Took A Vet Fishing – 113 Fish (2 Vouchers Still Available!)

CLIENTS: This morning, Veterans’ Day 2025, I ran a Veterans’ Day special reducing my normal fare by $95 dollars for any group that included a U.S. military veteran.

Taking me up on that offer was Chris Encarnacion who served one enlistment in the U.S. Army as a generator mechanic assigned to a combat engineer battalion.

Chris is originally from New York City (Manhattan), but now lives in Killeen and runs his baseball coaching business, Silverback Performance ( https://www.silverbackperformancetx.com/ ) in Salado. Chris invited his brother, Roberto, and Roberto‘s 13-year-old son, Mariano, to accompany him.

VOUCHERS STILL AVAILABLE: Bona fide U.S. military veterans are still able to take advantage of this single greatest discount I offer all year. As of this writing, there are still two vouchers available for a 4-hour, catch-and-release trip for the discounted price of $200 (versus $295 the rest of the year). This voucher may be purchased by PayPal, Venmo, cash, or check, and will be good for 6 months from date of issue. Call or text me at 254.368.7411 to coordinate.

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 11 November 2025 (PM)


NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 01 December 2025 (AM or PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Chris, Roberto, and Mariano Encarnacion bundled up and put the hammer down this morning. They landed 113 fish in right at 4 hours working the MAL Dense both vertically and horizontally, with a little downrigging sprinkled in.


FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/


WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton


SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Thanks to Sunday’s hard cold front (09 Nov.), it was quite chilly this morning – – 41° – – as I prepared for my guests’ arrival. Aside from an increasing northerly wind as a cold front blows in, my second favorite set of conditions for winter time fishing is the first day of a returning south wind, and that is exactly what we experienced this morning.

That south wind kept fish feeding for a full four hours this morning.

The cooling water has brought fish up even shallower. We caught our first fish in 13 to 15 feet of water, then followed the fish deeper as the rising sun coming through the cloudless sky brightened things up.

After using the sawtooth method horizontally for our first 20 fish, we put another 11 fish in the boat by downrigging as we worked the 20 foot range as fish transitioned through it. Once fish hit 28+ feet, we then spent the remainder of the trip using a vertical “smoking“ tactic for the remainder of the trip.

My crew used the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail for all but the downrigging.

There was a remarkable difference in the activity level of the fish this morning. Fish more often than not would aggressively pursue after our presentations and were far more likely than at any point so far this fall to rise up off the bottom and stay suspended up off the bottom by as much as 8 or 10 feet once we got a school agitated. Fish also stayed interested longer at each location we visited.

As evidence of this, we only needed to stop at 5 locations to make our 113 fish catch versus having to stop at nearly twice that many areas to make a similar catch over the past several weeks since the fall bite first got going back on 13 Oct.

By the four hour mark, the fish were on the downhill slide. My three man crew picked up a total of 113 fish including 111 white bass, 1 hybrid striped bass, and 1 largemouth bass.

RESULTS: 113 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:

-Vastly improved fishing versus the already solid fishing we had prior to the Sunday, 09 Nov. hard cold front.

-Water surface temp was 67-68F before the sun rose this morning.

-Fish were moving fast, aggressively chasing, and much more likely to venture away from bottom in pursuit of our baits.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken on Lake Belton around 7AM, Saturday, 08 November…

Compare to temps 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


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Elevation: Belton is 0.79′ low with a 0.06′ fall in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 43 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 67-68F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW10 at trip’s start, steadily increasing to SSW15 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0% clouds on a clear blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 55% illumination.

GT = 10


Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

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