CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, March 19, I fished with three generations aboard as the Texas public school Spring Break season continues. Joining me was Dr. Jim Wood, his daughter, Allison Bailey, and her two kids, Jack, age 15, and Charlotte, age 13.
Jim, a surgeon and wound care specialist is retired and resides in McGregor, Texas. Allison is an assistant principal up in the DFW area.
DATE: Thursday, 19 March 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 27 March, 04 April (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 29 March (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jack, Allison, and Charlotte Bailey, and Dr. Jim Wood (the kids’ grandpa), all with white bass taken on an incoming spring cold front. You know you’ve done alright as a fishing guide if you can get a teenaged young man to smile in a family photo (even if no teeth are showing)!!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The big question hanging over this morning‘s trip was “What was the wind going to do to us or for us?”.
A dry cold front was due to move in this morning, complete with a wind shift from west-southwest to northwest, along with a significant increase in wind velocity.
My plan was to catch as many fish as we could in shallow water before the increasing light level killed the shallow bite and forced us to deep water .
My concern was that a limited number, if any, productive deep water spots would remain accessible if the winds got to the velocities which were forecast.
As it turned out, we were able to enjoy a full three hours of shallow water bite today, taking our fish count to 110 fish by the time the sun, filtered by heavy wave action, pushed the shallow fish deep and killed that bite. This shallow bite lasted about an hour longer than usual, thanks to the wave action dimming the light — that’s what the wind did for us.
Every last one of those shallow water fish came on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail worked with the sawtooth method described below. Once we were forced to, we changed tactics and relied on the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab and my thumping device to attract fish. Garmin LiveScope helped everyone see their lures ascent and decent, as well as fish reaction, and helped them know when to continue retrieving whenever fish pursued their lures.
I looked over three areas finding fish at all three of them, however, the fish were quite sluggish at the first area. We had better success with fish willing to come up off the bottom and pursue for quite some distance at the last two areas we fished. If you read these reports looking to glean some wisdom, note this: not investing time into fish which show initial disinterest is a wise move; rarely do they get more interested than they initially are when you first get a lure down to them.
I felt fortunate these fish were present, as these were about the only areas I could practically run to with the winds being as high as they were at this point in the morning (easily 20mph with gusting). That’s what the wind did to us.
When all was said and done, my multigenerational crew had landed 145 fish, including 143 white bass, 1 hybrid, and 1 largemouth, on a pretty dicey weather day. Whatever the high winds cost us, the changing pressure with the incoming cold front more than made up for.
RESULTS: 145 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: 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:
- No helpful bird activity this morning.
- Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.
- We were on the incoming side of a dry cold front this morning which boosted our catch.
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: 7:45A
End Time: 11:45
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F
Elevation: 2.77′ low
Water Surface Temp: 58.3F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were W6-8 for about 70 minutes until the lead edge of a dry cold front came through, shifting winds to NW16-20 with higher gusts
Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 165 – 58 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals
Area vic B0116C / 526 – 42 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals
Area vic B0114C – 10 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals
Area vic B0238G – 22 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (at 35′ mark)
Area vic 0150 – 13 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye 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
