 There he is right there goodness. Oh my gosh, what a strike Loading up the cooler heading out on an adventure here and it's finally raining here in Texas. Thank goodness We are heading to another part of the state and today's adventure video is sponsored by our friends at mystery tackle box So everybody new to this channel that doesn't know what mystery tackle box is It is a subscription service. It brings delicious tackle to your doorstep every month And they have literally been a sponsor on this channel since gosh the last time I fished this lake that is behind me Which has been a really long time which we'll get into in just a minute Mr. Talk box realized a long time ago that the fishing industry was going to change and it's been really cool to be with them Over the course of these years where all these content creators are getting people into fishing and The fishing population now is so huge and with covid and all that stuff And I don't know if you've been to retail stores lately, but a lot of the pegs are empty So this is a super easy way to get tackle straight to your doorstep without having to touch anything One of my favorite things about mystery tackle box is I have literally learned About new types of baits From getting the louvers in the box and not only that but they're going to break down fishing scenarios for you to help You learn not just in stuff that comes in the box You know that tells you literally how to fish the baits or literally where to fish the baits and what times of year But also through an extensive library of videos their youtube channel is full of tips I will link it down below if you guys are new into fishing I suggest going and watching a bunch of those because there's a lot of just classic techniques that you'll pick up on really quick And the pro box is always full of juices y'all. I'm talking really good quality baits For example, the dag gum filthy frog is in here in a severely Dangerous color the old bone my gosh My old alma mater y'all lake fort trophy lures. I literally lived in that tackle shop They made great quality baits too. This is a completely new bait. I haven't even fished right here This is a 10,000 fish tickle tail and it looks like a fan tabulous bladed jig trailer bill Lewis crankbait gambler flipping baits And they even got some some hard heads some swing heads something i've never even seen before They include a jig in here as well. I mean it is it is loaded down Top it off with a patriotic fish sticker that is going on the silver bullet. I can guarantee in fact Let's just go ahead and do that right now Anyways, if you want to save on your first box Use the link down in the description go down there click on it. Use the code Mando that is Mando m o n d o and they're going to hook you up with that discount now I've been walking around this lake right here. This is a lake. I used to fish all the time when I was Going to texas a&m university fishing on that fishing team It's where I started learning about fishing clear water And learning those techniques more finesse techniques and how fish are act differently in clear water This lake is called lake belton and actually ford hood one of our major army bases in the country is stationed here So if you hang around the lake long enough, you're bound to see an apache helicopter fly over It is not known for its amazing bass fishing But it is a cool lake because it's clear water and it's kind of wraps around it It fishes more like a highland reservoir like table rock or any of those Lakes that have really deep clear water and have long rocky points So we're going to do a little camping do a little fishing But what's really cool about this lake is that it has all three species I don't know if I can switch a bunch of fish out here y'all Okay, y'all this is what I'm going to start out with the top water. I'm just going to keep handy This is our hound walking baits a three treble hook walking bait. I've got it on 30 pound braid Uh, I've got a ned rig rigged up and then I've got just a recon So that's just the standard size recon 8 to 12 foot The first fish that I've marked out here are in 28 feet of water. So I don't think the recon is going to get all the way down there I'm hoping that maybe right before dark. We'll get some top water activity I drove through the storms and then it's sunny here, but it might be coming in. It looks like there's some some haze But it was like in the 70s on my drive and then I got here. It was 95. So I drove straight into the sun basically the last time I fished this lake a ned rig wasn't even a thing So the rattle in that out here. I think is going to perform There he is I mean, it's just a boulder. It's got to have a fish on it Oh my goodness That little ned rig hit me right in the hair that guy was 11 inches. Oh shoot Oh no Brought me off Dude, oh my gosh, I know what's going on This place has gotten zebra mussels since the last time I was here Holy moly. That is just a clean cut. That is fresh line right there. There we go Come on, baby be a smally Boy that one was just up there. This is either a smallmouth or a spotted bass. It looks like it's got a darker back Oh smallmouth. Oh my gosh. Look at that guy go Whoa, bam. Yeah, baby. Oh, that is so cool. No Y'all watching from other states where you actually have fat smallmouth This is what you call a texas summer smallmouth That is a bullet right there. Just long and skinny and look at that mouth If you guys watch My my series where I went up north Unthawed the great northern dangle a fish that had this size mouth up there Would be like three and a half pounds. So Uh, they're just you know different down here But what a great fight. What an awesome fish even though it's summer fish are a little bit more lethargic Smallmouth always have a good fight Wah-bah Complete 180 So I've moved up into a pocket that has a quite a few trees in it. I'm about all over them I don't know a couple miles from where I was but that's what's so cool about this lake because it's just got You know a big difference in deep rocky Boulder type water and then you can fish some more pebbly sand with uh with trees Oh, just saw a shad flip over there better get a line out there son. Oh my oh my look at the fish here Look at the fish. You can see the outline of it Wah-bam Right there in 20 feet. That is a bass if I've ever seen one Whoo, look up there in the shallows too. My goodness. I might have to rig up a little jig more shallow presentation Get our top water moving Oh, yeah, it's starting to look Bombastic in here Bass exploding out here. I'm gonna get this hound slide one in this face. Oh my gosh first cast got him Gaw freaking exploded largemouth Largemouth on the hound Come off dad gum dad gum. Okay fishing freaks. It is starting to happen. We just had our first top water, uh, I think it was a I don't know it could have been a largemouth, but they were pushing some shad up here on this bank and um throwing a jig right now, but I just had two bites on the hound And I can see them got kind of pushing these little schools. So I'm gonna fire that out there. I'm gonna fire the recon And see if we can connect, you know the problem I got just lost that fish, but the problem with fishing braid The treble hooks is you're gonna get a hole In their mouth in the summertime. It's gonna be a bigger hole With that braid. I could just work the bait a lot better with the braid. So that's where the old rod comes in Get you a soft rod This rod right here ladies and gentlemen You'll find out soon about all of our our rods that we've been developing, but um It's pretty much tailor made for for this right here. So Oh my gosh. Oh, I came off Holy moly that guy just Unloaded his inertia. I was You guys couldn't see my head, but I wasn't looking. I wasn't paying attention Oh, oh my gosh, I got him that time. Geez That's got to be a smallmouth just angry at it Yeah, that is that is a smallmouth What a ballistic missile Ladies and gentlemen, top water Boy small mouth and top water better We're gonna go ahead and reach for them pliers Don't normally like to do it this way, but I am by myself Okay, we're all good. We're all good, baby. We're all good, sweetheart You get that little torpedo body of yours back in action. See you Oh, man, I don't know if that was the same fish Just multiple attempts on that thing. Oh my gosh That's just so crazy. Okay, bring on the top water strikes Ready I think it's a good time to throw top water Anytime you see surface activity So regardless of time of day, we're entering into You know evening, but Middle of the day I've caught smallmouth in a hundred degrees Over, you know deep 30 40 feet of water It's got to be clear usually but If you see any kind of surface activity shad Popping especially if you see a bass swirl or pop one Don't be afraid to get the top water out. Oh my gosh. I want to just pop right in there right in those stick ups Sometimes it's not You know the predominant thing that they want they might want a swim bait or crankbait But sometimes it is the actual top water that they really want That should be just cam Bowed There he is right there goodness Oh my gosh, what a strike Yeah That's about the same size always got another one with oh my god. He's got three with it I think I just got I just hooked another one. Oh my gosh. No another one bigger one grabbed it a bigger one Freakin grabbed it out of that fish's mouth. Holy cow. Oh my god, you guys You don't even know how awesome that was gosh. I've never had that happen before I had a 12 incher And then this bass comes up behind there's two more bass and then this like three pound bass comes up And grabs it out of the other fish's mouth. I thought I had both of them on but I exchange for an upgrade Oh Holy cow, I don't know if I can sling this fish It might be hooked pretty good. Let's see Oh, yeah, you're hooked pretty good Come here. Oh my gosh, that is a good smallmouth too Holy moly. Come here, baby You grabbed it good Oh my gosh guys, that's like that's top 10 bites of the year Top 10 bites of the year and he was just pinned in the schnoz too. It sucks that you guys didn't get to see the the grab from this fish, but The first one that you saw jump was just a you know 13 14 incher like I just caught a second ago And then this one and another smaller fish come up behind it like a two pounder and then this this one Snatches it out of its mouth and then spits up another shad A big shad. There's that little cracked up sexy shad color in the hound. It's really good That is phenomenal. I gotta get a picture for that one. That's a cool memory So angry So angry. Give me your face, please. Oh, there you are. There you are. Beautiful sugar booger Oh my gosh, seriously one of the coolest bites of this year Maybe of my last five years to do it in texas on top water. That was just I don't know amazing See baby go back in that clear water and munch them sheds. Yeah Y'all got to smash the like button for that because every time that happens and it's never happened with smallmouth Of me, but when it happens with largemouth or spotted bass, I always get the smaller one Like the smaller one comes up and grab it grabs it. You never get the bigger one Like when you see that bigger one chasing you like, oh my gosh, I want that fish That just happened. Just go ahead and give it a little tickle a little thumb tickle on that thumbs up, please I'm gonna move spots y'all I don't know if I just got lucky and came across a wolf pack or the wind blowing in kind of disturbed that whatever was going on there, but Gosh, I want to find that again. I'm actually gonna Zoom across the lake here. I think What I'm looking at across the lake is a spot that I it was like one of my go-tos I used to Uh catch fish there. Well, they're on some boulders I think my memory's serving me correctly, which it often doesn't we don't have much time left of the day We still got to set up camp. We got to cook But it would be nice to take a trip down memory lane and see some big boulders catch fish off of it And they go in Oh gosh That one came up and snoozled it Got it good got him Dude, he came off that rock largemouth That's cool That's cool Gosh, I had that there was a deep bite I felt the fish bite it as I was I was stuck in a rock I pulled it out and boom and then I reeled it up and boom hit it again And finally I just let it sink. It was probably only like 10 feet down and smashed it All right largemouth Pretty sweet big Chinook helicopter flying over catching green fish evening I think I might try me one more and then I'm I'm I'm gonna go in and start cooking. It's just I'm feeling the good vibes out here. There might be more than one That's just kind of weird how that happened This little spot, so I'm gonna try to Get another one real quick. I mean I was hung But I was hung in the juicy apparently Got him smaller Dude, you were You were down there in like 25 foot Better be careful, man Some sharks down there that'll eat you. Yep. Come on, baby Be good. Oh Just decent There's definitely more than one on this thing though. Oh There we go just hooked right on top of the schnoz Just a little largemouth probably 12 inch here, but It's deep in the heart of texas. You smell good. You're nice clean deep water Oh, oh, come on. Oh, they're down there. It's just not big That's the fat largemouth dude Been eating up. This is so interesting because normally this is like A smallmouth area, you know, we've got 25 feet of water on a boulder And they're just a bunch of little Largemouth gotta be a good one Gosh, I see some I see four more sitting on top of this rock Got snagged on it That's where I should get bit though. Yep. He ate it ate it ate it eating it Got it That's crazy. There's a little better one All right, they're right on that spot If you're not fishing braid on your spinning reels by the way Do it Just go ahead and do it Because you can feel stuff like that. That's inhaled. You can feel little changes like that that make the difference I mean, obviously pan optics is really cool, but Before there was that Just having the feel and your rod And using that braid And I've got just a 10 pound fluorocarbon leader on here. It's a decent largemouth. There's like 14 Oh, he bit it bit it Bit it on the rock getting stuck on the rock every time it's a bite. Oh my gosh Boy Guys are healthy down there. I know I said I was going to go in The memory bank has been refreshed. This is literally the boulder the water's low enough I can I can tell it's it's the biggest most dominant boulder on this bank This is where uh, I used to come and catch a key fish I was fishing a tournament or I used to night fish out here He's got it. He was on the rock a little guy Well, you want to talk about absolutely cleaning up And there we go the old black Hawk coming in to give us a sweep Gotta love it Gotta love it Just a big old American dominating machine flying through the air here giving it a one last sin over the water Before he heads in maybe they're doing night operations out here. I don't know y'all You just got to respect what we got going on in the good old us of a one time. I was fishing out here. No joke I was running up. I got close Up into where the military base is they were just running some some operations with the black Hawk or the The Apache helicopters and the pilots were looking around and wherever they were looking The gun turrets were rotating and looking and they you know, he just looked over me and waved and that gun went Oh my goodness I said bud, I'm gonna let you have this fishing hole right here hit on that note Ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna send it in back to camp Fishing for weeks. It is time to take a bite of the gory Wow That trailer needs some grease. This is a good way to end the camp day I wish I could get a nice cold shower Before I hop in whatever I'm hopping in here Sleep because I'm so sweaty and I'm eating hot food and I'm sitting by a fire But that's just camping in Texas in the summertime. The cool thing is We had an absolutely amazing Topwater eat today by a smallmouth in the middle of Texas. I don't know if I'll ever have another bite like that It was so cool. Then we go over to a boulder. I hadn't fished in years And hardly even recognized it when I got up on it. I was like, oh, yeah This is the juice and then I literally see those fish sitting there caught a bunch of largemouth. That was fun Then we got dad gum helicopters flying over the military base. It's just a cool spot Just as awesome as I remember it. There's a ton of deer walking around here right now too That y'all can't even see but tomorrow. I bet you're gonna get a glimpse of them in the morning So stay tuned. I'm gonna go explore this lake even more try to tap my memory bank and see what other kind of fishing We can get into once again I want to give a shout out to mtb for sponsoring all my adventurous type videos and being with me for so many years And all of you guys for watching my channel Some of you might even remember me fishing this lake many many moons ago So if you've been here for that long, I salute you. That is good. Y'all go ahead and subscribe to the channel Don't forget to smash the like button for all some fish catching greatness And I wish you the best in all of your outdoor adventures. God bless you. See you soon