CLIENTS: This past Tuesday evening I fished with Justices of the Peace Larry Wilkey and Dan Hause. Both men took office over two years ago with Larry in one of the Temple precincts, and Dan serving out near Lampasas. Both fellows have fished with me previously, but, this go-round Larry invited his son, Bryce, who has just begun his career as a firefighter in Jarrell. As we parted ways in the parking lot at nightfall, Larry was kind enough to present me with a Justice of the Peace coin. I’ve received coins before, but never from other than a military-connected source, so, this was very unique and appreciated (pictures below).



DATE: Monday, 21 October 2024 (PM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: Next open dates: 5, 7, 8 November (weekday AMs and PMs). Next Saturday opening: 30 November (AM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Bryce and Larry Wilkey and Dan Hause with a few of the 66 white bass they landed on a work-shortened 3-hour evening trip on Lake Belton.




PHOTO CAPTION: This is a snapshot of both sides of the coin “JP” Larry Wilkey presented me with at the end of our trip.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton



SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After last week’s cold front came in and really made a drastic improvement in the already solid fishing, I let Larry know I felt like our chances were good for a productive outing since he’d recently inquired about a trip.

Unfortunately, with his job demands, all we could squeeze in was a short, 3-hour trip, and we had to make it during the evenings, as he works each morning, and my next weekend opening wasn’t until late November.

As I’ve reported many times in these writeups, both Belton and Stillhouse tend to have a longer, stronger bite in the mornings. Regardless, we found and caught fish, and, as is often the case on evening trips, the best fishing came right at the end after a slower start.

We really had no problem finding fish, and we caught fish everywhere we found them, but, the level of aggression amongst those fish we found was very low right up until the final 50 minutes or so, and, even then, it wasn’t just through the roof as it can be this time of year.

We spent our first 2+ hours finding fish in 30-40′, and tempting them with MAL Originals and MAL Heavy Lures (both with chartreuse tails) as we observed the fish response on sonar. More often than not, the fish would somewhat lazily follow the lure, just 2 or 3 fish at a time instead of 10 or 12 fish racing competitively after these lures as has been the case on my last month’s worth of morning trips.

We put together a catch of 29 fish through 6:25P at which time I began to see fish and bait make a transition to shallower water. From that time and until the fish quit at dark (around 7:20P), we more than doubled our catch, finishing up with a total of 66 fish.

Once the fish came up shallow, I changed everyone over from fishing vertically to fishing horizontally with a sawtooth method. Then, in the final 10 minutes of the trip, we actually caught a few by sight-casting to individual fish popping shad right on the surface here and there. These were all single fish, and not the great schools often seen feeding on top around dusk in the summer months.

When all was said and done, these men’s 66 fish catch consisted of 9 short hybrid striped bass, 1 drum, and 56 white bass.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Originals and Heavies in both vertical and horizontal modes this evening. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/



TALLY: 66 fish, including 9 short hybrid striped bass, 1 drum, and 56 white bass



OBSERVATIONS:

1) The number of bottom-oriented schools of white bass now found in deep water AND showing a willingness to remain stationary long enough to allow for presentations to be made for substantial lengths of time have increased sharply; these fish are there to stay, likely until the water temps drop below 60F.

2) Mornings are much more productive than evenings at this point in the early fall.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:30 AM on Friday, 18 Oct….

0 feet 76.8F
5 feet 77.0F
10 feet 77.1F
15 feet77.1F
20 feet 77.1F
25 feet 77.3F
30 feet 77.3F
35 feet 77.3F
40 feet 77.3F
45 feet 77.3F
50 feet 77.1F
55 feet 77.1F
60 feet 77.1F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:10P

End Time: 7:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 87F

Elevation: 2.10′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .01′ fall in last 24 hours (w/ inflow from Proctor)

Water Surface Temp: 76.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-8

Sky Condition: No cloud cover on a hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 77% illumination.

GT = 40



Wx SNAPSHOT:







AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 085 – 18 fish smoking MAL Originals
Area vic 1798 – 11 fish smoking MAL Originals
Area vic 009/813 – 37 fish smoking MAL Originals & sawtoothing 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

Bob, I think your tally is a bit off in your post.

Nawh, Bob just got a little ahead of himself posting tomorrow mornings catch tally.

...

Got 'er fixed up. Thanks for keeping me honest!!

Nice post and fish. As always. Good job.