Dancer on Deck — 58 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, March 26, I welcomed aboard Mr. Sonny Thomas and his 12 year-old grandson, Luca Cowten from Georgetown, Texas.
Luca turned 12 today and, right at 11:10 AM, the time of his birth, we set an alarm, paused, and grandpa videoed Luca doing a birthday dance before returning to fishing.
TODAY’S DATE: 26 March 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 30 March (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Sonny Thomas of Belton treated his grandson, Luca Cowten of Georgetown, to a birthday fishing trip on Lake Belton as he turned 12 today.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Sonny and Luca were already both familiar with the use of spinning tackle, so, I did a quick introduction to the smoking tactic we would be using this morning and was pleasantly surprised that both had already watched the video I provide prior to these fishing trips in order to familiarize my clients with what they can expect to be doing during their time on the water with me.
Today’s weather was similar to yesterday’s in that the skies were pretty murky through around 8:45 AM. This diminished the bite a bit, although we were still able to catch fish during this time. The middle two hours of this four hour trip were the most productive. We found two groups of fish in 20 to 22 feet of water and they were really drawn by the commotion we were creating both via the tactics we were using and by the splasher I had playing on the transom. These fish responded well to the 5/8 ounce, white, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked with a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.
The fish never really did fire up as much as they did yesterday, with most of the fish holding very close to the bottom most of the morning. We never really saw aggressive, fast moving schools suspended up off bottom and swimming parallel to it this morning.
Around 10:10 AM, the skies cleared very suddenly. For this reason, I shifted us very quickly from the shallow water in which the bite had gone sour, into deeper, clearer water where we had done well in the last hour yesterday. Although we did find fish in two separate areas in over 40 feet of water, they, too, were not nearly as aggressive as the fish we found in similar circumstances yesterday.
When all was said and done, Sonny and Luca landed a total of 58 fish including 56 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 hybrid striped bass.
RESULTS: 58 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Scant mid-morning bird activity with but 3 gulls, 2 ospreys, and 1 blue heron getting antsy over a briefly surfacing school of white bass — lasted only minutes.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 19 March 2026, approx. 7AM…
0 feet 62.6F
5 feet 62.8F
10 feet 62.6F
15 feet 62.6F
20 feet 62.4F
25 feet 62.2F
30 feet 62.0F
35 feet 62.0F
40 feet 61.7F
45 feet 61.5F
50 feet 58.7F
55 feet 57.8F
60 feet 57.2F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:20A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F
Elevation: Belton is 1.11′ low with a -0.02′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 51 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 67.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S10-15 all morning
Sky Condition: Fully greyed over skies with varying levels of thickness throughout the morning, quickly clearing to just 20% white clouds on a blue sky right at 10A.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 60% illumination
GT = 5
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 1799- 6 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 363 – 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area vic 2402 – 26 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area vic 098 – 6 fish on the MAL Dense
Area 2407 – 12 fish on the MAL Dense
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