Rising Water, Solid Bite – 100 Fish on Hazy Eyes @ Belton
CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, April 13, I fished with Mr. Rick Vincent and his family including his wife, Angela, and his daughter, Christie, all of whom had fished with me before. Then, joining me for the first time was Christie’s husband, Ruben Solis.
Today was a great day for two reasons. First, I got to spend time doing what I love with a great bunch of folks who didn’t take themselves too seriously. Second, I got to celebrate my wife’s birthday with her by heading over to Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton. Half-pound of pulled pork for me; smash burger for my bride.
TODAY’S DATE: 13 April 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 28 & 29 April 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Christie and Ruben Solis and Rick and Angela Vincent with a few of the 100 fish the HEAVILY COMPETED for this morning.
PHOTO CAPTION: Angela walked away with all the prizes today: first fish, biggest fish, most fish, and greatest variety of species landed.
PHOTO CAPTION: Largemouth bass, blue cats, and hybrid were all mixed in as bycatch as we targeted white bass this morning. Christie landed this scrappy one at our very first stop of the morning.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The weather this morning was still a bit turbulent in the aftermath of storms which dumped 2 1/4 inches of rain on the area between midnight Saturday and the overnight hours Sunday. These were low intensity, beneficial rains, which fell to the north and west of us and were therefore beneficial to both both the Leon River watershed (Lake Belton) and the Lampasas River watershed (Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir).
As I got out to look at conditions early this morning, I changed our meeting location due to the fairly strong winds still blowing from the southeast as they had been all weekend.
As it got light out, I noted that the water was a little bit off-color and that the cloud cover was thick. For these reasons, I started looking for fish up shallow in under 20 feet of water and equipped the rods everyone would be using with opaque, white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.
Given all that was going on with the weather, and a half-foot rise in lake level (with water still rising), the fishing was pretty good. The bite improved through the first hour, peaked in the middle two hours, then began to fall off sharply by about 10:15 AM. We fished just that one lure in one way and that way was with the vertical “smoking” tactic provoking the gamefish we caught to chase what they perceived as a fleeing baitfish making its way from bottom toward the surface.
We moved as much in our last hour as we did in the first three just to try to put a few more fish in the boat in order to bring our count to 100. At 11:42 AM, Rick connected with what would be our 100th fish.
Our catch this morning included two short hybrid stripers, three largemouth bass, two blue catfish, and the balance consisting of 93 white bass for a total of exactly 100 fish.
RESULTS: 100 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-The threadfin shad spawn was ongoing but off a bit due to turbid near-shore and rising water thanks to a 0.83 foot rise over the past 48 hours.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 09 April 2026, approx. 6:55AM…
0 feet 69.2F
5 feet 69.4F
10 feet 69.1F
15 feet 68.4F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.6F
30 feet 66.9F
35 feet 66.0F
40 feet 64.4F
45 feet 62.3F
50 feet 61.2F
55 feet 60.3F
Taken on Lake Belton on 02 April 2026, approx. 7:20AM…
0 feet 70.2F
5 feet 69.9F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.0F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.4F
30 feet 68.1F
35 feet 68.1F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 65.9F
50 feet 63.7F
55 feet 61.7F
60 feet 60.0F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:40A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F
Elevation: Belton is 0.39′ low with a 0.83′ change in the last 72 hours. USACE is releasing 60 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 68.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11-15 all morning
Sky Condition: 100% grey clouds all morning with little thinning.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 17% illumination
GT = 125
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2327 – 16 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area vic 2128- 15 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 2431- 31 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 2258 – 21 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 2432 – 12 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
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