CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 10, I fished with returning guests Jerry Saikley and Jeff Burns. Back on Nov. 23 when I reported about moving operations from Lake Belton to Stillhouse Hollow and conducting a scouting trip in advance of taking clients there, Jerry expressed interest in being part of such a scouting effort.

Since I’ve had no reason to fish Lake Belton since that time, and since most of the fish I was doing on Belton was confined to only one part of the lake, we scouted an area that Jerry and Jeff were not all that familiar with, and which I had not fished in quite a white.

DATE: Tuesday, 10 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 11, 16, 18-20 December (AM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jerry Saikley and Jeff Burns hoist a pair of hybrid striped bass taken moments apart from a fast-moving school of fish chasing shad in just under 30 feet of water. The fish both fell for white, 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados during a morning scouting effort.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Essentially, the point of scouting is to find fish and catch a few in a number of places, versus a fishing trip where, once fish are found, we stay put until we have caught all the fish an area will produce.
This give me options as a guide, instead of running clients around to areas which may not have proven to hold fish lately.

This morning’s trip was bitter-sweet. It confirmed that Lake Belton’s fishing has gotten tougher as the water temperatures have fallen. It confirmed that fish are in areas where we suspected them to be. It confirmed that Stillhouse is definitely producing better at this point in the season. However, we really only found one solid location in the segment of the lake we scouted which would be worth returning to.
Whenever I scout, I like to do so during the same timeframe during which I will have clients aboard, and I like to time these efforts with good fishing weather, as even marginal areas will produce at least a few fish with favorable weather.

Despite not finding a multitude of fish-holding areas, Jerry and Jeff were able to pick my brain and watch my approach to fish-finding, especially when it came to the use of topographic mapping, side-imaging interpretation, and the i-Pilot Link function allowing a user to pinpoint an object (like fish) on the bottom and then direct the trolling motor to that object quickly and accurately — a feature Jerry has on his own boat but was not really taking advantage of.

We wound up finding fish in two areas — one with white bass only, and the other with a mix of whites and hybrid. The white bass came up off bottom to strike smoked MAL Dense Lures early in the trip, and the mix of whites and hybrids came near trip’s end and were taken on 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados worked with a sawtooth method.

The men also took one suspended fish in an area where lots of bait was holding, but that was more the exception than the rule, so we dismissed that as an area with future potential.
We fished each location until we’d taken 5 fish, then packed up and moved on so as to cover as much water as possible.

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: 11 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) and White Tornados (white, 1 1/8 oz.) to make our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) A very hard cold front with high winds built in today. Overnight lows around 33F (the lowest since last spring) are expected. This will likely push water temps into the high 50s and further slow the fishing.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

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

0 feet 62.2F
5 feet 62.6F
10 feet 62.8F
15 feet 62.8F
20 feet 62.8F
25 feet 62.8F
30 feet 62.8F
35 feet 62.8F
40 feet 62.8F
45 feet 62.6F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 62.4F
60 feet 62.3F
65 feet 60.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 2.12′ low and falling slowly

Water Surface Temp: 62.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW12 at trip’s start, increasing to NNW18 with higher gusts thru the morning

Sky Condition: Grey skies until 11A, then quickly clearing from W to E.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 73% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 029 – 5 white bass smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area B0197C – mix of 5 white bass and hybrid stripers 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

...

Scouting a water body pays off. Solid post and fish. Good job.