CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, 20 November, I fished with returning guests Brandon and Wendy Hunt – a very outdoorsy couple heading toward their 25th year of marriage.

The Hunt’s first trip with me was back in June of 2023, so, this fall trip was very different so far as tactics were concerned.

DATE: Wednesday, 20 November 2024 (AM)



NEXT OPEN DATES: 29 November, 2, 3, 4, 6 December (weekday AMs). Next Saturday opening: 14 December (AM)




PHOTO CAPTION: This was the “lunch fish” — the largest of the trip — landed at our last stop of the day by Wendy. That fish was worth a smoked chicken, cornbread, drinks, and more at Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton.






PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon took this Lake Belton hybrid on a 1 1/8 oz. White Tornado (white color) fished with a “sawtooth” retrieve.








PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon and Wendy’s first two fish of the morning came simultaneously as side-imaging revealed a nice school of hybrid stripers out to our starboard side. Their well-placed casts with White Tornados were instantly rewarded.






PHOTO CAPTION: Of course no trip would be complete without a few good ol’ white bass. These were taken on a combination of MAL Dense Lures fished vertically and White Tornados fished horizontally.






PHOTO CAPTION: Wendy landed a bonus smallmouth — her first ever!



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The fish were really hard to pin down today. Although we enjoyed the arrival of a nice batch of birds with this most recent cold front, the birds were here and then there and then resting and then gone and then over there and then over here again. As the fish fed sporadically, the bird action just mimicked that fish activity.

It was like a baby fighting sleep — the fish wanted to feed, but the impact of the dropping water temperature kept fighting them from going full bore.

So, we enjoyed better quality fish, but a lower quantity of fish caught versus recent trips with warmer water temperatures.

Side-imaging was indispensable today in helping to find small “wolfpacks” of fish here, there, and everywhere, allowing us to get to them and sit on them for at least a few minutes before we had to move on and find the next school.

When we found fish, we typically fished vertically with MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for as long as the fish right beneath us stayed interested. Then, once they dispersed or lost interest, Brandon and Wendy would sling White Tornados out to the port or starboard side of the boat if side-imaging revealed activity there. If not, we’d idle along until we found more fish to target.

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: 37 fish, all caught and released



LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We primarily used MAL Originals (w/ chartreuse tails) vertically and 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados horizontally today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/



OBSERVATIONS:

1) I observed our first extended bout of bird activity today — it was widespread and sproadic, but began at sunrise and was still “trickling” at 1pm.

2) First loons of the fall were observed with this incoming cold front.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Friday, 15 Nov….

0 feet 70.2F
5 feet 71.7F
10 feet 72.2F
15 feet 72.3F
20 feet 72.3F
25 feet 72.3F
30 feet 72.3F
35 feet 72.3F
40 feet 72.3F
45 feet 72.3F
50 feet 72.3F
55 feet 72.3F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 12:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 2.54′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW 12-15 all morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, blue skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 73% illumination.

GT = 70



Wx SNAPSHOT:








AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 302 thru 1933 – 14 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures & sawtoothing White Tornados

Area vic 1671 – 10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 1804 to B0159C – 13 fish sawtoothing White Tornados



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

Nice report and very nice fish

Solid post and fish as always. Good job.

...

How much did that big hybrid weigh Bob?

6.75 lbs. Despite the abundance of bait, you can see the belly is not plump/bulging.

Thanks Bob for another great trip. We went to miller BQ and it was awesome. See u in April.