WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Thursday, May 8, I fished with Justices of the Peace, Dan Hause and Larry Wilkey.



Both men took office two years ago – – Larry in the Temple area and Dan in the Lampasas area.



Flooding continues with Lake Belton just over 11′ high this morning, BUT, the USACE has begun releasing water at ~4,100 CFS according to their last report.



Here is how the fishing went…






PHOTO CAPTION: Justices of the Peace Larry Wilkey (left) for the Temple area and Dan Hause for the Lampasas area landed a mix of white bass and hybrid striped bass as the USACE began releasing water from Lake Belton today. The lake went as much as 11+ feet above full pool beforehand.






PHOTO CAPTION: This is a shot of the new MAL Dense with its nickel-plated lead body, shown above a white powder-coated MAL Dense. This new version i 0.88 ounces, sinks very quickly when getting back to bottom is critical, and gives a more subtle, less “showy” appearance than the white or chartreuse bodied MAL Dense versions do. They, literally, just got posted on my online store this Tuesday.

Find MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 09 May 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With the lake now over 11 feet high and the water lapping at the asphalt, if not covering it, on all of Belton‘s boat ramps, I was afraid we were within hours or days of seeing the lake become inaccessible until I saw that USACE began releasing water through the dam.



This is great news as it may allow for continued access, but, in the short term, it was another environmental change for the fish to contend with.



For the first time since the flooding, there was light, but noticeable staining to the water in the main basin today.



As compared with Monday and Tuesday, fish were much more difficult to find this morning and seemed much more likely to be either shallow or suspended. I did not see that many signs of life below about the 42 foot mark today.



We caught all of our fish this morning in just two locations. Early in the morning, under low light conditions and under a thin veil of light fog, we found some light schooling activity as I observed two blue herons patrolling routinely out over open water. As I got closer, I could see large shad being chased to the surface by a mix of white bass and hybrid striped bass. My first reaction was to equip Larry and Dan with MAL Originals in order to have them sight cast to white bass and hybrid striper schools which I moved them close to using my trolling motor.



As it turned out, the schooling was not all that consolidated, and, after checking side-imaging while in the midst of these schooling fish, I felt we had better chances of working MAL Dense Lures using a sawtooth tactic.



The men landed a total of 17 fish at this location, including five legal hybrid striped bass up to 4 pounds.



As the fog dissipated and the direct sunlight began to show through holes in the clouds, these fish pushed downward and outward fairly quickly and disappeared.



I now began hunting for fish once again , journeying up into the Leon River arm, only to find it stained beyond my liking.



I headed back downstream on the Leon and found our second and final group of fish. This group consisted mainly of white bass holding closely to the bottom. We were able to draw them in with the splasher and they responded well to a smoking tactic as Dan and Larry used MAL Originals in 26 feet of water to tempt these fish with a smoking tactic.



We ended the trip right at the 4-hour mark with exactly 50 fish landed, including seven hybrid striped bass, one smallmouth bass, and 42 white bass.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released



OBSERVATIONS:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on May 6th …

0 feet 73.4F
5 feet 73.5F
10 feet 73.5F
15 feet 73.4F
20 feet 73.1F
25 feet 72.5F
30 feet 71.5F
35 feet 70.5F
40 feet 69.9F
45 feet 69.6F
50 feet 68.1F
55 feet 66.9F




WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 11 feet high and rising, 4104CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 72.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE2-7 all morning

Sky Condition: Mostly cloudy all morning with occasions breaks letting direct sun through

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 3% illumination.

GT = 45



Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1788 & 994



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

As usual, nice report....

Solid post and fish. Good job.