Earnest Efforts – 51 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, September 4, I fished with a very nice family from the Round Rock area. Jay and Dawn Anderson contacted me early in the week to see if they could put together a birthday fishing trip for their son, Westin, who will turn 11 on September 7. I was a bit reluctant at first to book on the front end of a warm, holiday weekend, but, very few organizations actually had this day off, settling instead for a three-day weekend, including Labor Day, Monday.

TODAY’S DATE: 04 September 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 16, 17, 29, 30 Sep. 2026

NEXT OPEN AFTERNOON DATES: 16, 17, 29, 30 Sep. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dawn, Westin, and Jay Anderson caught white bass early and catfish late to put together a nice catch of 51 fish on their first trip out with me, and their first visit to Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: We enjoyed a nice mix of 31 catfish caught on punchbait, including both blue and channel cat. The three keys were 1) bait placement, 2) bite detection, and 3) hooksetting.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Although there was the normal Friday uptick in boat traffic, it was still pretty light for the front-end of Labor Day weekend. The remnants of Tropical Storm Edouard continued to negatively impact the fishery this morning. From around 3:30 AM until 6:50 AM, we had light showers throughout the area finally passing in a line off to our west just as the skies were brightening. I had originally scheduled us for a 6:35 AM start, but we delayed about 15 minutes to keep everyone from getting uncomfortably damp.

The fairly thick, gray cloud cover, which accompanied this rainfall also got the fishing off to a later start, although once the white bass started feeding, they fed a bit longer than normal as the skies continued to stay dark.

We wound up catching exactly 20 white bass on Pet Spoons trailing behind three-armed umbrella rigs set at depths just above the depth the fish were using as seen primarily on 2-D Sonar.

After the white bass fishing deteriorated, we invested the remainder of the trip into catfishing. We hit three previously chummed areas and used punchbait on treble hooks to draw strikes. Everyone went through the normal learning curve on getting their baits properly adjusted, detecting bites, and setting the hook instantaneously, but, after that was all behind them, my crew did pretty well putting exactly 31 catfish in the boat, including both blue cats and channel cats.

Weston really impressed me in how earnestly he wanted to catch fish. Whenever he missed a catfish bite he would ask me for an evaluation on what I may have seen him do or not do so he could adjust his approach on the next bite. I tried to provide the feedback he sought, and he did well for a not-quite-11-year-old.

 I am going to sit it out during the Labor Day weekend craziness, then report to you from out of state next week during some travels to the north.

RESULTS: 51 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:
-Our 4-day-long weather anomaly continued today with 100% moderate grey cloud coverage, reduced temps, and a southeasterly wind, plus about 3 hours of light rainfall from ~4-7A, all thanks to Tropical Storm Edouard which made landfall on the TX-LA border Tuesday and was slowly moving up I-45 toward the DFW area.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 03 Sep. 2026, approx 6:05AM…

Taken on Lake Belton on 26 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:15AM ..

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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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle