Largest Fish in 21 Years Guiding – 122 Fish (w/ my new buds from Italy)
CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, January 7, I fished with a group of four – – all first time guests. Organizing the trip was Dr. Guido Zecca, accompanied by his son Giani, and relatives of theirs visiting from Italy – Alberto Casartelli and his 17 year-old son, Denis.
I was thankful that everyone came into the trip with prior fishing experience, including experience using spinning gear. Between what language barrier might have presented itself and a difficult weather forecast, I was bracing for a tough trip today. Fortunately, the weatherman missed the wind forecast (big time) and Alberto and Denis spoke English well enough for us to communicate even technical details about the retrieve they would need to use to be successful.
We had “una buona giornata di pesca” (a good morning of fishing)!!
TODAY’S DATE: 07 January 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 13 January 2026 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Denis Casartelli poses with his dad, Alberto, after Alberto landed this massive Lake Belton blue cat which swam upwards about four feet off bottom to eat his MAL Dense lure. The men travelled 5,400 miles from Dongo, Italy, to vacation with family in the Belton area.
PHOTO CAPTION: The white bass were bangin’ today thanks to a nice, steady westerly breeze from sunrise through 10A. This crew of 4 landed 122 fish, of which 111 were white bass with only 4 “shorts” landed all morning. “Slow-smoking” the MAL Dense (silver body) did the trick. From left: Giani Zecca, Alberto and Denis Casartelli, and Dr. Guido Zecca.
PHOTO CAPTION: The white bass weren’t the only fish cooperating this morning, as the hybrid striped bass also found the MAL Dense irresistible.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
My crew arrived early this morning, so I took the extra time prior to sunrise to thoroughly cover the slow smoking tactic we would employ 100% of the time today using the MAL Dense lure (with silver body).
Once the sun cracked over the eastern horizon, fish began to feed and continued feeding for a full four hours. There was a definite ramp-up to peak conditions over our first 45 minutes on the water. The bite peaked between 8:30 and 10 AM, during which time the wind blew at around 7 mph from due west. From 10 to 11:30, we saw a slow decay of the bite as the surface went nearly calm and the skies stayed bright, despite high, thin, white cloud cover building in the west.
As the bite was building and during the peak, we were able to stay on fish for much longer spans of time than after the wind quit. Once the wind quit, fish would show initial interest at a new area, then would quickly lose interest, requiring that we move once again.
When all was said and done, this crew of four landed a total of 122 fish including 111 white bass, 5 largemouth bass, 5 hybrid striped bass, and 1 blue catfish. I estimated the blue catfish at around 50 pounds.
We caught our fish over 7 areas, with the first area being the shallowest under low light conditions at 26′. The remaining areas were 32-35′ deep.
RESULTS: 122 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-This was day 3 of a warming trend following a mild cold front which blew in on Friday, 02 Jan.
-No bird action.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 07 January 2026…
0 feet 60.1F
5 feet 60.3F
10 feet 60.1F
15 feet 60.1F
20 feet 59.8F
25 feet 59.4F
30 feet 59.2F
35 feet 59.0F
40 feet 59.0F
45 feet 59.0F
50 feet 59.0F
55 feet 58.9F
60 feet 58.9F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:40A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 0.69′ low with a -0.01′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 26 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 60.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: W5-7 until 10A, then went calm
Sky Condition: Light blue sky with wispy, high, thin clouds at 30% coverage (but only in western sky, so clouds did not filter sunlight).
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 78% illumination.
GT = 100
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2343 – 36 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area 2257- 12 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area 2334- 49 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area vic B0026G – 6 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area vic B0025G/2055 – 5 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area vic B0025G – 4 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area 2345 – 10 fish on slow-smoked MAL 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