Family Tradition Part 2 of 2 – 69 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, June 25, we fished Part 2 of the Oliver family tradition reunion fishing trip on Lake Belton.

This morning, “Papa“ Joe Oliver was joined by his daughter, Amber Pugh, and Amber‘s three kids, Ben, Beau, and Addie.

TODAY’S DATE: 25 June 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 16, 27-31 July 2026 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: “Papa” Joe Oliver, and Beau, Addie, Amber, and Ben Pugh.

PHOTO CAPTION: We set aside the last portion of the trip to pursue catfish. Although bite detection and hook setting was challenging, we still fooled and landed a few of these whiskered rascals.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

With Beau (age 12), and Addie (age 10) having fairly limited experience at the kind of fishing we did with their cousins yesterday targeting white bass and hybrid stripper, and knowing that they would not stay interested in one thing for a long while, I tried to mix it up a little this morning and set them up for success with some “instant gratification“ panfishing up in shallow water right off the bat.

Under low light conditions, the two of them fished bait near shallow, visible cover under slip floats and landed a total of 30 sunfish including longears, bluegills, and greens.

With a 7:15 AM start, we closed out this hour-long sunfishing chapter right around the time the white bass were just getting going yesterday morning. We put in right at two hours’ worth of effort for white bass and wound up landing 34 whites, 1 freshwater drum, and 1 largemouth bass. The kids actually did better at this than I thought they would, and I credit that to how engaged the Garmin LiveScope tends to keep kids. Instead of just trusting or hoping fish are going to grab their lure, they can actually know with confidence there are fish present, and can see how their own solid technique results in a positive response from these game fish.

The entire party fished MAL Dense Lures (with silver bodies) using the smoking tactic to present their lures in front of the forward swim path of suspended schools of white bass actively patrolling in the area for shad.

By the three hour mark, Beau and Addie were beginning to lose focus. It was now a good time to head to the baited area we’d prepared early on to fish for catfish using punch bait.

Just as was the case with their cousins yesterday, the four less experience members of the party had a pretty steep learning curve on getting their bait adjusted just off bottom, detecting a bite, and then setting the hook at the proper time. Even so, we wound up landing three catfish before wrapping up around 11:15. These included one blue cat and two channel cat.

We closed out the morning with a total of 69 fish landed.

RESULTS: 69 fish, all caught and released by clients

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: 

OBSERVATIONS:
-Persistent morning clouds have kept any early morning bite from developing for quite some time now. Peak bite has consistently been ~8-10A for the past several weeks, today included.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 17 June 2026, approx. 6:20AM…

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