AUGUST 2008 SUMMARY






30 AUGUST 2008 = 21 Fish

28 AUGUST 2008 = 175 Fish

23 AUGUST 2008 = 34 Fish

21 AUGUST 2008 = 59 Fish

18 AUGUST 2008 = 88 Fish

15 AUGUST 2008 = 68 Fish

14 AUGUST 2008 = 41 Fish

13 AUGUST 2008 = 15 Fish

12 AUGUST 2008 = 23 Fish

11 AUGUST 2008 = 92 Fish

07 AUGUST 2008 = 50 Fish

04 AUGUST 2008 = 50 Fish

01 AUGUST 2008 ( PM) = 77 Fish

01 AUGUST 2008 (AM) = 46 Fish

TOTAL CATCH FOR AUGUST 2008 = 839 FISH

AVERAGE CATCH PER TRIP = 59.9 FISH

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








30 AUGUST 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 8:45a

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start, climbing to 94F for the day’s high

Water Temp: 83F

Wind: Light NE breeze blew for the entirety of the trip at about 5-7 mph.

Skies: A heavy cloud bank in the E. obscured sunrise and direct sun until around 7:45a.

Report:

Well, it’s my father-in-law’s 70th birthday today, so I only had the wee hours of the morning to spend on the water before preparations for the festivities began. I took a short but productive solo trip, and stayed close to home on the mid part of Stillhouse this morning.

There was a NE breeze this morning, uncharacteristic for this time of year. I was hoping to find some topwater action other than where I’ve been fishing lately, if for no other reason than to have a fall-back plan whenever that dries up.

Either the NE breeze squelched any very aggressive topwater activity where I searched today, or there was none to be found. Regardless, I gave the Carolina Rig rod a workout looking for some quality largemouth between Areas 56 and 126, and listened and watched for topwater action to start, but none ever materialized. I witnessed the typical gar action on top prior to the direct sun striking the surface of the water, but there was only occasional feeding by gamefish, and that by very small largemouth. At the 22-25 foot breakline, there was abundant shad, all ¾” to 1″ in size, but in great schools. While in this area, I took 1 drum on a Carolina Rig, 4 largemouth on a Cork Rig, and 1 white bass on a smoking retrieve with a slab. By 7:45a, I didn’t believe things were going to improve, so I moved on.

I next headed to Area 149 and as I idled in, things looked promising on sonar. Fish were numerous and tight to bottom at the top of this feature in 25 feet, and were suspended off the SE side of the feature, right at the 25 foot level. I got a slab down as quickly as I could and came up with 3 white bass, followed by a 17.5 inch largemouth, then an 18.0 inch largemouth, then 8 more average schoolie-sized largemouth (13-14 inches), and ending with yet another white bass, all on a smoked slab. Hoping there were still some beefy largemouth in the mix, I tried the Carolina Rig again, and got the best fish of the morning, an 18.5 inch black on my 3rd and final cast with it, going from deep to shallow.

It was now 8:45am and time to head back in.

TALLY = 21 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








28 AUGUST 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 75F at trip’s start, and 93 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 83.4F

Wind: Light from the SW at 5-6, dying to calm by 11:30a

Skies: Early morning clear skies gave way to a quickly passing layer of murk, followed by fair skies the remainder of the day.


Report:

Fished a half day morning trip this morning and stayed on the white bass from sunup until 11:15a. The fish were truly in overdrive today and were aggressively pursuing shad this entire time.

Pre-dawn, I noted the strong presence of gar sipping on topwater, and the presence of terns patrolling and looking for shad pushed to the top, as I was.

At the very moment of sunrise, I spotted the first open-water school of white bass pushing shad over 25-27 feet of water near Area 209. Early on in the morning the fish seemed more concentrated over deeper water, near Area 209; later in the morning the fish seemed more active over shallower 14-25 foot water nearer Area 204. All of today’s action took place in roughly an ellipse from Area 204 to 209.

Although bottom-oriented fish were consistently present on bottom below active, top-water feeding fish, these fish seemed to shy away from a typically slabbing presentation, as well as a smoking retrieve.

By far the most effective rig/tactic today was the “burnt cork rig”. I found that not only did the surface feeding fish respond to it, but also fish that were suspended a number of feet below the surface would rise toward the surface and chase down the presentation as it passed overhead.

Landed a total of 175 fish today of which ~10 were largemouth bass (3 legal) and of which the remainder were (all) legal white bass. Most white bass were right at the 11 inch mark; only 4 exceeded 14 inches.

Mr. Cleveland M. and I spoke at the boat ramp. He was juglining for channel cat and topwater fishing while staying near his jugs. He reported taking 5 legal blacks on topwater along the shoreline near Area 206. Thanks, Cleveland, for the loaner on the cell phone!!


TALLY = 175 fish, with all fish released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








23 AUGUST 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start, and only up to 84F by day’s end.

Water Temp: 83.4F

Wind: Light and variable from SE to nearly flat calm

Skies: Heavy grey early morning cloud cover gave way to clear skies by 9:00am

Fished a Kids Fish, Too! morning trip this morning with 9-year old Spencer L. and his dad, Scott and 9 year old Taylor W. and his day, Billy. As we met at dockside, I assessed both fellows’ casting abilities and equipment preferences, and then we got out on the water. The low pressure system that brought some rain earlier in the week has moved to the east, but there is still cloud cover in the area as a result of it.

I took a few sonar sweeps of Area 206 that’s been productive of late, and there was not nearly the amount of bait nor gamefish that I’d seen in the recent past. Nonetheless, I stayed there until the light level was about right for any surface activity that may have taken place to begin, but saw none. In the meantime, we trolled with downriggers and kept a sharp eye on sonar. The downriggers didn’t fail us and we wound up with a 4.25 pound largemouth to start the day off, and then headed to the south to look for some topwater fish.

In roughly a line connecting Areas 31, 41, and 196, we encountered multiple large schools of white bass with largemouth mixed in and stayed on these fish for about 30 minutes. Most fish were 10.75 to 11.5 inches, but very solid and healthy, and also very full of 1.75″ long shad. A majority of the fish we caught regurgitated 2-3 shad as they were being landed. The increasingly bright sky conditions made the fish very finicky and made them feed near the surface instead of on the surface. When all of the topwater action was done, we’d managed 22 additional fish. The real key was getting an accurate cast to the surfacing fish quickly, and the boys struggled to do this, so our success was diminished as compared to what accomplished casters could have done — but, that’s why I do kids’ trips – so kids get better at the sport.

After the topwater died off, white bass remained congregated in the area. We took 12-15 trolling passes with the riggers down and with Lunker Lickers following. We took an additional 12 fish via this tactic including several 15-16 inch white bass, a 3+ pound channel catfish, and several 1 pound bass.

Once the downrigging dried up and the fish vacated the mid-depths, we gave live sunfish a try for largemouth, but the very bright and very still conditions we then encountered killed the action for good.

We headed back to the dock with 34 fish caught and released and two enthusiastic young men comparing their notes for the day.


TALLY = 34 fish, all released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








21 AUGUST 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start, and into the mid 90’s for the day’s high

Water Temp: 83.4F

Wind: Light and variable from SE at 4-8

Skies: Early morning clear skies began to cloud to the point of thunderstorms by noon, lasting into the mid-afternoon.

Fished a Kids Fish, Too! morning trip this morning with 8-year old Andrew N., his 15 year old sister Elizabeth, and their mom and dad. As we met at dockside, I assessed both kids’ casting abilities, and then we got out on the water. Neither child had fished seriously before, so we were essentially starting from scratch. The low pressure system that brought some rain earlier in the week has moved to the east, but still was bringing much moisture into the area, resulting in the rain in the afternoon.

I took a few sonar sweeps of Area 206 that’s been productive of late, and there was not nearly the amount of bait nor gamefish that I’d seen in the recent past. Nonetheless, I stayed there until the light level was about right for any surface activity that may have taken place to begin, but saw none.

I began glassing over open water and saw surface feeding largemouth beneath terns in the vicinity of Areas 62 and 71. We arrived to find well-dispersed wolfpacks of largemouth bass pushing shad to the surface. This was excellent activity, but a bit frustrating, as it required accurate and often long casts, which the kids were just not capable of. We managed 3 fish in about an hour’s time, and then went with a downrigging approach to avoid unsuccessfully fishing through this window of activity due to lack of casting skill.

In this same general area, and then transitioning slowly to the NW over to Area 217, we successfully downrigged for a nice mixed bag of white bass of all sizes, a few largemouth, and 3 freshwater drum. By 10:15 we’d put together a good catch of 21 more fish, and the kids really took to setting the downrigger balls, retrieving the weights, etc. and enjoyed participating in that.

Right at the very last part of the trip, a large school of white bass began to surface feed off of Area 222. Despite the kids’ limited casting abilities, these whites were dense enough and aggressive enough for us to give it a try. We moved into these fish with the trolling motor and in the next 45 minutes or so, each child was able to cast to, retrieve through, hook, and land several of their own fish without assistance. We managed 5 white bass this way and then called it a day once that school sounded.

We headed back to the dock and I bid them farewell, then I headed back out to the Area 62/71 action and managed to find some of those largemouth wolfpack still forcing shad to the top. Long, accurate casts on the cork rig accounted for 10 more fish, all largemouth from ¾ to 2.75 pounds.

I closed out the trip catching a mix of exactly 20 sunfish in case they were needed as bait for an upcoming trip. I spent less than 25 minutes with my bream pole at Area 239 and got a mix of sunfish, longear, and redears. In noted some spawning activity still going on in this area.

TALLY = 59 fish, with all gamefish released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








18 AUGUST 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start, and only up to 84F by day’s end.

Water Temp: 83.5F

Wind: Light from the SE at 6-8, then shifting to NW and then transitioning to NE, never over 12 mph

Skies: Heavy grey rain clouds all day with showers from noon into evening. ½ inch of rain fell.

Fished a half-day morning trip this morning with 9-year old Spencer L. and his dad, Scott. As we met at dockside, I assessed both fellows’ casting abilities and equipment preferences, and then we got out on the water. The low pressure system that brought some rain, cooler temps, and heavy cloud cover had me a bit concerned.

I took a few sonar sweeps of Arean 206 that’s been productive of late, and there was not nearly the amount of bait nor gamefish that I’d seen in the recent past. Nonetheless, I stayed there until the light level was about right for any surface activity that may have taken place to begin, but saw none. In the meantime, we trolled with downriggers and kept a sharp eye on sonar. The downriggers didn’t fail us and we wound up with 2 largemouth and 2 white bass landed with another white lost. Once the start of topwater light conditions had come and gone, we headed for greener pastures.

Didn’t have to go far – at Area 217 we encountered multiple large schools of white bass with largemouth mixed in and stayed on these fish for an unheard of two and a half hours plus, thanks to the heavy grey cloud cover. Most fish were 10.75 to 11.5 inches, but very solid and healthy, and also very full of 1.75″ long shad. A majority of the fish we caught regurgitated 2-3 shad as they were being landed. A total of 72 fish came from this area.

At about 10:30, a sudden increase in the wind speed from the SE seemed to put a significant damper on the topwater action, and so we revisited our gameplan.

I offered a few options to my father-son team. They decided they’d like to pursue a record class fish for the Junior Angler category by way of fly rod for young Spencer. It took us 3 stops (Areas 189, 195, and 231), but Spencer finally spotted, cast to, hooked, and landed a small bluegill all on his own to qualify for a spot in the Stillhouse Hollow record books with a 4 5/8 inch, 1/8 pound sunfish. After meeting this goal, we quickly took several more small sunfish with the intent of baiting tightlines with them for some larger black bass at the end of our trip. We managed 7 more sunfish in no time on a bream pole with worm and quill bobber and headed out for some large black bass. At this point in time, we had a brief, moderate shower (no thunder or lightning) and experienced a mild wind shift to the NW.

As we returned to Area 217 in search of largemouth, we ran sonar until we found bottom-oriented wolfpacks of 3-4 fish each. We got the baits down and without having to wait very long at all, managed to wrap the trip up with 2 blacks going 2.75 pounds, as well as 2 nice 15 inch white bass.

TALLY = 88 FISH with all gamefish released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








15 AUGUST 2008






This is one of 5 reports for a 5 day vacation trip made to Canyon Lake, TX from M-F, 11-15 August, 2008.

WEEK’S SUMMARY:

To summarize the weather, Monday was heavily overcast and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

On Tuesday, we woke to rain and occasional lightning right up until around 2pm. The skies then cleared out and again, by that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

Wednesday and Thursday were photocopies of one another, with fair skies, unobscured sunrise and sunset, and hot, nearly windless conditions during the day with temps in the high nineties.

Friday was much like Monday with heavily overcast skies and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions and a light SE breeze with thunderheads building in the SE.

In reviewing the entire week, morning success far exceeded evening success, and Areas 230 and 224 were by far the most productive during that morning time.

FRIDAY’S REPORT

Conditions were aided today by heavy grey cloud cover the first part of the morning. Under these clouds, I found wolfpacks of white bass and largemouth bass driving shad to the surface at Area 234 early, and at Area 230 later on. A cork rig accounted for 29 fish before the widespread but sparse surface action ended. A downrigging approach with twin #12 Pet Spoons put another 10 fish in the boat, including 7 whites, 2 largemouth, and a crappie. These fish were all suspended at 32-36 feet over 40-50+ foot water from Area 230 and to the NE of it. I broke for lunch at around 11:15 and returned in the evening.

This last evening of our vacation I decided to pursue record sunfish on the flyrod. Focusing on Coves 235 and 235, I found the cove back and the side cuts on both of them to hold fair amounts of fish. I used a small brown nymph to land 26 sunfish, including pending lake record bluegill, redbreast and hybrid green sunfish. As the sun began to set, and as a thunderhead built to the SE, I ended the trip at Area 224 and put a final 3 white bass in the boat on a smoked Rattle Snakie.

TALLY TODAY = 68 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








14 AUGUST 2008






This is one of 5 reports for a 5 day vacation trip made to Canyon Lake, TX from M-F, 11-15 August, 2008.

WEEK’S SUMMARY:

To summarize the weather, Monday was heavily overcast and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

On Tuesday, we woke to rain and occasional lightning right up until around 2pm. The skies then cleared out and again, by that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

Wednesday and Thursday were photocopies of one another, with fair skies, unobscured sunrise and sunset, and hot, nearly windless conditions during the day with temps in the high nineties.

Friday was much like Monday with heavily overcast skies and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions and a light SE breeze with thunderheads building in the SE.

In reviewing the entire week, morning success far exceeded evening success, and Areas 230 and 224 were by far the most productive during that morning time.


THURSDAY’S REPORT:

We mixed it up a little this morning and revisited the largemouth action at Area 224. It was solid and yielded 15 largemouth, all coming on the cork rig. After that action died, I headed back down to the dam to try the stripers again. W arrived in the vicinity of Area 221, found a large school of stripers, again in 60-75 feet of water over even deeper water, and immediately picked up one on a smoked TNT 180. Thinking this was too easy, I kept on but without much more success. Over a 90 minute period, I only caught 1 more striper and 1 white bass, both by way of smoking via the flasher. These fish came from the S. side of the dam’s discharge structure. At this point we broke for lunch and returned in the evening.

On this evening’s trip I found a few fish holding tight to bottom at Area 226. I got a crappie, a largemouth, and 3 white bass here. Again, we experienced a real lag in activity until nearly dark, at which point white bass came up onto the point at Area 224 and I managed to add 8 fish to the caught by both jigging and horizontally retrieving a Cicada

TALLY TODAY: 41 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








13 AUGUST 2008






This is one of 5 reports for a 5 day vacation trip made to Canyon Lake, TX from M-F, 11-15 August, 2008.

WEEK’S SUMMARY:

To summarize the weather, Monday was heavily overcast and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

On Tuesday, we woke to rain and occasional lightning right up until around 2pm. The skies then cleared out and again, by that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

Wednesday and Thursday were photocopies of one another, with fair skies, unobscured sunrise and sunset, and hot, nearly windless conditions during the day with temps in the high nineties.

Friday was much like Monday with heavily overcast skies and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions and a light SE breeze with thunderheads building in the SE.

In reviewing the entire week, morning success far exceeded evening success, and Areas 230 and 224 were by far the most productive during that morning time.


WEDNESDAY’S REPORT:

Fished only in the morning this morning. Started off fishing the shallow point at Area 238 and had 3 largemouth blow up on my Spook Jr., but none hooked.

At first light, I caught glimpse of surface action in the vicinity of Area 224. Wolfpacks of largemouth were forcing small shad to the surface and driving them all around the shallows here. Fished here exclusively landing 15 largemouth with 12 coming on a cork rig, and 3 coming on a fly rod, including the pending lake record, a 14+ inch fish taken on the Polished Chicken fly.

Once the action here died, it was done for the morning. I did check Areas 228, 229, 227, and 226, but shad were blanketing the areas without bunching up in fear of gamefish.

TALLY TODAY: 15 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








12 AUGUST 2008






This is one of 5 reports for a 5 day vacation trip made to Canyon Lake, TX from M-F, 11-15 August, 2008.

WEEK’S SUMMARY:

To summarize the weather, Monday was heavily overcast and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

On Tuesday, we woke to rain and occasional lightning right up until around 2pm. The skies then cleared out and again, by that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions.

Wednesday and Thursday were photocopies of one another, with fair skies, unobscured sunrise and sunset, and hot, nearly windless conditions during the day with temps in the high nineties.

Friday was much like Monday with heavily overcast skies and unseasonably comfortable up until around 11:00am when the thick blanket of clouds burned off. By that evening the temperatures had climbed back to mid-August norms with partly cloudy skies and hot, humid conditions and a light SE breeze with thunderheads building in the SE.

In reviewing the entire week, morning success far exceeded evening success, and Areas 230 and 224 were by far the most productive during that morning time.


TUESDAY’S REPORT

We awoke to thunderstorms and much needed rain this morning. This allowed only for an afternoon trip. I got on the water around 6pm and fished until 9pm. Shortly after launching, I noted topwater feeding schools of white bass despite the brightening, nearly calm conditions.

After looking over Areas 219 and 230 for white bass and seeing little, I spotted two schools of white bass over open water over the old Guadalupe River channel. I managed 2 fish from each school, as they quickly disappeared.

There was then quite a lag in action until nearly sunset, when a good population of white bass converged on Area 224 and the adjacent point. I began jigging for these with a Rattle Snakie, but, as they moved shallower, and as some broke the surface, a horizontal approach with a cast Cicada did much better. Got 19 whites here.

TALLY TODAY: 23 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing