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E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

C’mon, Man … It’s Throwback Thursday (for the Three Wise Men)! — 152 Fish

April 3rd, 2025April 3rd, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, April 3, I welcomed three brothers aboard – – Steve, Dave, and Tim Wise – – they called themselves The Three Wisemen (I kid you not)!

These brothers have fished their whole lives from the salt waters of Florida to the tannic waters of Minnesota. They all recounted fond memories of the outdoors and of their dad, who is now in his 90s. Dad sends the boys an “I’m Still Alive” text each day. Today’s, shown below, was quite appropriate.

DATE: Thursday, 03 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 12, 14 May (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 17 May (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The Three Wise Men, from left: Steve, Dave, and Tim holding a few of the 152 fish they landed on a balmy, overcast spring morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: The “Three Wise Men’s” dad sent them this daily “I’m Still Alive” text.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Dave and Steve have fished with me on a number of occasions in the past, and this was Tim‘s first time to join us. When I asked how come Tim had never joined his brothers aboard my boat previously, he admitted that he really just likes to sleep in.

We had calm, humid, cloudy, springtime conditions today, and although we lacked a bit in the wind department, the gray cloud cover did help keep a bite going from start to finish today.

We started the trip in about 20 feet of water fishing for white bass, which had pushed spawning shad up against a windblown bank. Because the shallows are so full of sticks and other debris which grew up on the land during the past several years of drought, casting into water much shallower than 6 or 7 feet is pretty fruitless due to snagging.

For this reason, I moved us out into slightly deeper water so we could use vertical tactics instead. I equipped everyone with a silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye slabs, got everyone familiarized with how to follow the rise and fall of their bait and fish response to it on Garmin LiveScope , and we were off to the races. We fished two areas over the span of our first two hours and put a total of 50 fish in the boat.

Right around 9:15 AM, the very light southeast breeze stopped and a breeze just slightly east of north began to ripple the surface. The skies grew darker, the air felt heavier, and the light of misty drizzle began to fall. This little tweak in the weather spurred what would be an hour and 30 minutes of near constant topwater action (the first of the year)!

White bass were driving adult shad to the surface in between 16 and 20 feet of water. As the action was getting started, the visible surface feeding was sporadic, so I put MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails on for everyone and the fish just started flying in the boat. Once the schooling got heavier and more consistent, I put clear Spook Juniors on for everyone and we had a sight-fishing fiesta for a solid hour. Once the action went past peak and I could see more fish in the lower half of the water column than in the upper half as I viewed sonar, we went back with the MAL Heavies and fancast.

When this began to wrap up, we had put 151 fish in the boat. Within 20 minutes of wrapping up I offered we could continue casting and catching fish that way, or roll the dice, leave fish to find fish, hoping for some really big post-spawn fish in deep water. The fellows, whose wrists were hurting at this point, decided the change of pace would be nice, so we made that gamble, went to deep water, but only picked up one more fish as the winds went flat calm once again and the morning bite died for good.

RESULTS: 152 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the silver 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Heavies (w/ chartreuse tail), and Spook Juniors to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

First bird action with laughing gulls involved YTD.
Threadfin shad spawn continues.
First topwater action YTD.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 02 April…

0 feet 65.6F

5 feet 65.6F

10 feet65.6F

15 feet 65.5F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.9F

30 feet 64.4F

35 feet 63.1F

40 feet 62.0F

45 feet 60.9F

50 feet 57.8F

55 feet 57.6F

60 feet 57.4F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 2.91′ low

Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 at trip’s start, dying to calm at 2-hour mark, then picking up ENE3 before going calm again by 10:50.

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 35% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0194C – 29 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 363- 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 097 – 8 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (2 hops)

Area vic 031/B0074G – 110 fish sawtoothing MAL Heavies and working Spook Juniors on topwater

Area vic 150 – 1 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Rained On, Blown On … Fish On!! – 106 Fish with the Hunts

April 2nd, 2025April 2nd, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, April 2, I fished with returning guests, Brandon and Wendy Hunt. I always enjoy hosting this very outdoorsy couple and comparing notes on our latest Central Texas exploits in the outdoors. Besides that, they follow Christ, own and love dogs, and eat lots of meat, so we have a bunch in common!

DATE: Wednesday, 02 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 10, 29 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 03 May (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brandon and Wendy Hunt got windblown and rained on, but they also got a bunch of fish today — 106 in all, while fishing silver, 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs vertically in 16 to over 40 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Weather was a bit of a concern today with the high winds that ramped up yesterday afternoon continuing into the first hour of this morning‘s trip before tapering off. Still, the winds remain sufficiently high to move the water and allow for solid angling opportunities, and the gray cloud cover was icing on the cake. We did endure about an hour long drizzle just prior to wrapping up around 11:30.

The entire time the wind blew hard, we were able to find fish, but not interested, aggressive fish which we could catch with any consistency. Whatever happened in the weather that caused the winds to relent, that same thing served as a trigger for the fish to begin feeding. With only six fish in the boat after our first hour on the water, we quickly made up for lost time boating exactly 100 additional fish in the three hours followed. Being a strong believer in the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.“ I kept right on using a smoking tactic with the silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. We used this tactic in as little as 16 feet of water and in as much as 40 feet, and it worked equally well regardless.

Well tuned sonar was the key to finding fish today, as there was no bird activity, and any shad spawning activity which existed was masked by the high winds pounding the shoreline during that lowlight period in which the spawning typically takes place.

When all was said and done, the Hunts landed 106 fish, including one small largemouth bass, three short hybrid, and 102 white bass.

RESULTS: 106 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the silver 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs exclusively to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

No bird action.
Threadfin shad spawn continues to build.
Strong winds coincided with a weak low-light bite this morning; as the winds died down to 13-15mph, the bite began late in the 8 o’clock hour.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 02 April…

0 feet 65.6F

5 feet 65.6F

10 feet65.6F

15 feet 65.5F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.9F

30 feet 64.4F

35 feet 63.1F

40 feet 62.0F

45 feet 60.9F

50 feet 57.8F

55 feet 57.6F

60 feet 57.4F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 2.95′ low

Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 at trip’s start, slowly building to SE12

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 90

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1579 – 6 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 097- 44 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0193C – 22 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (2 hops)

Area vic 579 – 5 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 098 – 24 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0171G – 5 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

A Cold Shoulder, Followed by a Warm Reception — 137 Fish

April 1st, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, April 1, I fished with returning guests, Rob Pasichnyk and his friend Ralph Owen. The two gentleman fished with me previously on a mid-summer morning trip after Lake Belton had stratified. This morning‘s trip was quite different both in terms of the locations we searched for fish, and in the way we went about catching them.

DATE: Tuesday, 01 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 10, 29 April (AM)

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

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ralph Owen and Rob Pasichnyk with a few of the 137 fish they landed in a solid spring bite fueled by a returning south wind.

PHOTO CAPTION: Occasionally such thick schools of white bass came by that it createcd competition amongst individuals. Such behavior resulted in a “double” — two fish caught on one lure at the same time for Rob on the 3/4 oz. silver Bladed Hazy Eye Slab!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The big story today was the returning south wind, accompanied by grey cloud cover and warm overnight temperatures. This caused a total about face versus the stubborn, cold-front influenced bite we experienced yesterday.

The annual threadfin shad spawn is now taking place and, in those areas where shad are spawning heavily, there is a low light, shallow water bite by white bass and hybrid striper following the hundreds of thousands of shad which migrate from deep water to shallow water each morning to spawn.

Just as was the case yesterday, we took advantage of that movement of fish into shallow water, and put 35 fish – – a mix of whites and hybrid – – in the boat in under an hour. Although there were fish up shallow to be caught, because of flooded terrestrial vegetation which grew up during the drought is now submerged, getting snagged happens routinely while casting into water less than about 9 feet in depth. For this reason, I targeted fish in more than 16 feet so we could fish vertically for them instead.

We used the silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab and the splasher to draw fish in and keep them under the boat. Rob and Ralph used a smoking tactic to retrieve their lure from up off the bottom through fish appearing on Garmin LiveScope, anticipating those fish would overtake and strike the lure. We ended up the trip fishing in ~36 feet of water.

We stuck with this approach all morning, simply moving gradually deeper as the skies brightened and the schools of threadfin shad move further from shore and closer to the lake’s bottom. When all was said and done these two fellows landed a total of 137 fish, including a mix of white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, and crappie.

RESULTS: 137 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No bird action.
Threadfin shad spawn continues to build.
Areturning S. wind following a one-day cold front scenario turned the fishing back around positively

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 2.95′ low

Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 at trip’s start, slowly building to SE12

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1579 – 35 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 097- 70 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0138C – 33 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 574 – 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

That Cold Front Cold Shoulder — 67 Fish

March 31st, 2025March 31st, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, March 31, I fished with a crew of friends, all in Austin-area law enforcement. Coordinating the trip was longtime client Joey Sapien. Joining him for the first time were Dave Boatright, Cody Jones, and Mark McKinney.

DATE: Monday, 31 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 08, 10, 22 April (AM)

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

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Buddies in law enforcement — Joey Sapien, Mark McKinney, Cody Jones, and David “Boat” Boatright. When I asked Joey, who coordinated the trip, who he was bringing with him, he told me Mark’s the younger one, Cody’s the shorter one, and David’s the older one! This crew landed 67 fish working Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically under tough cold front conditions.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

A cold front, which moved slowly in yesterday, creating some turbulent weather ahead of it, left us with leaden gray skies, a brisk north wind at 13+ and an overnight temperature which fell to 57F and did not warm up substantially until well into the trip.

We did well at the beginning of this trip and we did well at the end, but the middle was pretty soft.

The early bite in shallow water and under low light conditions was fueled by the strengthening shad spawn now taking place lake-wide. And the success we enjoyed at the end of the trip was driven by skies which were starting to clear, warm, and brighten.

It’s not that we were not able to find fish. We found scattered, small handfuls of fish just about everywhere we looked, but, they would fire up for all of four or five minutes, allow us to catch a handful, then they would shut down – – not move off, just shut down. They could still be clearly seen on LiveScope and would occasionally halfheartedly chase, but would not aggressively pursue, overtake and bite.

We fished one way with one lureall morning that was using a slow smoking tactic with my thumper doubling as a metronome to help everyone keep a good retrieve speed while using the silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. I began switching over to this larger, more flashy slab as I saw the shad spawn begin building last week.

We put 20 fish in the boat in our first 40 minutes, just 14 additional fish in the boat in the two hours which followed, and 33 fish in the boat in just under our final hour on the water.

RESULTS: 67 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the silver 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

No bird action.
Threadfin shad spawn is building.
An overnight cold front put a dent in the fishing

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 2.90′ low

Water Surface Temp: 63.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: N13 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for 3 hours, with partial clearing to 90% cloud cover by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 8% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B00194C – 20 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1815- 6 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1624 – 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 0499 – 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 0150 – 18 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0022C – 15 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Good Golly, Miss Molly!! — 111 Fish

March 30th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Friday afternoon, March 28, I fished a mother – son trip with Molly and Michael Chandler.

One of Molly‘s coworkers presented her with a to redeem it in celebration of Michael’s 12th birthday happening on March 29.

We were originally scheduled to go this morning, but nearly 2 inches of sorely needed rain Fell right up until we launched, after which the weather cleared nicely to about 30% cloud cover and cooling, drying conditions.

DATE: Friday, 28 March 2025 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 08, 10, 22 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Molly Chandler and her 12-year-old son, Michael, waited out the rain this past Friday and made an evening trip out with me on Lake Belton. They used 3/4-oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white color) to land 111 fish including this 19.25″ hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lots of mature white bass, some spawned-out, and others yet to spawn, were in the 111-fish catch, as well.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was pretty straightforward this afternoon as Molly and Michael enjoyed the best quality catch I’ve seen come out of Belton since I began fishing it early this month. The adult fish they landed consisted of both spawned-out fish and fish which have yet to spawn.

The pair used only one lure with one technique to land 111 fish this evening. That was the white, 3/4 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab used with a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. I initially used the thumper in order to help Molly and Michael with the correct retrieve speed as the thumper doubled as a metronome. After they got the hang of retrieving at the correct speed, I switched over to the splasher, because I have begun to observe spawning shad activity which frequently brings fish up off the bottom more routinely than during the winter months.

I normally default to the 5/8-ounce slab through the winter months, but, with fish now increasingly willing to chase, and after observing multiple fish this week with large threadfin shad tails protruding from their gullets, I decided to upsize, and that choice worked out well.

Included in their 111-fish catch were 3 largemouth bass, 3 short hybrid, 1 legal hybrid, and 104 white bass up to 14.5 inches.

RESULTS: 111 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 & 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

Two instances of helpful bird activity this evening.
Best catch made on Belton YTD so far as quality is concerned.
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:10P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.88′ low (slight rise)

Water Surface Temp: 65.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-10 all afternoon

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover w/ lite rain at start of trip, steadily clearing to 30% clouds by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0022C – 55 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1286/B0152G – 8 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 714 – 14 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 098/150 – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1012 – 13 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 0150 – 10 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Storm’s a-Brewin’ in the Background- 67 Fish

March 27th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, March 27, I fished a multi-generational trip for four. Joining me was John Krska, his son-in-law, Leo Estramadura, and Leo’s two kids, Liz (age 17), and Cameron (turning 12 tomorrow). The Estramaduras were in visiting from California.

John bid on a gift certificate I had donated at the request of Mrs. Shirley Stephenson with the Salado Area Republican Women’s organization some time ago.

Although the forecast for rain this morning was present, I checked multiple forecasts and felt we would be able to get a full four-hour trip in and not get soaked in the meantime. We (pretty much) did.

DATE: Thursday, 27 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Krska, Liz, Leo, and Cameron Estramadura with sunshine ahead of them and a storm a-brewin’ in the background. Fishing peaked just as the light rain began this morning around 10:30AM. We scooted as what you see in the background began to develop around 11:40.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s fishing was a lot like yesterday’s in that the fishing was negatively impacted by heavy gray cloud cover in the first 90 minutes following sunrise. It has been during this time that a shallow water bite had reliably been taken place, but that was not the case these past two days. I saw some scattered fish in shallow water early and we cast MAL Originals to them, landing a total of five before I set that aside and continued on with the rest of the trip out in deep water fishing vertically.

Liz was not feeling all that well and only grabbed a rod for a short periods, so John, Leo, and Cameron were doing the bulk of the fishing and catching. I had them all use white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. I used my thumping device to draw fish in and also used it as a metronome to help them retrieve at an appropriate cadence as they brought their lures up off the bottom. Garmin LiveScope played an important part as well, letting them know when their lures were getting chased so they could continue reeling upwards.

Although the vertical fishing provided us with a steady catch, there was a definite spike of activity just before and during a light rainfall event of ~20 minutes in length, beginning around 10:30A.

When all was said and done, my three (and a half!) anglers wound up with 67 fish, including four short hybrid stripers, one blue cat, and 62 white bass.

RESULTS: 67 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
I saw the first spawning threadfin shad this morning.
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.94′ low (slight rise)

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-9 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning w/ ~20 minutes of light rain beginning ~10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171C – 5 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 412 – 9 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1675 – 2 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0391G (two hops) – 33 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 082 – 7 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0082G – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

A Boatful of Army Brats — 62 Fish on Hazy Eye Slabs

March 26th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, March 26, I fished with first-time guests Max Schultz and Eddie Cleveland. Both now reside in the Belton area and both, like me, are “Army brats” and experienced the moving from place to place that goes along with that life. Eddie retired from the computer industry, and Max is looking forward to retiring soon from his family-owned appliance repair business, Tri City Service, which specializes in all manner of home appliance repairs.

DATE: Wednesday, 26 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Eddie Cleveland and Max Schultz used LiveScope for the first time to put 62 fish in the boat using a “Slow-Smoking” tactic with white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs on what started out as a tough morning thanks to heavy, grey cloud cover.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing took a bit of a dip this morning thanks to thick, grey cloud cover preventing the sudden brightening of the skies right at sunrise which has served as a feeding trigger for white bass on the recent run of cloudless days I’ve fished Lake Belton.

I found no significant shallow water bite this morning, and any deep fish I found were very hard to get to bite, requiring a pretty technical presentation wherein a slab needed to be move right in front of a forward-moving, suspended white bass in order to elicit a chase which might result in a strike. We approached the 2 hour mark with only a handful of fish taken this way. This was Max and Eddie’s first experience with forward facing sonar, so, they struggled at times to keep track of their lure’s location and attempting to intersect the path of fish with it.

As the third hour approached, the winds picked up a bit, and the skies, although still 100% greyed over, brightened, and the fish finally began to feed.

We pressed on with slow-smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with the help of LiveScope and the fish-attracting sound of our thumper in order to make up for some lost time. We hit four areas at which side-imaging revealed fish, and caught fish at a steady clip at each one. The bite was typically best as soon as we got lures down to the fish, then slowly decayed until all the fish would do is budge slightly off the bottom, but not chase any further.

I noted we lost an unusually great number of hooked fish this morning; I attribute that to the fish pursuing reluctantly and just nipping at the bait, getting hooked just barely in the lip and then getting away after pulling hard a time or two, as both fellows had prior fishing experience, were not setting the hook inappropriately, nor attempting to reel the fish in too quickly.

Max and Eddie wound up with 62 fish, including 1 blue cat, 8 short hybrid, and 53 white bass.

RESULTS: 62 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
Ratio of mature fish continues to rise with each passing day.
I anticipate the annual threadfin shad spawn to begin within a few days
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.97′ low

Water Surface Temp: 67.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE4-5 for first half; SE8-10 for second half

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0185C – 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1177 – 25 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0119C – 20 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0009C – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1943 – 2 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Find, Consolidate, Catch — 82 Fish

September 3rd, 2024September 3rd, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Friday morning, I fished with a very nice young couple, Jesse Wright and Layne Marr. She’s a farm girl from Canada, and he’s a city kid from L.A. who made good via the military where, after leaving the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted man doing aircraft maintenance, he transitioned to the U.S. Army as a warrant officer in the Field Artillery branch.

DATE: Friday, 30 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 4, 5, 10-12 Sep.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jesse and Layne executed three tactics very well and very consistently, and put together an 82-fish morning catch on Lake Belton. The number of quality fish was enhanced this morning thanks to grey cloud cover extending the low-light period.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple! Jesse landed these three white bass simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons. Downrigging served us well from about 7:15 to 8:30A as fish were active, but were also scattered and moving fast.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We got a reprieve on the long string of bright, calm sky conditions today as clouds moved in from the east early, giving near 100% coverage with a thin grey cloud deck. This extended the low-light time period during which we’ve been catching our quality fish from about 90 minutes to right at 120 minutes this morning.

We began the morning casting MAL Originals with chartreuse tails up shallow for fish in under 15′ and did well for about 15 minutes until the ambient light reached a certain level and drove these fish deeper and caused some scattering.

We pursued these fish using downriggers equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs armed with #13 Pet Spoons. The downrigger bite lasted until 8:30A and provided continuous action.

After this, we used sonar to search for concentrations of shad with gamefish mixed in, Spot-Locked atop these fish and worked MAL Originals vertically, aided by Garmin LiveScope. This produced well for quality fish until around 9A. The splasher was invaluable in drawing these fish to us and keeping them beneath us.

Around 9A, the now 2.5-hour long bite which had been very productive, began to wane. From this point forward, most of the fish we found were on the small side. We found them with sonar, consolidated them with the splasher, and caught them with the MAL Mini worked vertically

Remember, with these MAL Minis, if you don’t feel the blade spinning as you work it upwards, bend the shaft a bit at a time until it begins to “kick in”. It is also helpful to start the smoking retrieve with the rod tip pointed downward toward the water, then, SIMULTANEOUSLY lift the rod sharply to the point where it parallel to the water’s AND begin turning the reel’s handle. Done correctly, you’ll feel the spinner causing vibration, and you’ll see your rod tip get loaded by the resistance caused by the blade.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged with #12 & #13 Pet Spoons. We smoked and sawtoothed with MAL Originals for heavily schooled and fairly stationary fish. We smoked MAL Minis in the latter half of the trip suspended fish drawn in by the splasher. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 82 fish caught and released, including 3 largemouth bass, 1 blue catfish, and 78 white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Literally, just seconds of topwater action observed over about a 2 acre area around 10AM

2) Best quality fish came in the first 120 minutes; mainly smaller fish thereafter – the quality fish window ran longer today thanks to grey skies extending the low-light period.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:25 AM on Monday, August 26 …

0 feet 87.2F

5 feet 87.6F

10 feet 87.9F

15 feet 87.9F

20 feet 87.9F

25 feet 87.9F

30 feet 87.2F

35 feet 85.6F

40 feet 84.2F

45 feet 83.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 0.72′ low and falling slowly with a 52 cfs flow; .04′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 87.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE3-4

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud coverage all morning helping to extend the low-light period and lengthen this morning’s bite for quality fish.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 19% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1431 – sawtoothing MAL Originals, then downrigging #12 Pets for 47 fish by 8:30

Area B0273G — smoking MAL Originals for 16 fish by 9A

Area vic 1077 to 1362 – smoking MAL Minis 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

That School Bell Has Yet to Ring in Cairo — 101 Fish

August 16th, 2024August 16th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This Friday morning I fished with returning guests — the grandfather-grandson team of Charles Simmons and Caden Kimpel. Charles resides in Salado, and Caden, whose dad works in the international petroleum industry, currently resides in Cairo, Egypt. He won’t start school until early September, so, we got to enjoy a very uncrowded Lake Belton this morning.

DATE: Friday, 16 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 26-30Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Nine-year-old Caden Kimpel and his grandfather, Charles Simmons, landed 101 fish on an unbusy Lake Belton using a combination of tactics between first light and 10:30AM.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Caden landed these three “keeper” white bass simultaneously on his 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with #12 Pet Spoons which did a great job imitating the smallest shad in the system right now.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was pretty straightforward this morning. With high pressure firmly in control of the weather, a light southerly breeze, and no boat traffic, the fish were ready to feed come first light, and stayed feeding for just shy of four hours.

We started the morning downrigging just to have baits in the water as I covered water with sonar to search for fishable concentrations of fish. After finding fish, we quickly discovered they much preferred a horizontal presentation to a vertical one, so, we kept right on downrigging as long as the fish cooperated. This accounted for 44 fish coming in as singles, doubles, and triples, all on #12 Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs.

Once this area quieted down, I found our next batch of fish in some timber, so, we smoked and cast MAL Originals through “lanes” in the timber working them sawtooth-style, as downrigging was not an option. There was a bit of a learning curve to this, but, Charles and Caden added 8 more fish to the count before these fish lost interest.

By now, it was hot and bright and outside the “low-light” window which has produced quality fish both AM and PM. We mostly smallish fish from this point forward, but, they were quite cooperative, responded well to the splasher, and provided lots of action. These fish were taken by smoking MAL Minis vertically using Garmin LiveScope to gauge fish response. Bending the shaft about 15-20 degrees on these tiny spinners which imitate young-of-the-year shad is a great “tackle tip” if they don’t spin easily out of the package.

The trick on the “smoking” tactic in the summer, regardless of which MAL you choose, is getting the spinner going as close to the bottom as possible, and keeping the retrieve speed down thereafter. Hence, I use 5.2:1 gear ratio reels for my clients.

Here is a tutorial on smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged as long as we were finding fish on clean bottoms with #12 Pet Spoons, then “smoked” MAL Minis and Originals for the latter portion of the trip, once the fish got lazy and pushed lower in the water column. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released, including 5 drum, 1 largemouth bass, and a 60/40 mix of short and keeper white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) No topwater action observed.

2) Mainly undersized fish after ~8:30A.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6 AM on Friday, August 16 …

0 feet 88.2F

5 feet 88.6F

10 feet 88.8F

15 feet 88.8F

20 feet 88.5F

25 feet 87.9F

30 feet 86.7F

35 feet 85.5F

40 feet 84.8F

45 feet 83.8F

50 feet 82.1F

55 feet 80.5F

60 feet 79.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.24′ low and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow; .04′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 88.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 all morning

Sky Condition: 25% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 86% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1126 thru B0170C – 44 fish on downriggers

Area B0170C – 8 white bass on sawtoothed & smoked MAL Original

Area vic 565 – 49 fish on smoked MAL Minis

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com