Baytown White Bassers – 63 Fish on MALs
Saturday, 01 November, I fished an evening birthday trip for newly minted 13-year-old Brian Amaya, accompanied by his parents, Adina and Ulises. This family travelled all the way from Baytown, TX, to pursue white bass with me, then had plans to hit Miller’s Smokehouse for dinner before staying the night in Austin before heading back to the Texas coast on Sunday.
Ulises and Brian did the fishing, while mom was videographer-in-chief.
TODAY’S DATE: Saturday, 01 November 2025 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 12 November 2025 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Adina, Brian, and Ulises Amaya with a few of the 63 fish Brian and his dad landed on this afternoon white bass fishing trip on Lake Belton in celebration of Brian’s 13th birthday.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Generally, speaking, afternoon trips, start slow, and end well — just the opposite of mornings. I believe this has to do with the increasing light level in the morning, slowly turning fish off, and the decreasing light level in the evening working to turn fish on.
We observed exactly this during our for our trip on Lake Belton this afternoon. We were able to find fish throughout the afternoon, but, at first, they were quite reluctant to follow far enough and fast enough to overtake the MAL Heavy baits Brian and his dad were using.
Over the course of the afternoon, the fish loosened up and the fishing got better in that the catch rate increased with each location we stopped at right up until a hard stop to the action at 6:35 PM as the sun, which was already obscured by heavy cloud cover, dropped below the horizon, thus killing the bite.
Over the course of the afternoon, we fished 4 areas and used only the vertical “smoking“ method with MAL Heavy baits. As was the case this morning, I would rate the activity level of the fish as neutral. They were not hunkered down to bottom and turned off, nor were they swimming rapidly horizontally nor suspended well up off bottom in an intentional feeding posture. Under these conditions, good presentations got bit, and poor presentations did not.
As we concluded the trip, father and son put together a 63 fish catch consisting entirely of white bass.
RESULTS: 63 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Belton is 0.40′ low with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS.
-Fall conditions are peaking with a surface temp. now at around 72F
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Saturday, 01 November…
0 feet 73.5F
5 feet 73.5F
10 feet 73.8F
15 feet 73.8F
20 feet 73.8F
25 feet 73.8F
30 feet 73.8F
35 feet 73.8F
40 feet 73.1F
45 feet 72.8F
50 feet 72.8F
Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Monday, 27 October…
0 feet 77F
5 feet 77.1F
10 feet 77.1F
15 feet 77.1F
20 feet 77.1F
25 feet 77.1F
30 feet 77.3F
35 feet 77.1F
40 feet 77.1F
45 feet 76.8F
50 feet 76.7F
55 feet 76.7F
60 feet 76.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 2:30P
End Time: 6:40P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F, falling to 59F as an incoming cold front and the setting sun cooled things down
Elevation: Belton is 0.40′ low with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 73.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NE12 for the first hour, then dropping off the NE7-8 for the balance of the trip
Sky Condition: 60% grey cloud cover all afternoon.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 80% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2277 – 27 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area B0312G– 19 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area 2279 – 5 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area 1672 – 12 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
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: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle