May | 2018 | Fishing Report

Old-Timers Day – 101 Fish @ Lake Belton

May 11th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning I fished with retired Lake Belton fishing guide George O’Connor, and long-time Lake Belton multi-species angler Rodney Tyroch. This trip was in celebration of George’s recent 80th birthday. After the (very successful) hybrid fishing, we headed over to China Cafe near the Walmart in Belton and enjoyed their food after releasing all of the fish we landed. Both men are very helpful, selfless fellows who befriended me and aided me greatly through the years and as I worked to establish and grow my guide service.

From left: Rodney Tyroch, George O’Connor, and I fished together this morning in celebration of George’s 80th birthday.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Today we fished from 7:00a to 10:00a for hybrid striped bass using live shad. We then fished for white bass from 10:35 to 11:05a using slabs and Hazy Eye Stinger hooks.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday morning, 10 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: During this trip, we focused on fishing for hybrid striped bass using live shad through 10:00am. During this time we stayed on just one area and took 76 fish, a majority of which were keeper hybrid, with a few white bass and blue catfish mixed in. We then left fish biting to go in search of hybrid at a few areas George suggested. We looked two areas over with sonar but didn’t find much. In the last 25 minutes or so, from 10:35 to about 11:05, we vertically jigged for a heavily congregated and very aggressive school of nice 2-year class white bass which we located with sonar in 52 feet of water. We used 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks affixed to the line tie and put exactly 25 fish in the boat in this short span of time. We finished the trip with George and Rodney landing a double for a total of 101 fish.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Heavy shad spawn from 6:20 to 6:30a at Area SHAD14

TALLY: 101 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:05a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 70.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 through 9a, then shifting to S and speeding up to 14-16 mph.

Sky Conditions: Cloudless blue sky with the lightest of white haze on occasion

Water Level: 1.98 low and steady.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0088C- 3 solid hours of fish catching on one area producing 76 fish, of which ~70% were legal hybrid striped bass with a few whites and bluecat mixed in

**Area 717 – produced 25 white bass in about 30 minutes of effort on slabs worked vertically in 52′

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

RIGHT AT HOME WITH THE PULTE GROUP — 94 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 10th, 2018May 10th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with a group of six from the Pulte Group out of Austin. To make this trip more enjoyable, we split this party across two boats. I was ably assisted by fellow guide Jason Weisberg of REEL Fishing Guide Service out of Round Rock to accomplish this. My 3-angler party consisted of Nick McIntyre, Tina Cox, and Brian Beil. Jason’s crew consisted of Ricky Guenat, Hampton Haines, and Steve Ashlock. The Pulte Group acquires land and develops it with homes, building under the familiar names of Centex, DelWebb, DiVosta, and John Wieland Homes.

From left: Bryan Beil, Nick McIntyre, and Tina Cox with one of the many hybrid stripers we landed on live shad on what was an early bite this morning. Nick came into the trip with the most prior experience on the boat, having fished for hybrid on Buchanan and on Tawakoni in the past.

Tina Cox had beginner’s luck going for her and caught the largest fish on the boat this morning.

Bryan Beil gives the “thumbs up” on his first hybrid striper of the morning.

Although hybrid stripers were the target species, when fishing live shad, largemouth bass (like this on caught by Steve Ashlock), white bass, crappie, blue catfish, and other species are often caught, as well.

Ricky Guenat grips onto a nice Lake Belton hybrid striper he took on live shad.

Although we didn’t capture any photos of Hampton Haines on this trip, this photo shows him in April 2017 with the (still current) Lake Belton catch-and-release category hybrid striper, which measured 25.75 inches.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: During this trip, we focused on fishing for hybrid striped bass using live shad through 10:15am, we then left about a half hour to fish for white bass, primarily to demonstrate the tactics used for that species at this time of year.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 09 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: Jason and I were both in agreement, based on observations from the past week and a half on the water, that the bite was going to happen early today. We also agreed that splitting up would be best as neither of us has had positive experiences trying to fish groups in close proximity to one another. Our approaches were similar, and our results were similar. Fishing began well right off the bat using live shad on tightlines and stayed strong from 7am to 8:30am. The bite began to decline from 8:30am until around 9:00am, after which it got very tough. Both Jason’s crew and mine finished out our trips (the last 35-45 minutes or so) searching for some white bass to catch, but even that species had quit feeding for the morning. When all was said and done, the Pulte Group team amassed a catch of 94 fish, including approximately 44 hybrid striped bass, and a mixed bag of white bass, largemouth, and blue catfish.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Early shad spawn around 6a at Areas SHAD 16 & SHAD17

TALLY: 94 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Water Surface Temp: 70.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE<3

Sky Conditions: Cloudless blue sky with the lightest of white haze on occasion

Water Level: 1.98 low and steady.

GT = 195

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1384 – 2 hours of solid hybrid action yielding 49 fish, 30% of which were legal hybrid striped bass, and the balance of which 2-3 year class white bass

**Area 1385 – produced 1 keeper hybrid and 4 whites after the 9am slow down.

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

TUNA FISH & BUTTER PICKLES — 92 FISH @ BELTON

May 7th, 2018May 7th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, May 7th, I fished with longtime friends DE Carson and Don Eddy primarily in pursuit of hybrid striped bass on Lake Belton. The two met over forty years ago when DE was trying to put a new roof on his house in the rain. Don came over, offered to give him a hand and, after completing the job, sat, soaking wet in the newly-roofed house eating tuna fish sandwiches and butter pickles! The fellows are both originally from near the Sacramento River delta region of central California, but came to Texas to volunteer in ministry and have now been here longer than either anticipated. Through all of their fishing adventures, the most DE and Don had ever landed in a single trip was 43 fish, so, you can imagine they went home pretty happy today!

DE Carson with a beefy Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken on live shad in 43 feet of water.

As the photo shows, we had a glassy surface and blue skies, yet, the hybrid still bit well this morning. This was one of Don Eddy’s larger fish landed this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 07 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: The hybrid bite was excellent this morning, despite the bright skies and calm winds. We fished only one area (with no short hops) for 3.25 hours and caught hybrid the entire time. The most aggressive bite took place through 8:10, then tapered out to a moderate, but steady pick of fish which included an occasional white bass. When white bass became an issue, we raised baits up a bit higher and got them to leave us alone. We put baits between 34 and 40 feet deep over a 43′ bottom, as sonar dictated. We ended up with 78 fish from this one stop, 75% of which were legal hybrid stripers. We saved a bit of time at the end of the trip for slabbing for white bass, mainly to demonstrate the technique of “smoking” to DE and Don. We put 14 additional white bass in the 1-2 year class in the boat in our final half hour from out of 52 of water. These fish were heavily congregated but were just about turned off for the morning when we got to them given that we fish for hybrid for an extended period of time as compared with last week’s bite which routinely wrapped up around 9AM or earlier.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) I was surprised that we did as well as we did this morning, given the low wind speed and near-cloudless conditions we encountered. 2) I believe we are at that point which occurs each spring where the warming water drives up fish metabolism to where they begin to feed at times when they normally would not in colder water conditions. 3) We caught hybrid for 3.25 hours, with the last hour seeing better results on cutbait than on live bait.

TALLY: 92 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:05a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Water Surface Temp: 70.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE<3

Sky Conditions: Cloudless blue sky with the lightest of white haze on occasion

Water Level: 1.98 low and rising. This was a 0.40 foot jump due to Friday’s local rainfall. As a result, there was a noticeable amount of flotsam on the surface.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0087C – 3.25 hours of solid hybrid action yielding 78 fish, 75% of which were legal hybrid striped bass, and the balance of which 2-3 year class white bass

**Area vic 717 – deep, loosely congregated white bass taken at a slow pace on slabs as the morning bite was shutting down (~30 minutes)

**Area “SHAD16 through SHAD17” produced ample spawning shad for bait this morning

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRACIE! — 61 Fish @ Lake Belton

May 4th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, May 3rd, I fished with returning guests Tom and Tracie Byrd, as well as Tom’s sister, Patty Williams, and Patty’s husband, Dale Williams, both of whom came out with me for the first time. This trip was in celebration of Tracie’s birthday, but we won’t say exactly which birthday! Tom and Tracie live “in the country” on the outskirts of Austin where they keep up with their own horses and board others’ horses, as well. Patty works at a bank in San Antonio and Dale is retired from construction where he worked to build water treatment plans in the southern part of Texas.

The birthday girl, Tracie Byrd (in white shirt), with one of the hybrid she landed in the early part of the trip. That’s her sister-in-law, Patty, looking on.

Tom Byrd and his sister, Patty, landed these fish within seconds of one another as the fish went on a brief spree.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: During this trip, we focused on fishing for hybrid striped bass using live shad through 9:45am when the wind got too great to hold on the exposed areas where we were catching them. We retreated well up into the one of Belton’s tributaries for our last hour and a half or so and targeted white bass using spinning rod equipped with 3/8 oz. slabs and Hazy Eye Stinger hooks, and did well.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday morning, 03 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: The hybrid bite was more short-lived this morning than over the past 3 mornings. The weather was also more turbulent, and the winds were higher, as well. We picked up a number of nice fish very quickly at our first stop on a deep breakline, but, after one run of about 35 minutes, the fish cooled off and we never really got back on the hybrid prior to the wind increasing to a level at which I was no longer comfortable keeping 4 clients out in the midst of, so, we moved to the protection of a tributary. Although there was enough wind to move the water in our new location, we never found a concentration of legal-sized hybrid and wound up finishing out the trip by vertically jigging for white bass. Even the white bass were a bit finicky, however. When sonar revealed a group of fish which I deemed large enough to jig for, I’d Spot Lock on top of them, we’d then catch 3-4 fish and then they would just quit, despite still being plainly present on sonar. This was not just a one-time occurrence, rather, this exact scenario played out 8 or 9 times as I made that many stops just to keep us on top of biting fish.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The grey clouds, balmy overnight temperatures, and southerly winds really activated the fish today for a forth day in a row. 2) There was a decent run of shad at both areas “Shad 14” and at “Shad

TALLY: 61 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp: 68.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-15

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds with occasional light drizzle

Water Level: 2.30 feet low and slowly falling

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1541 – legal hybrid with a few other smaller fish mixed in as we fished live shad

**Area vic 717 – deep, heavily congregated white bass taken at a moderate pace on slabs

**Area vic 2027 – white bass on shad

**Area B0080C – white bass on slabs

**Area B0085C to B0086C – white bass on slabs with multiple short hops between these two points

**Area vic B0066C – white bass on slabs

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! — 70 Fish @ Belton

May 3rd, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning, May 2nd, I fished for the second time with “The Chiefs” — including Gene Ellis (Belton Chief of Police), Floyd Mitchell (Temple Chief of Police), and Mitch Randles (Temple Fire Chief). This trip came exactly one year from the last such trip these three fellows took together with me in 2017. As was the case both Monday and Tuesday, the hybrid bite was strong in the first 2.25 hours of the trip, then tailed off sharply after about 9:15am. Our catch of 70 fish included 28 legal hybrid striped bass and the remainder was a mixed bag consisting mainly of white bass with a few largemouth and blue catfish sprinkled in. In our last hour, after finding a large, deep school of white bass in about 55 feet of water, we worked slabs vertically with light spinning tackle to fish specifically for that species.

“The Chiefs” from left, Floyd Mitchell (Temple Police Chief), Gene Ellis, (Belton Police Chief), and Mitch Randles (Temple Fire Chief) with a brace of 3.5 pound, 19 to 20″ hybrid stripers taken within minutes of one another during an early morning feeding spree. These hybrid stripers were taken on live shad set about 6 feet off bottom in about 40 feet of water.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: During this trip, we focused on fishing for hybrid striped bass using live shad through 10:30 although, in hindsight, the majority of our hybrid came by 9:25am. In our last hour or so we targeted white bass using spinning rod equipped with 3/8 oz. slabs and Hazy Eye Stinger hooks.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 02 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was pretty straightforward this morning. We used live shad when sonar revealed an abundance of hybrid striped bass on deep breaklines and caught fish well through about 9:25am. The hybrid bite tapered off quickly thereafter and although we searched several areas and found marginal sonar returns, some of which we put baits down for, we had little success for hybrid in the later half of the trip. Having seen this play out the same way on Monday and Tuesday, I came prepared with spinning gear to take advantage of the white bass bite which has remained much more consistent into the late morning. We found two large schools of fish in deep water, about 80 yards apart and took fish steadily until we wrapped up around 11:30a.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The grey clouds, balmy overnight temperatures, and southerly winds really activated the fish today for a thirdday in a row. 2) There was disappointingly little in the way of spawning shad this morning.

TALLY: 70 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp: 68.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-15

Sky Conditions: 100% grey clouds with occasional light drizzle

Water Level: 2.30 feet low and slowly falling

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 489/1277 – 28 legal hybrid with a few other smaller fish mixed in as we fished live shad

**Area vic 717 and vic 1469 – deep, heavily congregated white bass taken at a moderate pace on slabs

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Happiness was Lubbock, Texas, in the Rearview Mirror — 50 Fish w/ Corey Farrar

May 1st, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning I fished with Corey Farrar of Round Rock, TX. Corey, an employee at Dell, is originally from Brownsfield, TX, near Lubbock, where he grew up on a cotton farm and raised show pigs with FFA. He used to fish as a kid, got away from it in his college years at UT-Tyler, and now has taken an renewed interest in the sport. He has his own boat and regularly fishes on Walter E. Long and on Lake Travis. Corey’s goal was to learn a bit about sonar, to get some practical experience in vertical jigging for white bass, and to take a multi-species approach to today’s trip. All of these were accomplished by the time we left the water.

Corey Farrar with a 5.00 pound hybrid — one of two larger fish taken from a school which also gave up twenty-one 18.5-19.5″ hybrid on live and dead shad this morning in the first 2 hours of daylight.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: During this trip, we focused on fishing for hybrid striped bass using live shad through 9:15, then switched over to searching for white bass able to be vertically jigged for. We put 30 fish in the boat on bait as we gunned for hybrid, including 23 keeper hybrid, as well as a few shorts and a few white bass. We later found one large school of bottom-oriented white bass in 38′ and put another 20 fish in the boat, including 18 whites and 2 drum, using slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks affixed to the line tie.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday morning, 01 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: This week’s big fishing turn around, thanks to the first really “fishy” weather we’ve had in a long time, continued this morning. Some nice low pressure, grey clouds, and southerly winds dominated the weather again today (second day in a row) and is forecast to hang around all week. The fish have responded positively and once again were feeding well and posturing up off bottom where they could be easily seen on sonar. We fished live shad beginning around 7:15am through 9:15am and could realistically only keep one or two rods baited. The hybrid striped bass were thick in the lower 4 feet of the water column and just kept biting regardless of what we fed them — be it a nearly 6″ threadfin shad, a dainty 2.5″ threadfin shad, or a piece of cutbait. All but two of the 23 keeper hybrid we caught were “cookie cutter” fish, right at 18.5 to 19.5 inches. The other two went right at 5 pounds.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The grey clouds, balmy overnight temperatures, and southerly winds really activated the fish today for a second day in a row. 2) The 69.1F water was the season’s warmest thus far.

TALLY: 50 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp: 69.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11-12 through 10:30, then shifting and strengthening S14-15 thereafter.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey with some murk.

Water Level: 2.28 feet low and slowly falling

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1384 — 30 fish, incl. 23 keeper hybrid

**Area B0070C/2027 — 18 whites, 2 drum on 3/8 oz. white slab with Hazy Eye Stinger

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)