A Burgers and Bass Kind of Birthday – 79 Fish

CLIENTS: This past Thursday evening, October 8, I fished a 3.5 hour “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip with soon to be seven year old Jameson Rogers, accompanied by his maternal grandfather, Dwight “Boom Pa“ Stone of Georgetown.

Dwight always plans well ahead each year to see to it that his grandkids are treated to a birthday fishing trip.

ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS:  Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($215 for up to 2 kids vs. $315 for up to 2 adults; and more can be added), and typically go a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4-plus hours for standard trips.  On these trips, licensed adults who desire to do so often help me help the kids be successful by baiting hooks, untangling lines, resetting our downrigger spreads, etc. so the kids’ efforts are maximized, but, the adults do not fish.

TODAY’S DATE: 08 October 2026 (PM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 19-22 Oct. 2026

NEXT OPEN AFTERNOON DATES: 19-22 Oct. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: Jameson Rogers and his grandfather, Dwight “Boom Pa” Stone, celebrated Jameson’s birthday with an afternoon “Kids Fish, Too!” trip on Lake Belton. Jameson landed 79 fish in 3.5 hours.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After a very successful morning, despite difficult, post-frontal weather conditions, we encountered even tougher conditions this afternoon, thanks to a lack of wind, and a continued lack of cloud cover. We met up at 3:40 PM and, given the lack of wind at that time, I decided we would pursue sunfish up in shallow, visible cover, and hope that a wind developed in order to enhance our chances of catching white bass later in the afternoon.

Using a 9 foot bream pole, and bait under a balsa float, Jameson landed exactly 42 sunfish in just over an hour’s’s time. His catch included bluegill, redear, longear, and green sunfish.

 After this area played out, and seeing that at least a light ripple had developed, I began searching deep water areas for white bass.

I searched three areas which held white bass over the past week. Although some fish were present at all of them, none of them had large congregations which I felt would be competitive enough to cause individuals within the school to be readily caught by my young angler.

I continued searching and found what I was after at a fourth area.

Although the white bass at this area were on the small side, they were abundant and aggressive.

Using the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail, Jameson was able to land 28 white bass until the action slacked off around 6:15 PM. From this time until we wrapped up around 7 PM, we turned our sites on catfish by fishing over an area we chummed just before beginning our hunt for white bass.

Jameson was able to land nine catfish including both blues and channels while using punch bait on a number six treble held just inches off bottom.

We wrapped up this trip just as the sun was setting with a total of 79 fish landed and a happy birthday boy headed back to Georgetown and a visit to Culver’s for a burger with his grandpa.

RESULTS: 79 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:
-Last week’s cold front and associated rains brought water temperatures down significantly and have brought us to the cusp of fantastic fall fishing. I’ve found more fish on bottom in more places than at any time since the thermocline formed earlier this summer and the fish have been very aggressive.

-These fish have been feeding aggressively despite weather conditions which normally hinder. I am curious to see what breezy, cloudy conditions will bring.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 07 Oct. 2026, approx. 2:30PM ..

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

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle