CLIENTS: This morning, Saturday, November 9, I fished with a crew of four including Aaron Baggett, his dad, Kelly Baggett, Paul Funk, and Paul’s son-in-law, Jake Brown.

Aaron is a professor of psychology at University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, Kelley is a retired public school superintendent who is currently serving as an interim superintendent out in West Texas, Paul is a retired army officer, and Jake supports the advertising company he works for with technology.

This morning’s fishing took place under ideal conditions following the passage of yet another cold front. Read more about timing these fronts here: Timing Fall Cold Fronts



DATE: Saturday, 08 November 2024 (AM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2-6 December (weekday AMs). Next Saturday opening: 30 November (AM)




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Paul Funk, Kelly and Aaron Baggett, and Jake Brown with a portion of their 122-fish haul taken just after the passage of a Pacific cold front hours before sunrise.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I was encouraged about this morning‘s trip back as far as Monday, when a Pacific cold front was due to hit on Friday night, thus leaving clearing skies, cooler temperatures, and increasing wind velocity in the forecast for this morning.

Although the front was pretty weak, we did enjoy those factors and they did give the fishing a bit of a bump this morning. With the water temperature still around 73° from top to bottom in as much as 60 feet, the white bass are still very heavily feeding on shad and moving quite frequently.

I got everyone familiarized with the smoking tactic and everyone used MAL Originals with chartreuse tails nearly 100% of the time this morning to land a total of 122 fish in right at four hours of effort.
At our first stop, as the fish were fairly aggressive, and in shallowest water we would encounter them in all morning, Jake and Aaron gave the White Tornado a try, fished horizontally. They did as good as the older two fellows who stuck with the vertical tactic, but, from that point on, everyone used the MAL Lure with a smoking tactic exclusively.

One thing I have noted since we have been seeing these frequent cold fronts come down is that fish, even large schools of fish with hundreds of individuals in them, can be reluctant, or become that way very soon after the first few lure drops are made. Once those fish at the bottom become reluctant, it is then time to focus on individual fish up higher in the water column, “sniping“ at them by racing the lure pass their noses as they traverse the screen from right to left or vice versa.

With Belton water fairly turbid due to recent rains and high winds, I found no fish deeper than 35 feet today with our first fish coming out of 18 feet.

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



RESULTS: 122 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 hybrid striped bass, and 120 white bass.



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We primarily used MAL Originals (w/ chartreuse tails) vertically today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/



OBSERVATIONS:

1) The long run of fantastic fall fishing which began in early September has now begun to be impacted by increased frontal activity. The fishing has now become cyclical, following the arrival and departure of cold fronts.

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



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Saturday, 10 Nov….

0 feet 72.7F
5 feet 73.5F
10 feet 73.8F
15 feet 73.9F
20 feet 73.9F
25 feet 73.9F
30 feet 73.9F
35 feet 73.9F
40 feet 73.9F
45 feet 73.8F
50 feet 73.5F
55 feet 73.5F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F

Elevation: 2.31′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow; .02′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 72.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW8 at trip’s start, building to NW10 by mid-morning, then leveling off at NW6 the rest of the trip

Sky Condition: Clear, blue, cloudless skies

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 85



Wx SNAPSHOT:





AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1619 – low-light bite in 19′, 60 fish smoking MAL Originals and casting White Tornados (white, 1 1/8 oz.), 2 short hops

Area B0314G – 11 fish smoking MAL Originals

Area B0171G – 51 fish smoking MAL Originals





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

Good times keep coming. Nice post and fish. Good job.