CLIENTS: This morning I welcomed aboard Thomas and Tasha Brewer for a morning of white bass fishing on Lake Belton. Thomas is a long-time employee of The HOP — a regional public transit system here in Central Texas, and Tasha is a long-time employee at TRU, the manufactured housing company located in Belton’s industrial park. Most of the Brewer’s prior white bass fishing experience has been in casting from the shoreline during the spring spawning run, so, this morning’s deep, open water fishing with a sonar-intensive approach was an eye-opener for them.
DATE: Friday, 04 October 2024 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: Next open dates: 17, 18 Oct. (weekday AMs and PMs), 19 Oct. (Saturday AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Tasha Brewer took our largest fish of the morning. This hybrid striped bass struck here White Tornado (3/4 oz.) fished with a sawtooth method in 42′ just after a wind shift in the late morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Thomas and Tasha Brewer, each with a pair of solid Lake Belton white bass. Although working the MAL Original vertically accounted for a great number of fish, the White Tornado worked horizontally put better quality fish in the boat this morning.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
We encountered yet another solid morning of high-numbers fishing for white bass on Lake Belton. The fish started biting just as the sun began to shine directly on the water (around 7:55) and never quit through our end time of 11:45 AM.
Thomas and Tasha put 144 fish in the boat doing nothing but working MAL Originals with chartreuse tails vertically up off bottom. We began the morning in 25′ and moved steadily deeper as the sun brightened, ending up in 42′.
After a great run of vertical fishing, Tasha’s wrist got sore, so, we took a bit of a break, during which I gave Thomas a downrigging demo since he expressed interest in the device. He landed a pair of triples in short order, taking our tally to 150 fish.
After that, I spotted some light topwater action out over open water just as the wind both shifted and increased, now coming N11. Thomas and I stood side-by-side for the final 50 minutes of the trip and added a final 32 fish to our count by working white, 3/4 oz. White Tornados with a sawtooth method in 42′ for fish which were uber-aggressive and shading adult shad throughout the water column.
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 or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We smoked MAL Originals vertically for 150 fish, then “sawtoothed” White Tornados for another 32 fish. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 182 fish caught and released, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, 1 blue catfish, 13 short hybrid, and 166 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; these fish are there to stay, likely until the water temps drop below 60F.
2) After the wind shifted NW to N and the velocity spiked suddenly from 7 to 11mph, some widespread topwater action began to crop up over open water in multiple locations. Mature 3+ inch shad were the target.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:30 AM on Friday, 04 Oct….
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 1.50′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .02′ fall in last 24 hours (w/ inflow from Proctor)
Water Surface Temp: 80.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NW0-7.
Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a light blue sky.
Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.
GT = 5
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