Kids Aboard? We’re Gonna Mix It Up!! – 59 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, July 23, I fished another trip with a contingent of the David Butler clan of Temple, Texas. Joining me this morning was Dr. David Butler, his adult son, Jack, and 11 year-old Katie Evans, David’s granddaughter in visiting from the Houston area. Despite Katie‘s age, we conducted this as a standard, adult trip, and Katie hung in there for the full four hours, despite the heat.

TODAY’S DATE: 23 July 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 30 July, 3-6 August 2026 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Katie Evans, and Dr. David and Jack Butler with a few of the 59 fish Katie and Jack pulled up today during a 4-hour, multi-species morning fishing trip on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Katie Evans and her Uncle Jack Butler with a few of the white bass they landed on MAL Dense lures worked vertically in the first hour of light as large schools of white bass patrolled open water in an endless chase after threadfin shad.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Because of Katie‘s age, I was sure to try to mix things up and offer plenty of variety during our time on the water to help keep her engaged and send her home with a positive impression of fishing. We began the morning downrigging up shallow with #12 Pet Spoons on three-armed umbrella rigs and came up with only two fish before the bright sun in combination with zero clouds and no wind at that point pushed fish deeper.

Next, I found roaming schools of white bass in 25 to 30 feet of water off of a fairly steep sloping bank and we fished for them vertically using a smoking tactic with MAL Dense lures to land five more white bass. Once the rays of the sun struck the water here, that fishing also ended abruptly.

Our next portion of the adventure took us up shallow, where we targeted sunfish holding tight to visible, submerged cover. Jack and Katie split a catch of 43 sunfish before we embarked on the final portion of our trip.

We spent the final hour or so fishing over an area I had baited prior to everyone’s arrival. This area produced nine catfish including seven channel cat and two blue cat, and at least as many missed fish as both Katie and Jack went through the normal learning curve everyone does as they tried to detect bites and then respond with a proper, hard, fast hook set.

Although I would normally opt to put a slipfloat rig in the hands of an 11-year-old to help with catfish bite detection, Katie is an athlete and accustomed to being coached. So, I set her up just as I would my adult anglers — with a tightline rig. Turns out, she landed both of her first two bite. As the novelty wore off and her attentiveness began to slip, I changed her over to the slipfloat to introduce something new and regain her focus for our final 20 minutes of the trip. She landed fish on the slipfloat rig, as well!

 We wrapped up the morning with 59 fish landed including 7 white bass, 43 sunfish, 2 blue catfish, and 7 channel catfish.

RESULTS: 59 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=jDSvfXgrAUE

OBSERVATIONS:
-No fishable topwater action witnessed today.

-An atypical NE breeze blew 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 …

Taken on Lake Belton on 14 July 2026, approx. 6:05AM …

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