CLIENTS: This morning I fished with returning guests Kelvin and Angela Gladden, and their adult sons, Kelvin and Tevin. After poor results scouting for white bass on Stillhouse this past week, I continued fishing Lake Belton with the Gladdens this morning. Autumn was in the air as a stiff north wind ushered in cooler, dryer air which will nudge us toward better fall fishing.
DATE: Saturday, 07 September 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 10-12, 16-19 Sep.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tevin, Angela, Kelvin, and Kelvin Gladden with a few of the white bass they took using downrigging and smoking tactics. In addition to 93 white bass, there were 6 short hybrid, 1 largemouth, and 2 smallmouth included in their catch.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Generally speaking, fishing on an incoming cold front is better than average; that said, timing is the key. That span of time after any storms occur as the front’s lead edge arrives and until the wind velocity peaks is typically the best of the best. Fortunately, we got in on that this morning.
We got right down to business using downriggers to cover water and to find and catch fish. We fished two areas via downrigging with #12 Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs and boated 42 fish before 8AM. The 6 fish we took before the sun’s direct rays struck the water were shallow and orienting to the bottom; the 36 fish we took after the sun rose were suspended at or below 25′ and we got them with the balls set at ~24′.
Around 8:20A, the fish we found began to dissipate. I got back on fish around 9A, after stopping three different times in unsuccessful attempts to draw fish in with the splasher.
Around 9A, we picked up five more white bass via downrigging with balls set to 28′, but, as I ran over a breakline, I saw fish on bottom in as much as 36′. We put the ‘rigging gear away and spent the rest of the trip Spot-Locked atop three distinct schools of bottom-hugging white bass, all within an eighth of a mile of one another. The splasher definitely worked its magic to draw and hold these fish, and, although the MAL Original caught fish on the first few drops at each location when the fish were most fired up, the MAL Mini continued to put fish in the boat once they got finnicky. We used a smoking tactic supported by Garmin LiveScope.
This last scenario was encouraging, as it represented the first time after summertime patterns kicked in that I’ve seen fish return to bottom in deep water and stay put long enough to fish for with a positive outcome. This is a big deal which most anglers wouldn’t recognize nor see the significance of.
Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged with #12 Pet Spoons. We smoked MAL Originals and Minis vertically. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 102 fish caught and released, including 2 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 6 short hybrids, and 93 white bass
OBSERVATIONS:
1) No topwater action, although I was not fishing in areas where I’d anticipate topwater action would materialize.
2) We fished with rising wind velocity as a cold front passed last night and as high pressure began to build in today.
3) Found the first bottom-oriented schools of white bass I’ve encountered since the summertime patterns kicked in “camped out” for more than just a few minutes at a time. We were able to Spot-Lock on them, present to them, and draw responses repeatedly.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:35 AM on Saturday, September 7 …
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:50A
End Time:11:00a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F
Elevation: 0.85′ low and rising slowly with a 52 cfs flow; .03′ rise in last 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: 83.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NNW11-14
Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 17% illumination.
GT = 0
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