During the afternoon of Friday, the 11th of December, I fished with MJ Linder and his adult son, Elliot, targeting white bass and hybrid stripers on Belton Lake.

Elliot landed our largest fish of the trip, a 6.50 pound flathead catfish (a.k.a. yellow catfish) which fell for a slab worked near bottom.

From left: MJ and Elliot pose with the largest four white bass we caught today.  Most of our catch consisted of a nearly 50/50 mix of average white bass and short hybrid, with most of the hybrid running right at 13 inches and having the more slender, striper-like body shape.

MJ runs his own business, Mobility Therapies, which is focused on offering outpatient physical therapy to people in their own homes.  MJ’s son, Elliot, age 20, is headed for his first enlistment in the U.S. Navy beginning in February of 2016 where, based on his very high Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test scores, he now has the opportunity to enter into the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program.

After a 144 fish morning under birds and grey skies, this afternoon’s trip was a bit tougher.  The birds did not work all afternoon, and the skies were quite bright.  This all meant we’d be fishing for deeper, more reluctant fish, and that those fish would have to be searched out with sonar.

We found 3 solid concentrations of fish, with each giving up ~30 fish or so until the bite declined and we went looking elsewhere.  At each of these 3 locations we used a slow jigging stroke to tempt the fish with 3/4 oz. slabs.  The first area we fished (when fish were the most reluctant) saw fish sour on the 3/4 oz. bait after we’d landed about 20, but I still saw plenty of fish on the sonar, so, I downsized our baits to 3/8 oz. and that did the trick, turning the fish back on until the school dispersed.

The second area we fished was much like the first — on a gentle breakline, and the third area we fished, after initially being drawn by birds only to have the birds give up before we got to them, was more flat.  Once the fish here failed to respond any longer to a vertical tactic, we continued to catch fish by casting our slabs and working them horizontally along bottom.

With over 100 fish in the boat by 4:00pm, I asked if MJ and Elliot would like to roll the dice and look at a different area of the lake for bird action possibly leading to taking some better hybrid.  The gamble was okay with them, so, we set out looking, but, unfortunately, did not find any useful bird action this evening.  We still managed to find fish with sonar and fish so as to both catch fish and keep our eyes out for birds, but what we found was really no different size-wise or species-wise than we had found in the areas we’d left behind.

As sunset came and the bite died, we closed out our trip with exactly 129 fish boated.

 

FISHING OUTLOOK: 

Sunday sees a mild, fast moving cold front come through so I expect fishing will be off that day. (No fishing)

Monday sees a return to SW winds and should offer improving fishing.  (Booked)

Tuesday sees continued, stronger SW winds and continued warming, and  should offer good fishing.  (I have an AM opening this day 7:15 to 10:15; call if interested)

Wednesday will see another cold front come in so fishing will be off that day. (No fishing)

TALLY = 129 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:15p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  62F

Wind Speed & Direction: S14-15, tapering to S12-13 in the last hour before sunset.

Sky Conditions:  Fair skies with 40% white clouds following the clearing of fog and grey skies in the morning.

Water Level: 6.54 feet above full pool with 0.32 feet of water released in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1623-565 – long easing strokes with slabs (reduced from 3/4 oz. to 3/8 oz. when bite got tough but fish were still abundant on sonar)

**Area 1658- long easing strokes with slabs

**Area (vic) 406- long easing strokes with slabs

**Area 1654- long easing strokes with slabs

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, Friday, the 11th of December, I fished with Don Mikeska and his grandson, Kaden Lehrman, targeting white bass and hybrid stripers on Belton Lake.

We used sonar to find fish under foggy conditions while the birds were unable to see and work.  After the fog cleared, the birds went to work and led us to additional fish.

 

Kaden landed two at a time at the peak of the bite when fish could be seen from surface to bottom.  One fish is hooked on the treble and the other is hooked on the stinger hook.

Don is a retired painter from Temple, TX, and his grandson, Kaden, happened to be staying with him and his wife, Monica, while mom is away visiting her sister in London, England, for a few days.

Well, while mom’s away, the boys will play!  We met at the boat ramp at around 7:00 and had lines in the water by 7:15 under quite a thick blanket of fog.

The bird action that has been so helpful in the morning was non-existent under these foggy conditions as the gulls and terns simply couldn’t see well enough to spot fish and bait near the surface.  So, for the first hour, we relied strictly upon sonar to find fish, and did well, boating nearly 50 fish in the first hour on the water.

By 8:15 the fog began to thin and by 8:30 it was gone, leaving grey skies, a stiff breeze, and great fishing conditions, especially given the unseasonably warm 61-62F surface temperatures more commonly found in mid-November than mid-December.

As the fog lifted the birds began to work and kept working for about 70 minutes.  When the birds quit, we had another 20 minutes of fishing and then the fish shut down hard.  By this time Don and Kaden had worked to put 144 fish (literally, a “gross” of fish) in the boat.  Given the increasing wind and decreasing fish activity, they decided to call it a great day while they were ahead, and we wrapped it up a bit early.

Kaden when to a “fishing summer camp” for youth up in Massachusetts this past summer where he got to experience mackeral fishing, striped bass fishing, and lobstering.  It was neat to hear him recount the tales from that experience in between fish caught this morning.

Our catch consisted of mainly white bass and short hybrid stripers.  Kaden boated 3 legal hybrid, as well as a number of 2-3 pound freshwater drum, and a single largemouth bass just for good measure.

Once again the silver/white Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 slab did the trick for us in the 3/4 oz. size.

FISHING OUTLOOK: 

Saturday morning is due to be excessively windy, but the afternoon should offer solid (albeit wet!) pre-frontal fishing. (Booked)

Sunday sees a mild, fast moving cold front come through so I expect fishing will be off that day. (No fishing)

Monday sees a return to southerly winds and should offer good fishing.  (Booked)

Tuesday sees continued southerly winds and should offer good fishing.  (I have an AM opening this day 7:15 to 10:15; call if interested)

Wednesday wil see another cold front come in so fishing will be off that day. (No fishing)

TALLY = 144 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Water Surface Temp:  61-62F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 at dawn, increasing to S16 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Thick fog, accompanied by 100% grey skies.  Fog lifted around 8:15, leaving better visibility but still-grey sky conditions

Water Level: 6.90 feet above full pool with 0.15 feet of water released in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 024 – low light slabbing after finding schooled fish on sonar (no bird action)

**Area  024 through 794 with fish and birds constantly on the move over this great span in an hour’s time

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, Thursday, the 10th of December, I fished with Dr. Ryan Sparkman targeting white bass and hybrid stripers on Belton Lake.

Dr. Ryan Sparkman took a break from his home waters of Lake Conroe to get in on the sweet run of productive fishing Belton has provided since the warm-up following our last cold front.  We boated 235 fish in 4.5 hours.

Ryan trained at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, TX, as an anesthesiologist, and then moved his family to Bryan/College Station when an opportunity with Scott & White presented itself there.  Ryan was just starting to figure things out on Belton when he made the move, and now considers Belton Lake a true gem compared with the fishing scenario presented at his new “home lake”, Lake Conroe, with its turbid waters, limited white bass population, and abundant recreational boaters.

I had a last minute cancellation for this morning’s trip and so Ryan’s ability to come on short notice was a real win-win, and at a time where the fishing has been very productive and predictable.

We had the “perfect storm” of conditions facing us today — good weather (grey skies on the tail end of a warming trend, with several days of stable pressure beforehand), good wind speed and direction (S12-14), a dark moon, unseasonably high water temperatures (61-62F) and a good angler on board, able to take full advantage of the potential Belton offered today.

We left the ramp at 7:15, found fish with sonar in 20 feet of water by 7:25, and caught fish, non-stop, using sonar at first, then by following birds thereafter, for a full 4 hours.  The action never wound down until around 11:15.  We stayed with it another 30 minutes to “mop up”.

Our first 100 fish came over the side by 8:19am.  Although the birds (gulls and terns) worked during two distinct “spurts”, the fish they led us to continued to bite well after the bird action subsided.

Once again, we observed the feeding gulls to make sure our lure size was close to the size of shad the fish were feeding on.  We selected white and silver 3/4oz. Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180’s with a stinger hook and worked them with slow jigging strokes near bottom.

The majority of our catch consisted of 14-15″ hybrid stripers with the white bass running close in numbers.  We landed only 2 legal hybrids, as well as 4 largemouth bass, and 3 freshwater drum.

As of this writing I still have an afternoon trip open tomorrow (Friday) and a morning slot open on Saturday.  The price is $220 for up to two anglers ($110 per person).  Call me at 254-368-7411 ASAP if you are interested.  The incoming cold front due to arrive late Saturday night will negatively impact this scenario.

TALLY = 235 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: 50F

Water Surface Temp:  61.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 at dawn, increasing to S13 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  100% grey skies, but thin enough to make for bright conditions

Water Level: 6.90 feet above full pool with 0.15 feet of water released in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 015/018 – low light slabbing after finding schooled fish on sonar (no bird action)

**Area  133 over to Area 1656 under birds for 90 minutes, with an additional 30 minutes of fishing after the birds lifted.

**Area  1657 final bird action of the morning took place here around 10:15 to 10:30, with an additional hour’s worth of action after the birds lifted.

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, Tuesday, the 8th of December, I fished with retired U.S. Navy flight surgeon Ray Johnson.

Despite suffering a heart attack that involved the “widow-maker” vessel of the heart back in August, Ray bounced back and gave the fish a run for their money this morning.

Ray has battled multiple sclerosis for a number of years now, then, this past August, suffered a heart attack.  Four days and 2 stents later, he was back up and running and all the time looking forward to his next fishing trip.

I looked for “just right” conditions to take Ray out and, seeing today fit that description in the forecast two days ago, gave him a ring.  He gave me a big thumbs-up, and so we met up at 7a this morning and went fishing.

Things started slowly as the skies were bright and clear and the winds at sunrise were light.  As the winds increased, the fishing picked up right along with them.

Our first fish came near Area 124 via downrigged 3-arm umbrella rigs.  We picked up occasional suspended and bottom-oriented white bass and hybrid just one at a time.  When it was clear this area wasn’t going to “turn on” any time soon, we moved.

Our next stop came in 25-27′ along a short breakline.  I spotted a small school of fish tightly clustered together and in a feeding posture, so, we buoyed them and then used the Spot Lock to stay over top.  We used a slow jigging stroke with silver/white 3/4 oz. slabs to boat white bass, short hybrids, largemouth, smallmouth, and freshwater drum — 26 in all in about 3 “short hops” all in this same general location (Areas 1642-1645)

As we enjoyed this slow but steady action, I continued to scan for bird activity.  At exactly 9:30a, I spotted about 20 gulls and terns all working over an 80 yard stretch of water (Area 1655).  We got to them quickly and used a variety of jigging tactics to put another 34 fish in the boat in about 40 minutes’ time.  The birds worked the first ~30 minutes of that time, then we continued to catch fish here for a few minutes after the birds quit.

The action in this segment of the lake died hard once the birds lifted, so, we searched elsewhere, finding heavily schooled fish on bottom in ~27 feet in the vicinity of Area 1623.  With 60 fish in the boat, and given what I was seeing on sonar, I felt Ray and I had a real good shot at boating 100+ fish.  We got down to business and fished hard for an hour straight and put another 42 fish in the boat from out of this area, thus finishing up our day with exactly 102 fish.

Although the numbers were strong this morning, we didn’t catch any outsized white bass or hybrids this morning.

TALLY = 102 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Water Surface Temp:  62.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S5 at dawn, increasing to SSW12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Fair and cloudless

Water Level: 7.29 feet above full pool with 0.36 feet of water released in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 124 – low light downrigging for spotty success

**Area  1642-1645 – slow tactic vertical jigging for bottom-oriented fish

**Area  1655 for 30 minutes of bird action

**Area 1623 for slow tactic vertical jigging for heavily clustered fish on bottom

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, Saturday, 05 December, I fished  Belton Lake in pursuit of hybrid striped bass and white bass with Andrew and Megan Zills of Killeen, Texas.

Bird action began around 7:40, leading us to fish.  Although the birds only stayed active for about 45 minutes, that was long enough for us to pattern what the fish were doing.  We caught fish continuously right up until 11am.

The two met in Alabama where Andrew is from, and where Megan was going to college.  Megan actually has dual Canadian and US citizenship. She was born in Vancouver and moved with her family to Tupelo, Mississippi, at age 11 when her dad took a job with American Family Radio.

Andrew is a corporal in the US Army assigned to an engineer unit where he does horizontal construction (i.e roads).  Megan is a nanny for several local families. The couple’s trip was a gift from Mr. Dean Renkes of the Dallas area. Megan looks after Dean’s grandchildren, and Dean thought so highly of the couple that he wanted to send them on a fishing trip. Today was the day.

The weather forecast had me concerned because we were due to have very light southeast winds and very little cloud cover. I was pleasantly surprised to find the wind blowing 6 to 8 from the SSE before sunrise and very slowly increasing up to SSE12 mph by late morning. This favorable direction and wind speed really turned the fish on this morning. We began our day downrigging for fish that were not yet really turned on. By around 7:40, however, birds spotted fish working bait and we followed those birds to what would be a full morning of catching.  From 7:40 until 11 AM, we caught fish steadily. Our catch included white bass of all sizes, keeper and short hybrid striped bass, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

I observed closely beneath the bird activity to try to catch a glimpse of the size of forage the fish and birds were feeding on. This led me to select baits that were of the same size and color as those I observed being fed upon. A three-quarter ounce slab in silver and white equipped with a stinger hook did the job well this morning. Despite the water temperature still being above 60°, the fish were not all that active. A slow intentional jigging stroke did the trick for us, and I observed that we clearly outfished nearby boats by a substantial margin using this slow jigging tactic.

To say that Andrew and Megan are competitive would be an extreme understatement.  Throughout this morning’s trip the responsible party notified the other party when the first fish, largest fish, and most fish were caught.   All such claims were immediately challenged and debate often ensued.

By the time the fish activity tapered off, we had boated exactly 143 fish including several keeper hybrid which were all right at the 18 to 19 inch mark.

TALLY = 143 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time:  11:00am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F

Water Surface Temp:  61.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6-8 increasing to and leveling off at SSE12

Sky Conditions:  Fair and cloudless

Other: GT= 45

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 024 downrigging for bottom-hugging white bass and hybrid with White Willow Spoons and silver & white Pet Spoons

**Area 1642, 1643,1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, and 1648 initially found fish under birds, then “spot-hopped” in the same general vicinity along the same contour.

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

On Friday, Nov. 27th, I picked up Thomas and Trace McGuire at their home in Harker Heights, TX, headed to Belton Lake for a morning of white bass and hybrid striped bass fishing.  This trip was booked through the Fort Hood SKIES program.

9-year-old Thomas McGuire with a hard-pulling Lake Belton hybrid striped bass.

7-year-old Trace McGuire with one of two fish he caught at the same time on two of the three lures attached to the 3-armed umbrella rigs we were using.

The fishing has really been spotty lately, and although a cold front was due to arrive today around 1-2pm, it was to be a wet cold front that arrived on a wind shift from the SSE through the E and to the N.  The fish typically do not respond as enthusiastically to the approach of wet cold fronts as they do to dry cold fronts which arrive on a wind shift from S, through W, to NW.  So, we launched and I really wasn’t sure what to expect in this season of transition.

As we got going, I immediately began scanning for birds working over top of gamefish pushing baitfish to the surface.

We saw some moderate action in this low-light period just following the cloud-obscured sunrise.  I saw lots of scattered, suspended bait and gamefish mixed in with the bait, so, we hooked up our downriggers and got down to business.

The fish responded positively to our offerings, and, within the first 20 minutes the boys each boated a hybrid and a white bass.  With this solid start under our belt, I felt confident that we could continue to work the downriggers with success, and, the boys enjoyed setting out the lines and lowering and raising the downrigger balls, so, things were good.

The bird activity continued to grow and be more helpful right through the 9 o’clock hour.  We essentially drove from one patch of birds to the next and enjoyed single and double hookups on our 3-armed umbrella rigs once we got under the birds.

At 9:30, things got ominously calm and quiet.  By 9:40, a strong N wind began to churn the water into whitecaps and the temperature dropped from 70F to 52F in an instant.  The cold front had arrived much earlier than forecast.

We had been rained upon all morning and were damp.  The boys’ mom had prepared them well for the wet, but the added cold was a bit more than the boys were ready for.  We stayed as long as they could endure, but, when hands started stinging and lips started quivering, I knew it was time to head to the ramp.

We saw an immediate downturn in the fishing as the cold front hit — just the opposite of what I’d expect with the arrival of a dry cold front.

We got back to the truck, loaded the boys in the cab, cranked up the heater and they soaked in the warmth as I got the boat on the trailer and ready for travel.

Between the two of them, Thomas and Trace managed exactly 19 fish, all but one of which came on the umbrella rigs.  There was definitely opportunity to take fish via casting to them with barely sub-surface retrieves as they pushed shad to the surface and gave their locations away, as well as to take them via a vertical presentation, but both would have required more 1-on-1 attention than the wind would allow for, so, we kept it simple, and simple was effective.

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). Call (254) 287-4592.

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 = 19 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F falling into the low 50’s with the approach of a cold front

Water Surface Temp: 65.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-13, then going briefly calm and turning NNE15-18 around 9:30a

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover.

Note: Elevation was 594.9 feet above sea level, with 594 feet being full pool

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 015-019 downrigging early parallel to bank

**Area 084 under birds for a short time

**Area 1070-1641 spotty but continuous action under rapidly moving birds

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This balmy Thanksgiving morning I greeted the Knight family of Georgetown, TX, for a morning of hybrid striped bass and white bass fishing on Belton Lake before the feasting festivities began for all of us later in the afternoon.

From left: Robyn, Jaelyn, Jace, and Jeffrey Knight with some of the fish we caught just after it began to brighten up a bit, between 7:15 and 7:45am.

Jeffrey is an irrigation expert with the Ewing company and makes his living teaching customers how to use and troubleshoot Ewing irrigation equipment.  Robyn helps run the family’s small business, also irrigation-related, from their home.  14-year-old Jaelyn and 12-year-old Jace stay busy with school and sports.  The Knight’s came out with me once before during Spring Break 2014 when Robyn researched an all-Central Texas “stay-cation” featuring i-Fly, Top Golf, a visit to the Austin Junk Cathedral, and fishing on Belton with me.

The weather was very unstable today with Gulf moisture streaming in on a SSE wind in advance of an approaching cold front due in tomorrow around 2pm.  We had wind, rain, clouds, heavy clouds, light clouds, and very spotty fishing.

The bird action which has pointed the way to fish for the past 2 trips did not develop until around 10:45 today, and even when it did, it only lasted for about 25 minutes.

We caught a first-light bite and then the late morning bird-bite, with a lot of looking and trying in between, punctuated with occasional success on the downriggers.

When all was said and done, we put a total of 33 fish in the boat, including short hybrid, keeper hybrid, short white bass, keeper white bass, and one largemouth bass.  That hard cold front last Saturday really took the wind out of the sails and things just haven’t bounced back well.  With yet another hard cold front now due in this weekend, the fishing won’t be getting any easier any time soon.

I’m hoping for a pre-frontal bite tomorrow morning, and am then planning to ride out the cold front, staying off the water through Sunday.

 

TALLY = 33 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp:  65.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-15 entire trip

Sky Conditions:  Heavy grey clouds the entire trip, with occasional short rain showers

Other: GT= 35

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Area 1602 to 1617 early downrigging up shallow

** Area 1635 – 2 fish vertical jigging

** Area 172 (vicinity) – downrigging for suspended fish spread throughout water column

** Area 015 to 1641 under birds beginning from 10:45 to 11:15a – casting and jigging in 15-22′

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, November 25th, I greeted Troy Hensley of Killeen, TX,  and his father-in-law, Gary Mavity of Ladd, Illinois.

Troy landed this 9.50 pound longnose gar.  Most gar hooked are lost due to the absence of any tissue in their long, bony snout for a hook to penetrate into and hold.

From left: Troy Hensley and Gary Mavity with a nice pair of 19″, 3.25 pound Belton Lake hybrid striped bass taken from 64.5F water.

Troy is a U.S. Army combat veteran who served honorably in the infantry.  Gary is a retired electrical supply salesman who, according to Troy, could “sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves”.  Troy settled down in Killeen with his wife, Lori, and their 3 kids after he left active duty.  Lori’s dad, mom, and grandma all made it down from Illinois to visit for the holidays, and so Lori and Troy surprised Gary with an early Christmas present in the form of a fishing trip.  We were originally scheduled for this coming Friday, but as the weather forecast continued to deteriorate, we decided to move the trip time up while it was still warm and fairly dry.

As we got going this morning, I was hoping for a rerun of yesterday’s helpful bird activity.  We lived through one fishless hour as we checked a number of areas intending to vertically jig if  we found heavily schooled fish.  At exactly 8:04am, the first of 3 helpful bouts of bird activity led us to successful fishing.  All fish we caught today came in under 20 feet of water.

As we “got close” to fish with the help of the birds, we then found the “spot on the spot” using sonar.  Given that the fish we found this morning were in fairly shallow water, we cast our slabs horizontally and worked them back “lift-drop” style with good results.  The bait of choice was the Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in 3/4 oz. in white halographic equipped with a G-Stinger hook in addition to the stock treble hook.

When the fishing slowed down, we turned to downrigging, running the equipment at 17-19 feet deep for scattered fish suspended slightly deeper.

We caught keeper hybrid, short hybrid, keeper white bass and short white bass, as well as one largemouth and a surprise longnose gar.

The fish definitely fed in spurts today and were done by around 10:15am.  We boated a total of 35 fish this morning while they were turned on.

 

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F

Water Surface Temp:  64.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 entire trip

Sky Conditions:  Heavy grey clouds the entire trip, with occasional short rain showers

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Area 015 under birds beginning at exactly 8:04a

**Area 025 under birds at mid-trip

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This morning, November 24th, I welcomed aboard Mr. Steve Niemeier and his 10-year-old grandson, Caleb Fowler.  The pair has been fishing with me several times each year since 2011.

Persistence paid off today.  After a fishless first 90 minutes, the wind started to move and clouds built in, turning the bite on for a full 2 hours for Steve Niemeier and his grandson, Caleb Fowler.

Caleb, a student at Kennedy Powell Elementary School in Temple had the day off, along with the rest of the Temple Independent School District, and Steve, like a lot of (wise) middle-aged hard-chargers, has come to realize that if he’s going to stay with it for the “long haul”, periodic breaks to go fishing are a must!

The weather and the fishing were both kind of funky today.  We started off dry, cold, clear and windless and finished up humid, warmer, cloudy, and breezy.  We went nearly 1.5 hours without catching a fish under the calm, bright conditions, but, about 20 minutes after the wind came up, things started happening.  The fishing peaked from 9:30 to 10:30 as the grey clouds built in and the wind increased steadily up to about SSE12.

The very productive pattern that we’ve been on just fell apart with the strong cold front that pushed through on Saturday.  That fishing involved finding heavily concentrated fish in 12-26 feet of water depending on time of day, and working both vertically and horizontally for them within 24″ of bottom.

Today, we found fish inhabiting the upper third of the water column, chasing bait long and hard over great spans of open water.  For the first time this season bird activity made a significant contribution to our success.  This isn’t to say one can expect to find fish anywhere birds are found.  Rather, they have to be “read” and responded to accordingly.

By watching the rate of travel of the birds as they kept up with hungry schools of white bass and hybrid stripers, we could tell the fish were really moving quickly — too quickly, in fact, to make a stationary approach inadequate.  So, we stayed on the move by using downriggers with our baits kept constantly adjusted so as to be just slightly shallower than the fish we saw on sonar.

We wound up with a mixed bag of keeper hybrid, short hybrid, and white bass of all sizes.  The baits we chose — Pet Spoons on one rod and White Willow Spoons on the other rod — worked equally well in imitating the bait which was generally around 2 to 2.25″ long.

The fish quit feeding at right around 10:45.  We stayed a bit longer, but boated only one “straggler” for the additional 45 minutes of effort.

 

TALLY = 35 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: 47F

Water Surface Temp:  66.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at trip’s start, tapering up to SSE12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird, transitioning to 100% grey clouds

Other: GT= 50

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Fish followed contour from Area 715 through 1546 through 841 through 952 — downrigging worked best; smoking produced a few, as well.

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This afternoon I fished with Rick Klein and his wife, Terri, of Sun City in Georgetown, TX.  Rick has fished with me twice before, but this was Terri’s first time on my boat.  I enjoyed their company.

Terri and Rick Klein braved the post-frontal chill this afternoon to put 32 fish in the boat.  Both were glad their new car came equipped with “bun warmers” for the ride home!!!

Catching fish was an uphill battle today.  Rick has fished long enough to know before I even said anything as to why I was concerned about how things would pan out today — post-frontal conditions after a hard cold front’s passage like we experienced yesterday always make for tough conditions.  The high, clear, “bluebird” skies and near calm wind just put the fish off until some wind and clouds return.

We looked for fish in 7 different areas today, and only found congregated fish at one area.  Unfortunately, the fish in that one area were not exceptional fish.  Of the 32 fish we boated, only 6 white bass were of legal size.

We used vertical tactics right up until 90 minutes before sunset and then switched over to downrigging as the fish scattered more and more.

The cold front definitely brought in some helpful bird life.  I saw 5 times more gulls today than last week, and spotted the first loon I’ve seen this fall working, too.  The gull action is not very helpful yet, as they seem to be working over small, migrating pods of smallish white bass that are pushing shad to the surface just briefly and sporadically.  This is reminiscent of summer time “popcorn” schooling, only with birds sprinkled over top of  it all.

This cold front did not and will not kill the great fishing we’ve had, as the water surface temperature was still 66-67F, making the water and the fish we caught in the 50F air feel toasty.  We simply need some fishy weather and the bite will go on as long as the water is in the 60’s.  I suspect the water temperature may actually rise a tad toward the end of this Thanksgiving week, if the current forecast holds.

TALLY = 32 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p

End Time:  5:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 53F

Water Surface Temp:  66-67F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW1-2

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird

Other: GT= 10

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1618-1621 – vertical jigged early and downrigged late for the majority of our catch off this one area

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com