CLIENTS: This Saturday morning I was joined by the Tribby family of Kempner, Texas, — all first-time guests. This trip was in celebration of 13-year-old Dylan’s birthday which took place just a few days ago. Dave is a retired U.S. Army Chemical Corps officer who served 23 years. He and his wife, Danielle, run Shangri-Paw dog daycare in Harker Heights, TX. (https://www.shangri-paw.com/)
DATE: Saturday, 21 September 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: Next open dates: 23, 24, 26 (PMs), 25, 27 Sep. (AMs and PMs)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Danielle, Dave, and Dylan Tribby with part of their 151 fish, multi-species catch made on Lake Belton. 150 of the 151 fish were caught on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
As I’ve previously reported, fishing has gotten much easier and much more productive ever since the brief cold snap we experienced for a 4-day run, beginning on Sept. 6.
As I find fish using deeper bottom topographies more and more, the shallow, low-light bite has really slacked off. I started a bit later this morning and really limited the downrigging component of the trip, and was glad I did, as we only took one fish on downriggers, with the deepwater vertical bite starting around 8A, well after the sun rose.
Once we caught our first fish with vertical “smoking” tactics out deep, the action continued to build and stayed solid right through around 10:40. The fish then “pumped the brakes” at that point, as evidenced by their reluctance to venture as high up off the bottom as they had during the peak bite, and as evidenced by the much slower swimming speed they began to exhibit. At the peak, schools of fish would run the 24′ swath of bottom covered by my Garmin LiveScope in zoomed-in downward mode in a matter of seconds; as the bite began to die, the fish barely moved horizontally at all.
150 of our 151 fish came on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail. Fishing was very straightforward once we located them.
The lake was quite busy due to the Fishing for Freedom event taking place today, but, those anglers were generally fishing in much shallower water.
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 smoked MAL Originals vertically. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 151 fish caught and released, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 blue catfish, 2 freshwater drum, and 147 white bass
OBSERVATIONS:
1) The number of bottom-oriented schools of white bass now found in deep water AND showing a willingness to remain stationary long enough to allow for presentations to be made for substantial lengths of time have increased sharply; it looks like these fish are there to stay.
2) Zero topwater action (not surprisingly, thanks to a full moon earlier this week).
3) No shallow water, low-light downrigging action (again, not surprisingly, thanks to a full moon and the fact that white bass are making great use of deep water now).
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:35 AM on Thursday, September 19…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:05A
End Time: 11:05A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F
Elevation: 1.17′ low and falling slowly with a 52 cfs flow; .05′ fall in last 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: 83.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S8-10.
Sky Condition: ~15% white cloud cover on a light blue sky.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 84% illumination.
GT = 35
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