CLIENTS: On Thursday evening I welcomed aboard three generations of the King family.  This was a “last chance to do something as a family before school starts” kind of trip.  Aboard were grandparents David and Michelle King, parents Dustin and Cristina King, and kids Jackson (11) and Catherine (8) King.  Everyone had prior fishing experience, and that helped plenty.  We only fished the last two hours before dark, from 6:45 to 8:45PM, at my suggestion, as the oppressive heat has limited the evening bite to that time of low-light conditions, and, I was concerned about having kids out in the direct sun in 100+ degree weather.

DATE: Thursday, 08 August 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  14 & 15 Aug. (AM & PM)

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:   It was pretty straightforward tonight: find fish, downrig for them with the balls set at or as much as 2′ above the tops of the schools of fish we encountered, and catch them.  David and Dustin manned the ‘riggers doing the setting and adjusting, while allowing the kids and the ladies to do the catching.  It worked great having these men right on the downriggers so we could do a lot of instant “micro-adjustments” to our trolling depth as sonar dictated.  This crew landed singles, doubles and triples for a total catch of 57 fish in just 2 hours.  These Kings were real aces!!

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 & 13 Pet Spoons for white bass the entire trip.  Find three-armed umbrella rigs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 57 white bass caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

1) A short peak or burst of activity came about 10 minutes either side of sunset when fish just seemingly materialized, coming shallow in large numbers, and occupying the entire lower half of the water column.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 5:50 AM on August 5 …

0 feet 87.2F

5 feet 88.1F

10 feet 88.1F

15 feet 86.5F

20 feet 86.1F

25 feet 86.1F

30 feet 85.6F

35 feet 85.1F

40 feet 84.5F

45 feet 83.1F

50 feet 81.9F

55 feet 81.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45P

End Time: 8:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 101F

Elevation: 0.04′ low falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow, resulting in a 0.03′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 88.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7-8

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 75

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0186C to B0113G – downrigging for white bass w/ #12 & #13 Pet Spoons

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