Conquering Fish, Literally, Single-handedly – 48 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, November 14, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with returning guests – – Cody Lawrence, Vicki Li, and their four children, Liv (age 1 1/2), Brynn (age 8), Jude (age 6), and Jack (age 5). This trip was in celebration of Jack’s birthday. Unfortunately, the birthday boy broke his arm recently on a playground adventure, and so he just had to fight his fish, literally, single-handedly!
ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS: Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($195 for up to 2 kids vs. $295 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: Friday, 14 November 2025 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 01 December 2025 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brynn, Jude, Cody (dad), Vickie (mom), baby Liv, and Jack (with broken arm tucked in lifevest!) with the three kids who did the catching this morning hoisting their catch!
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Whenever young kids are involved, I try to include a variety of tactics at a variety of locations and allow the boat ride in between to serve as a transition so the kids don’t get bored doing any one thing for too long.
In keeping with that, we began our morning downrigging and picked up fish slowly but steadily after finding ourselves with limited maneuver room thanks to other boats nearby. The downrigging led to the discovery of a very large group of fish in about 26 feet of water. I Spot-Locked in the midst of these fish and then made use of the smoking tactic, fishing MAL Dense lures vertically for our next catch.
When those fish dispersed, we went back to downrigging for a short spell, adding a few more white bass to our count.
After those fish played out, there was a bit of a lull in the activity during which time I struggled a bit to find fish. We reconnected with the fish around 9:30, put another nine fish in the boat by using the smoking tactic, and then wrapped up the trip up in shallow water targeting sunfish on bream poles, fishing bait beneath slip floats.
We wound up the morning with the kids landing exactly 48 fish including 10 sunfish, two freshwater drum, and 36 white bass.
RESULTS: 48 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:
-The late week warmup definitely toned the fish down versus the first three weekdays of this past week, but, those fish we found were still much more willing to swim fast, far, and stay up off bottom than at any point thus far this fall.
-Water surface temp was back up to 69.6F before the sun rose this morning.
-First handful of gulls were seen on Monday, 10 Nov., with additional birds spotted today, although none were helpful in locating fish.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken around 6:30AM, Saturday, 14 November…
0 feet 69.6
5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.6F
15 feet 69.6F
20 feet 69.6F
25 feet 69.4F
30 feet 69.0F
35 feet 68.8F
40 feet67.4F
45 feet 66.9F
50 feet 66.9F
55 feet 66.8F
Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Saturday, 08 November…
0 feet 72.3F
5 feet 72.3F
10 feet 72.5F
15 feet 72.3F
20 feet 72.5F
25 feet 72.5F
30 feet 72.3F
35 feet 72.1F
40 feet70.7F
45 feet 69.6F
50 feet 69.4F
55 feet 69.4F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:00A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: Belton is 0.83′ low with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 67-68F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8 at trip’s start, steadily increasing to SSW11 by trip’s end
Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning
Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 26% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0128C thru 788 thru B0171C – 29 fish smoking downrigging, leading to smoking MAL Dense Lures
Area 1188/1740C – 9 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures
Area 502 – 10 sunfish
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
