Good, Bad, or Ugly, I Report Every Trip – 2 Fish

FOREWORD: Friends, as many of you know, I post a detailed report for EVERY fishing trip I conduct … the good, the bad, and the ugly. I do not “sugarcoat” and I do not “cherry pick” by posting only when we catch big fish and/or lots of fish. I feel this makes my reports more credible and allows me to be transparent to clients and potential clients. By doing this, folks can have a good idea on what to expect results-wise in a given season. That said, this report explains the single lowest catch I have encountered in over 20 years of guiding. It happened on Friday morning, Dec. 5th on Lake Belton…

CLIENTS: Joining me were long-time Lake Belton anglers Sam Simon and Ron Clark, both U.S. Army retirees and veterans, and solid fishermen.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 05 December 2025 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 15 December 2025 (AM or PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Due to a very fast cooldown (5 degrees in 5 days), I have changed over from MAL Lures to Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs; I have also begun using the thumper, relying less upon the splasher to attract fish from the area surrounding the boat.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
After laying off since the Friday following Thanksgiving, I returned to Lake Belton this morning, anticipating cloud cover and a continuing NW breeze. Instead, we encountered a failing NW breeze which went slack and then puffed out of the SE thereafter; we also had clearing skies after our first 30 minutes on the water.

I truly believe the main issue was the rapid cooldown we experienced — two cold fronts over the course of the week, with almost no direct sun shining Mon. thru Fri.. We went from 68.5F on Thanksgiving Day to 63.5 this morning.

In summary, we searched everywhere and found only a handful of schools of white bass to fish for. Even then, these fish simply would not come off bottom to feed. Given the cooldown we experienced, I had already switched all my baits over to Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, knowing the speed at which the MAL Lures need to be retrieve to keep the blade spinning was going to be too fast to interest the fish today.

We used a “slow smoking” tactic with these slabs. That tactic is described below in a YouTube video tutorial.

We did not find a single school of more than 20 fish all morning. As for results, Ron landed a single largemouth bass and Sam landed a single white bass.

We put in a full four hours and witnessed no bird activity. As we parted ways, I refused payment and encouraged both men to allow me to hand-pick a date for them since they are retired and their schedules are flexible.

RESULTS: 2 fish, all caught and released


TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

-Drastic water temperature decrease (5 degrees F) in less than a week’s time, enhanced by lack of sunlight due to cloud cover all week. Water surface temp. now at ~62-63F, down from 68.5 less than a week ago.

-No helpful bird action on Lake Belton this trip.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken around 7AM on Friday, 05 Dec. 2025…

Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 6:45 AM on Thursday, 27 Nov. 2025…

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

No feeding fish found with any consistency this morning.

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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