Restoring Hope for America – 50 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, June 17, I welcomed aboard a boat full of first-time guests – – joining their father, Jamie Clark, were Jack (age 19), Sammy (age 16), and David (age 11) Clark. Originally, Jamie and the two older boys were supposed to come out with their grandfather, Jimmy Clark, but he wasn’t feeling well, so young David took his spot. Everyone had prior fishing experience, but never fishing vertically aided by LiveScope for white bass the way we did today using the MAL Dense Lure.
I mentioned in the title about restored hope for America. It is interacting with boys like these that make me think our country will make it for at least another generation. These young men were all clean-cut and well-spoken, they had firm handshakes, they each made eye contact as they introduced themselves without prompting from anyone, and were just clearly raised well. I came to find out later in the trip that the family attends church together. Unfortunately, I just don’t see as much of that as I would hope to. Anyway, Jamie’s boys encouraged me today.
TODAY’S DATE: 17 June 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 15-17 July 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jack, Sammy, David, and Jamie Clark with a nice haul of Lake Belton white bass taken working MAL Dense Lures vertically through suspended fish.
PHOTO CAPTION: The Clark boys with a few of the channel cat they took on doughbait and punchbait toward the end of the morning after the white bass feeding let up.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
As was the case yesterday morning, this morning started off around 75° with a light fog.
I really did not find much to fish for until around 7:30 after looking over three areas from our start around 6:45 AM.
Once the fish started feeding, they fed well right up until around 9:30 when the wind which had been slowly building all morning started to let up. The bite from the white bass let up right with it and at that point, I suggested we transition to fishing for catfish, which everyone was up for.
Prior to everyone’s arrival I had baited and marked an area just for catfish. As soon as everyone understood the importance of a fast, hard, instantaneous hookset, I got doughbait on everyone’s hooks and the action started right away. In the 45 minutes we set aside for this fishing, my foursome landed seven and missed at least that many additional strikes. Some of the missed strikes simply came because of a lack of familiarity with how this was going to feel on their first try. Some strikes were missed because small fish often just nip or nibble, but don’t fully engulf the bait.
When all was set and done, Jamie and his boys landed a total of 50 fish including 38 white bass, 2 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 blue catfish, and 7 channel catfish.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
RESULTS: 50 fish, all caught and released by clients
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY:
OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE shut down the flow through the Belton Dam despite the lake being flooded in order to prevent problems further downstream as Tropical Storm Arthur hits the Texas coast.
-Lake Belton rose 0.03′ to 2.13′ above full pool.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 17 June 2026, approx. 6:20AM…
0 feet 84.5F
5 feet 85.0F
10 feet 84.8F
15 feet 84.3F
20 feet 84.0F
25 feet 83.4F
30 feet 79.2F
35 feet 75.7F
40 feet 74.3F
45 feet 71.5F
50 feet 69.6F
55 feet 67.4F
60 feet 65.5F
65 feet 63.3F
70 feet 61.5F
Taken on Lake Belton on 08 June 2026, approx. 6:25AM…
0 feet 81.9F
5 feet 81.9F
10 feet 81.9F
15 feet 81.9F
20 feet 79.7F
25 feet 76.7F
30 feet 74.3F
35 feet 73.3F
40 feet 72.0F
45 feet 70.5F
50 feet 67.8F
55 feet 65.0F
60 feet 63.1F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 10:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation – Lake Belton rose 0.03′ down to 2.13′ high in the last 24 hours.
Water Surface Temp: 84.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE4 building to SE11 by 9:30, then falling back to SE4-5
Sky Condition: 80% grey cloud cover on a white sky all morning with only a few brief breaks of direct sun
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 10% illumination
GT = 220
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2496- 5 white bass on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area 2495 – 14 white bass, 1 largemouth, 1 drum on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area 2497 – 4 white bass on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area vic B0195C – 15 white bass, 1 largemouth, 1 drum, 1 blue cat on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area JUNCAT03 – 7 channel cat on doughbait
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