CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 11, I fished a short, two-hour, Kids Fish, Too! trip with three- and six year-old brothers accompanied by both their father and grandfather. Joining me were Bary Gould, and his son-in-law, Shawn Lee, and Lee‘s two boys, Atlas (6), and Oso (3).
The men both operate one of the Central Texas teams of Birdcreek Roofing.
TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 11 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 rear: Bary “Bobby” Gould and his son-in-law, Shawn Lee, with Shawn’s sons, Oso (age 3), left, and Atlas (age 6). The men helped the boys land 57 fish in a short, 2-hour “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for the kids.
FIND CORK RIGS & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Some light, pre-sunrise topwater action broke out as I was preparing the boat for my guests’ arrival. Fortunately, a low bank of gray clouds developed in the east and kept the sun from shining directly on the water for a little while. Once Barry, Shawn, and the kids arrived, we really hustled to get the kids in lifejackets, everyone aboard, and get out to the topwater action we had sighted. This action continued for about 40 minutes in two different locations, allowing us a catch of 28 white bass and one smallmouth bass before the sun finally cleared the clouds and put the fish down for good.
We picked right up where the fish left off by downrigging out in slightly deeper water where we picked up another 13 fish, including four sets of triples and a single. With about 40 minutes left before the men had to depart, the kids showed signs of waning interest in the downrigging, so, we changed things up one last time and went up shallow in search of sunfish. The crew landed a total of 15 bluegill sunfish with bait under slip floats. It was now about 8:35, so we brought lines in, took a few good photos, and delivered this crew back to dry land for an on-time departure.
Our total count today was 57 fish caught and released.
RESULTS: 57 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: 6:45A
End Time: 8:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation: 4.59′ high with a 0.30′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3009 CFS. This was the first day Belton saw falling water since the July 4 flooding.
Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S4 increasing to S7
Sky Condition: A low, grey cloud bank kept the direct sun from striking the water until ~40 minutes after sunrise, afterwhich there was <10% clouds on a hazy sky.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 2107 – 7 white bass on Cork Rigs at obscured sunrise
Area B0014G to shoreline – 21 white bass, 1 smallmouth on Cork Rigs w/ sun obscured by grey clouds
Area B0293G thru B0171C – 13 white bass on downrigged Pet Spoons
Area 1753 – 15 bluegill on bait under slipfloats
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