CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, July 9, I conducted the seventh SKIFF trip of the 2025 season. Joining me this morning was the family of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Norman Bretz — Mrs. Natalie Bretz and her three children, Jayden (16), Adyson (14), and Logan (13). The Bretz family resides in Copperas Cove and await SFC Bretz’s return from southwest Asia, after which he will retire after 20 years of service, primarily in the Cavalry.
TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 10 July 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Wednesday, 30 July (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 02 August (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Adyson, Logan, and Jayden Bretz with some hard-earned white bass caught on a day with a lot working against us, including rising flood water, a high flow of water through the dam, a full moon, and cloudless skies.
FIND CORK RIGS & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
It was a tough, tough morning. With very little cloud cover at sunrise, a few pods of surface feeding fish could be seen spread far and wide, but, they only stayed up for seconds at a time. After about an hour after sunrise, even the little bit of cover we did have burned off and it was bright from that point forward, just about guaranteeing no more topwater would materialize.
We had some other environmental factors working against us, as well, including another 0.20 feet of flood water coming in, an increased flow (3013 CFS) through the dam, and a full moon. I would not be encouraged by any one of those, but, to have them all occur on one morning was pretty tough.
I covered A LOT of water looking for schooled, aggressive fish. Bait is everywhere, thus making it easy for gamefish to feed at will on these small, slow young-of-the-year shad. Essentially, if you don’t find them on topwater this time of year, its is likely going to be a grind, and that’s just what it was today.
Fortunately, around 9:15, side-imaging showed a nice pod of fish holding on bottom in about 30 feet of water. We already had the downriggers working, so, I marked them, had the kids adjust the depth of the ‘riggers’ balls, and we went to those fish. We got a very positive response from the fish, then continued to take advantage of what side-imaging had uncovered. Up to that point, we’d only landed 6 fish, but took our count very quickly up to 25 as the kids landed singles, doubles, and triples on the 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.
Once the fish showed a reluctance to chase any longer, I pinpointed two additional schools of fish and the kids worked MAL Heavy Lures vertically through them aided by Garmin LiveScope. They added another six fish to our count before we wrapped up for good around 10:30 as the winds pushed 14mph and the bite died.
I really appreciated Natalie’s help — she got a license so she could be “hands-on”, and she pitched right in there working the downriggers, taking off fish when things got a bit crazy, and untangling lines when need be.
RESULTS: 31 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
- Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits. If no topwater is encountered, the trip is going to be a tough one so far as white bass are concerned.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:55A
End Time: 10:35A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation: 4.89′ high with a 0.18 rise in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3013 CFS. Belton should begin falling slowly later today.
Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S7 increasing to S13
Sky Condition: 30% white cloud cover on a hazy sky at sunrise, decreasing to 10% coverage with Saharan dust filtering some light out
Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Areas 178 thru B0109G – downrigging transitioning to smoking with MAL Heavy Lures accounted for 25 of our 31 fish in this location.
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