Young Men Competing with Themselves – 150 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, October 15, I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip for Mr. Gary Emory‘s three grandsons, Isaac, Micah, and Mathias Guerrero, ages 13, 11, and nine, respectively.

I covered down on the younger two and Gary assisted Isaac. The two of us took fish off as the boys landed them and did whatever else was necessary to make sure they had an enjoyable time.

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: 15 October 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 20, 22 Oct. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Isaac, Micah, and Matias Guerrero, ages 13, 11, & 9 respectively, landed exactly 150 fish in 3.5 hours during their morning trip on Lake Belton, chaperoned by their maternal grandfather, Gary Emory.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This was to be the final day before this fall season’s second significant cold front. In the overnight hours from this Thursday into early Friday, west winds are supposed to crank up to a minimum of 25 mph straight line, with gusts as high as 40+ miles per hour. Those winds will dry out and cool down the atmosphere, with overnight lows in the high 40s called for in the next few days to come.

We enjoyed some decent cloud cover and a steady 10 to 12 mph south southeast wind this morning.

Since most of my morning trips this past week have seen a better bite in the latter part of the morning, and since these kids-only trips are 3.5 hours in length, I started us off around 8 AM and we wrapped up at 11:40 AM. Once again, we did better in the latter half of the trip.

Thanks to the cool down caused by the season’s first cold front which came in on October 1, white bass are grouping up in large schools and are feeding aggressively at and near bottom

Once found with sonar, I am Spot Locking atop these fish, then observing LiveScope for an indication as to how aggressive these fish are. Using the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail, we have been working these lures plumb vertically, using a smoking tactic for high fish counts without exception this week.

Although we fished several areas today, the majority of our fish came from just two areas.

On their last trip with me, the boys landed 111 fish. With about 80 fish in the boat, Micah made mention of this and all the boys then realized with their then-current catch rate, tying or beating that number was in the realm of reality. Cheers broke out as we surpassed that number on this trip in the 10 o’clock hour.

After 3.5 hours of effort, these three boys put exactly 150 fish in the boat, 100% of which were white bass. If there is a downside to this really strong, autumn bite, it is that many of the fish are on the small side, but, especially when dealing with kids, that is not necessarily a bad thing.

We shall wait and see what this cold front does to the fishing. My gut feeling is that we will have a temporary setback for a long-term gain with the water temperature continuing to trend downward.

RESULTS: 150 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.

-This was our fourth day since the 01-09 Oct. cooldown where we had clouds and wind from the SE. The fish continued to feed under these conditions.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 14 Oct. 2026, approx. 7:20AM…

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