Day: July 15, 2025

How High is the Water Momma? She Said It’s 7 Feet High and Risin’ — 58 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, Tuesday, July 15, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!“ Trip for the Pittenger Brothers – Cade (11), Luke (9), and Lane (9), all capably chaperoned by their grandfather, Randy Pittenger. If the name sounds familiar, it is because Randy is with the City of Belton Chamber of Commerce.

Randy had the boys in for a visit for just a brief window. We tried to get on the water yesterday, but training thunderstorms drowned us out. This morning‘s weather cooperated and we were able to catch fish from start to finish for a full 3.5 hours.

ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS:  Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($195 vs. $295 for up to two kids; more can be added), and typically go a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4-plus hours for standard trips.  On these trips, licensed adults who desire to do so often help me help the kids be successful by baiting hooks, untangling lines, resetting our downrigger spreads, etc. so the kids’ efforts are maximized, but, the adults do not fish themselves.

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 15 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: Lane, Randy, Luke, and Cade Pittenger with a portion of the boys’ 58-fish haul taken under flooded conditions with Lake Belton still on the rise.  The lake is currently 7.94′ high.

 

FIND CORK RIGS & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

As the sun began to come up in the east through a low cloud bank, I kept a sharp eye out for topwater, action, but it seems the incoming flood water has caused that to diminish. There was some spotty topwater now and then, but it was both brief, and minimal. Having been through numerous summertime flooding scenarios through the years, my experience told me to look shallow. As I did, sonar revealed white bass and shad in abundance in shallow water.

I started the boys off casting MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and chartreuse tails using a sawtooth method to contact fish. I had the boys move back-and-forth from the port to the starboard side as side-imaging revealed schools of fish accordingly.

That effort landed our first seven fish of the day before the fish pushed out of shallow water as the skies brightened.

Next, I rigged up the downriggers and got twin ‘riggers working with Number 12 Pet Spoons (six of them) working simultaneously. We fished through what I felt was the peak bite of the morning, right up until about 8:40, consistently landing singles, doubles, and triples, and taking our fish count up to 39 fish.

With about an hour left in the trip, I made a move after I felt this first group of fish had gone past peak. I found fish in 24 to 28 feet of water at the third location we fished. At first, I Spot Locked on them and had the kids smoke the same MAL Lures vertically up off the bottom. This accounted for a few fish, but the fish were moving very rapidly in this hot water, and they would not stay under the boat, even with a splasher going.

I wrapped up the trip by downrigging in this same area, and the kids took their final count up to 58, capping off the morning with one final triple on the downrigged Pet Spoons.

Our grand total this morning was 58 fish including 57 white bass and one largemouth bass.

RESULTS: 58 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:

  1. Lake Belton was still rising thanks to multiple rounds of flooding rains which began on July 4.  USACE is now releasing over 3,000 CFS to stem the tide.  I hope we’ll see our first drop in the next day or two.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

0 feet 82.9F
5 feet 83.6F
10 feet 83.3F
15 feet 83.1F
20 feet 82.6F
25 feet 82.6F
30 feet 82.5F
35 feet 82.1F
40 feet 80.2F
45 feet 76.3F
50 feet 73.8F
55 feet 71.3F
60 feet 70.5F
65 feet 67.9F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 9:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 7.91′ high with a 0.84′ rise in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3049 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4 increasing to S9

Sky Condition: A low, grey cloud bank kept the direct sun from striking the water until ~80 minutes after sunrise, afterwhich there was still 50-60% clouds on a hazy sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 75% illumination.

GT = 15

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area vic  B0014G to shore – 6 whites, 1 largemouth on sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 1822 – downrigging twin umbrellas, each with three #12 Pet Spoons, for 32 fish as singles, doubles and triples

Area vic 1620 – smoking MAL Heavy Lures lead to downrigging for a final 19 fish

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

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