CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, March 27, I fished a multi-generational trip for four. Joining me was John Krska, his son-in-law, Leo Estramadura, and Leo’s two kids, Liz (age 17), and Cameron (turning 12 tomorrow). The Estramaduras were in visiting from California.

John bid on a gift certificate I had donated at the request of Mrs. Shirley Stephenson with the Salado Area Republican Women’s organization some time ago.

Although the forecast for rain this morning was present, I checked multiple forecasts and felt we would be able to get a full four-hour trip in and not get soaked in the meantime. We (pretty much) did.

DATE: Thursday, 27 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Krska, Liz, Leo, and Cameron Estramadura with sunshine ahead of them and a storm a-brewin’ in the background. Fishing peaked just as the light rain began this morning around 10:30AM. We scooted as what you see in the background began to develop around 11:40.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s fishing was a lot like yesterday’s in that the fishing was negatively impacted by heavy gray cloud cover in the first 90 minutes following sunrise. It has been during this time that a shallow water bite had reliably been taken place, but that was not the case these past two days. I saw some scattered fish in shallow water early and we cast MAL Originals to them, landing a total of five before I set that aside and continued on with the rest of the trip out in deep water fishing vertically.

Liz was not feeling all that well and only grabbed a rod for a short periods, so John, Leo, and Cameron were doing the bulk of the fishing and catching. I had them all use white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. I used my thumping device to draw fish in and also used it as a metronome to help them retrieve at an appropriate cadence as they brought their lures up off the bottom. Garmin LiveScope played an important part as well, letting them know when their lures were getting chased so they could continue reeling upwards.

Although the vertical fishing provided us with a steady catch, there was a definite spike of activity just before and during a light rainfall event of ~20 minutes in length, beginning around 10:30A.

When all was said and done, my three (and a half!) anglers wound up with 67 fish, including four short hybrid stripers, one blue cat, and 62 white bass.

RESULTS: 67 fish, all caught and released


TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”:

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH THE MAL LURE WITH A SAWTOOTH METHOD:




LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/



OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
I saw the first spawning threadfin shad this morning.
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.


LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F
5 feet 67.2F
10 feet 66.3F
15 feet 63.1F
20 feet 61.2F
25 feet 60.1F
30 feet 59.4F
35 feet 58.9F
40 feet 58.6F
45 feet 57.8F
50 feet 57.4F
55 feet 57.2F


This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F
5 feet 60.3F
10 feet 60.1F
15 feet 59.4F
20 feet 58.9F
25 feet 58.6F
30 feet 58.2F
35 feet 57.8F
40 feet 57.5F
45 feet 57.1F
50 feet 56.3F
55 feet 56.0F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.94′ low (slight rise)

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-9 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning w/ ~20 minutes of light rain beginning ~10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 100



Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A








AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171C – 5 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 412 – 9 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1675 – 2 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0391G (two hops) – 33 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 082 – 7 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0082G – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs



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

Smiles and storm is a coming. Good job.


Side Note: Looks like you got off the water at the right time.

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