Teachable Teachers – 122 Fish on the MAL Dense
CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, June 12, we wrapped up the fishing week with a bang! Alan and Marylynn Gawryszewski joined me for a morning targeting white bass on Lake Belton, courtesy of Marylynn‘s mom, Diane, who gave the couple couple a fishing gift certificate this past Christmas. Since both are in the administrative realm of the Killeen Independent School District, summer was about the only option for time off for the both of them.
TODAY’S DATE: 12 June 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 10, 14 July 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Marylynn and Alan Gawryszewski enjoyed non-stop action from ~8:10A to 10A, landing 114 fish during this “window” when white bass were actively feeding on threadfin shad.
PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Lure was a spot-in imitation for the adult threadfin shad the white bass were feeding on this morning. The version shown is the MAL Dense — the only MAL with a lead body for the fastest sink rate, although any of the standard-sized MAL Lures would have gotten the job done today.
PHOTO CAPTION: For variety’s sake, after the white bass simmered down around 10A, we pursued catfish at an area I baited early this morning. The Gawryszewski’s landed 4 cats and missed a few more in the final minutes of our trip.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Under nearly completely clouded skies, the first hour was pretty slow. We hit several areas in rapid succession, looking for aggressive, white bass to come into the splasher after siding pods of them suspended, primarily using 2-D Sonar.
By 7:40 AM or so we had only pulled in four fish and lost as many as this couple went through the usual learning curve while getting used to the smoking tactic with the MAL Dense lures we relied upon this morning.
To their credit, Alan and Marylynn watch the pre-trip video I sent which is intended to give clients a clear mental picture of how to execute the smoking tactic used with the MAL for vertical fishing. As soon as clients step aboard and we address safety issues, I then have them put hands on rods and practice with this tactic so when fish show up, we can maximize their catch.
As the clouds thinned and the sun shown more brightly, the wind stayed steady at about 8 mph and the bite began to improve. We remained on one location for nearly an hour and a half pulling exactly 114 fish using the same smoking tactic with the MAL Dense in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. That brought our tally to 112 white bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 2 blue catfish by the time 10 AM rolled around.
Although large schools of whites, numbering 50 to 80 fish, would roll through on occasion, during the best window of time this morning (8:10 to 9:30A) there was never a time when at least a few fish weren’t showing on the LiveScope, thus giving Alan and Marylynn a “target-rich environment”.
By 10A, the wind had begun to die, and with it the white bass bite. I laid out three options: the first was to stay in place and continue picking off stragglers, the second option was to go search out white bass at this less than ideal time in the morning, and the third option was to return to an area I had baited before Alan and Marylynn’s arrival in order to catch catfish using doughbait. Alan left it up to Marylynn and Marylynn chose catfish. By the time we got to the datfish, it was about 10:10 AM. In the 20 minutes that followed, the couple landed three channel catfish and one bluecat, with Marylynn missing three additional fish as she tried to get the hang of setting her hook reflexively and properly.
We wrapped up right at 10:30 AM with 122 fish landed.
RESULTS: 122 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 going from a rate of 412 CFS to just 64 CFS over the weekend, then reopened the gates, running 1060 CFS beginning on Monday, 08 June. That flow continued uninterrupted today, 12 June.
-No helpful bird action today.
-Lake Belton fell 0.13′ to 2.05′ above full pool
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
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
Taken on Lake Belton on 02 June 2026, approx. 6:35AM…
0 feet 82.5F
5 feet 82.6F
10 feet 82.1F
15 feet 81.5F
20 feet 80.2F
25 feet 76.6F
30 feet 74.8F
35 feet 73.3F
40 feet 71.7F
45 feet 70.3F
50 feet 67.4F
55 feet 64.4F
60 feet 62.0F
65 feet 60.6F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:30A
End Time: 10:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F
Elevation – Lake Belton fell 0.13′ down to 2.05′ high in the last 24 hours.
Water Surface Temp: 81.9F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-9 all morning
Sky Condition: 50 to 70% grey cloud cover on a white sky all morning with only a few brief breaks of direct sun
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 9% illumination
GT = 40
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area B0281G/B0057G- 4 white bass on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area 2495 – 108 white bass, 2 bluecat, 4 drum on smoked MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail) suspended
Area JUNCAT03 – 3 channel cat, 1 bluecat 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