FATHER-AND-SON SPRING BREAK TIME FOR THE HARGROVES — 101 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On the morning of Wednesday, March 12, I fished with the father and son team of Corey and Hunter Hargrove of Academy, Texas. Hunter participates in FFA where he raises rabbits and is involved with mechanical restoration.  He is a senior in high school want to be admitted to Texas A&M.

Corey, an A&M grad, pursued fish and wildlife studies in college but went on to become a railroad man, currently working as an engineer. Corey bid on a gift certificate for this fishing trip which I donated to the Academy FFA earlier this year. Corey previously fished for hybrids with me some years ago.

DATE: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 (AM)

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

PHOTO CAPTION: Hunter Hargrove picked up the largest of the 101 fish he and his father landed on their Spring Break 2025 fishing trip. This hybrid striped bass struck Hunter’s MAL Original with chartreuse tail retrieved horizontally and very close to the bottom.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Corey and Hunter with a few of the mature white bass they landed.  The pair caught fish up shallow early with horizontal tactics, then in deeper, clearer, cooler water using slower vertical tactics in the latter half of the morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning‘s weather was the best fishing weather we’ve had thus far this week. We had a breeze and some thin, but complete, gray cloud cover for about half of the morning.  Under these conditions, the fish stayed shallow longer than over the past few clear, cooler mornings. In the first half of the trip, father and son boated most of their fish casting MAL Originals with chartreuse tails into water less than 20 feet deep and retrieved those lures using a sawtooth method.
Once the skies began to clear, we sought out deeper, clearer water and finished out the trip working white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in both 5/8-ounce and 3/4-ounce sizes.
During those first two hours, one of the three areas we located fish at was indicated by the presence of about eight gulls feeding on shad driven to the surface by white bass. This was the first episode of helpful bird activity I’ve witness in quite some time.
When all was said and done this morning, Corey and Hunter wound up with 101 fish landed in right at four hours’ time.

RESULTS: 101 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. and 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

  1. One occurrence of helpful bird activity in the first half of the morning
  2. The warming water it increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F
5 feet 59.6F
10 feet 59.0F
15 feet 58.6F
20 feet 57.4F
25 feet 56.9F
30 feet 56.5F
35 feet 55.6F
40 feet 54.9F
45 feet 54.7F
50 Feet 53.6F
55 feet 53.2F

 

This was the previous 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: 8A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 2.61′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were manageable all morning, SSW8-11

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first hour, then quickly cleared during the second hour to cloudless by the start of the third hour

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 40

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0172C – 15 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 788 – 16 fish on slabs, then another 7 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0108GC – 27 fish slow smoking slabs (2 hops)

Area vic 2041 – 10 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic B0056G – 26 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

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