Faith, Food, Fish, & Fun – 39 Fish w/ The Yawns
CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, June 3, I fished with Grant and Sarah Yawn from the Salado area. Grant had fished with me once before on the occasion of one of his four kids’ birthdays, and Sarah joined me for the first time. We had a lot in common, so our conversation while fishing was very engaging.
Like me, this couple loves the Lord, BBQ, and the outdoors and we got to talk about all those things and more on a very uncrowded Lake Belton.
TODAY’S DATE: 03 June 2026 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 23 June 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Grant and Sarah Yawn took a break from the kids and spent some time with one another in Creation this morning sampling the hybrid fishery, the white bass fishery, and the catfish fishery.
PHOTO CAPTION: White bass have been moving and suspended ever since the area-wide deluge two Tuesdays ago. They are aggressive, but spread far and wide.
PHOTO CAPTION: Blue cats and channels both came into a baited area this morning, providing over 90 minutes of steady action on doughbait.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
We got going a little earlier this morning than we have been of late as between six and nine last night a “back door cold front“ approach from the northeast bringing winds, thunder, lightning, and some spotty rain showers. This served to change the wind direction to east-northeasterly this morning and made it a lot more comfortable to be outdoors, both temperature-wise and humidity-wise.
The low-light top water action we often experience this time of year has been late in coming and I thought that little cold front might be the trigger that caused things to change, but that was not the case. We invested perhaps 20 minutes up in water under 25 feet deep running downriggers while observing for topwater fish and found nothing. From that point until 9:30 we fished for suspended schools of mixed white bass and hybrid striped bass generally found between 30 and 45 feet deep over deeper bottoms with these fish being anywhere from 10 to 20 feet up off bottom.
These very loose schools contained small groups of fish, perhaps 3 to 8 or 9 and number, all just using the same general vicinity. The splasher did help to draw them in, and LiveScope helped with precise bait placement Whenever fish were spotted coming in from the far left or right, my two anglers prepared to time the rise of their lure to put it right in front of the fishes’ direction of travel by about a 2 foot span.
In this manner, Grant and Sarah landed exactly 20 fish on the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail before things started to slow down substantially around 9:30. With an hour or so left to go in the morning, we returned to an area I had baited prior to the Yawn’s arrival. We Spot Locked atop baited area, fished tightlines with doughbait and landed an additional 19 fish consisting of a 60/40 mix of blue cat and yellow catfish.
We wrapped up our morning around 10:55 with exactly 39 fish boated.
RESULTS: 39 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY:
OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE is running water through the Belton Dam at a rate of 412 CFS.
-No helpful bird action today.
-Lake Belton is now falling after reaching a high of 1.87′ above full pool following the heavy rains on 26/27 May. It is now down to 1.80′ high.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 02 June 2026, approx. 6:35AM…
0 feet 82.5F
5 feet 82.6F
10 feet 82.1F
15 feet 81.5F
20 feet 80.2F
25 feet 76.6F
30 feet 74.8F
35 feet 73.3F
40 feet 71.7F
45 feet 70.3F
50 feet 67.4F
55 feet 64.4F
60 feet 62.0F
65 feet 60.6F
Taken on Lake Belton on 24 May 2026, approx. 6:25AM…
0 feet 79.9F
5 feet 80.2F
10 feet 79.2F
15 feet 78.8F
20 feet 78.1F
25 feet 76.6F
30 feet 74.7F
35 feet 73.3F
40 feet 70.8F
45 feet 68.2F
50 feet 66.4F
55 feet 63.3F
60 feet 61.4F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 11A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: Belton is 1.80′ high with a -0.01′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 411 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 82.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NE6-9 all morning
Sky Condition: 50-60% thin white cloud coverage on light blue skies for the first 3 hours, then going fully grey (but thin) thereafter
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 90% illumination
GT = 80
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 2469 – 7 whites, 2 hybrid on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area 2481 – 10 white bass on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area 2480 – 1 white on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area JUNCAT001- 19 catfish (60/40 blues/channels) on doughbait
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