Day: March 15, 2025

Can You Raise Pigs in the Basement? — 79 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Wednesday evening, March 12, I conducted a “Kids Fish, Too!“ Trip for 13 year old Fisher Eary and his buddy, 12-year-old Branson Tomastik. The boys live a few minutes from one another in the town of Academy, Texas, where Fisher is involved in FFA raising pigs.

This trip was a gift to Fisher from his Aunt Audra and Uncle Cody on the occasion of his confirmation.

The boys had a sharp sense of humor for their age. When I asked Branson what he wanted to do when he grew up, without batting an eye, he said, “I think I just want to go live in my mother‘s basement.“.

DATE: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 (PM)

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

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Branson Tomastik and Fisher Eary worked diligently for 3.5 hours to put together a 79-fish catch using white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Although our target species was white bass, we also picked up a few largemouth and bluecats, as well as a few undersized hybrid striped bass.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We got going around 3:45 PM and fished until just after 7:15 PM. As I met up with my crew, the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of the area between Interstate 35 and Interstate 45. Lake Belton was on the extreme western side of the watch box.  Hence, I took a good hard look at the wind and weather forecast, as well as weather radar before we began our fishing in earnest.
As it turned out, as the dry line moved east and over us, this weather-maker spurred the fishing on. We enjoyed a westerly breeze, gray cloud cover, and a solid bite right up until the line of clouds passed off to the east. Once the winds died, and the skies cleared, the bite died with it.
While the fish were cooperating, the boys picked up 79 fish, every single one of which came on a white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.
At no time this evening were the numerous gulls on the lake helpful in identifying the location of biting fish.
The boys catch consisted of mainly smallish white bass, sub-legal hybrid, a few largemouth bass, and one blue cat.

RESULTS: 79 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 Slabs to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

  1. The warming water it increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions.
  2. A dryline passed from W. to E. during our time on the water generating a severe thunderstorm warning for Central Texas between I-35 and I-45 to the east of us.  The timespan from the arrival of the first clouds through the elevated winds which followed made for a strong bite, however, once skies cleared and the winds calmed, the bite died right along with them.

 

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: 3:45P

End Time: 7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation: 2.61′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SW7-8 prior to the dryline’s passage; they went W16 with gusts as the line moved over, then fell off to calm thereafter.

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first 2.5 hours; once a dryline passed over, skies cleared rapidly.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171G – 19 fish slow smoking slabs  

Area vic 1177 – 15 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 081 – 17 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 2064 – 28 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