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