Day: March 12, 2025

Woods and Water Family Fellowship of Salado – 120 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Monday morning, March 10, I fished the first of a string of spring break trips.  Joining me were Tim Worden and Murray Springer. I recently met both fellows while attending the Woods and Water family fellowship, which meets monthly at the Cedar knob Baptist Church west of Salado.

 

DATE: Monday, 10 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 18, 25, 26 March (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Murray Springer and Tim Worden teamed up for a 120 fish morning on Lake Belton during this Spring Break season.  Slowly warming water had fish biting despite the clear, calm conditions.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Our target this morning was white bass, and, despite pretty tough conditions in the form of clear, calm winds, we did well on quantity, but not so much on quality. There are just a lot of small fish making up the catch right now. This is the third time I’ve seen a majority of the catch consist of mostly small fish.
We fished six areas this morning, at each one we used the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in white and in the 5/8-ounce size with a slow smoking tactic in conjunction with the thumper to draw fish upwards off the bottom, get them to pursue, and then had them overtake and get hooked after just a few handle turns from the bottom. The bite started right at sunrise and maintained at a steady pace through noon. It was only at 11:40 AM that the wind begin to blow, and even then, it was only at 5 or 6 mph.
The tally on this trip was 120 fish landed which included white bass, hybrid striped bass, blue catfish, and largemouth bass. At no time was bird activity helpful in locating fish, although some gulls are still on the water.

RESULTS: 120 fish, all caught and released

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG:  Click here for tutorial

 

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

  1. No helpful bird activity.
  2. Fish were feeding, but not aggressively, thanks to the clear, cold, calm conditions
  3. We had a lot of smallish fish in our catch as often happens when the spawn kicks in and adult fish head to the tributaries

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F
5 feet 55.6F
10 feet 55.6F
15 feet 55.6F
20 feet 55.6F
25 feet 55.6F
30 feet 55.6 F
35 feet 54.0F
40 feet 52.8F
45 feet 51.3F
50 feet 50.8F
55 feet 50.8F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:00A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F

Elevation: 2.57′ low

Water Surface Temp: 53.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable all morning until 11:40 when a light S5 breeze kicked in.

Sky Condition: Clear, bright skies all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 88% illumination.

GT = 50

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1077 – 3 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 826 – 13 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 154- 2 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1909- 16 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic B0171G – 44 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1743- 42 fish slow smoking slabs

 

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