CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 25, I finished with a solo guest, first time client Mr. Joe Thomas, who drove three hours from San Angelo to not just fish with me, but observe and understand more about my approach to finding and catching white bass.

Joe’s home lake is O. H. Ivey, which is filled with flooded standing timber as well as salt cedar in the zone that is prone to being exposed and then flooded routinely around this reservoir’s perimeter.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 25  July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Tuesday, 05 Aug. (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 09 August (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  Joe Thomas of San Angelo, Texas, with a few of the white bass he caught while taking in some approaches to white bass fishing he had not previously attempted.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  

In advance of this trip, I tried to understand Joe’s sonar and trolling motor setup so I could relate what he would observe on my boat to the make and model of equipment he has on his boat.

Thanks to a low bank of gray clouds in the eastern sky, we had more topwater action this morning than I’d seen the rest of the week, although that was still not much. We put about a dozen fish in the boat using Cork Rigs sight casting to the surface commotion these schooling fish were creating. Once the direct sun hit the water’s surface, the top water ended abruptly, and we began to use the sawtooth method in under 20 feet of water for these same fish which had just revealed their location as they fed on top.

After the sun continued to rise, the fish continue to push out deeper, and I then employed the downriggers to catch the fish we drove directly over top of in 19 to 30 feet of water, while at the same time closely watching side imaging for opportunities to stop the boat, use Spot Lock, and cast out to those fish on the port or starboard side, using MAL Heavy lures with a sawtooth method.

The remainder of the trip consisted of switching back-and-forth between downrigging and the sawtooth method as sonar revealed fish either beneath the boat or out to the sides.

Although not all that productive at this point in the summer season, I also demonstrated to Joe the vertical tactic of smoking with the MAL Lure used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope for fish holding tight to bottom directly beneath the boat. He saw for himself how reluctant fish are to venture very far from the bottom. This is a situation which will change completely once turnover occurs in late September or early October.

One final thing I did with Joe was to zoom in on O. H. Ivey on my Hummingbird Apex unit, use the water level adjustment to show the actual depths and shoreline of that reservoir, and we then looked over the map and I pointed out some areas I felt would be worth checking out once he gets back to his home lake so far as white bass were concerned.

When all was said and done, we’d seen 78 fish come over the side, including two largemouth bass and 76 white bass, all of which were released in good condition.

Joe certainly carried some “take aways” from this morning’s efforts back to San Angelo, in part because he asked excellent questions and was willing to be coached.

OBSERVATIONS: Lake Belton is now 5.55′ high with a 0.40′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3037 CFS. Light topwater action this morning.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:15AM, Monday, 21 July …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 5.55′ high with a 0.40′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3037 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S3-6 all morning

Sky Condition: Cloud cover varied between 10-40% white coverage on a hazy sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area vic B0014G – low-light topwater action for 12 fish

Area 164 thru 2121 – 48 white bass alternating between downrigging w/ Pet Spoons and sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 657 – 18 white bass alternating between downrigging w/ Pet Spoons and sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures

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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