CLIENTS: This past Friday afternoon, March 28, I fished a mother – son trip with Molly and Michael Chandler.
One of Molly‘s coworkers presented her with a to redeem it in celebration of Michael’s 12th birthday happening on March 29.
We were originally scheduled to go this morning, but nearly 2 inches of sorely needed rain Fell right up until we launched, after which the weather cleared nicely to about 30% cloud cover and cooling, drying conditions.
DATE: Friday, 28 March 2025 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 08, 10, 22 April (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Molly Chandler and her 12-year-old son, Michael, waited out the rain this past Friday and made an evening trip out with me on Lake Belton. They used 3/4-oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white color) to land 111 fish including this 19.25″ hybrid striped bass.
PHOTO CAPTION: Lots of mature white bass, some spawned-out, and others yet to spawn, were in the 111-fish catch, as well.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Fishing was pretty straightforward this afternoon as Molly and Michael enjoyed the best quality catch I’ve seen come out of Belton since I began fishing it early this month. The adult fish they landed consisted of both spawned-out fish and fish which have yet to spawn.
The pair used only one lure with one technique to land 111 fish this evening. That was the white, 3/4 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab used with a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. I initially used the thumper in order to help Molly and Michael with the correct retrieve speed as the thumper doubled as a metronome. After they got the hang of retrieving at the correct speed, I switched over to the splasher, because I have begun to observe spawning shad activity which frequently brings fish up off the bottom more routinely than during the winter months.
I normally default to the 5/8-ounce slab through the winter months, but, with fish now increasingly willing to chase, and after observing multiple fish this week with large threadfin shad tails protruding from their gullets, I decided to upsize, and that choice worked out well.
Included in their 111-fish catch were 3 largemouth bass, 3 short hybrid, 1 legal hybrid, and 104 white bass up to 14.5 inches.
RESULTS: 111 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 & 3/4 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:
- Two instances of helpful bird activity this evening.
- Best catch made on Belton YTD so far as quality is concerned.
- We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…
This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:10P
End Time: 7:30P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F
Elevation: 2.88′ low (slight rise)
Water Surface Temp: 65.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-10 all afternoon
Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover w/ lite rain at start of trip, steadily clearing to 30% clouds by trip’s end
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.
GT = 60
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic B0022C – 55 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 1286/B0152G – 8 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 714 – 14 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 098/150 – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 1012 – 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