Intersecting the Swim Path of the Fish w/LiveScope – 60 Fish on the MAL Dense

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, May 28, I fished with a crew of three. Joining me were returning guest Linda Hankins, a retired veterinarian from the Belton area, and joining Linda for their first time aboard my boat were Thomas and Darlene Goehl, who are siblings-in-law.

TODAY’S DATE: 28 May 2026 (PM)


NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 16, 23-25 June 2026 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Thomas Goehl, Linda Hankins, and Darlene Goehl, each with a Lake Belton hybrid striped bass which came out of a suspended, roaming school of fish and struck an upwards-moving MAL Dense (silver with chartreuse tail).

PHOTO CAPTION: Although the weather was tough today with clear, bright skies and next to no wind, the 1-3 mph ripple which lasted thru about 9:40A was enough to keep the fish biting, albeit not very aggressively.

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


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This was the toughest day, weatherwise, thus far this week. The day began bright, and with just a faint southwesterly breeze. That breeze kept going through midmorning and then failed around 9:40, leaving us with a windless final hour on the water.

Thanks to brighter conditions earlier in the morning due to a lack of cloud cover, the birds I’ve been relying on to find fish began their hunt for fish earlier, thus we were able to get onto bird-indicated fish right away and stayed on them right up until the wind failed. By this time we’d put 45 fish in the boat.

All of these fish were taken from large, nomadic, suspended schools of white bass mixed with hybrid stripers holding in about a 12 foot band anywhere from 6 to 15 feet off bottom.

This was a situation just begging for LiveScope so that you could actually see the depth of, and the swimming direction of, the fish below the boat.

Everyone quickly got the hang of attempting to cause their lure to intersect with the swim path of the fish they were seeing on sonar.

The MAL Dense with silver body closed the deal when used with a smoking tactic.

After the wind failed, we put no more than a handful of fish in the boat at each of the stops we made thereafter.

We ended up the trip with exactly 60 fish landed, including one freshwater drum, 8 hybrid, striped bass, and 51 white bass, all of which were of legal size.

RESULTS: 60 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: 

OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE is running water through the Belton Dam at a rate of 412 CFS.

-Laughing gulls and a booby bird were helpful in locating deep, suspended white bass.

-I measured 2.70″ of rainfall between 8P and 4A on 25/26 May. This has brought Belton up to 1.75 feet above full pool.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 24 May 2026, approx. 6:25AM…

Area vic 1548 – 7 fish on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) from suspended schools

Area vic 2259 – 1 fish on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) from bottom

Area 2419 – 1 fish on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) from bottom

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