white bass were predictably active in the first hour of light, and just as predictably hard to find thereafter, hence, we chased catfish once their low-light binge concluded.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After returning from a week in the Netherlands on Monday, I went and did a scouting trip on Lake Belton on Tuesday in preparation for this Wednesday morning trip.

I have never once felt that time I invest in scouting was not worth the time, effort, and fuel expended. Yesterday’s scouting effort was no exception. It helped me get back in touch with where the bait is, where the game fish are, and how I needed to go about approaching this morning for a successful outing for the Maedgens.

Based on that scouting, I planned to spend roughly the first hour in pursuit of white bass, then fish for catfish for the remainder of the trip thereafter.

As I scouted, there was about 45 minutes’ worth of aggressive, widespread top water action over open water. During the Maedgens’ trip, thanks to a more turbulent weather scenario and greater winds, that top water action did not redevelop, however, by being in the same general vicinity as the top water action occurred in during my scouting, I was able to find suspended fish on sonar and we caught those fish using the MAL Bridge Lures with a vertical, smoking tactic, aided by Garmin LiveScope. When this area stopped producing, I continued combine over this area until I spotted a brief topwater flurry. The Maedgens were able to land one white bass a piece on the Cork Rig with Sandy Sandwich Streamer before these fish sounded.

When then left top water, I once again used sonar to keep up with them, and we were able to get into one more scrape with them by fishing the Bridge Lures vertically.

The Maedgens put 14 white bass in the boat before the white bass activity begin to slack off and we changed our focus to catfish around 8:10AM

We fished three locations for catfish, spending about an hour at each location. I baited the first area we fished before we began targeting a white bass at the beginning of the trip. Before we went to fish the first catfish area, I baited a second area. Same for the third area.

I uses a combination of cattle cubes and soured grain to bait these areas.

As we prepared to fish, I reviewed the same three critical subjects with the Maedgens that I do with each of my clients before we fish for catfish: I covered bait presentation, bite detection, and the importance of an instantaneous, hard hook set. With these topics covered, I got Sylvia and Tommy baited up, and they both hooked the first two fish which bit. This got them quickly through the learning curve and it was then off to the races.

The Maedgens landed 16 catfish at our first area, 29 catfish at our second area, and, 9 catfish at our final area. Conditions were deteriorating rapidly as we moved from the second to the third area as the south wind began to ramp up in advance of an approaching cold front forecast to drop 2 to 6 inches of rain over all of Central Texas over the next two days.

We wrapped up with exactly 68 fish landed including 14 white bass, and 54 catfish with a roughly 50-50 mix of blues and channels included in that catch. All of the catfish were caught on punch bait.

As we were fishing, both of the Maedgens said several times how much they enjoyed the catfishing. As with fishing vertically for white bass, I have incorporated the use of Garmin LiveScope to keep the fishing more engaging and to serve as an “early warning device” as fish approach baits so the angler is not caught off guard when a bite occurs.

RESULTS: 68 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:
-A slow moving cold front is forecast to combine with abundant moisture already in place to produce a significant rainfall event and the first substantial cooldown of the season. Flood watches are already in place.

-Compressional warming began to kick in during the 10 AM hour, bringing wind speeds up to the point where, at trip’s end, our effectiveness in presenting punchbaits was negatively hindered.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 29 Sep. 2026, approx. 6:50AM…

Taken on Lake Belton on 18 Sep. 2026, approx. 6:15AM ..

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