CLIENTS: This morning I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip wherein only the kids did the fishing.  Joining me were Jose Luis Guerrero and Gary Emory, the boys’ grandfathers, and Matias, Isaac, and Micah Guerrero.

DATE: Wednesday, 04 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  12 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    Back row from left: the boys’ paternal and maternal grandfathers – Jose Luis Guerrero and Gary Emory; front row from left: Matias, Isaac, and Micah Guerrero.  With the boys (only) fishing today, they netted 110 fish in just 3.5 hours, and did it in the rain!

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  MAGNUM WHITE!  Micah latched onto this 17 1/8″ white bass with his MAL Heavy worked in about 32 feet of water.  This is the largest white bass any client of mine has landed since January of 2024 when another young man landed the current Junior Angler C&R lake record, taping 17.25 inches.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

 

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After soaking rains fell for about 2 hours in the early morning between 3 and 5 AM, it looked like it was going to dry out even though cloud cover would remain in place.  However, after getting going at 6:45AM, we no sooner stopped at our first fishing location than the skies opened once again and doused us all.

T think the boys hardly noticed, though, as they immediately got onto fish and stayed on fish for a full 3-plus hours this morning.  The best of the bite this morning took place up until 8:15.  After that, the fish got less aggressive and we had to move more often to stay in the fish, but, they really did not shut down until about 10:05A.

By this time, the boys had landed a grand total of 110 fish, including two largemouth bass and 108 white bass.

Every last fish this morning was taken on the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail and silver blade worked with a “smoking” tactic.

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. No bird action or topwater action spotted today.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 2.14′ low with a 0.12′ rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 80.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady NNE11-12

Sky Condition: Fully grey skies all morning with some form of precip. over the entire trip

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 65% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

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

CLIENTS: This evening, Tuesday, June 3, I fished with returning guest, Mr. Bob Keith, accompanied by his two grandsons, Zach and Keith Freeman, ages 13 and 11, respectively.

My preference in the summer months is to avoid fishing on afternoon/evenings for several reasons, but this was all my schedule and the boys’ schedule allowed for during the timeframe they were visiting with their grandfather.

As afternoon trips often do, this trip started slowly, but ended well.

DATE: Tuesday, 03 June 2025 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  12 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    From left: Keith and Zach Freeman and their grandfather, Bob Keith, with a few of the 87 fish this trio nabbed from Lake Belton on an evening where the fishing was consolidated into a short span of time as the sun’s light began to dim down.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

 

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I thought we might beat the trend today as I found a nice group of active white bass on bottom in about 30 feet of water about 15 minutes before this crew showed up at 4:30 PM. I picked them up, took care of all the admin. details, and got everyone ready to fish, but, upon returning to the fish I had just left biting, we found nothing.

We generally struggled right on through about 7 PM when we were able to pick up about 10 fish in one area as I saw white bass begin to make a move as the evening sun grew dim.  During our struggles, we successfully found fish, but just could not get them to “fire up” and do anything more than half-heartedly chase our baits for a short distance before just giving up.

So, it was now after 7 PM and our grand total now stood at 14 fish.

I made another, final move and although I think it was more about the time of day than the location we went to, we began to encounter the first somewhat aggressive fish of the entire trip. Between roughly 7:30 and 8:50, this crew would put exactly 73 additional fish in the boat to bring the night’s total to 87. I suppose when you’re dealing with kids, it’s better to start slow and end well than vice versa!

The last 38 fish of the evening came from a school of topwater fish of all sizes (from 1 to 3 years of age) which we spotted in the distance as a pair of blue herons repeatedly showed interest in this particular patch of water.  I simply had everyone line up abreast of one another on the starboard gunwale and got the boat to within casting distance of these fish.  I had everyone lob their MAL Heavy Lures (which were a bit too heavy for this application, but, I didn’t want to waste valuable time changing over to MAL Originals) completely over the school and then close their bails and start reeling as soon as the lures hit the water to keep them from sinking below the fish.

My parting words to the boys as we went our separate ways in the parking lot was, “Well, that was surely a lesson in how persistence pays off.”.

Our final tally of 87 fish consisted of 85 white bass, one freshwater drum, and short hybrid striped bass.

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1. This afternoon’s action was consolidated into a roughly 110 minute span which ended at 8:50pm.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:30P

End Time: 8:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 91F

Elevation: 1.77′ low with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 81.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SSE13-14 through 6:30P, then dropping to SSE11-12

Sky Condition: 80% white-grey cloud cover on an otherwise hazy sky with heavy grey cloud banks to the NW

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 55% illumination.

GT = 155

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

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