Graduating into Adulthood – 30 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 24, I fished the last trip of the week with longtime buddies Troy Gallagher and Ethan Moralez from the Copperas Cove/Topsey area. The two first got to know each other in elementary school and both just recently graduated high school. Troy is headed to a community college prior to pursuing a career as a game warden, and Ethan has his site set on bull riding and welding.
TODAY’S DATE: 24 July 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 3-6, 10, 12-13 August 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ethan Moralez and Troy Gallagher with the four best of the 26 catfish they landed today, including 6 blue cat and 20 channel cat.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ethan Moralez and Troy Gallagher landed 4 white bass in under 15 feet of water in the first hour of light, but, once it brightened up, the white bass suspended and disappeared to chase shad who knows where.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Our weather this morning was impacted by the passage of Tropical Storm Bertha. It made landfall and continued due west inland from Corpus Christi. The counterclockwise spin of the atmosphere around the storm caused an east south-easterly wind this morning around 10 to 12 mph with occasional higher gusts. We also had a fully clouded, gray sky.
I divided this morning‘s trip equally between pursuing white bass in the first half and then catfish in the last half. Not surprisingly, the last half went a good bit better than the first. We only picked up four white bass this morning and they came right around sunrise (obscured) on MAL Heavy Lures fished horizontally with a sawtooth method. After the shallow bite was obviously over, I looked at three more steeply sloped areas for evidence of schooled whites roaming nomadically after shad. That was unfruitful. Around 8 AM, we returned to the first of two areas we’d previously baited.
Using punchbait on a tightline rig fished vertically, our first stop yielded 22 fish over a 75 minute span.
The second baited area yielded four fish in about 35 minutes. Even though Troy and Ethan had prior experience, even including prior experience fishing for catfish, until you experience what a bite is going to feel like while fishing on a tightline and understanding how important a hard, reflexive hook set is, there is going to be a learning curve, as both of them found out. Fortunately, given that both had prior fishing experience, they worked through that learning curve quickly.
We ended up with exactly 30 fish landed today including 4 white bass, 6 blue cat, and 20 channel catfish.
RESULTS: 30 fish, all caught and released
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
SEE THE “SAWTOOTH TACTIC” TUTORIAL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
OBSERVATIONS:
-No fishable topwater action witnessed today.
-An atypical ESE breeze blew again today thanks to counter-clockwise spin in the atmosphere related to Tropical Storm Bertha which is moving across the Gulf of America westward toward Corpus Christi.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 21 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.1F
5 feet 87.0F
10 feet 87.2F
15 feet 86.4F
20 feet 85.9F
25 feet 85.5F
30 feet 84.3F
35 feet 83.8F
40 feet 80.7F
45 feet 74.8F
50 feet 72.3F
55 feet 70.3F
60 feet 68.6F
Taken on Lake Belton on 14 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …
0 feet 86.1F
5 feet 86.5F
10 feet 86.5F
15 feet 86.5F
20 feet 86.5F
25 feet 86.5F
30 feet 85.0F
35 feet 83.8F
40 feet 78.2F
45 feet72.2F
50 feet 70.7F
55 feet 69.2F
60 feet 67.4F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:15A
End Time: 10:20A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F
Elevation – Lake Belton fell 0.05′ and was at 1.02′ high today. Flow rate was 86 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 86.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE10-13 all morning
Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies at 100% cloud cover all morning with light precip in first hour
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 79% illumination
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 2427- 4 white bass on sawtoothed MAL Dense lures
Area JULCAT02 – 22 catfish on punchbait (16 channels, 6 blues)
Area JULCAT08 – 4 channel cats on punchbait
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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle