IT’S NOT YOU AGAINST ME, IT’S US AGAINST THEM – 70 Fish
CLIENTS: This past Tuesday afternoon, March 17, I fished with two wonderful young people from the Temple-Belton area. These two originally joined me during their spring break a few years ago when the late Mr. Steve Niemeier brought them out with him to Lake Belton.
Joining me was Steve’s granddaughter, Macy Fowler, and Macy’s friend, Noah Lanham, both juniors in high school.
Macy’s grandma, Lisa Niemeier, treated the two to this special spring break outing.
TODAY’S DATE: 17 March 2026 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 30 March (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Noah Lanham and Macy Fowler dressed for the weather and caught plenty of fish for Spring Break 2026, although Noah still looks a little chilly.
PHOTO CAPTION: Hunkered down for a cool ride back to the boat ramp.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
I was quite impressed that the two of them, arriving separately, both showed up about 20 minutes early. Punctuality seems to have lost its importance in this day and age, but not for these two youngsters. We experienced a full four hour bite this afternoon after a full four hour bite this morning. This afternoon‘s bite was definitely not as strong as the morning bite, and we did not see the sunset blitz that often takes place under warmer conditions.
After two days of hard wind from the south through 3 PM on Sunday, then from the north thereafter, the winds returned from the south today and stayed up around 14 mph until about an hour before sunset.
During our first three hours, we fished deeper, clearer water vertically, using nickel-plated, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. In the last of those three hours, as the shadows began to lengthen and the sun headed down in the sky, I switched over to white. Macy and Noah managed a catch of 54 fish using these baits vertically with a “smoking“ tactic.
In the last hour, as deep water began to darken, the fish moved up shallow. During this final hour, I had them work MAL Lures horizontally with a sawtooth method.
Noah and Macy landed a final 16 fish with this lure and tactic.
At one point when things got a bit competitive, Macy put things back in perspective, saying, “You know, it’s not you against me, it’s us against them.” I wish more folks could look at it that way.
We ended up the trip with exactly 70 fish landed including 2 large largemouth bass and 68 white bass.
RESULTS: 70 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-I was surprised at how quickly the fishing rebounded from the plunging temperatures and high winds over the weekend; I attribute that to the water temperature being warm, and the rather short duration of the cold.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 13 March 2026, approx. 7AM…
0 feet 62.9F
5 feet 63.1F
10 feet 63.1F
15 feet 63.1F
20 feet 63.1F
25 feet 63.1F
30 feet 62.6F
35 feet 61.2F
40 feet 59.2F
45 feet 57.1F
50 feet 55.2F
55 feet 54.8F
60 feet 54.2F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 3:40P
End Time: 7:40P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F
Elevation: Belton is 0.99′ low with a -0.05′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 34 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 61.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S13-14 for 3 hours, then tapering back to S7-8 in the last hour
Sky Condition: Cloudless, light blue skies
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 2% illumination.
GT = 50
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2393 – 28 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. nickel)
Area B0064G – 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. nickel)
Area Vic B0184C – 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. nickel)
Area 2394 – 13 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)
Area 2307 – 8 fish on MAL Dense Lures
Vic 2273 – 5 fish on MAL Dense Lures
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: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle