More Shallow MAL Lure Action as Water Continues to Warm – 123 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This past Thursday morning, March 13, I fished with long-time clients and friends, Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen. Both are retired and fish several times per month. They are both fans of the MAL Lure and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, hence, there was no learning curve whatsoever as we got down to catching fish.

Sylvia is a master gardener and I like to fool with blackberries, so we got to kick that topic around a bit before Sylvia spent her forthcoming Saturday at the annual plant sale at the Bell County Expo Center.

DATE: Thursday, 13 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  25, 26 March (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen cashed in on the longest shallow water bite I’ve experienced year-to-date.  They cast MAL Originals in under 20 feet of water to take 100 of their 123 fish; the balance came out of deeper water on slabs where the water temperature is cooler and the tactics have to be slower to get bit.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to the extended warming trend we have enjoyed this week, we experienced a two-hour-long shallow water bite this morning during which all but about 10 of the fish landed came on MAL Originals worked horizontally using the sawtooth method.
As I have noted previously this week, there was still a lot of small fish in the mix today, but the ratio of larger fish increased.
Once the shallow water bite shut down, we moved to deeper, clearer water and found additional fish in 36 to 38 feet of water.
For this situation, we geared up with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in white color and 5/8-ounce size. We worked these with a slow smoking tactic, aided greatly by the use of Garmin LiveScope.
The fish shut down very obviously right at noon today. By that time, Tommy and Silvia had landed 123 fish.

RESULTS: 123 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 and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

  1. No helpful bird activity this morning
  2. The warming water is increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions, the shallow water bite gets a bit longer each day.
  3. Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.

 

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: 58F

Elevation: 2.63′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F 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 = 95

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 165 – 15 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 163- 7 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 169 – 64 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals (2 hops)

Area vic 415 – 14 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 1815B0000G – 16 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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