A Day of Firsts for the Burton Boys — Ft. Hood SKIES “Fishing 101” Trip — 57 Fish

This afternoon I met Terry and Natalie Burton and their two children, Christian and Abram, for a fishing trip on Lake Belton booked through the Fort Hood SKIES program.

Christian Burton with his best white bass of the trip.  Christian stayed engaged and enthusiastic right down to his last cast of the night (on which he landed a fish!).

 

After the novelty of the several techniques we employed today wore off, Abram enjoyed the special assignments I came up with for him, such as aerator switch operator, livewell control officer, net-master, and drain plug technician.

The Burton’s live on Fort Hood where Terry serves as a senior non-commissioned officer providing sustainment support to III Corps.  Natalie is a registered nurse by training, but not currently working in that field.  The Burton’s have been an Army family for over 20 years.

As we met up right on time this afternoon, I first did a bit of an assessment to see what prior experience the boys had in fishing and in using the equipment I had on the boat, so I could know how much coaching would be required.  After that, we talked safety, then, we got lines in the water and went fishing.

The first hour we enjoyed moderate success fishing 3-armed umbrella rigs behind downrigger balls and came up with singles and doubles on a regular basis.  During this time, both boys caught their first fish, thus making them eligible for a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

Abram, who is 5 years old, began to show signs that the novelty of catching fish by way of the downriggers was wearing off.  Sensing this, we transitioned to fishing for shallow water panfish using live bait.  We hit two areas fairly close to one another and boated bluegill sunfish, redear sunfish, and green sunfish over about a 50 minute span.

Next, it was off to Area 1601 which produced well beginning at around 5:30p yesterday.  Although the bite was not as intense tonight, fish were in this area and willing to bite.  We spent another hour working these fish over for slow but consistent action.

Within 40 minutes of sunset, we moved over to Area 1602 where the boys used a smoking technique to catch fish that were beginning to move both shallower and up higher in the water column in preparation for the day’s final feed.  As it did last night, this transformed into a topwater bite, thus allowing the boys to see the fish pursuing forage and trapping it against the surface.  The bite ended right at dark, by which time we amassed a catch of 57 fish including redear sunfish, bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, blue catfish, largemouth bass, white bass, and hybrid striped bass.  Not bad for two boys who’d never landed a fish before!
SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors.  To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

 

TALLY = 57 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 86.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE7-8

Sky Conditions: ~15% cloud cover on a fair sky following a clear, dry morning sky.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.03 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.33 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area (vicinity) 687 downrigging for moderate results on smaller fish over first hour

**Area 166 slipfloats for panfish

**Area 1601 downrigging for deeper, scattered schools

**Area 1602 smoking for short hybrid beginning at 6:30p

**Area 811 last light topwater action

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

My Name is Hope, and I’m Here to Fish!! — 48 Fish, Belton, 26 Sep. 2015

This morning I greeted Micky Boettger, his wife, Aly, and their 8-year-old daughter, Hope, at the courtesy dock on Belton Lake at 6:45am for a little family fun sprinkled with a bit of downrigger education for Micky.

Hope was brimming with excitement this morning.  She about ran from the car down to the courtesy dock, greeted me enthusiastically, and let me know she was ready to catch fish — and she was!!!

From left: Micky, Hope, and Aly.  Today was a multi-species kind of day; we caught white bass, hybrid stripers, green sunfish, a drum, a smallmouth bass, and a channel cat.  Everything was eating small, young-of-the-year shad.

Micky fishes Belton Lake frequently with both rod and reel and with fixed juglines.  He recently added a downrigger to his arsenal and, over the course of today’s trip, wanted to pick up on some of the fine points of how, when, and where to use this tool.  We had spoken some time ago about this, and about timing such a trip when the sunfish were still up shallow to keep things interesting for Hope.  Well, today was the day.

As we launched, I was a bit concerned about the little bit of nip in the air from the NW wind that came in as a mild cold front overnight.  This can either really enhance a bite or really dampen it this early in the season when the barometric pressure changes (increases) but the water temperature remains unchanged.  Fortunately, we still enjoyed a short topwater bite right before sunrise, allowing Hope to land 9 fish up shallow on a Cork Rig, however, that action died hard as the first direct rays of light, unfiltered by any manner of clouds, struck the water.

I looked quickly in 4 other areas that have been producing a topwater bite lately, but, they, too, were shut down.  So, we shifted out deeper and began to probe with sonar for both bait and schools of gamefish.

We encountered exactly what I was hoping to find in the vicinity of Area 1604.  Very large schools of shad were bunched together into tight balls here, indicating a threat by gamefish.  We got downriggers down and, in 4 passes came up with 12 fish.  Fish very aggressively came up off bottom to inspect the downrigger balls, indicating a willingness to feed.  We quickly transitioned from downrigging to vertical jigging and caught fish continuously for about 35 minutes just hovering atop these fish that we’d found with the downriggers.

Once this bite died, we “mopped up” a few stragglers with a few more downrigger passes until that no longer was of interest to the fish, at which time we went shallow to introduce Hope to panfishing and Micky to a great way to catch some sunfish for catfish bait.  We used a pole and slipfloat setup to catch green sunfish until the novelty of that method wore out on Hope.

We closed out our trip looking over 3 different chunks of water for more downriggable fish, but found none.  By 11:15 it appeared the morning bite was over, and we called it a morning with 48 fish landed for our efforts.

 

TALLY = 48 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp:  82.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW9 at sunrise, tapering to NW5-6

Sky Conditions:  Cloudless

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 478 low-light topwater action

**Area 1604 downrigging leading to smoking with slabs

**Area 1583 panfishing

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

2 Kids, 4 Hours, 114 Fish — SKIFF Trip #17, Belton, 25 Sept.

This afternoon I conducted an after-school Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip for Juliahna and Ethan Dixon of Harker Heights, TX.

 

Juliahna and Ethan Dixon with a sampling of the fish we landed this evening.  The kids landed a total of 114 fish tonight, including their first fish ever, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

Juliahna is a 5th grader and Ethan is in the 2nd grade.  They are the children of U.S. Army Major Aaron Dixon and his wife, Ashley Dixon.  MAJ Dixon is currently deployed to Southwest Asia serving as a general’s aide.

With baseball caps, windbreakers, cheese & peanut butter crackers, and jelly sandwiches all packed and ready to go, I picked the kids up from their home since it was on my way to the boat ramp so as to give their mom a little more time to herself.  We headed to Belton after a slow trip to Stillhouse yesterday helped me finalize my decision on the matter, despite the little extra drive time it takes to get to Belton.  In hindsight, I’m very glad we did this.

We caught fish consistently from start to finish using 3 separate techniques, including downrigging, using slab spoons vertically, and casting to fish on topwater.  We caught a mix of fish today including white bass of various sizes, hybrid striped bass of various sizes, and 2 smallmouth bass, one of which was the largest fish of our trip.

As we started the trip, things were a bit slow on the downriggers at the first area we tried, producing about 6 fish in 40 minutes.  We relocated and found white bass in deeper 32-36 foot water and caught them initially on downriggers, then switched over to slabs after seeing how heavily congregated the fish were near bottom.  This was interrupted by a 30-minute spell of rowdy surface action nearby, after which we went back to using slabs.

By the time this area was tapering off, our final area of the evening was just starting to heat up.  As we arrived, I could see fish beginning to suspend from 10 feet down to bottom in 25-27 feet of water.  Every one of the 4 downrigger passes we made was answered with pairs of multiple hookups — a situation which just screams to be fished more thoroughly.  We stopped trolling, Spot-Locked with the Minn Kota trolling motor, and proceeded to “wear ’em out” until more rowdy topwater action pulled us off of these fish.

We pursued topwater fish for the entire time span from sunset until dark.  I cast a Cork Rig with a small shad imitator, and I had the kids throw a Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in 3/8 oz. for simplicity’s sake since they were beginners with the spinning gear.  As the topwater action began, the kids were amazed a how much more the activity there was versus just 20-30 minutes earlier.

Both Ethan and Juliahna caught the first fish of their lives tonight, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award” for their accomplishment.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.
TALLY = 114 FISH, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:25p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE0-5

Sky Conditions: Mostly cloudy @ 70% coverage over a fair sky

Note: Lake has dropped 0.04 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.36 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1411 minimal success on downiggers

**Area 1601 successful downrigging with multiple triples, paving the way to smoking success with slabs

**Area 1603 topwater blitz

**Area 1602 downrigging leading to smoking, then transitioning into topwater from here to Area 009 right at and after sunset

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Fishing 101 — 23 Fish, Stillhouse, 24 Sept. 2015

This morning I fished with Wayne and Sherry Boultinghouse of Lampasas on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Wayne and Sherry Boultinghouse with four early-morning white bass that fell for Pet Spoons worked on umbrella rigs in 24-31 feet of water.

Both of the Boultinghouse’s retired from teaching in the Lampasas Independent School District, but, no sooner did that happen than a friend encouraged Wayne to run for Lampasas County Judge.  He did, and won, and is now in his third 4-year term in that elected position.

Sherry contacted me a few weeks back looking for some “angling assistance”.  The Boultinghouse’s have a pontoon boat in a wet slip at the Stillhouse Marina.  They’ve got a number of grandchildren who love the water, but, it seems they’ve come up short in the fishing department and were worried that the grandkids would get bored with the lack of success and give up on the idea.  So, they specifically requested that we fish Stillhouse, and specifically requested that I focus on covering successful techniques, and not so much on catching a mess of fish.

With this in mind, I set out to show them the 3 most successful warm-water techniques I employ each year from June through October:  downrigging, topwater techiques, and (when kids are participating) fishing for shallow sunfish.

Stillhouse fish tend to crank up around sunrise, and, indeed as we got our downrigger balls in the water just as the sun was peeking over the dam, our first rod went off withing minutes under the weight of a nice, single white bass which Sherry brought in successfully.  Wayne then answered with a triple, then Sherry got a double, and so it went until we’d put together a catch of 9 white bass and 1 largemouth in our first hour on the water at two adjacent fish-holding locations.  With the technique and equipment now understood, we went to one additional location, so Wayne and Sherry would have a few places to start looking with grandkids aboard.  At our next location we lost 3 white bass and boated one more largemouth.

Next, we changed over to livebait fishing with poles rigged with slipfloats up shallow for sunfish.  Wayne and Shirley got the hang of this really quickly and put 13 sunfish of various sizes in the boat in no time at all.  We retained 5 of these for “Technique #3”.

Technique #3 involved fishing “tightlines” vertically beneath the boat near deep hydrilla edges using live sunfish for bait.  This is a better early summer (late May through early July) tactic, and did not net us any fish today, but, the point was to expose them to functional tactics.

The last thing we did on the water was to teach both Wayne and Shirley how to throw spinning gear and work a topwater bait with that gear for instances where white bass and/or largemouth school on the surface in pursuit of shad.

By 11:00a, we came off the water and headed over to the Boultinghouse’s pontoon boat where we looked over their equipment, including sonar, trolling motor, rods, reels, rodholders, and tackle boxes.  In doing so, I was able to make some suggestions to help them improve their chances of catching fish with grandkids on board.  I do believe a downrigger purchase is in the Boultinghouse’s near future!

 

TALLY = 23 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  12:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  83.4

Wind Speed & Direction: NW5-7

Sky Conditions:  Fair skies, <10% cloud cover

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 258/040 – sunrise white bass bite on downriggers

**Area 1246/484 – low light white bass bite on downriggers

**Area 668 – mid-morning white bass bite on downriggers

**Area 1256 – sunfish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Double-Dipping on Decker — 28 Fish, Hybrids and Largemouth

After a successful day of scouting yesterday on Decker Lake (a.k.a. Walter E. Long Reservior) east of Austin, near the Austin-Bergstrom Airport, I guided Mr. Clint Murphy to some of the highest quality schooling largemouth action I’ve ever witnessed in Texas.

Clint Murphy with the largest of 24 largemouth we boated today, all on topwater.  This 3.75 pound largemouth regurgitated 4 medium sized threadfin shad at boatside and was evidently hungry for more as he took Clint’s topwater bait.

Right as the topwater bite died, we got downriggers down and worked over the “scene of the crime” for still-active fish that were willing to feed, but not willing to do so up on the now-bright surface.  Clint caught these hybrid at the same time on an umbrella rig.

When Clint contacted me several weeks ago, our intent was to fish Stillhouse as a first choice or Belton as a second choice.  Clint considered these both close enough to visit frequently and aesthetically pleasing enough to want to spend time on them, and so he desired to learn to fish them as he re-entered the sport after a 10 year hiatus.

Fishing was so good on Decker yesterday, however, that I felt my “fiduciary responsibility” to him as a client was to at least let him know what I’d experienced and give him an opportunity to cash in on the same.

In approximately 5 hours of fishing yesterday, fishing buddy Bruce Shuler and I put exactly 30 fish in the boat, the majority of which were stocky 15-17 inch largemouth bass which readily hit our shad-imitating lures as they fed aggressively in open water on schools of shad.  Typically, when one encounters “schoolie” largemouth, they are smaller fish going 12-14″ and around 1.25 pounds or less.  Definitely NOT the case right now on Decker!!

As Bruce and I drove home yesterday I called Clint and extended the offer to fish Decker; he asked for some time to think it over.  A few hours later he replied by text, “Not in me to pass on a chance of that good of a bite.”  And so the trip was on.

As we spoke during the trip, Clint said he weighed two things:  the excitement in my voice over the fishing, and my willingness to spend more time and fuel getting to and from Decker in order to make this trip happen on his behalf.

As the day dawned, we were not disappointed.  Yesterday’s fishing began at 7:56a, today, the fish really started today around 8:20a.   Before the schools of bass began to coalesce, I kept an eye out for “early risers” and for shad, and, in so doing kept our downrigging gear in the mix with hybrid striper that were hanging down at 14-17 feet, ghosting along under the shad.  We boated two short hybrid before the largemouth action began.

When the frequency of topwater strikes grew, we easily transitioned into throwing topwater baits and stayed on the fish for about 90 minutes as the action rose, peaked, plateaued, and then rapidly died off.

During the most intense time in the feed, the fish were willing to hit larger topwater baits  — our clue to this was the fact that, on a number of occasions, while using a Cork Rig, the fish struck the cork instead of, or in addition to, the shad imitator we had trailing the cork.

As the bite died, we returned to downrigging quickly to get baits in front of still-active, but descending fish now holding deeper in the water column.  We boated a double on hybrid and two single largemouth in the next 40 minutes before things died for good.

Our tally today included 24 largemouth bass and 4 hybrid stripers.  Only one largmouth bass went under 1.25 pounds, with several exceeding 3.5 pounds, and the largest pulling the certified Boga Grip down to the 3.75 pound mark.  This is very exciting fishing requiring good reflexes, good accuracy, and good distance casting, all of which Clint possessed and improved on as the day unfolded.

 

TALLY = 28 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Water Surface Temp:  84.6

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE4-6

Sky Conditions:  Fair skies, <10% cloud cover

Other: GT= 130

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1597-1598 – topwater began ~8:10 and ended ~9:45; downrigging before and after

**Area 1599 – 1600 – scattered, sporadic topwater in last 30 minutes of trip.

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Family Fishing on Belton – 29 Fish, 19 Sep. 2015

This morning I met up with James Burger of Stephenville, TX, his 20-year-old son, Hayden, and James’ wife, Mindy Tinkle, for a family fishing trip on Belton.

From left: Hayden, James, and Mindy with several of the larger white bass we took on Cork Rigs rigged with small flies tied to match the small shad and silversides the fish forced to the top during the first 70 minutes of light this morning.

 

James and his clan tent-camped at the Live Oak Ridge Corps of Engineers park near the Belton Dam overnight and just walked down to the floating courtesy dock to meet me just before first light.  James just came off a “summer ranger” stint with the Corps of Engineers working at Lake Proctor and hopes to hire on full-time soon, Mindy works for State Farm, and Hayden is now a  junior at Auburn University in Alabama after transferring there from Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York — he drove straight through overnight to get to Belton and fish!

Fishing was a bit tough this morning thanks to bright, cloudless skies and light to calm winds.  We did experience about 70 minutes’ worth of topwater action from 7:05 to 8:15, but once that sun hit a certain angle, it died hard.  We caught all we could, while we could, with those fish on top knowing that topwater on bright days is a “make hay…” proposition.  The Cork Rig once again did a great job, equipped with hand-tied flies designed to match the forage size.

After the fish sounded, we continued picking them up on downriggers for about 40 minutes.  I was hoping for a resurgence of activity in deeper water near bottom around 9:30 or so, which has been taking place consistently, but the near-calm conditions turned that into a no-go.

We put a few more fish in the boat via downrigging and stopped briefly at one breakline in 25-30 feet of water to attempt slabbing, adding a few more fish to the count.  In the final 30 minutes of the trip, we witnessed multiple “popcorn” schools of white bass blitzing briefly on the surface out in open water.  We deployed the downriggers and ran from blowup to blowup trying to get over the action before the fish moved too far horizontally.  We added just one more fish to the tally after covering down on about 5 blitzing schools.

By the time 11:45 rolled around, it was getting warm, everyone was hungry for lunch, and Hayden’s long drive was showing itself in his eyes, so, we called ‘er a day right there and headed back to the dock with a total of 29 fish boated on the morning.

 

TALLY = 29 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp:  83.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE2-4

Sky Conditions:  Cloudless, fair skies.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.03 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.55 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 115

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1585 – topwater started here right at first light

**Area 1596 – topwater – second stop

**Area 1119 – topwater – third stop, then downrigged thereafter

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Topwater Action Returns after Cold Front Passage — 85 Fish, Belton, 15 Sep.

This past Tuesday morning I met up with John Johnston of Killeen, TX, and his adult son, Jack Johnston of Belton, TX, for a half-day of fishing on Belton Lake.

After lamenting over not being able to catch fish on Belton nor Stillhouse, and over being regularly outfished by his wife, John kicked our day off right at first light with the largest fish of the trip, this hybrid striped bass that went for his Cork Rig and fly combination.

 

Well-placed presentations delivered as fish were still churning the surface or immediately thereafter were rewarded with success more times than not this morning under a nice layer of grey cloud cover.   Jack displays one of the many white bass we boated today.

John retired from the U.S. Army as the Assistant Division Commander – Support (ADC-S) for the 4th Infantry Division.  John got his start in the military as a part of the West Point Class of 1968 after a four-year experience as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy in New York.  He and his son were treated to this day on the water after being presented with a fishing gift certificate by a family member.

As of Monday, the impacts of the season’s first significant cold front had fallen by the wayside, with the return of warm, humid southeasterly breezes, and cloud cover.  This made for a solid topwater bite in the morning.  This morning’s weather followed that same pattern: humid and warm, with 100% overcast conditions, and a gentle SSE breeze — just right for topwater action!

And topwater action is what we got — nearly 3 full hours of it, chasing mostly smaller white bass with the occasional short hybrid and outsized white bass thrown in often enough to keep it exciting.  The Cork Rig equipped with a small fly of my own design ruled the roost this morning, doing a great job of imitating the small shad and American silversides these gamefish were aggressively pursuing.

When the topwater ended, we spent about 25 minutes searching with sonar for action beneath the surface.  When we found some promising-looking sonar returns, we used the downriggers to verify our findings.  Once the downriggers proved out that we were dealing with active gamefish (as evidenced by frequent catches of doubles and triples on our 3-armed umbrella rigs), we then switched over to using slabs to take advantage of what we’d uncovered, thus allowing us to boat fish with greater frequency by doing away with the rigging, re-rigging, and boat movement required by the downrigging tactics.

As we closed out the day, we amassed a catch of 85 fish, split equally between topwater and subsurface tactics.  As has been the case all summer, many of our fish were smaller fish.

 

TALLY = 85 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Water Surface Temp:  82.3

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7-8

Sky Conditions:  100% Overcast the entire trip.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.03 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.60 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1591 – topwater started here right at first light

**Area 1593-1594 – topwater picked up here after tailing off elsewhere

**Area (vicinity) 475 – larger whites and short hybrid pushed bait into this cove at mid-morning.  This was the last topwater location of the morning

**Area 1592 – downrigging led us here and slabbing worked to exploit what we’d found.  Finished up the trip on a strong vertical bite in 27′

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

First Cold Front Slows Things Down — 17 Fish, Belton, 12 Sept. 2015

This morning I met up with Mr. Brandt Dozier from Cypress, TX.  Brandt traveled in last night and stayed in Belton to watch his daughter, an incoming freshman at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, participate in a soccer tournament this weekend.

Brandt Dozier of Cypress, TX, with a pair of white bass that hit his 3-armed umbrella rig at the same time during a short burst of late-morning action on the downriggers.

 

There is a reason the old adage says, “Winds from the north, the fisherman goes not forth.”  There is just something about north winds and fishing that just don’t mix well.  As I awoke at 4:15a to begin preparing for this morning’s trip, the very first thing I heard was my neighbor’s American flag popping in the wind.  I heard that and just groaned knowing we were going to put in a maximum of effort for a minimum result.

The weatherman indicated a wind shift, with windspeeds at 7-10 through our time on the water, increasing to 13 by midday.  In actuality, the winds were 13-16 all morning, staring well before sunrise.

Regardless, we got in the boat, turned the key, and went out to hunt fish.

We had 3 brief “spurts” of success.  First, we downrigged for fish that were up off bottom and moving at first light in 20-25 feet of water at Area 133/1019.  We picked up 4 white bass in our first hour on the 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.  We then went for about an hour without any results.

I moved us to Area 618/819 and found individual fish popping shad on the surface in the somewhat protected area here.  I noted that fish were suspended and scattered.  Given the bright, mid-morning conditions, we again went with a downrigging approach and picked up 5 more white bass before these fish shut down.

Finally, we headed to Area 164 and here found very sedentary white bass clustered together in schools of 20-40 on bottom.  We tried to work slabs through these fish but the were totally disinterested in chasing vertically.  We once again went with the downrigging approach so as to move our baits horizontally and cover ground, keeping our baits just over the heads of these bottom-hugging fish.  We made 8-10 passes over an area ~90 yards in diameter without a sniff, despite regularly seeing schools of white bass on sonar.  Then, suddenly, the fish turned on for about 25 minutes.  During this time the fish continued to orient to the bottom but would rise up toward the downrigger ball as it passed overhead.  We put 9 fish in the boat and lost two more.  The fish we caught came in as singles and doubles.   Then, as suddenly as it started, it ended — right around 11:20a.

I wound up burning more gas running and searching and downrigging for these 17 fish than I consumed in my last 4-5 trips combined.  But, that is to be expected on a north wind; just gotta roll with the punches and stay hard after them!  I tried to keep Brandt out as long as his schedule allowed to try to get his “string stretched” the best I could.  We called in for a late checkout at the hotel he booked and then figured he could beg for mercy (and a shower) when he showed up in the nick of time for that.

The upside:  Brandt won’t be sweating in the stands tonight as he cheers his daughter on during her soccer match!!

TALLY = 17 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  83.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: N13-16

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird

Note: Lake has dropped 0.01 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.78 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 133/1019 downrigging for small schools of shallow white bass at first light

**Area 618/819 downrigging for scattered white bass in small schools

**Area 164 downrigging for white bass in small schools holding tight to the bottom

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Floating Family Reunion — 63 Fish, Belton, 10 Sep. 2015

This morning I fished with the Oliver clan on Belton Lake.

From left: Amber, Joe, Paw, Jeff, and Jack, each with a white bass taken from aggressive topwater feeding which took place from 6:55 to 8:10am .

Paw, now 86, was in top form today regularly taking white bass and hybrid on top, on slabs, and on the downriggers.  This beefy hybrid is one of the larger hybrid we landed this morning.

Amber caught the day’s first fish, last fish, and largest fish!

Joe Oliver, recently retired as the athletic director at Central Texas Christian School in Belton, put together this family outing and included his dad, Joe (Paw) Oliver, two of his brothers, Jack and Jeff, and his daughter, Amber.  It was a bit of a squeeze, but we made it work just fine.

Once again, the fish did not disappoint when it came to a topwater bite kicking off in advance of sunrise.  Thanks to some low, grey clouds in the east, the direct light of the sun did not hit the water until well after sunrise, and therefore the topwater period was extended.  We got exactly 74 minutes of aggressive surface feeding, giving us continuous shots at fish ranging from small, 7-8 inch white bass, up to larger, stocky hybrid that taped around 15-16 inches.  Although our catch included a greater percentage of “keeper” white bass (~13 inches) than the past several trips have, we did not find any keeper hybrid interested in our wares today.  The Cork Rig with my hand-tied flies designed to match the forage size worked very well once again for consistently fooling these surface feeders.

Once the topwater action died, things got very quiet for the duration of the trip.  We experienced the 8:30 to 9:30am lull that has been a part of my morning trips on Belton for several weeks now, taking just 5 white bass on downriggers around the 30 foot mark during this time.

The resurgence of activity by 9:30 to 10:30 and beyond did not rise to anywhere near the level it has been at over the past few weeks.  Right around 9:30 we found a bottom-oriented school of white bass, hovered over them and worked slabs vertically.  Although everyone caught at least one fish out of this school, the fish never really got excited enough to coalesce under the boat and chase hooked schoolmates toward the surface, etc.  This “patch” of fish dispersed in about 10 minutes’ time, and we continued the search with downriggers.  We never found another dense, bottom-oriented school to slab for, and so continued with the downrigging regimen right to the time we finished up, regularly catching small whites, and closing the trip out with an “11th hour” blue catfish brought to net by Amber.

“Paw” just went through, and is now recovering from, surgery to correct an aneurysm in his abdominal aorta, so we were all glad to see him up and able to get outdoors and “hang” with the young folks for a full 4+ hours this morning.

 

TALLY = 63 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  84.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE2-5

Sky Conditions:  Thin, grey, low cloud cover to the east before and at sunrise, clearing to 30% clouds on a fair sky.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.03 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.93 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 45

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1393 to 1119  topwater at first light (74 minutes)

**Area 1271 slow downrigging

**Area 1576 slabbing

**Area 154/1081 downrigging for sparse whites

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

14-Year-Old Ethan Winger lands 69 Fish on Belton — SKIFF Trip #2015-16

This past Tuesday I conducted the season’s 16th SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip by taking 14-year-old Ethan WInger out for an evening fishing trip Belton Lake.

Ethan was one of the most enthusiastic kids I’ve ever taken on a SKIFF trip.  He was interested in all things fishing-related — just check out the shirt.

Today was back to work and back to school for everyone, following the long Labor Day weekend.  As the dismissal bell rang at Killeen High School, I was pulled up curbside withing for Ethan, along with 2 city blocks’ worth of parents in vehicles waiting for their kids.  Ethan is the son of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant John Winger and his wife, Mrs. Deb Winger.  SSG Winger is an Army Signal Corps non-commissioned officer now serving his country in South Korea.

Ethan packed a few snacks and some fishing clothes and took all of it to school with him so he could hop right in my truck and head to the lake with me afterwards.  We got on the water around 4:45p and immediately got on fish.

The majority of our trip this evening was spent downrigging with umbrella rigs, which produced a lot of smaller white bass in two distinct locations.  For variety’s sake, I also included a bit of shallow water bait fishing as the intensity of the bite at the first area we fish waned and as we waited on the sunset bite to ramp up elsewhere.

By 7:15p, the downrigger bite had revived, and, right at sunset, some fish transitioned to feeding on topwater.  As they did, we broke out the Cork Rigs with hand-tied flies I’ve created to match the size of the very small forage these fish were feeding on.

Ethan’s prior fishing experience had been mainly on one of the many rivers running into Puget Sound in Washington during his family’s prior assignment to Fort Lewis.  He handled a spinning rod very capably and was a very fast learner when it came to setting up our lines for downrigging — I essentially explained what to do one time and he took it from there.

As we got to talking, we found we enjoy some of the same programs (Wicked Tuna, River Monsters), and I learned that Ethan plans to pursue video game programming at Full Sail University after high school graduation.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as teens in high school.
TALLY = 69 FISH, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:45p

End Time: 8:20p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 93F

Water Surface Temp: 86.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13, tapering to SSE4-5

Sky Conditions: 40% cloud cover on a fair sky.

Note: Lake has risen 0.11 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.87 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1081 downrigging for smallish white bass

**Area 166 panfishing

**Area 147 through 010, downrigging transitioning to topwater

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com