CLIENTS: This evening, Tuesday, June 10, weather dictated that we fish an evening trip, after an eastbound storm system dropped a third of an inch of rain over a two hour span between 9 and 11 AM this morning, complete with thunder, lightning, and high, gusty winds.

Joining me this evening were long-time, returning guests spanning three generations: Joe Oliver, his son, Corey, and Corey’s three kids, Cullen, Presley (15 year old twins), and Harper (age 13).This multigenerational summertime fishing trip has been a tradition since the kids were in elementary school.

DATE: Tuesday, 10 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  19 June (AM) 

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

PHOTO CAPTION:    Under the light of a nearly full moon, these fish, most taken just minutes prior, waited until almost sunset to become active.  We found them by downrigging and worked them horizontally until they drove shad all the way to the surface and gave their position away by feeding on the top.  That’s Corey, Presley, Cullen, Joe, and Harper Oliver.

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 have consistently held that February and June are the two toughest months of fishing all year, and evening trips in June are especially difficult. It just seems that the bite gets consolidated into just a short span of time stretching just over an hour right around sunset.

This evening was no exception. I cut an hour off the trip as it was knowing that we would experience a slow bite, but even then, the action was slow right up until about 7:50 PM.

Up to that point, we had only landed seven fish.  These first seven fish were taken on MAL Heavy fished vertically with a smoking tactic.

I used the downriggers for the very first time this season to put 13 additional fish in the boat before some light top water action broke out around 8:20.  I had twin ‘riggers working, each with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons, hence, 6 baits in the water.  I kept the baits 2-3 feet above the fish wherever they showed on sonar by having the kids standing at the downriggers with fingers on the keypad ready to make quick adjustments.

Once the topwater materialized, I set the downriggers aside and relied on the very brief review of horizontal casting I did with my three younger clients earlier in the trip to get us through the remainder of the trip.

By putting all five folks abreast of one another either on the port side or the starboard side, I knew no one would get hooked accidentally, but the potential for getting lines crossed did exist and reared its ugly head just a few times. In our last 25 minutes on the water, everyone caught repeatedly and took our count up to 44 by landing a final 24 fish from out of the light top water action.

Everyone threw MAL Heavy Lures, and manually closed the bail and immediately began reeling as soon as the bait hit the water in order to keep it from sinking below the fish.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. Scant “last light” topwater action spotted today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:45P

End Time: 8:53P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 1.03′ low with a 0.03′ rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady NE5-6

Sky Condition: Hazy skies with 60% light grey cloud coverage.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

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