CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, April 2, I fished with returning guests, Brandon and Wendy Hunt. I always enjoy hosting this very outdoorsy couple and comparing notes on our latest Central Texas exploits in the outdoors. Besides that, they follow Christ, own and love dogs, and eat lots of meat, so we have a bunch in common!
DATE: Wednesday, 02 April 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 10, 29 April (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 03 May (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brandon and Wendy Hunt got windblown and rained on, but they also got a bunch of fish today — 106 in all, while fishing silver, 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs vertically in 16 to over 40 feet of water.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Weather was a bit of a concern today with the high winds that ramped up yesterday afternoon continuing into the first hour of this morning‘s trip before tapering off. Still, the winds remain sufficiently high to move the water and allow for solid angling opportunities, and the gray cloud cover was icing on the cake. We did endure about an hour long drizzle just prior to wrapping up around 11:30.
The entire time the wind blew hard, we were able to find fish, but not interested, aggressive fish which we could catch with any consistency. Whatever happened in the weather that caused the winds to relent, that same thing served as a trigger for the fish to begin feeding. With only six fish in the boat after our first hour on the water, we quickly made up for lost time boating exactly 100 additional fish in the three hours followed. Being a strong believer in the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.“ I kept right on using a smoking tactic with the silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. We used this tactic in as little as 16 feet of water and in as much as 40 feet, and it worked equally well regardless.
Well tuned sonar was the key to finding fish today, as there was no bird activity, and any shad spawning activity which existed was masked by the high winds pounding the shoreline during that lowlight period in which the spawning typically takes place.
When all was said and done, the Hunts landed 106 fish, including one small largemouth bass, three short hybrid, and 102 white bass.
RESULTS: 106 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 silver 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs exclusively to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
- No bird action.
- Threadfin shad spawn continues to build.
- Strong winds coincided with a weak low-light bite this morning; as the winds died down to 13-15mph, the bite began late in the 8 o’clock hour.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 02 April…
This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F
Elevation: 2.95′ low
Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 at trip’s start, slowly building to SE12
Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for the entire trip.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 15% illumination.
GT = 90
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 1579 – 6 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 097- 44 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic B0193C – 22 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (2 hops)
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