CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, April 24, I welcomed aboard returning guest, Max Schultz, and a longtime coworker and friend of his, Mikey Keim.

Max is looking forward to retiring soon from his family-owned appliance repair business, Tri City Service, which specializes in all manner of home appliance repairs. Mikey maintains a large apartment complex in Temple, TX, managed by Max’s wife

DATE: Thursday, 24 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Max Schultz and Mikey Keim with a few of the hybrid striped bass which showed a strong preference for live (and cut) bait this morning.



WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing got off to a slow, late start thanks to very heavy, dark, gray cloud cover. This is the third consecutive day in which I struggled in the first 60 to 90 minutes following sunrise. Until the murk thinned out and the skies brightened up, we put only a handful of fish in the boat with a combination of artificial and live bait Around 8:40 AM, the southeast wind picked up a few miles per hour and the clouds thinned allowing the skies to brighten. This almost instantly triggered the fish.

We were able to spend the remainder of this 4.25 hour long trip on just one area .

We fished only live bait and cut bait. Each fellow had one rod with a live shad and one rod with a cut shad, and the pace of the bites we were getting was enough to keep them busy continuously.

The live bait produced a variety of fish, including numerous blue catfish, white bass, and hybrid striped bass, as well as a single freshwater drum.

As has been the case over the last several days, the bite began to soften just after 11AM, and was done by 11:30.

RESULTS: 71 fish, all caught and released



OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Live bait had a distinctive edge over artificials today.


LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F
5 feet 71.7F
10 feet 71.7F
15 feet 71.3F
20 feet 69.9F
25 feet 68.4F
30 feet 66.9F
35 feet 65.0F
40 feet 63.3F
45 feet61.5F
50 feet 60.3F
55 feet 59.2F
60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F
5 feet 68.4F
10 feet 67.4F
15 feet 65.9F
20 feet 65.1F
25 feet 64.3F
30 feet 63.5F
35 feet 62.6F
40 feet 61.9F
45 feet 60.0F
50 feet 59.2F
55 feet 58.2F
60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 3.13′ low

Water Surface Temp: 71.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE12-13 at trip’s start, then settling back to SE9-11 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Heavily overcast, dark grey skies through 8:40A, then brightening through a 100% grey clouded sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 25



Wx SNAPSHOT:








AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1012 – 71 fish on live shad



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 post and fish. As always. Good job.

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Nice fat Hybrids. One thing for sure, Hybrids do not play with their food !