So You Want to Buy a Bass Boat – 58 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, July 1, I fished what will be my last trip prior to the long Fourth of July weekend playing out. I welcomed aboard brothers Ken and Glen Janke, both Bell County natives born and raised on a farm near the town of Bartlett. Joining them was a recently retired coworker of Ken’s, Mr. LaDarrell Fillip.
In his retirement, and with his waterskiing days behind him, LaDarrell is considering parting with his Chaparral Ski boat and buying a bass boat. He let me know this so I could give him some pointers as we went through our day. Although I lobbied for him to consider a center console without success, we agreed some sonar training would certainly be beneficial going forward.
TODAY’S DATE: 01 July 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 28-31 July 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: My two GO-TO summertime white bass lures are the MAL Lure (silver body, chartreuse tail works wonders on Belton and Stillhouse), and the 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons chosen to match the forage size.
PHOTO CAPTION: This is the 3-armed umbrella rig. From the rod tip, you have a swivel and leader, the 3 armed rig, a fluorocarbon leader on each arm, and a Pet Spoon on each leader. For reference, the floor tiles are 2-foot square. This is NOT to be confused with a Alabama Rig or A-rig. This umbrella rig has much longer arms, leaders, and cannot be cast without tangling. It is specifically meant for trolling with downriggers.
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
This morning‘s weather was similar to yesterday‘s weather except we had more cloud cover in our first two hours; I believe this caused the fishing to kick in a bit later than it did yesterday.
We wound up fishing three distinct locations for white bass, each progressively deeper, beginning in 15-20 feet and moving out to 34 feet, and with each producing fish on the MAL Dense with silver body worked vertically with a smoking tactic.
One of these areas was the same area I downrigged at quite successfully yesterday. That area was the least productive of the three we fished today and only gave up a handful of fish on the downriggers and then again on the smoked MAL Lures.
On the downriggers, I ran one rod on each of two ‘riggers. Each ‘rigger had a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with #13 Pet Spoon, for a total of 6 baits in the water. The downrigging is effective, but it really keeps you hustling when the fish are cooperating. After going through several rounds of setting lines and catching fish, I asked my crew if they had a preference on downrigging vs. working MAL Lures vertically. They unanimously indicated they liked the vertical work with LiveScope better, so, I set aside the downriggers and we went vertical for as long as the white bass cooperated.
Once again, there was but sparse, brief topwater action – – certainly not enough to stop and fish for. As was the case yesterday the white bass action tapered off quickly around 10 AM. From that point until we wrapped up around 10:50, we fished punchbait on tightlines over a baited area and that produced seven channel catfish for us.
Our grand total today was 58 fish including 49 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 8 channel Catfish.
RESULTS: 58 fish, all caught and released by clients
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY:
OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE scaled the release of water through the dam way back and the fishing improved, literally, overnight. Flow today was 224 CFS for the second consecutive day, down from ~1,400CFS last week.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Lake Belton on 01 July 2026, approx. 6:20AM (Note thermocline forming between 35-40 feet!!)
0 feet 85.6F
5 feet 85.6F
10 feet 85.6F
15 feet 85.6F
20 feet 85.6F
25 feet 85.3F
30 feet 85.0F
35 feet 82.6F
40 feet 74.7F
45 feet 72.3F
50 feet 70.7F
55 feet 69.8F
Taken on Lake Belton on 24 June 2026, approx. 6:20AM…
0 feet 84.7F
5 feet 84.8F
10 feet 84.8F
15 feet 84.8F
20 feet 84.8F
25 feet 84.8F
30 feet 84.5F
35 feet 78.8F
40 feet 74.9F
45 feet 72.5F
50 feet 70.8F
55 feet 69.9F
60 feet 67.9F
65 feet 65.6F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:40A
End Time: 10:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F
Elevation – Lake Belton fell 0.05′ down to 0.59′ high in the last 24 hours. Flow rate was 224 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 85.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S7 to 10 all morning
Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover for our first 2 hours, then clearing to 60% white coverage on a blue sky by trip’s end
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 97% illumination
GT = 65
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2316 – 14 whites on smoked MAL Dense lures from off bottom
Area vic 788 to 328 – 6 whites on downrigged Pet Spoons
Area vic B0293G – 3 whites on smoked MAL Dense lures from off bottom
Area 2513 – 19 whites on smoked MAL Dense lures from suspended schools near bottom
Area B0122C/B0183C – 8 whites on smoked MAL Dense lures from suspended schools near bottom
JUNCAT09 – 8 channel cat over bait on punchbait
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