Paying it Forward & Other Life Lessons – 62 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, August 6, I fished with a four man crew led by Pastor Frank Ayala, the youth pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen. Frank brought three of his young men from high school out for a multi-species effort of Lake Belton, all courtesy of one of the church’s members who has a heart for young folks, and who desired to remain anonymous.

Joining Frank were Noah Towery (17), and cousins Jeremiah Jordan (15), and Brandon Powell (13). All three boys live in Copperas Cove, Texas.

Frank and I pointed out to the boys that this opportunity was afforded them by someone they will likely never meet, and encouraged them as they begin their careers to think about ways to be generous and “pay it forward”.

TODAY’S DATE: 06 August 2026 (AM)


NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING BEFORE PUBLIC SCHOOL RESTARTS: 13 Aug. 2026 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Pastor Frank Ayala, Noah Towery, Jeremiah Jordan, and Brandon Powell show off a few of the blues and channels they landed while fishing punchbait over an area we had baited earlier in the morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Pastor Frank Ayala, Noah Towery, Jeremiah Jordan, and Brandon Powell, each with one of the 43 white bass they landed as these predators pushed shad toward the surface just as it was getting light this morning.

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We met up at 6:20 AM and had downriggers in the water by 6:30 AM. As we downrigged, I could see white bass just under the surface, from about 3 feet deep down to about 9 feet deep over a 16 to 22 foot bottom with clouds of young-of-the-year shad mixed in throughout.

Just a few moments after witnessing that, as the skies continued to brighten, but still well before sunrise, these fish turned on and we were able to catch them with MAL Dense lures thrown out horizontally and retrieved with a quick, sub-surface retrieve. These fish dissipated right around 7:10 and moved away so quickly we were not even able to follow up with subsequent downrigging to continue catching them. By this time, we had landed 43 white bass

At this point, we took a bit of a break, went and baited two areas to return to to fish for catfish, and spent about 25 minutes hanging cut bait for hybrid. We lost one hybrid and picked up one blue cat before returning to the first of the two baited areas to target catfish.

This first baited area was in the 20 foot range, but, despite being near timber, had a clean enough bottom to where all four men could observe their bait in order to intentionally keep it about 9 inches off bottom. Fishing punchbait, this area produced 13 catfish, including a roughly equal mix of channels and blues, and at least as many missed strikes.

Once that area played out, we went to our second and final baited area and picked up another five catfish before wrapping up right around 10:30 AM.

RESULTS: 62 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:
-USACE has finally reduced the flow of water through the dam to the “normal” summertime rate of 52CFS — just a trickle to keep fresh water moving downstream.

-Topwater action could be seen here and there for the first 3 hours this morning, but fish were still not staying up for more than seconds at a time after the sun’s direct rays struck the water.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Taken on Lake Belton on 06 Aug. 2026, approx. 6:05AM …

Taken on Lake Belton on 28 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