An Exceptional Young Man – 80 Fish

CLIENTS: This afternoon, Monday, November 9, I fished with three generations of Herauf men – – Randy, a retired U.S. Air Force first sergeant, his son Shawn, an active duty Infantry noncommissioned officer, and Holden, Shawn‘s seven-year-old son, who is working his way through second grade in Belton, Texas.

Although everyone fished, the emphasis was on Holden‘s success. These fellows had enjoyed limited prior success fishing from the bank on our area reservoirs, so I’d hoped to change all that by pursuing white bass by boat today.

Holden was very mature, very intelligent, and very articulate for his age. He quickly grasped concepts which many 10 and 11-year-olds I have had aboard found difficult to grasp. He did well above average for a young man his age.

TODAY’S DATE: 09 November 2026 (PM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 17, 24, 30 Nov., 4 Dec. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Randy, Holden, and Shawn Herauf – three generations together in the outdoors.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Having fished a morning trip today and watching as the fishing got tougher as the skies cleared and brightened in the latter part of this morning‘s trip, I was a bit concerned about our chances this afternoon. A very slow-moving low pressure system continued to drop rain right up until around 9 AM this morning, then looked to move east of the area. However, over the midday, more clouds and more light rain moved back in from the southwest. I actually welcomed this, as the skies clouded back up and a southerly wind ensued for the first time since last Thursday.

When everyone showed up well-prepared for rain, I knew we would have a good time.

I started our search for fish in as deep of water as we would fish all afternoon – – right at 51 feet. I found a group of fish right on bottom, but they seemed a bit reluctant, so I left them behind and continued to look in the same general area. After finding a larger school, we found these fish to be more competitive amongst themselves and that led us to our first good catch. As the afternoon moved on, we slowly made our way up shallow — first into the 40 foot range, then the 30 foot range, and, before sunset, we found ourselves fishing for suspended fish over 30 feet of water which had lifted up into the 15 to 20 foot range to take advantage of the light conditions there as clouds obscured the setting sun.

We fished just one way with one lure again today, and that was with the MAL Heavy with white blade, used with a smoking tactic. I opted for the MAL Heavy with white blade due to the overcast, murky conditions.

By the time four hours had gone by, this crew of three had landed exactly 80 fish, including five short hybrid, one largemouth bass, and 74 white bass.

RESULTS: 80 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: The positive impacts of last week’s pair of cold fronts largely diluted out over the weekend as a low pressure system swooped in behind the front and brought beneficial rains late Saturday, all day Sunday, and into the early morning today. Fish behavior settled back from the fevered pitch we saw as the cold fronts came in, but, the fish was still solid in keeping with the fall cooldown.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 04 Nov. 2026, approx. 6:10AM…

Taken on Lake Belton on 27 Oct. 2026, approx. 7:00AM…