Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Making Hay with A Haymaker — 115 Fish

March 25th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, March 25, I fished with Jason Anderson from near Thorndale, Texas. Most of Jason‘s prior fishing experience has been for largemouth bass, but he is contemplating shifting his focus to pursuing locally available members of the temperate bass family, including whites, hybrid, and stripers. So, his reservation with me was both in hopes of catching fish, but also to make steps towards understanding the process of finding fish to catch.

Jason is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades with skills in construction, material hauling, contracting, and hay baling.

DATE: Tuesday, 25 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Jason “made hay while the sun shone” today, taking advantage of a breeze-fueled feeding spree to put 115 fish in the boat during his solo 4-hour trip on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Jason arrived early, and I pointed out to him that that was not necessarily a good thing where white bass are concerned, as in this season, as in fall and winter, white bass rarely get going before the sun rises. There is a definite exception to this in the summer months, but right now, not much takes place until the sun is physically visible on the horizon.

When the sun rose, it was accompanied by a total lack of wind for about 90 minutes. During that time, finding fish was tough and getting them to bite even tougher, but, I located a stationary school of fish in about 24 feet of water and we stuck with them as long as the calm conditions persisted and fish continued to repopulate this area.

We wound up picking up 36 fish there before a slight breeze began to blow, and I decided to immediately head for open water where that little bit of wind would be amplified. Up until this point we caught the majority of our fish working slabs vertically with a slow-smoking tactic , and added a few fish by casting MAL Original lures to pods of fish which occasionally presented themselves on side-imaging while we sat in one spot on Spot Lock.

Once the wind started blowing, and we hit deeper, open water, and the rest of our catch was made on 5/8 and 3/4 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

I defaulted to the white, 5/8 ounce version first, but noted large, adult threadfin shad in the gullet of one of the first fish we caught in open water, thus prompting me to bump our size up to three-quarter ounce instead.

When all was said and done, we had boated a total of 115 fish, including 114 white bass and one blue catfish.

While in open water, we had one brief spurt of bird activity by just four ringbill gulls. That was enough to get us in the right place at the right time, and produced our fastest fishing of the morning. I shared with Jason that on a tough day with such bright skies and light winds, it was important to make hay while the sun shown, meaning it is important to catch as many fish as possible while they are presenting aggressively — not the time to take photos, take a leak, or grab a snack.

Jason got an excellent example, courtesy of Garmin LiveScope, of how differently the fish behave when they go on a feeding spree. During this spree, the fish were much more likely to suspend, to chase our lures farther and faster, and to swim horizontally at a greater speed. During this spree, we experimented with smoking MAL Lures (MAL Dense with silver bodies and chartreuse tails) for the first time this year. They produced well, but only during that spurt — it is still just a bit too cool for them to pursue that MAL all the time.

RESULTS: 115 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

One occurance of helpful bird activity this morning.
Ratio of mature fish continues to rise with each passing day.
I anticipate the annual threadfin shad spawn to begin within a few days

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March…

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:35

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 2.96′ low

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm through 9:15A, then a slight S breeze began to ripple, increasing to S5-6 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 19% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 692 – 36 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs & sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0082G (2 hops) – 67 fish smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 & 3/4 oz. white) & MAL Originals

Area vic 1819 – 12 fish smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Do Hybrid Stripers Have Electric Motors? – 135 Fish

March 24th, 2025March 24th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, March 24, I fished with returning guests, Rudy P., And his two sons Max (age 16) and Roman (age 14), visiting from New Mexico. This family has relatives in the Austin area which they came to visit during the boys’ spring break.

It was immediately obvious that these three were in a competition from the moment they stepped on the boat. They kept count, compared sizes of fish caught, and chided one another. One of the best pokes came at Roman’s expense. He was on a bit of a dry run until I got him to slow his retrieve speed down while using the MAL Lure. His dad looked over and said, “Hey, you need training wheels with the rod?”.

Shortly after, Rudy landed our one and only hybrid of the trip. When I informed everyone we’d landed a hybrid, one of the boys asked, “What’s a hybrid?”.

Before I could answer, Rudy told the boys it was a special kind of fish with an electric motor. And so it went….

DATE: Monday, 24 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: 103 of 135 fish came on the MAL Original this morning. When side-imaging revealed fish on bottom in ~22 feet of water, I positioned the boat about a cast’s length away from the school and let the games begin.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

A mild cold front moved through the area last night, forcing a severe thunderstorm warning between 7 PM and 1 AM. Although spotty storms cells did develop, the main impact this morning was the clearing, drying conditions which accompanied the north-northwest wind blowing at below 9 mph all morning. I feel the wind shift and increase in velocity helped the fishing this morning until the winds began to slacken in the 11 o’clock hour.

Fishing continued today much as it ended up last week, with fish hanging shallow in the first 2+ hours following sunrise, then being pushed out deeper by the brightening sun thereafter. My three man crew landed 103 fish by 9:35, then added an additional 32 fish by the time we wrapped up around 11:45.

As the shallow water bite was tapering off, I gave my crew some options, and they expressed a preference in fishing deepwater with slabs using Garmin LiveScope, which is something they have enjoyed doing successfully with me previously .

In hindsight, we likely could have caught more fish by trying to follow the fish we’d found shallow as they transitioned out deeper, but the variety was enjoyable. All of the 103 shallow water fish came on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail. All of the fish caught in deeper, clear water were taken on the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

No angler photos from this trip. My crew preferred not to have their images appear on social media.

RESULTS: 135 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

2 incidents of helpful bird activity this morning.
Ratio of mature fish continues to rise with each passing day.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March…

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:45

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 2.94′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNW8-9 all AM

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 28% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171C – 59 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0170C – 18 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 188 – 26 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0171G – 10 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0025G – 6 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1798 – 16 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Two Guides for Three Girls – 73 Fish

March 21st, 2025March 21st, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, March 21, I fished the final trip of the Texas spring break “season”, which extended over a two week span this year. Joining me this morning was a trio of sisters from Fort Cavazos. Euselia (age 8), Olivia (age 8), and Audrey (age 5) Woosley were all treated by their grandfather, John Carl, to a “Kids Fish, Too!“ fishing trip.

John is a fellow fishing guide, plying the waters of Oregon for steelhead and salmon on the Rogue River: https://www.johncarlguideservice.com/

His help today was invaluable. He practiced casting with spinning gear with the girls the day before, and then patiently coached them on keeping their technique consistent during this morning’s efforts.

These Kids Fish, Too! packages are specifically for younger kids, with a lower price point and a maximum 3.5 hour duration versus 4+ hours for standard trips. Only the kids do the fishing, while the adults help me help the kids be successful.

DATE: Friday, 21March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Olivia, Audrey, and Euselia Woosley were treated to a Spring Break fishing trip by their grandfather, John Carl. The girls landed 73 fish in 3.5 hours.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I was a little concerned that the 45° air temperature at sunrise, combined with a light southerly breeze, might have the girls so cold they weren’t willing to expose their hands in order to use the rods and reels in such a manner as to enable them to catch fish. This turned out to be no concern at all, as the girls, without gloves, picked up rods and reels, started casting, and had fish in the boat literally minutes after I Spot-Locked on top of our first group of fish.

We fished for about 2 1/2 hours up shallow, throwing MAL Lures with chartreuse tails to moderately heavily schooled white bass. Once 10AM came around, this action started to weaken, so we moved out deeper and into clearer, cooler water and continued right on catching, only this time using white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye slabs fished vertically, aided by a thumper and Garmin LiveScope.

The shallow water bite yielded 50 fish; and the girls came up with another 23 fish fishing vertically, for a final tally of 73 fish, 100% of which were white bass .

RESULTS: 73 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.
We had the first southerly winds blow this morning following a cold front which rolled in mid-morning on Wed., 19 Mar.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March…

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:15

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 2.88′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were S7-12 thru 9:45, then ramped up to S14 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 58% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 190 – 34 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 381 – 12 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 172 – 4 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0172C – 10 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (at 35′ mark)

Area vic B0238G – 13 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

What the Wind Did To Us, and For Us — 145 Fish on MALs and Hazy Eyes

March 19th, 2025March 19th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, March 19, I fished with three generations aboard as the Texas public school Spring Break season continues. Joining me was Dr. Jim Wood, his daughter, Allison Bailey, and her two kids, Jack, age 15, and Charlotte, age 13.

Jim, a surgeon and wound care specialist is retired and resides in McGregor, Texas. Allison is an assistant principal up in the DFW area.

DATE: Thursday, 19 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 27 March, 04 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 29 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jack, Allison, and Charlotte Bailey, and Dr. Jim Wood (the kids’ grandpa), all with white bass taken on an incoming spring cold front. You know you’ve done alright as a fishing guide if you can get a teenaged young man to smile in a family photo (even if no teeth are showing)!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The big question hanging over this morning‘s trip was “What was the wind going to do to us or for us?”.

A dry cold front was due to move in this morning, complete with a wind shift from west-southwest to northwest, along with a significant increase in wind velocity.

My plan was to catch as many fish as we could in shallow water before the increasing light level killed the shallow bite and forced us to deep water .

My concern was that a limited number, if any, productive deep water spots would remain accessible if the winds got to the velocities which were forecast.

As it turned out, we were able to enjoy a full three hours of shallow water bite today, taking our fish count to 110 fish by the time the sun, filtered by heavy wave action, pushed the shallow fish deep and killed that bite. This shallow bite lasted about an hour longer than usual, thanks to the wave action dimming the light — that’s what the wind did for us.

Every last one of those shallow water fish came on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail worked with the sawtooth method described below. Once we were forced to, we changed tactics and relied on the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab and my thumping device to attract fish. Garmin LiveScope helped everyone see their lures ascent and decent, as well as fish reaction, and helped them know when to continue retrieving whenever fish pursued their lures.

I looked over three areas finding fish at all three of them, however, the fish were quite sluggish at the first area. We had better success with fish willing to come up off the bottom and pursue for quite some distance at the last two areas we fished. If you read these reports looking to glean some wisdom, note this: not investing time into fish which show initial disinterest is a wise move; rarely do they get more interested than they initially are when you first get a lure down to them.

I felt fortunate these fish were present, as these were about the only areas I could practically run to with the winds being as high as they were at this point in the morning (easily 20mph with gusting). That’s what the wind did to us.

When all was said and done, my multigenerational crew had landed 145 fish, including 143 white bass, 1 hybrid, and 1 largemouth, on a pretty dicey weather day. Whatever the high winds cost us, the changing pressure with the incoming cold front more than made up for.

RESULTS: 145 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.
We were on the incoming side of a dry cold front this morning which boosted our catch.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:45

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 2.77′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were W6-8 for about 70 minutes until the lead edge of a dry cold front came through, shifting winds to NW16-20 with higher gusts

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 165 – 58 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0116C / 526 – 42 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0114C – 10 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0238G – 22 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs (at 35′ mark)

Area vic 0150 – 13 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

A Chilly Spring Break Part 2 – 51 Fish

March 17th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, March 17, part two of Texas Spring Break 2025 began. I welcomed aboard Dimitri Hammond and his 12-year-old son Vaylen. The two had limited prior fishing experience, so, we reviewed the basics of using spinning gear for casting before we left the dock. Both picked up the fundamentals quickly, and we were off to hunt fish.

DATE: Thursday, 17 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 25, 26 March (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 29 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: 12-year-old Vaylen Hammond and his dad, Dimitri, joined me for a Spring Break trip which has been three years in the making thanks to busy schedules and more. The pair wound up boating 51 fish on a combination of horizontal and vertical tactics.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We had a little interruption in the recent warming trend over the weekend, and temperatures fell to 42° at sunrise this morning with no cloud cover, but at least a little wind all morning, and in part made up for those cold, bright skies.

We started this morning‘s trip in mid depths as the shallow water which has been holding fish routinely was devoid of fish on this cold morning. We used sonar and located some low light fish in the first 90 minutes of the morning in 14 to 18 feet of water. These fish responded well to a MAL Original worked horizontally with a sawtooth method. We fished three locations over this span of time and put 36 fish in the boat.

When this mid-depth bite wound down, we moved to deeper (and also cooler) water and worked much more slowly with white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in 30 to 40 feet of water to bring our final total up to exactly 51 fish.

100% of this morning’s catch consisted of white bass.

RESULTS: 51 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning
The long warming trend halted over the weekend with overnight temps in the 40’s the past several mornings.
Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 42F

Elevation: 2.79′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were manageable all morning with just a ripple from the SW until ~10A, the building quickly to SSW16+

Sky Condition: Wispy, high, white clouds at <5% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 90% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0127C – 15 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0116C – 7 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 788 – 14 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 0147 – 11 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1882 – 4 fish slow-smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Aye, We Landed the Loch Belton Monster, Laddie – 94 Fish

March 16th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On the afternoon of Thursday, March 13, I fished with brothers Joe and Jack Oliver. The Oliver clan, over the years, have proven to be my most frequent clients.

Originally, this trip was intended by Joe to be an opportunity for him to bring three or four of his football coaching coworkers from Temple ISD out fishing during spring break, however, very high winds forecast for Friday, March 14, forced me to reschedule his crew for this afternoon. When everything was said and done, none of the original crew was able to make it, but Joe, still wanting to go fishing, which is his custom during spring break, called his brother, who lives in Marble Falls, and we made it a two-man trip instead. Joe joined me at 3:30, and Jack joined the two of us at 4:15 PM.

DATE: Thursday, 13 March 2025 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 25, 26 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Jack Oliver, left, and his brother, Joe, team-lift this “beautiful” flathead catfish (a.k.a. yellow catfish). The brothers had landed 37 white bass at our final stop of the evening when this monster moved through (possibly feeding on white bass?).

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We fished deep, clear water with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs on a fairly slow bite through 5:50 PM, given the gray cloud cover greatly reducing sunlight penetration.

I then moved us to shallow water at this time to close out the trip. As we made the trek to fish shallow or water, I stopped at an area in 25 to 28 feet and found a few small white bass present which we caught on the slab.

We continued on and got distracted by gulls actively working over a stretch of river channel. Migratory white bass were pushing shad to the surface. The white bass were in a horizontal band down between 25 and 35 feet deep over 55 feet of water. We picked up a handful of fish, including whites, one largemouth, and one legal hybrid here before the fish toned down, the birds dissipated, and we moved on.

It was now around 6:45 PM and we spent the remainder of the trip casting MAL Originals with chartreuse tails to white bass in water under 18 feet in depth. This accounted for a final 38 fish for the evening.

The very last fish to come over the gunwale was a hefty, 30-pound class flathead catfish which Jack hooked on light spinning gear and eventually landed successfully. Joe filmed three 3-minute segments of the fight and still didn’t capture the entire battle!

RESULTS: 94 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

Two episodes of helpful bird activity this evening — both over the channel feeding on shad driven by migrating white
The warming water is increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions, the shallow water bite gets a bit longer each day.
Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:30P

End Time: 7:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 2.63′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were manageable all evening, SSW8-9

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first hour, then quickly cleared during the second hour to cloudless by the start of the third hour

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0319G – 9 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 081- 3 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 346 – 15 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1624/0154 – 6 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1379 – 13 fish slow smoking slabs over suspended fish migrating in the Leon channel

Area vic 415 – 38 fish on MAL Originals worked with a sawtooth method

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

More Shallow MAL Lure Action as Water Continues to Warm – 123 Fish

March 16th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Thursday morning, March 13, I fished with long-time clients and friends, Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen. Both are retired and fish several times per month. They are both fans of the MAL Lure and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, hence, there was no learning curve whatsoever as we got down to catching fish.

Sylvia is a master gardener and I like to fool with blackberries, so we got to kick that topic around a bit before Sylvia spent her forthcoming Saturday at the annual plant sale at the Bell County Expo Center.

DATE: Thursday, 13 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 25, 26 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen cashed in on the longest shallow water bite I’ve experienced year-to-date. They cast MAL Originals in under 20 feet of water to take 100 of their 123 fish; the balance came out of deeper water on slabs where the water temperature is cooler and the tactics have to be slower to get bit.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to the extended warming trend we have enjoyed this week, we experienced a two-hour-long shallow water bite this morning during which all but about 10 of the fish landed came on MAL Originals worked horizontally using the sawtooth method.

As I have noted previously this week, there was still a lot of small fish in the mix today, but the ratio of larger fish increased.

Once the shallow water bite shut down, we moved to deeper, clearer water and found additional fish in 36 to 38 feet of water.

For this situation, we geared up with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in white color and 5/8-ounce size. We worked these with a slow smoking tactic, aided greatly by the use of Garmin LiveScope.

The fish shut down very obviously right at noon today. By that time, Tommy and Silvia had landed 123 fish.

RESULTS: 123 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning
The warming water is increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions, the shallow water bite gets a bit longer each day.
Mulberry leaves sprouted; live oak catkins and old leaves are falling; turtles sightings are becoming more common.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 2.63′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were manageable all morning, SSW8-11

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first hour, then quickly cleared during the second hour to cloudless by the start of the third hour

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 165 – 15 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 163- 7 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 169 – 64 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals (2 hops)

Area vic 415 – 14 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 1815B0000G – 16 fish slow smoking slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Can You Raise Pigs in the Basement? — 79 Fish

March 15th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Wednesday evening, March 12, I conducted a “Kids Fish, Too!“ Trip for 13 year old Fisher Eary and his buddy, 12-year-old Branson Tomastik. The boys live a few minutes from one another in the town of Academy, Texas, where Fisher is involved in FFA raising pigs.

This trip was a gift to Fisher from his Aunt Audra and Uncle Cody on the occasion of his confirmation.

The boys had a sharp sense of humor for their age. When I asked Branson what he wanted to do when he grew up, without batting an eye, he said, “I think I just want to go live in my mother‘s basement.“.

DATE: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 18, 25, 26 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Branson Tomastik and Fisher Eary worked diligently for 3.5 hours to put together a 79-fish catch using white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

PHOTO CAPTION: Although our target species was white bass, we also picked up a few largemouth and bluecats, as well as a few undersized hybrid striped bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We got going around 3:45 PM and fished until just after 7:15 PM. As I met up with my crew, the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of the area between Interstate 35 and Interstate 45. Lake Belton was on the extreme western side of the watch box. Hence, I took a good hard look at the wind and weather forecast, as well as weather radar before we began our fishing in earnest.

As it turned out, as the dry line moved east and over us, this weather-maker spurred the fishing on. We enjoyed a westerly breeze, gray cloud cover, and a solid bite right up until the line of clouds passed off to the east. Once the winds died, and the skies cleared, the bite died with it.

While the fish were cooperating, the boys picked up 79 fish, every single one of which came on a white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

At no time this evening were the numerous gulls on the lake helpful in identifying the location of biting fish.

The boys catch consisted of mainly smallish white bass, sub-legal hybrid, a few largemouth bass, and one blue cat.

RESULTS: 79 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

The warming water it increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions.
A dryline passed from W. to E. during our time on the water generating a severe thunderstorm warning for Central Texas between I-35 and I-45 to the east of us. The timespan from the arrival of the first clouds through the elevated winds which followed made for a strong bite, however, once skies cleared and the winds calmed, the bite died right along with them.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:45P

End Time: 7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation: 2.61′ low

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SW7-8 prior to the dryline’s passage; they went W16 with gusts as the line moved over, then fell off to calm thereafter.

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first 2.5 hours; once a dryline passed over, skies cleared rapidly.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171G – 19 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1177 – 15 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 081 – 17 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 2064 – 28 fish slow smoking slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

FATHER-AND-SON SPRING BREAK TIME FOR THE HARGROVES — 101 FISH

March 14th, 2025March 14th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On the morning of Wednesday, March 12, I fished with the father and son team of Corey and Hunter Hargrove of Academy, Texas. Hunter participates in FFA where he raises rabbits and is involved with mechanical restoration. He is a senior in high school want to be admitted to Texas A&M.

Corey, an A&M grad, pursued fish and wildlife studies in college but went on to become a railroad man, currently working as an engineer. Corey bid on a gift certificate for this fishing trip which I donated to the Academy FFA earlier this year. Corey previously fished for hybrids with me some years ago.

DATE: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 18, 25, 26 March (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Hunter Hargrove picked up the largest of the 101 fish he and his father landed on their Spring Break 2025 fishing trip. This hybrid striped bass struck Hunter’s MAL Original with chartreuse tail retrieved horizontally and very close to the bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Corey and Hunter with a few of the mature white bass they landed. The pair caught fish up shallow early with horizontal tactics, then in deeper, clearer, cooler water using slower vertical tactics in the latter half of the morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning‘s weather was the best fishing weather we’ve had thus far this week. We had a breeze and some thin, but complete, gray cloud cover for about half of the morning. Under these conditions, the fish stayed shallow longer than over the past few clear, cooler mornings. In the first half of the trip, father and son boated most of their fish casting MAL Originals with chartreuse tails into water less than 20 feet deep and retrieved those lures using a sawtooth method.

Once the skies began to clear, we sought out deeper, clearer water and finished out the trip working white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in both 5/8-ounce and 3/4-ounce sizes.

During those first two hours, one of the three areas we located fish at was indicated by the presence of about eight gulls feeding on shad driven to the surface by white bass. This was the first episode of helpful bird activity I’ve witness in quite some time.

When all was said and done this morning, Corey and Hunter wound up with 101 fish landed in right at four hours’ time.

RESULTS: 101 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. and 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

One occurrence of helpful bird activity in the first half of the morning
The warming water it increasing fish metabolism and that is trumping some otherwise troublesome weather conditions.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 3:15PM on Wednesday, 12 March. …

0 feet 60.3F

5 feet 59.6F

10 feet 59.0F

15 feet 58.6F

20 feet 57.4F

25 feet 56.9F

30 feet 56.5F

35 feet 55.6F

40 feet 54.9F

45 feet 54.7F

50 Feet 53.6F

55 feet 53.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Wednesday, 05 March. …

0 feet 55.3F

5 feet 55.6F

10 feet 55.6F

15 feet 55.6F

20 feet 55.6F

25 feet 55.6F

30 feet 55.6 F

35 feet 54.0F

40 feet 52.8F

45 feet 51.3F

50 feet 50.8F

55 feet 50.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 2.61′ low

Water Surface Temp: 58.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were manageable all morning, SSW8-11

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies existed for our first hour, then quickly cleared during the second hour to cloudless by the start of the third hour

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0172C – 15 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 788 – 16 fish on slabs, then another 7 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic B0108GC – 27 fish slow smoking slabs (2 hops)

Area vic 2041 – 10 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic B0056G – 26 fish slow smoking slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com