If Only the Thunderbirds Delivered Our Mail! – 113 Fish

CLIENTS: This past Friday morning, October 9, I fished with returning guests, Dennis Graham, and his friend, Vicky Clark.

Dennis, a U.S. Air Force veteran who once served as a crew chief with the USAF Thunderbirds team, turned 71, and this trip was in celebration of that milestone. Vicky is retired from the U.S. Postal Service.

TODAY’S DATE: 09 October 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN MORNING DATES: 19-22 Oct. 2026

NEXT OPEN AFTERNOON DATES: 19-22 Oct. 2026

PHOTO CAPTION: Fishing buddies Vicky Clark and Dennis Graham put together a 113 fish catch in right at 4 hours’ time on Lake Belton. Fall fishing is coming on strong with catch rates sharply increasing since this fall’s first significant cold front rolled in 8 days ago. Lots of smaller fish in the mix right now, but that will improve, as well, as more and more fish begin using the bottom once again.

PHOTO CAPTION: This ~9″ white bass had a ~4″ shad in its mouth and was going for more when Vicky landed it! The level of aggression the white bass have begun to demonstrate since this first fall cooldown has been very promising!

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Although the winds continued to blow from the northwest, as they have since last week’s cold front moved in, our morning temperatures were 5 to 6° warmer than yesterday, the conditions were more humid, and the winds were lighter.

We did not find any topwater action this morning as we searched in the first 20 minutes or so for it, and, our first hour was pretty fruitless.

By about 8:15 we found our first active group of fish up in the 20 foot range after looking in deeper water prior to that. Although the fish we found were both abundant and aggressive, they were also small with the vast majority of them being short when found in this shallow water.

I initially put the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail on, and the instant the fish began to show any reluctance, I downsized us to the MAL Bridge with its slightly smaller blade and hook.

These very aggressive fish kept us busy for over an hour. Once they quit, we moved on and continued looking for fish relying on sonar for this task.

The next school of fish we located was in 31 feet of water and also contained mostly short fish.

After changing back over to the MAL Dense, we fished these whites until they showed signs of giving up and then made a move to deeper water in hopes of finding better quality fish. It was now 10 AM and Dennis and Vicky had landed exactly 98 fish.

This move to deep water (between 40 and 47 feet) paid off. Although the bite was beginning to wrap up for the morning by this time, we were able to put another dozen fish in the boat at our second to last stop, nine of which were solid keepers, and, our second and final stop in deep water yielded another three keeper fish. We wrapped up at 11:15 AM with exactly 113 fish landed including 111 white bass, one largemouth bass, and one smallmouth bass.

Once again, these fish bit well, despite the rather poor weather conditions with bright skies and low winds.

We are on the cusp of seeing the fantastic fall fishing begin. I am looking forward to our first couple days with breeze and cloud cover. That should really be something to write home about.

RESULTS: 113 fish, all caught and released

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

SEE THE “SMOKING TACTIC” TUTORIAL HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

OBSERVATIONS:
-Last week’s cold front and associated rains brought water temperatures down significantly and have brought us to the cusp of fantastic fall fishing. I’ve found more fish on bottom in more places than at any time since the thermocline formed earlier this summer and the fish have been very aggressive.

-These fish have been feeding aggressively despite weather conditions which normally hinder. I am curious to see what breezy, cloudy conditions will bring.

-There are currently a lot of small fish showing up in our catch — the shallower fish are found, the more likely they are to be on the small side, it seems.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 07 Oct. 2026, approx. 2:30PM ..

Taken on Lake Belton on 29 Sep. 2026, approx. 6:50AM…

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle