The Time is Now! — 95 Fish on MALs
CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, November 3, I fished with long-time client Frank Sumner accompanied by his church’s pastor, Mike Tracey. The two serve at New Beginnings Church, an Assembly of God church located in Harker Heights, Texas.
We spent a cool, crisp fall morning in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton.
TODAY’S DATE: Monday, 03 November 2025 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 12 November 2025 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Pastor Mike Tracey and U.S. Army veteran Frank Sumner enjoyed a cool, dry autumn morning on Lake Belton. They landed 95 fish in just over 4 hours.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
With daylight saving time having ended this past weekend, my trip start times have advanced one hour. We got going at 6:25 AM and wrapped up around 10:50 AM. Frank and Mike caught fish steadily over the course of the morning with a peak of activity between 8:30 and 9:30 AM.
Save for one brief 10 minute span of “sawtoothing” when side-imaging lit up with fish as we were already Spot Locked atop another group of fish, all of the fishing today was done vertically using a smoking tactic.
As has been the case ever since the fall fishing kicked into gear about three weeks ago, the fish were active in under 20 feet of water until about 25 to 35 minutes after sunrise. After that, the fish continued using bottom but pushed out gradually deeper. Our deepest fish today were caught in 38 feet of water.
All fish landed today were caught on the MAL Heavy lure with silver blade, silver body, and chartreuse tail.
Side imaging was invaluable in locating schools as much as 140+ feet out to the left or right side of the boat. The i-Pilot Link system allowed me to then send my trolling motor to park atop the schools of fish I’d seen, then Garmin LiveScope allowed my clients to gauge fish reaction to their lures’ movements in real time, and allowed them to know when to reel up, how far to reel up, and went to quit reeling after fish broke off their pursuit.
We ended the trip with exactly 95 fish landed including 93 white bass up to 14 inches in length, one blue catfish, and one freshwater drum.
RESULTS: 95 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Belton is 0.40′ low with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS.
-Fall conditions are peaking with a surface temp. now at around 72F
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Saturday, 01 November…
0 feet 73.5F
5 feet 73.5F
10 feet 73.8F
15 feet 73.8F
20 feet 73.8F
25 feet 73.8F
30 feet 73.8F
35 feet 73.8F
40 feet 73.1F
45 feet 72.8F
50 feet 72.8F
Compare to temps taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Monday, 27 October…
0 feet 77F
5 feet 77.1F
10 feet 77.1F
15 feet 77.1F
20 feet 77.1F
25 feet 77.1F
30 feet 77.3F
35 feet 77.1F
40 feet 77.1F
45 feet 76.8F
50 feet 76.7F
55 feet 76.7F
60 feet 76.7F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:25A
End Time: 10:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F
Elevation: Belton is 0.55′ low with a 0.03 fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 71.2F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-8 all morning
Sky Condition: 0% clouds on light blue sky
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 95% illumination.
GT = 5
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 1618 – 7 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic 788– 3 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area 163/164 – 16 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic 2039 – 4 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic B0172C – 40 whites, 1 drum smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area 2051 – 5 whites, 1 bluecat smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic B0005G – 10 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic 618 – 3 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
Area vic B0161C – 5 whites smoking MAL Heavy Lures
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: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle