CLIENTS: On Wednesday evening I welcomed back Wes Stearns and his son, Knox. Accompanying the Stearns were father and son team Rudy and Jaxen Yepez. On this particular trip, only the boys did the catching, while the dads helped by keeping the downriggers rigged to maximize our fishing time.



DATE: Wednesday, 07 August 2024 (PM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: 14 & 15 Aug. (AM & PM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Knox Stearns and Jaxen Yepez with some sunset white bass they landed on this evening’s Lake Belton fishing trip — likely their last fishing trip before going back to school next week.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton



SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: This turned out to be the hottest day of the year thus far, and, to add insult to injury, we had hardly any wind, so, we really felt that heat soaking in. For this reason, I shaved a half-hour off of my normal 3.5 hour duration for kids-only trips, and we fished from 5:45 to 8:45. We downrigged for all but the final thirty minutes, pickup up singles, doubles, and triples of white bass of all sizes, from 4.5 inches up to 13.5 inches.

Even the small fish showed a preference for the #13 Pet Spoon.

Once side-imaging revealed fish beginning to move shallow in strong numbers right at sunset, we pulled up the ‘riggers, Spot-Locked, and cast MAL Originals with chartreuse tails using the sawtooth method to finish out the trip.



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 & 13 Pet Spoons. We fished MAL Originals with a “sawtooth method”. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/



TALLY: 48 fish caught and released, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 46 white bass



OBSERVATIONS:

1) “Popcorn” schools of small white bass chasing shad in open water seemed to be here, there, and everywhere, with topwater action peaking between 8:15 and 9:40.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 5:50 AM on August 5 …

0 feet 87.2F
5 feet 88.1F
10 feet 88.1F
15 feet 86.5F
20 feet 86.1F
25 feet 86.1F
30 feet 85.6F
35 feet 85.1F
40 feet 84.5F
45 feet 83.1F
50 feet 81.9F
55 feet 81.2F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:45P

End Time: 8:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 101F

Elevation: Lake Belton hit normal conservation level today and is falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow, resulting in a 0.01′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 88.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE<5

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 9% illumination.

GT = 55



Wx SNAPSHOT:







AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1604, 1666 – downrigging for white bass pre-sunset
Area vic 272/165 – downrigging at and after sunset, transitioning to casting MAL Originals as fish moved shallower before quitting


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

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