Two Guides for Three Girls – 73 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, March 21, I fished the final trip of the Texas spring break “season”, which extended over a two week span this year. Joining me this morning was a trio of sisters from Fort Cavazos.  Euselia (age 8), Olivia (age 8), and Audrey (age 5) Woosley were all treated by their grandfather, John Carl, to a “Kids Fish, Too!“ fishing trip.

John is a fellow fishing guide, plying the waters of Oregon for steelhead and salmon on the Rogue River: https://www.johncarlguideservice.com/

His help today was invaluable.  He practiced casting with spinning gear with the girls the day before, and then patiently coached them on keeping their technique consistent during this morning’s efforts.
These Kids Fish, Too! packages are specifically for younger kids, with a lower price point and a maximum 3.5 hour duration versus 4+ hours for standard trips.  Only the kids do the fishing, while the adults help me help the kids be successful.

 

DATE: Friday, 21March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING:  04, 08 April (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Olivia, Audrey, and Euselia Woosley were treated to a Spring Break fishing trip by their grandfather, John Carl.  The girls landed 73 fish in 3.5 hours.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I was a little concerned that the 45° air temperature at sunrise, combined with a light southerly breeze, might have the girls so cold they weren’t willing to expose their hands in order to use the rods and reels in such a manner as to enable them to catch fish. This turned out to be no concern at all, as the girls, without gloves, picked up rods and reels, started casting, and had fish in the boat literally minutes after I Spot-Locked on top of our first group of fish.
We fished for about 2 1/2 hours up shallow, throwing MAL Lures with chartreuse tails to moderately heavily schooled white bass. Once 10AM came around, this action started to weaken, so we moved out deeper and into clearer, cooler water and continued right on catching, only this time using white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye slabs fished vertically, aided by a thumper and Garmin LiveScope.
The shallow water bite yielded 50 fish; and the girls came up with another 23 fish fishing vertically, for a final tally of 73 fish, 100% of which were white bass .

RESULTS: 73 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:

  1. No helpful bird activity this morning.
  2. Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.
  3. We had the first southerly winds blow this morning following a cold front which rolled in mid-morning on Wed., 19 Mar.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F
5 feet 60.3F
10 feet 60.1F
15 feet 59.4F
20 feet 58.9F
25 feet 58.6F
30 feet 58.2F
35 feet 57.8F
40 feet 57.5F
45 feet 57.1F
50 feet 56.3F
55 feet 56.0F

 

This was the previous 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

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:15

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 2.88′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were S7-12 thru 9:45, then ramped up to S14 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 58% illumination.

GT = 105

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 190  – 34 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 381 – 12 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 172 – 4 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals 

Area vic B0172C – 10 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (at 35′ mark)

Area vic B0238G – 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

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