CLIENTS: This morning I fished with first-time guest Bob Keith of Georgetown, TX, who chaperoned his two grandsons, Keith (11) and Ben Freeman (8), who live near Denton, TX. Although Bob did not fish, but instead helped me help the boys be successful, he did closely observe how I made use of my Humminbird Apex networked to a Minn Kota Ulterra. He has a similar Humminbird Solix which he admitted he is not getting the full potential out of. We agreed an on-the-water-sonar training session is in order when the weather cools a bit.
DATE: Monday, 05 August 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 14 & 15 Aug. (AM & PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Keith Freeman, Mr. Bob Keith, and Ben Freeman with 6 of the 64 fish the boys landed on Lake Belton as August turns hot and dry.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: This week started like last week ended thanks to a return to hot, dry, high pressure weather after a brief wrinkle passed over Saturday and Sunday in the form of a mild cold front bringing some cloud cover and a light northerly breeze. The best fishing for quality fish took place in the first 80 minutes of daylight and came by covering lots of water with downriggers as these fish actively hunted in water from 12 to 26 feet deep.
After that, we found smaller, but abundant, white bass on an underwater spur in about 22 feet of water after striking out at two other locations. The boys worked through the learning curve of getting their MAL Mini blades to spin as close to bottom as possible, and wound up boating another 24 fish this way.
The white bass fishing began to wane around 9:30, so we put in another 40 minutes up shallow in pursuit of panfish. The boys used poles with bait and slipfloats to land another 14 panfish. Their tally for the morning totaled 64 fish landed.
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons. We fished MAL Minis vertically, and we live bait under slipfloats for panfish up shallow. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 64 fish caught and released.
OBSERVATIONS:
1) Two days of topwater actions occurred over the weekend, esp. on Saturday, as a very mild cold front moved over; there was an uptick in topwater action today as compared with last week, but not to the level of what took place over the weekend.
2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom and came in the first 80 minutes after first light.
3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 5:50 AM on August 5 …
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:10A
End Time: 10:10A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F
Elevation: 0.10 feet high and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow, resulting in a 0.04′ fall over the last 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: 87.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable all morning, under 3mph
Sky Condition: Wispy white clouds at under 10% on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 1% illumination.
GT = 105
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
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
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle