After 2 Steps Forward, We Took 1 Step Back — 55 Fish

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Monday, March 18, I fished with returning guests Dave and Steve Wise. Dave is a Minnesota-based snowbird who makes his way down to Texas about twice a year to visit with his dad and his brother, Steve, who reside in the north Austin area.

 

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Brothers Steve and Dave Wise paired up on Lake Belton for a 2-man catch of 55 white bass despite the cold front conditions they faced this morning.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 18 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

After a nice four-day long, midweek warm-up last week, which really nudged the white bass fishing in the right direction, we lived through a three-day cold snap with the coldest of the weather occurring this morning.

 

It was only 48° at the end of the boat ramp on Lake Belton as we launched this morning, although tomorrow morning is supposed to be even colder due to limited cloud cover overnight . Last Thursday saw the very first threadfin shad spawning, but there was no such activity this morning. In fact, there was not much shallow water activity at all. We caught only 3 fish in under 17 feet of water today, whereas the majority of the 280 fish caught last Wednesday and Thursday mornings came in under 15 feet of water.

 

Today, we had to go “low and slow“, with vertical use of slabs, using a slow-smoking tactic.

 

One productive adjustment I made today was to upsize to the white, three-quarter ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.  Last week’s start of spawning activity and abundant shallow water white bass activity showed me that the fish were willing to go after meals quite a bit larger than the 5/8 ounce presentation I had been defaulting to over the winter.

 

Although we found fish in 22 to 35 feet of water just about everywhere I looked, the group size of these fish was not massive, so, we picked up a few fish, then moved, picked up a few more fish, then moved, and so on.

 

As is often the case when fish are sluggish, as they were this morning, the fish typically flared up and expressed interest in the first few minutes we made our presentations, and then grew indifferent to our presentations soon thereafter. Our peak activity came between 9:30 and 10:45 this morning. After 10:45, the skies began to clear significantly with the first direct sunlight of the morning shining on the water , and the fish just seemed to begin to really slack off after that.

 

For their efforts, Dave and Steve wound up with 55 fish — all white bass and still more than a limit’s worth, but not near the kind of tallies we saw during the ideal weather conditions late last week.

 

Find the 3/4-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  No spawning activity observed this morning thanks to a cold front over the weekend dropping this morning’s low to 48F.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 12.01 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE 8-13 mph

Sky Condition: 80% grey cloud cover at trip’s start, clearing to 60% high, thin, white cloud cover by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 63% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Best areas were 968 (28 fish), and B0271G (18 fish)

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

SHAD ARE SPAWNING … THINGS ARE GETTING GOOD!! — 130 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, 14 March, I fished with a family of six from just west of Houston.  At 7:40 AM, I welcomed aboard James, Heather, Harrison, Cannon, Millie, and Shepherd Steen.

This was a bit of a spring break trip, mixed with a visit to the Baylor college campus for Millie, who may join her two older brothers there next year.
Here’s how the fishing went…
Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: The Steen family.  From left: Shepherd, Millie, Cannon, Heather, James, and Harrison.  The Steens caught a majority of their fish on MAL Originals (white tails and chartreuse tails) in the first 2.5 hours of light, then relied on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs as the fish moved deeper and settled down in the final 1.5 hours of the trip.  They landed 130 fish.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: It was only appropriate that Heather, who researched, planned and coordinated the trip, caught the biggest fish of the morning.  This 19″ hybrid striper weighed 3.50 pounds. It fell for her white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 14 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

This morning was as close to a cookie cutter version of yesterday‘s excellent conditions and results as you could get.

 

Perhaps the biggest positive feature was air temperature that exceeded the water temperature during the overnight hours.

 

Additionally, the skies were completely greyed over with a muggy feel to the air and a stiff southerly breeze at 12 to 14 mph.

 

As I suspected such conditions might, this weather prompted the first shad spawning activity I have seen thus far this year.

 

Only the three brothers were adept at casting with spinning gear, so, there was a bit of a learning curve to get through and in pretty tight quarters, trying to get six people to cast consistently and safely aboard a 22-foot boat. Aside from that, all six needed some instruction on how to work the MAL Original Lures they’d be using.

 

Once we got all those kinks worked out, we enjoyed two and a half solid hours of catching using the sawtooth method before the shallow water bite began to slack off. During these two hours we fished three locations.  At each, we stayed hovering in about 14 to 16 feet of water, casting shallower as a default, or sight-casting to white bass hitting shad on the surface as opportunity knocked.

 

Here is a tutorial video on executing the sawtooth method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

 

After about 2.5 hours had passed, the Steens had landed 102 fish, the bird action was waning, the bite was softening, and there was not much to see up shallow any longer as seen on sonar, so, we “re-tooled”, by putting away the MAL Lure rods, and breaking out the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab rods.

 

I gave an overview on how to work the slabs, emphasizing the importance of reeling smoothly and at the right speed.  I incorporated a metronome to help everyone “keep the beat” when it came to reeling at the correct speed.

 

At the first location we hit, I left the LiveScopes turned off so everyone could just focus on the reeling.  Once everyone was doing well and everyone had caught a few fish, only then did I layer in the LiveScopes.  This allowed everyone to continue reeling if they were getting chased during the standard 4-5 cranks they were taking previously.  It also allowed each person the chance to retrieve their bait by suspended fish.

 

The fishing slowly tapered off through 11:45 when James decided the eating meat all Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton sounded more appealing than working for just one more white bass.

 

We called it a good day with exactly 130 fish landed, including 1 legal hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 128 white bass.

 

TALLY: 130 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  I witnessed the first spawning shad activity of the year this morning.  It was steady from 7:10 to 7:50, then more sporadic through 9:30A.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 12.08 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 10-14mph

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 23% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

B0066C (50 fish), B0074C (10 fish), B0066C second stop (42 fish), 681/B0126C (16 fish), B0269G (12 fish)

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

WITH TWO WARM NIGHTS, THE TIME’S NOW RIGHT — 150 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Wednesday morning, March 13, I fished with returning guests, Trey, Ann, and Jon Barfield.

Trey is a small businessman specializing in fire suppression and air filtration.  Ann works with Trey on the filtration side of the business, and Jon is in his plebe year at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York.
Here is how the fishing went.
Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Trey, Ann, and Jon Barfield with a portion of their 150-fish catch taken primarily in shallow (<15′) water, and using the MAL Original with chartreuse tail or white tail.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 13 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

For the last few posts I’ve been talking about the fishing being “on the cusp” of turning on, or “simmering” just waiting to boil over.  Well, today was the day!!

What a huge turnaround in the fishing overnight. This was the first night in several weeks where the air temperature overnight was higher than the water temperature.
I have noted many years now that this event often spurs the white bass fishing, the hybrid striped bass fishing, and the threadfin shad spawn.
After having to really work to find and catch fish for the last several weeks since February‘s premature warm-up, things really turned around this morning. We enjoyed gray skies and wind from the south all morning , and caught fish, literally, from start to finish. My three angler crew landed a total of exactly 150 fish.
The vast majority of these fish were taken in under 20 feet of water using the MAL Original with chartreuse tail or white tail (fish were indifferent to the color), and using a sawtooth tactic.
Here is a tutorial video on executing the sawtooth method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
From time to time we saw small schools of white bass force shad to the surface, and a fast, accurate cast with an immediate retrieve to such activity was often met with a strike.
We fished this way through 10:50 AM when I suggested to the group that we leave fish to find fish in order to allow me to demonstrate how LiveScope is so effective in vertical jigging for fish in deep water, all because Trey had expressed extreme interest in this.
Even though the fish were winding down by this time, we were able to quickly locate two schools of fish in 23 feet of water and plucked four or five fish from each one of them– – definitely enough for Trey to see how the football-shaped fish moved from side to side, how his lure’s signature moved up and down, and how chasing fish were readily visible on the screen, thus informing the angler on when to keep reeling, or when to let his or her lure return to the bottom.
The Barfield’s 150 fish catch consisted of 149 white bass and 1 largemouth bass.

 

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the first day time this spring I witnessed repeated efforts by white bass to herd shad to the surface and then actually break the surface while feeding upon them over an extended period of time.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.11 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 8-9mph

Sky Condition: 80% white cloud cover with occasional breaks of sun

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area 380 (41 fish), B0001G (46 fish), B0063C (43 fish), 382 (9 fish), vic 0187 (11 fish)

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

ON THE CUSP OF SPRINGTIME FISHING — 38 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 12, I fished with returning guests, Rick Snelgrooes, and Brad Messner.

Both fellows are experienced anglers with freshwater, saltwater, and fly fishing experience under their belts.
Here is how the fishing went…
Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Brad Messner and Rick Snelgrooes with a few of the fish they caught using MAL Original Lures with chartreuse tails worked with a sawtooth method.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 12 Mar. 2024 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

As we got going this afternoon, I shared with Rick and Brad how I felt we were right on the cusp of seeing the wonderfully productive springtime fishing kick in, but, that we weren’t quite there, meaning we’d have to work to find ’em, and then work to catch ’em.

We fished this afternoon‘s trip just the opposite as compared to the morning in that we started in deeper, clearer water, while the sun was high and bright, and moved up shallower as sunset approached.
In our first 2.5 hours, the fishing was slow but steady for suspended, migrating fish slowly working their way along the river channel in 20 to 28 feet of water over a deeper bottom.
I did not see opportunities to use the countdown method with an MAL Lure for these fish, so, we went vertical with the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to single out individual, moving, suspended fish, and “snipe” them by reeling the lures right in front of their noses.
This accounted for 16 fish.  I noted that a fairly low percentage of fish expressed interest at this time of day (meaning, we saw way more fish swim by than the number which chased our baits).
In the last 90 minutes before sunset, we tried fishing up shallow in less than 16 feet of water. We struck out at the first area and then wound up more than doubling our catch in the final hour of fishing at the second shallow water area we visited.
Using a sawtooth method with an MAL Original was the key to catching these fish. We found seven cranks off the bottom with a 5.2 to 1 gear ratio reel was sufficiently fast and took the lure far enough off the bottom to interest these fish routinely.
We ended the evening with 38 fish landed, including 37 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, 1 blue cat, and 36 white bass.

 

TALLY: 38 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the first day this spring where a countdown method was useful because suspended fish were aggressive enough to chase horizontally.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:45P

End Time: 7:55P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 12.20 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 8-9mph

Sky Condition: 80% white cloud cover with occasional breaks of sun

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 7% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 0158 (5 fish), B0253G (3 fish), B0268G (8 fish), 380 (22 fish)

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

SPRING BREAK FISHING WITH THE CARLUCCI FAMILY – 42 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, March 12, I fished with returning guest, Anthony Carlucci, and his son, Bentlee. The two attended a winter SKIFF trip with me, enjoyed their time on the water, and this time brought with them little brother, Coco, as well as Mom (Kristina Carlucci) and grandma (Laura Riley, who is Anthony’s mom). Laura came in from Florida to visit while the boys were on spring break.

Here is how the fishing went.

Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Anthony, Bentlee (age 8), Kristina, and Coco (age 5) Carlucci, and Laura Riley on a Spring Break family outing for three generations.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 12 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: I feel like we are on the cusp of seeing that fantastic spring fishing kick in, but it has definitely not happened yet. I am still having to work to find fish and continue to work even once they’ve been found to get them to chase and bite. I think a few warm nights with the air temperature higher than the water temperature will do the trick. Perhaps after this weekend’s cold front passes we’ll make some ground up. 

My five person crew this morning had pretty limited experience so I had to keep us in fairly open, snag-free water, and employ straightforward tactics that would give everyone a shot at fish over the course of the morning.
For starters, we headed up shallow and cast MAL Original Lures using a sawtooth method for fish hunting shad under low light conditions. By the time it got too bright for fish to stay shallow any longer, we’d put a total of 13 fish in the boat this way.
From this point on, we focused on finding bottom-oriented fish, which I could park the boat atop of and have my crew use white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to fish vertically for these fish using a slow-smoking tactic. We added another nine fish to our count in the middle portion of our trip using this method.
In the final hour, I spotted some persistent bird activity . These gulls were working adjacent to the channel and on the windblown side of it. As I slowly motored around to try to get a feel for what was happening, I saw there was an abundance of shad in the area and white bass were suspended and working these baitfish over.
Initially, we stopped  and relied on the thumper to draw these fish in as we used a smoking tactic to catch them while they swam beneath the boat. As I continued to observe the birds, I’ve felt that counting down MAL Lures might be a better approach, and we verified that was the case in just a few casts.  In our final hour on the water, we quickly took our tally up to 42 fish which included 1 largemouth bass, 2 hybrid striper, and 39 white bass.

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 42 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the first trip this spring where a countdown method was useful because suspended fish were aggressive enough to chase horizontally.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 12:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 12.20 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE all morning 6-11mph

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% gradually clearing to 80% white cloud cover with occasional breaks of sun

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 7% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas 171 (8 fish), 380 (4 fish), 2032 (2 fish), B0070 (9 fish), B0077C/B2063 (3 fish), B0267G (16 fish)

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

HER FISHING CAREER BEGAN WITH A BANG!! – 28 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Monday, March 11th, I conducted the 11th SKIFF program trip of the 2024 season.

 

This morning also corresponded with the first day of our local school district’s spring break.

 

Joining me was 10 year old Nathalia Gensaya, daughter of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant (E 6 ) Nichole Gensaya. SSG Gensaya has been an artillerymen for 11 years. He is currently on a temporary duty assignment to recruiting school up in Pennsylvania.

Because SSG Gensaya’s wife does not drive and has a 2 year old at home, a buddy of his, Mr. John Evangelista, picked Nathalia up and dropped her off.

 

This young lady would go on to land a full limit of 25 white bass, as well as an 8.00 pound largemouth bass, all on the first fishing trip of her life.

 

ABOUT SKIFF:  SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009.  SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru.  S.K.I.F.F. provides children of military personnel separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish.  SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member.  In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to kids of bona fide disabled veterans.  I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This largemouth was caught as Nathalia was working her slab vertically amongst a school of white bass.  It weighed in at 8.00 pounds on a certified scale.  Quite a catch on the first fishing trip of her life!

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  … and did I mention Nathalia also landed a full 25-fish limit of white bass?  No wonder she’s smiling like that!!!

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 11 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

A cold front which moved in about two hours before sunset on Friday cooled the water down over the weekend, knocking the surface temperature back about 4°F, down to 60F.

 

The shallow water bite was definitely impacted by that cooldown. We found a few fish, but only a few fish, at the areas which last week consistently produced dozens of fish. We went after these shallow water fish using Mal Originals with chartreuse tails fished with a sawtooth method.

 

We also did some flatline trolling, but, with no current in the old Lampasas River channel to draw fish upstream, there are simply very few fish using the channel.

 

We invested our final hour into fishing vertically in deeper, clearer water. This produced both the best quality of fish and the most consistent fishing of the morning. We fished only two locations by slow smoking with white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to pick up largemouth bass and white bass in 28 feet at our first stop and in 22 feet at our final stop.

 

I welcomed the company of Mr. Manuel Pena of the Austin Fly Fishers, the original sponsor of this SKIFF program, this morning.

 

Manuel and I both commented how pleasant of a young lady Nathalia was. She did well in interacting with two grown men she’d never met before, was well-spoken, and quickly learned to cast her spinning gear both accurately and for distance.

 

When all was said and done, Nathalia brought 28 fish in the boat, including 25 white bass and three largemouth bass, the largest of which was 8.00 lbs. as weighed on a certified scale.

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 28 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Sandhill cranes were heard migrating north for the first time last night, and the spring’s first bluebonnets began to appear on Friday and Saturday this past weekend.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:15A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation: 17.00 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: < 5 SSE all morning until 11:20, when it picked up to SSE10

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% gradually clearing to

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = N/A

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas 1048, SH0284G, 074

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

1 DAY, 2 LAKES, 3 GENERATIONS — 124 FISH w/ THE COBURNS

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Friday, March 8, I fished with three generations of Coburn men – – Quinn from Ohio flew in Wednesday to join his adult son, Josh, and his 10-year-old grandson, Phoenix, for some springtime white bass fishing here in Central Texas.

Quinn is Retired from business, Josh is a software developer in the Austin area, and Phoenix is a self-proclaimed weather nerd (hence, we had an immediate connection!), working his way through elementary school.
We ran a full day trip today with the morning segment on Stillhouse, and the afternoon segment on Lake Belton.
Here is how the fishing went…
Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phoenix, Josh, and Quinn Coburn with a portion of their morning catch made on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Quinn took biggest gamefish honors for the morning segment of our day with this 4.50-pound largemouth take out of ~14 feet of water on an MAL Original worked with a sawtooth method.  He also landed a 5.00 pound drum.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Thanks to an incoming cold front which hit around 4:30P, we saw a real uptick in the fishing in the last two hours of the afternoon, allowing for an 82 fish catch on Lake Belton.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Josh was the big fish winner for the afternoon with a nice 20″ hybrid taken on the MAL Original worked with a sawtooth method.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir (AM), Lake Belton (PM)

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 08 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

As I awoke Friday morning, I checked weather radar and saw a band of thunderstorms moving in from the west. These hit us by 6:20 but cleared the area by 7:30. We got 0.15 inches of rainfall with a northwesterly wind in wake of the storms for about two hours, after which time the winds went calm through the end of our morning trip.

 

We left the boat ramp in a cold, light rain, which had stopped by the time we made our first few casts. The fishing was good through about 10 o’clock during which time my three anglers consistently took quality white bass using , the MAL Original Lure with chartreuse tail fished with a sawtooth tactic in under 15 feet of water. When the shallow water bite ended after the winds went slack about 40 minutes prior, the fishing got and remained tough from that point forward.

 

We hit two deep water areas, drew in some suspended white bass thanks to the thumper, and picked them off using white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, using the slow smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

 

Thus ended our morning effort with 42 fish landed, including a 5.00 pound freshwater drum and a 4.75 pound largemouth . The single largest white bass was right at 14.75 inches.

 

We reconvened on Lake Belton at 2:30 PM knowing that a dry cold front would enter into Central Texas airspace at some point in the late afternoon.

 

The weather was just blasé prior to the arrival of the lead edge of a dry cold front around 4:30 PM. Up until that time, the fishing was very tough. Just finding fish was difficult, then, we got nearly 0 response from the schools of fish we found.

 

As the north wind began to increase in velocity, it was as if someone flipped on a switch. I found fish in two areas. I positioned the boat in about 15 feet of water and had my crew of three cast out of whichever side of the boat side imaging revealed fish were on.  We quickly made up for lost time with nonstop catching in the last two hours of the day.

 

In a stark contrast concerning frontal activity, we landed eight fish in the 2 hours prior to the north wind’s start, then landed 74 fish in the last two hours under the influence of this cold fronts entry.

 

Our total for the evening was 82 fish, thus yielding a total for the day of 124 fish.

TALLY: 124 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F
5 feet, 64.3F
10 feet, 63.5F
15 feet, 62.3F
20 feet, 61.2F
25 feet, 59.0F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 55.2F
40 feet, 53.9F
45 feet, 53.1F
50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A, then 2:30P

End Time: 11:40A, then 6:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F AM, 77F PM

Elevation: 16.92 feet low, 1 CFS flow (Stillhouse), 12.20 feet low, 33 CFS flow (Belton)

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface@ Stillhouse, 64.4 on the surface @ Belton

Wind Speed & Direction: AM – 13 mph NW winds at sunrise quickly died to light and variable after the storm’s passage.  PM – light NW winds at 6 mph quickly ramped up as a cold front moved in around 4:30P, quickly dropping air temps.

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover for the first hour, then clearing through mid-day, then increasing to 40% thru the afternoon.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 8% illumination.

GT = 125

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

WEATHER JUST RIGHT FOR FISHING — 64 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:   This morning, Thursday, March 7, I fished with long-time clients and friends Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen of Troy, TX.

Aside from our shared interest in fishing, we also enjoy following Christ, doing right by our spouses, raising dogs and plants, and eating good food.  These things we have in common led us to grab a meal together once a month — something we’ve been doing for quite a while now.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: Sylvia Maedgen with a 4.75 pound Stillhouse Hollow largemouth bass which stopped her MAL Lure dead in its tracks as she was casting up shallow targeting white bass.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Not to be outdone, Tommy Maedgen took this 4.75 pound largemouth as we sat in 11′ of water, casting downslope toward the river channel, again, as we were targeting white bass.  This fish also fell for an MAL Lure (Original) with chartreuse tail worked with a sawtooth method.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 07 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

If I could custom-order fishing weather in the spring, this is the kind of weather I would order.  We had completely greyed over skies, but with clouds thin enough to let enough sun through that you still had to squint without sunglasses on.  The air temperature did not change much overnight due to cloud cover, and the starting temperature at sunrise was 64F.  We had a light southeast breeze all morning, and the air was just a bit humid, so, wearing a long-sleeved shirt felt just right.

We started our morning up shallow and rode the shallow water bite as long as it lasted, then moved out to deeper water in the last 75 minutes of the trip.

 

We searched for topographic anomalies adjacent to the river channel in water under 22 feet in hopes of finding white bass staging for their spawning run (weather or not one actually happens this year).

 

I started both Sylvia and Tommy off using cut down 3 inch, white, curl tail grubs on 3/8 ounce jig heads. I noted their strike to land ratio was not what I wanted it to be on these lures, so, I experimented with an Mal original with chartreuse tail, got bit immediately, and switch them over to the same. Because this lure throws farther and sticks closer to bottom, it was ideal as long as we did not run into hydrilla.

 

We landed 6 fish at the first shallow water area we finished in this matter, 31 fish at the 2nd shallow water spot, and another six fish at the last shallow water stop.

 

After the shallow water bite tapered to nothing, I went and begin searching in over 25 feet of water looking for schooled fish on the bottom, or a collection of suspended fish.

 

We found a bottom oriented school of fish in right at 31 feet of water and begin using white, 5 eighth ounce bladed hazy eye slabs to catch these fish with a slow smoking tactic.  The action here was slower than I felt the weather conditions would allow for, so, we left this slower than expected bite to search for more aggressive fish, and, finding none in several key areas, we returned to this area and continued to catch fish slowly until they quit right around noon.

When all was said and done, Tommy and Sylvia brought 64 fish over the gunwales.

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F
5 feet, 64.3F
10 feet, 63.5F
15 feet, 62.3F
20 feet, 61.2F
25 feet, 59.0F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 55.2F
40 feet, 53.9F
45 feet, 53.1F
50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 16.92 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-5 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE 13 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 45

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

ALL IN THE FAMILY – 54 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 6, I fished with a returning crew of three, including brothers Stiles and Miles Parker, and their mother, Trish Littlejohn.

Stiles has come out with me multiple times and is a real student of fishing.  Now equipped with his own center console with useful accessories for the pursuit of white bass and hybrid, he does well in his own right.

But, no matter how experienced you are, there is always at least a little something you can pick up by fishing with other experienced anglers.  This morning, that nugget was seeing how to approach suspended fish in deep water not relating to the bottom.

Here is how the fishing went this morning…
Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Trish took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom.  We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Miles took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom.  We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom.  We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Stiles Parker, his mom, Trish Littlejohn, and Stiles’ brother, Miles Parker, with a few of the white bass they caught, primarily by slow-smoking a slab past suspended fish.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 06 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

I’ve found fishing over at Stillhouse over the course of this past week had been getting progressively more difficult thanks to a very rapid warm-up bringing late March conditions to us by late February and early March this year.

 

I found that the fish I had been routinely and consistently catching on Stillhouse were rapidly vacating deep water, were more prone to suspend, and were breaking into smaller schools and dispersing versus homesteading in large congregations as they’d been doing all winter.

 

As I conducted a check of the water temperature profile on Belton, I found it was much the same as the water temperature profile on Stillhouse, with a nearly 10° difference between the surface temperature and the temperature on bottom at 50 feet deep.

 

A dry, mild cold front blew in yesterday, leaving a light northerly wind, and slowly increasing levels of cloud cover in its wake this morning.

 

We found our fish this morning in five distinct locations. The first location and the last location featured fish on bottom which chased my crew’s baits up off the bottom and overtook them.

 

At the middle three spots, we encountered suspended fish and had to rely on Garmin LiveScope to retrieve our baits directly in front of the fishes’ direction of travel in order to get the fish to pursue the lures upwards, overtake them, and then bite.

 

We relied on only one lure this morning – the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

 

In addition to finding suspended fish at these three locations, our attention was drawn to these areas by the presence of, and behavior of birds, including both terns and gulls. I have yet to see any Laughing Gulls thus far this season.

 

When all was said and done, my three-angler crew landed a total of 54 fish , including short and legal white bass, short and legal hybrid striped bass, and short and legal largemouth bass.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on Lake Belton on the morning of 06 March…

0 feet, 62.2F
5 feet, 62.3F
10 feet, 62.3F
15 feet, 62.3F
20 feet, 61.5F
25 feet, 58.9F
30 feet, 57.6F
35 feet, 57.1F
40 feet, 56.5F
45 feet, 54.7F
50 feet, 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 12.24 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: W6 for the first 90 minutes, then shifting ENE 6 for another 90 minutes, then going calm for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through ~40% cloud cover at trip’s start, increasing to a thin, grey layer of clouds at 100% coverage by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 95

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru

I FISHED WITH THE STONES!! (THE NON-ROLLING KIND) – 54 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:   On Tuesday morning, March 5th, I fished with long-time client Mr. Dwight Stone of Georgetown.  Accompanying Dwight was his brother, Duane, and Duane’s adult son, Josh.

Dwight is a retired restaurateur, Duane is an retired Alaska State Trooper, and Josh works in maintenance at a large gold mining operation in Alaska.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight, Duane, and Josh Stone with a nice collection of mature Stillhouse Hollow white bass plump and ready to spawn.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Just throwing this in for fun!!  No extra charge.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 05 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

The unseasonably warm stretch of weather in late Feb. which now continues into early Mar. has created a scenario with a full 12 degrees difference in water temperature from the surface (64.4F) to the bottom in 50′ (52.8F), and this has definitely impacted the fish and the fishing.

I’ve noted that the fish have vacated deep water (over 40′), they are now much more likely to be found suspended, and the large schools of fish we’ve had all winter are now splintering into much smaller schools.

This morning, I searched for shallow fish in under 20′ early while the light level was still low, and we found a nice school of fish tightly grouped in about 11′.  We cast white, curl-tail grubs on 1/2 oz. jigheads to them and picked up 9 whites and 1 largemouth before these fish either moved on or lost interest.

Shallow fishing is very much hindered by the presence of hydrilla, so, we really had to pick and choose where we tried this.

As this shallow bite faded, the wind began to push WSW around 6 mph, so, we moved to deeper, clearer water and spent the remainder of the trip working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically for fish which were either suspended or bottom-oriented (we did not find an area where the fish were both suspended and bottom-oriented).

The majority of the fish we took in this deeper, clearer water came as my crew of three smoothly reeled their slabs right off the tips of the noses of suspended fish just before the fish passed by as seen on Garmin LiveScope.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F
5 feet, 64.3F
10 feet, 63.5F
15 feet, 62.3F
20 feet, 61.2F
25 feet, 59.0F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 55.2F
40 feet, 53.9F
45 feet, 53.1F
50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 16.84 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW6-8 for the entire trip.

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through ~40% cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 30

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

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

#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 #Fitec #austinsubaru