Do Fish Bite in the Rain? Heck, Yeah! — 109 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, April 2, I fished with brothers Dwight and Duane Stone, and Dwayne‘s 18-year-old grandson, Ethan Dulaney from the Fort Worth area. Dwight lives in Georgetown and fishes with me several times each year. Each year when Duane visits from Glen Allen, Alaska, I normally get to catch up with him. So, despite the rain this morning, we had a nice little on-the-water reunion.
We really weren’t sure if we were going to fish this morning or push off until this afternoon until about 5:30 AM this morning when Dwight and I compared notes on the weather radar and felt that we didn’t see anything we couldn’t push through.
That turned out to be a good plan as the morning bite is always longer and stronger, and the fish bit just fine through the rain event.
TODAY’S DATE: 02 April 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 20 April 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight and Duane Stone, and Duane’s grandson, Ethan Dulaney, each with a pair of Lake Belton white bass. We targeted these fish with sonar-enhanced vertical tactics this morning resulting in a 109-fish catch.
PHOTO CAPTION: As intimidating as this looked, the rate of progress from W to E and the lack of severity allowed us to delay about 25 minutes and then get in a full 4-hour trip, albeit with raingear donned for the first 2.75 hours.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The fish were in an average mode today. Not turned off, nor really truly fired up, either. We fished several areas and the white bass behavior at each was about the same. The fish would get fired up as soon as we got lures down to them, then sometimes sooner, sometimes later, they would settle back down and become reluctant.
We stuck with the white, 5/8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab all morning save for one span of time. We used the slab with the vertical “slow smoking“ tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope and the splasher to draw these fish up off the bottom.
That span of time we did not use the slabs was when we saw fish suspended in the middle third of the water column and behaving much more aggressively than at any other time in the morning. These fish were moving much more quickly as they swam parallel to the bottom in that middle third of the water column. When I observed this, I handed out rods pre-rigged with the MAL Bridge Lure and all three men were successful in catching these fish on that flashier, faster-moving bait.
Things really dropped off after the rain stopped and the sun began to poke through the clouds. That took place around 10:55, and our final 50 minutes on the water was pretty slow. Everyone had to work then for each of the additional 29 fish we landed. We wound up with a grand total of 109 fish, including 107 white bass, one white crappie, and one blue catfish.
RESULTS: 109 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-The water warmed a full 2 degrees throughout the water column this week.
-Spawned out fish are now outnumbering those fish yet to spawn in our catch.
-1.1 inches of rain fell from 5-10A
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 02 April 2026, approx. 7:20AM…
0 feet 70.2F
5 feet 69.9F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.0F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.4F
30 feet 68.1F
35 feet 68.1F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 65.9F
50 feet 63.7F
55 feet 61.7F
60 feet 60.0F
Taken on Lake Belton on 27 March 2026, approx. 7AM…
0 feet 68.4F
5 feet 68.4F
10 feet 68.2F
15 feet 68.2F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.6F
30 feet 66.3F
35 feet 64.5F
40 feet 62.9F
45 feet 62.4F
50 feet 60.8F
55 feet 58.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:55A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F
Elevation: Belton is 1.21′ low with a +0.06′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 51 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 70.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-10 all morning
Sky Condition: 100% greyed over skies with rain until 10:15, then with clearing beginning around 10:55
Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0006G- 15 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area B0171C – 20 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area B0114C – 3 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 169 – 19 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area B0066C- 14 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2414- 9 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area B0122C- 20 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 1362- 9 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
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