CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, July 30, I fished with first-time guest Mr. Boyd Krcha, who came after being referred by Mr. Larry Brewer, both of whom are in the Austin area refrigeration business. Boyd brought two grandsons for a kids-only trip — Brennan Cunningham (11) and Briggs Krcha (8).



DATE: 30 July 2024 (AM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: Thursday, 01 Aug. (PM), 07 Aug. (AM & PM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Boyd and Briggs Krcha, and Brennan Cunningham with a mess of the white bass they “smoked” MAL Lures up off the bottom for.








PHOTO CAPTION: Briggs landed our largest fish this morning. This 4.75 pound largemouth grabbed his MAL Original as Briggs worked it vertically with a “smoking” tactic in about 26 feet of water.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton



SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: Pretty cut-and-dried report this morning: Very little success downrigging under low-light conditions due to high winds and thick cloud cover before sunrise suppressing the bite. After sunrise, we smoked MAL Originals (when fish were most aggressive) and then MAL Minis (once the fish settled back) for 104 of our 130 fish coming off just two locations. We closed out the trip fishing slipfloats up shallow for sunfish, taking another 19 fish in that fashion. We wrapped up by 9:50 as the heat started to rise.



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: The majority of the white bass we caught today were caught vertically “smoking”, first using the MAL Original with chartreuse tail, then, when interest began to wane, switching over to the MAL Mini. Downrigging produced very few fish under low-light conditions as high winds and thick clouds suppressed that bite. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/



TALLY: 130 fish caught in released, including: 1 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, a mix of 19 sunfish, and 107 white bass.



OBSERVATIONS:

1) No morning topwater due to high winds (13+ mph)

2) Young-of-the-year shad have grown sufficiently to use #13 Pet Spoons now.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

0 feet 86.2F
5 feet 86.7F
10 feet 86.7F
15 feet 86.1F
20 feet 85.9F
25 feet 85.9F
30 feet 85.9F
35 feet 85.3F
40 feet 84.5F
45 feet 82.9F
50 feet 81.5F
55 feet 80.7F
60 feet 79.6F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.50 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.05′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S13-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Partly cloudy with 60% white-grey cloud cover on a white sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 25% illumination.

GT = 45



Wx SNAPSHOT:







AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1788 – 5 white bass on downriggers
Area vic B0186C (2 hops) – 104 fish smoking MAL Lures (Originals, then Minis)
Area B0033G – sunfishing for mixed bag
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

Always love seeing the young ones fishing! Awesome post and some nice fish. Good job as always.

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