fishing tour

ALL ABOUT EATER CATFISH – 21 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday evening, May 1st, I welcomed returning guests Rick Powell and Ricardo Cisneros aboard.  During the Coronavirus shutdown, I took my wife, Rebecca, and a handful of friends out fishing specifically for blue catfish on Lake Belton.  Ricardo, who regularly follows my Facebook posts, saw this and hoped to duplicate the effort on occasions where he hoped to catch a few “eating-sized” catfish (12+ inches).

He requested I take he and his friend (and boss) Rick Powell out to show them what I’d learned.

No, I’m not starting to guide for catfish and don’t intend to do so in the future, but, as the fishery offers consistency and as the quality of these fish continue to improve on Lake Belton (due to zebra mussel consumption, I suspect), I will no doubt routinely mix in some catfishing in my multi-species trips. Additionally, my 100% C&R policy still pertains to this species.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This is what the methods I’ve pieced together (with a good bit of help from Steve Webb) typically produce – smaller “eater-sized” blue catfish, two of which provide 4 fillets — just enough for a 1-person serving if kept and cleaned properly. Most fish are 12-15 inches, like this one held by Ricardo Cisneros.

WHEN WE FISHED:  01 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: First, I search for blue catfish concentrations on sonar.  Next, I Spot-Lock and chum with range cubes, then get right down to fishing vertically with my “Catfish Plumb” bait holders tipped with fresh, dead shad or non-stink doughbait.  To enhance things, I’ve brought Garmin LiveScope to bear, which allows slightly suspended fish to be targeted.  Otherwise, the default bait position is just inches off bottom.

Concentration is a must, as the catfish typically take only one swipe at the bait, during which time a quick, hard hookset is a must.

In 3.5 hours’ time, some of which was set aside for Humminbird side-imaging explanation and Garmin LiveScope explanation, we put 22 blue cat over the side of the boat with just as many missed on the hookset.

 

TALLY: 22 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: As I searched for spawning shad, a definite, shallow-water and shad-oriented fishery is also ripe for picking, albeit short-lived with the action drying up about the time the direct sun peeks over the eastern horizon.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   4:00P

End Time:  7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation:  0.77′  high, 0.06 foot 24-hour rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  70F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S17 at trip’s start, tapering to S14 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 30% high white haze on blue skies

GT =28

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0073C (fished it at start of trip and end of trip with 2 other non-productive stops in between)

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

PRE-FRONTAL WX SETUP YIELDS 106 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, March 2nd, 2020, I fished with returning guests Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen from near Troy, TX.  Tommy has fished with me twice before, both in pursuit of white bass on Stillhouse.  Sylvia joined him for one of those trips.  Then, just last month, they both returned in their own boat to do some sonar training with new Lowrance gear installed on both console and bow.  Our next trip will be after Belton hybrid in May, Lord willing.

I was excited about getting on the water this morning, as I am any time pre-frontal conditions are brewing.  Making this morning even sweeter was the fact that it came on the end of a 4-day warming spell.

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen joined me for a nice Texas late winter morning of white bass fishing on Stillhouse.  The couple’s last trip with me yielded 53 fish; this morning, we persisted until we doubled that figure.  The grey skies and southwesterly breeze helped fire up the bite this morning until right around noon.

WHEN WE FISHED:  02 March, 2002, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As hard as it was to ignore bird activity this morning, that is exactly what it took to put fish in the boat.  The “resident” population of wintering gulls on Stillhouse have become conditioned to feed every morning in about 4 distinct locations, whether or not white bass are present.  Although there are a few white bass in these areas, this morning sonar quickly revealed they were few and far between.  Most folks fail to recognize the root cause of the gull action right now is loon activity, not white bass activity.  These loons kill and cripple sunfish which then float or linger near the surface and become easy targets for the gulls, which then draw anglers. A few anglers draw more anglers, and , before you know it, there’s a whole lot of boats and none of them catching anything. Thanks to a state holiday, a few areas with this gull/loon scenario looked like boat parking lots this morning, but few fish were taken in those areas.

Rather, the breakline dropping into the old Lampasas River channel continues to be a steady producer of not only quantities of fish, but quality fish, as well, especially in comparison to the unusually high number of smallish white bass Belton has been pumping out since September.

A few times we commented on how slowly the fish were swimming and reacting to our presentations, all because their surroundings are still in the low 50’s.  Indeed, one white bass I pulled up near trip’s end when the air was warmest felt like an ice pack when touched.

Accordingly, presentations were painfully slow this morning, but consistency in that regard was rewarded over and over again as we used an easing tactic in combination with “match-the-hatch” sized 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached.  Garmin LiveScope was the ticket to knowing when to move the slab and when to lay off.

I’ve arrayed my infinitely-adjustable LiveScope transducer to view both downward and along the starboard gunwale of my boat.  I position as many clients on that side as possible.  I have two Garmin GPSMAP 1242xsv Touch units mounted on that gunwale so as many as 5 anglers can watch what is happening below them in real-time.  Although the same raw sonar data is being fed to both units from a single transducer, the displays are independently adjustable so those toward the bow can isolate their little “patch” of bottom, and those clients toward the stern can do likewise.  This way, everyone gets a zoomed view of just the vertical segment of water they are working.  It is a sweet setup.  It keeps everyone engaged, enhances their success, and makes us very efficient.

Every once in a while we encountered slightly more active fish up higher in the water column which required a “slow smoking” retrieve, but most fish were bottom-oriented this morning.

Our bite wound down to nothing by noon, with peak activity from 9:15 to 11AM.

 

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Spotted the first couple mosquito hawks of the year last night while working outdoors.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   7:00A

End Time:  Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F

Elevation: 3.27′ low, +0.01 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  54F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW8-12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover

 

GT = 15

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1512 – scattered fish under gulls with loon activity

**Area 988/2017- scattered fish under gulls with loon activity

**Area vic 1358 – channel breakline congregation of whites

**Area vic SH0001C  – channel breakline congregation of whites

**Area 103/746 – channel breakline congregation of whites

**Area vic SH0023C- scattered fish under gulls with loon activity

**Area vic SH0014G – channel breakline congregation of whites

 

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

50 MPH WINDS & QUARTER-SIZED HAIL — 102 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past  afternoon I fished with Max and Chloe Jorgensen, the 11-year-old twins of Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Jason Jorgensen of Killeen.  SSG Jorgensen, an Army topographic analyst, is currently deployed to Kuwait, leaving behind his wife, twins, and 5- and 2-year old children.  This (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) program trip is intended to give homefront parent, like Susan Jorgensen, a bit of a break, and to give kids something to look forward to while their parent is away.  Scheduling a SKIFF trip is as simple as calling me at 254.368.7411.

 

From left: Max and Chloe Jorgensen with the 5.00 pound largemouth Max reeled in.  This fish came out of 50 feet of water and was, no doubt, attracted by the smaller white bass in the large school of suspended fish beneath the boat.

Max and Chloe with white bass — the species that made up the vast majority of this afternoon’s catch.  These fish were suspended from 25 to 45 feet deep over deeper bottoms.

 

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass using artificial lures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday evening, 24 February 2018

HOW WE FISHED:   Fishing was super simple and super productive this afternoon with great conditions prior to the storm.  We fished only 2 locations (with no short hops).  The first area was in 50′, the second in 60′.  At both locations we had suspended fish form up under the boat in 25-45′.  Smoking retrieves of various speeds with both 3/8 and 3/4 oz. slabs did the trick for white bass, hybrid stripers, largemouth bass, crappie, and drum.  I also put out two cutbait rods at our second stop.  They kicked in a few white bass and one largemouth, but the moving artificial baits definitely outperformed them for quantities of smaller fish I targeted with the kids on board.  We boated 102 fish by 5:15p.  At that time weather radar showed a storm cell approaching from the WSW.  We headed for cover and did not get to fish again as the storm activity persisted until after sunset with 50mph winds and quarter-sized hail reported in Morgan’s Point.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  1) The fish were really fired up this afternoon with perfect conditions (at least until the storm moved in).  We had WSW winds at 12mph, grey cloud cover, and a warming trend with surface temps at 52.5F.  2) In comparing notes with fellow guide Jason Weisberg, the afternoon bite seemed more aggressive; we both observed large schools of suspended fish in deep water readily taking our presentations.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time:  6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  52F

Water Surface Temp:  52.8 – 53.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  ESE6 for first 90 minutes, then dying to nil with fog immediately thickening as the wind died.

Sky Conditions:  Heavy, low cloud cover and fog to the point of limiting visibility to about a mile for the first 90 minutes, then the fog rapidly thickened to under 100′ visibility.

Water Level: Up to 3.11 feet low from 3.46 feet low before this week’s rain

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0041C to B0042C – smaller fish on bottom in 46′ responding to snap-jigging and slow easing for 2 hours

**Area B0042C – larger white bass suspended in two distinct 6 foot bands approx. 12-18′ off bottom and at 25-31′ below the surface.  Slow smoking took fish at first, then, as bite slow with dying wind and increasing fog, deadsticking was required.

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

A Bit Slow After the Big Blow — 70 Fish, Belton

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning I fished with Gabe Carreras, his son, Christian, and Gabe’s father-in-law, Chris Melson, of Alabama who came in for a holiday visit.

IMG_4432

9-year-old Christian put his first and largest fish of the trip in the boat within minutes of our arrival at our first stop of the morning.  This smallmouth buffalo weighed 6.25 pounds.  That’s his dad, Gabe, helping with the heavy lifting.

IMG_4437

For his next trick, Christian landed the largest hybrid striper of the trip.  This 19.75″ fish went right at 3.25 pounds.

IMG_4439

And Papa Chris put his own hybrid in the boat, as well.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 20 November 2017

HOW WE FISHED:  The big blow on Saturday definitely shook up the fishery, moved the bait, stained the water, and scattered the fish.  We went nearly 2 hours catching only 3 fish, but then found relief in deeper, clearer water as the south wind began to move the water around 9am.  I extended the trip by an hour to try to make up for the slow start, and we were able to put a total of 70 fish in the boat.  Deep, slow vertical jigging using an easing tactic with light, 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks attached did the trick.  We caught the majority of our fish on just two similar locations, both in 42-44 feet of water on a breakline.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:   1) There was no helpful bird action today. 2) There were a lot of scattered, small fish up high in the water column (10-15 feet down) which we confirmed were white bass via downrigging. 3) The sustained high winds on Sat./Sun. left all but the main basin of the lake temporarily stained with silt. 4) Bite was poor until the south wind began to move the water. 5) We had a ~4.0F drop from Saturday AM to this AM.

TALLY: 70 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 36F

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW breeze under 3 until 8:15, then calm until 9, then a light S. breeze tapered quickly up to S11 for the last 2+ hours on the water.

Sky Conditions: 10% cloud cover

Water Level: 2.40 feet low

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

20NOV17

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area triangulated by 1318-346-085 smoking & easing with 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached

**Area 1389 right on the breakline smoking & easing with 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached

**Area 1486/787 right on the breakline smoking & easing with 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached

**Area 2053 right on the breakline smoking & easing with 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle