A Month Before the School Bell – 45 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, July 16, with just a month to go before public school goes back in session, I fished with Doctors Aaron and Lisa Baggett and their kids, Keller, age 10, and Rhett, age 12. Aaron is an experienced fisherman and at one time provided oversight for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor‘s bass fishing team. Today’s trip was a “Kids Fish, Too!“ Trip, so the effort was focused solely on the kids.
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: 16 July 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 30-31 July, 3-6 August 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Keller (age 10), Aaron, Lisa, and Rhett (age 12) Baggett on a Lake Belton “Kids Fish, Too!” trip after heavy rains brought the lake up to 0.94 feet above normal.
PHOTO CAPTION: We mixed in some white bass fishing, sunfishing, and catfishing today. We had both blues and channels eating on punchbait under slipfloats.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
I tried to mix things up the best I could given the season and conditions. We began our morning under low light conditions kept even lower than normal due to abundant cloud cover, and downrigged in under 25 feet for white bass which hung up shallow until about 7:35 AM. To catch these fish, we downrigged with a pair of downriggers, each equipped with a three-armed umbrella rig terminated with #13 Pet Spoons. This combination produced multiple singles and doubles, allowing a catch of 14 white bass before these fish vacated the shallow water and became roaming nomads wandering after shad above the thermocline.
Next, we headed back to an area we baited right after everyone arrived and fished over that bait for catfish. There is always a learning curve, which I have flattened somewhat by implementing the use of slip floats, whenever kids are fishing for catfish, but that still leaves a bit of a learning curve connected to setting the hook promptly once a float indicates a bite is taking place.
At our first attempt for catfish, we had 10 bites, missed seven, and landed three catfish. Once the bite slowed down, we headed up into very shallow water and targeted sunfish.
The kids got the hang of watching for their float to get pulled under while fishing for the catfish, so watching the diminutive floats we used for sunfish was no big transition for them. The kids really capitalized on the sunfish bite and landed a mix of 25 panfish.
We wrapped up the trip with one more round of catfishing. This time, we got eight bites, landed three more catfish, and called it a good day on a positive note as the last catfish came over the gunwale. In all, the kids wound up catching exactly 45 fish, including 14 white bass, a mix of six blue and channel catfish, and a mix of 25 panfish which included bluegill, longears, green sunfish, and spottails.
RESULTS: 45 fish, all caught and released
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
-Not a lick of topwater action seen nor heard all morning for the third day in a row.
-Although not dirty or muddy, the water was definitely a bit more stained due to the recent heavy rains, and there was a bit of flotsam noted.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 14 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.1F
5 feet 86.5F
10 feet 86.5F
15 feet 86.5F
20 feet 86.5F
25 feet 86.5F
30 feet 85.0F
35 feet 83.8F
40 feet 78.2F
45 feet72.2F
50 feet 70.7F
55 feet 69.2F
60 feet 67.4F
Taken on Lake Belton on 07 July 2026, approx. 6:20AM (Note thermocline forming between 35-40 feet!!)
0 feet 87.9F
5 feet 88.2F
10 feet 88.2F
15 feet 88.1F
20 feet 85.6F
25 feet 85.0F
30 feet 84.3F
35 feet 83.1F
40 feet 78.2F
45 feet 73.8F
50 feet 71.4F
55 feet 70.2F
60 feet 68.1F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 10:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F
Elevation – Lake Belton rose 0.38′ up to 0.95′ high since rains began around 11 AM on Tuesday, 14 July. Flow rate was 52 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 86.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE3-6 all morning
Sky Condition: Thick grey cloud cover at 100% with the lightest of precip. falling in our final 15 minutes; 4.2 inches of rain have fallen across the area since 11 AM on Tuesday, 14 July.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 7% illumination
GT = 85
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0177C thru B0171C – 14 white bass on downrigged Pet Spoons
Area JULCAT03 – 3 catfish on punchbait
Area B0097C – 25 panfish on bream rods, bait & slipfloats
Area JULCAT02 – 3 catfish 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