Did We Leave Seattle?? 101 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow, 18 July 2014

This morning I fished with Aaron Chevalier and his brother-in-law, Zach Bias.  Aaron was accompanied by his girlfriend, Jasmine Gallaher, and Zach was accompanied by his girlfriend, Kait Osborne.  Aaron and Kait are originally from central Texas, Zach got here as soon as he could from the Midland area in west Texas, and Jasmine is from the Pacific Northwest.

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L to R: Zach Bias, Kait Osborne, Jasmine Gallaher, and Aaron Chevalier with 4 of the 101 fish taken today via a combination of downrigging and vertical jigging.

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Brothers-in-law Zach and Aaron taking some time away from their studies.

Aaron is a biology graduate student at the University of Washington working in the field of protein engineering (think flu vaccines and the like), Jasmine is a Registered Nurse, Zach is a full-time student and “manny” (think man-nanny), and Kait is working on her EMT credentials.  Aaron coordinated the trip and did a great job of selling the girls on the idea that a cold, rainy fishing trip would be “fun”.  That feat was made so much more difficult by the fact that his own girlfriend was not a morning person.  But, somehow, the man succeeded, and, at 6:30am Aaron and crew came marching down the ramp ready to slay ’em.

We had a surprisingly successful trip today given the north wind conditions and the instability in our weather of late.  Jasmine said a number of times how ironic it was to come to Texas for a visit in July only to leave record Seattle heat behind and encounter abundant rain, grey skies, and an ambient temperature around 71F within an hour of noon.  It’s like she never left Seattle.

At exactly 7:05am we encountered our first school of white bass, tightly congregated and suspended at 26-32 feet over a deeper bottom.  We ran twin downriggers today, each equipped with a 3-arm umbrella rig outfitted with Pet Spoons selected to match the size of forage the fish are now feeding on.  From that time until we had boated our 99th fish around 10:50am, we never went more than a few minutes without catching a fish, and, many times over, boated doubles and triples.

Our success was enhanced by the fact that Aaron was already familiar with how downriggers worked from his experience in trolling for various species of salmon on Puget Sound, and Zach learned quickly how to rig up, so, we kept baits in the water continuously, rarely having a break in the trolling regimen.

On 3 separate occasions we halted our downrigging and, using i-Pilot technology, hovered over especially thick schools of fish to vertically jig for those fish using white, 3/4 oz. TNT slabs, also selected to imitate the forage size.  This allowed multiple fish to be taken in a very short period of time and piled onto the fish count.

As the fish were winding down, we wanted to break the 100-fish-day mark.  Zach had mentioned at the beginning of the trip about wanting to introduce his nephew to fishing.  I told him we’d save some time at trip’s end to do a little “demo” on what I’d suggest for this occasion.  As we pulled back up to the boat ramp at the close of the trip with 99 fish boated, I whipped out the old sunfish slip-float rig and showed Zach how to use it.  He was like a kid in a candy store after seeing how effective this technique was and seeing a way to simply offer his nephew a good first exposure to angling.  Zach brought in fish numbers 100 and 101 to seal the deal!

We boated exactly 101 fish today including 98 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 2 sunfish.  To his credit, Aaron listened to my suggestion that we fish Stillhouse even though his preference was for Belton.  Over the past week, even with some experienced anglers on board, the fishery has just been crawling along on Belton whereas Stillhouse’s fishery has really taken off.  He didn’t try to “guide the guide” and was handsomely rewarded for that good call.

TALLY = 101 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time:  11:05am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  71F

Water Surface Temp:  83.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  N7-9

Sky Conditions:  100% heavy grey skies and spitting drizzle the entire trip

Other: GT=45

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 863-882 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 910/912/918 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 239  Sunfish

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Pistachio Surprise! — SKIFF Trip #2014-13

This morning I conducted the 13th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard Michael and Alton Simpson.  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

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A combination of downrigging and vertical jigging put 28 white bass like these in the boat for Michael and Alton Simpson this morning.  The pair also landed over 2 dozen sunfish.

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The Simpson Family, with a surprise appearance by dad!

Michael (age 13) and Alton (age 10) are the oldest of the 4 sons of U.S. Army Captain Michael Simpson Sr. and Mrs. Miranda Simpson (a U.S. Army veteran).  CPT Simpson is currently assigned as the company commander of H Company (a Forward Support Company), 3-8 Cavalry.  Combat companies must regularly go to “gunnery” to qualify on the weapons systems they go to battle with (tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, etc.) and CPT Simpson’s company had been pulled away from home supporting such an effort in the training area surrounding Ft. Hood.  We scheduled this trip during his field time, but, when a water main broke on Fort Hood, troops were called in from the field early.  So, the boys had a nice surprise waiting for them when their dad was at the boat ramp waiting on them to see them and their catch of the day as our trip concluded this morning!

We fished in a constant drizzle today under grey, rain-cooled skies.  The north winds of yesterday really turned the fish off, so, the fish were overdue for a feed this morning as the winds returned from the south.

I wanted to provided some instant results, especially for Alton who is younger, so, we went up shallow and hit the hydrilla beds for sunfish right at (obscured) sunrise and fished them for about an hour, putting exactly 20 sunfish in the boat, including bluegill, longears, and green sunfish.

Afterward, I headed to deep, open water to search for white bass.  We found a loosely schooled concentration of fish on a breakline and downrigged with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs set at 22-26 feet deep.  On our first pass, Michael hooked a triple and Alton a double — 5 fish came in the boat in just a matter of seconds and the boys were really excited!  We continued catching fish on pass after pass, putting a total of 28 white bass in the boat for our efforts.  At one point I identified a more coalesced school of white bass near bottom and buoyed them so as to hover over top of them and work slabs through them.  This produced 7 of these 28 white bass in short order before that school dispersed.

By request from Alton, we closed the trip at yet another hydrilla bed fishing for sunfish once again before heading in to meet the rest of the family as our trip came to a close.

As we got ready to go from one area to another, Alton, who had been snacking regularly (actually, continuously) during the trip just out of the blue held out a pistachio and offered it to me.  Since he had already eaten several oatmeal cream cookies, several bags of pistachios, several bags of fruit chews, and at least one bottle of Gatorade, I thought it curious that he would only now offer me one pistachio.  So, being a bit suspicious, I asked if it had dropped on the deck or if anything was wrong with it.  Alton said it was “okay”.  Under his breath, as if to warm me, Michael said, “I wouldn’t trust him.”  I accepted the gift-pistachio anyway and found it both nutritious and delicious.

For our efforts today we boated 57 fish.

TALLY = 57 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time:  10:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  74F

Water Surface Temp:  84.6

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7-9

Sky Conditions:  100% heavy grey skies and spitting drizzle the entire trip

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   231 Sunfish on slipfloats

**Area  882/866/863 White bass on downriggers and via smoking slabs

**Area 200 Sunfish on slipfloats

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Tough North Wind Conditions — 16 Fish, Belton, 16 July 2014

This morning I fished with long time Central Texas residents Jim Mobley and John Cornelius.

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Downrigging for tentative, scattered fish today under north wind conditions produced a few nice hybrid striped bass for Jim Mobley and John Cornelius.

Jim works for a well-respected local accounting firm and John, after retiring from government service, including a stint as a Corps of Engineers Park Ranger at Belton Lake and 25 years as a Fort Hood wildlife biologist, runs his own wildlife management consulting firm.  Both were quite well-traveled when it comes to angling, and both have a bent toward flyfishing when conditions are right.

In summary, fishing was very subdued today yielding below average results thanks to a mild front that came in yesterday, turning our winds northerly before sunrise this morning.

We looked intently for some first-light topwater action, but there was none to be found.

We put live baits down on downlines over some decent schools of hybrids and only drew a few strikes, failing to land even a single fish on bait today (which is very telling, in and of itself).

Between 8:50a and 9:50a we landed the majority of our fish for the morning.  Our first bit of success came as we ran downriggers at 23-26 feet down over a deeper bottom for hybrid stripers.  We used 3 arm umbrella rigs and landed a single limit of 5 keeper hybrid in about 20 minutes’ time on about 4 passes over the same stretch of water.  We did try putting bait down, but these open water fish were moving about too much to be interested in what we offered.

Around 9:20a, I got a call from long-time Belton angler Bill Pasko.  He spotted me and gave me some “good intel” on some bottom-oriented hybrid he’d found willing to strike artificials, and invited me over to join him.

On our way, we encountered a brief bit of topwater action from a school of white bass mixed with short hybrid.  We pulled 4 out of that school before they left the surface, never to return.

When we joined Bill, he had been pulling fish steadily from the area, so I duplicated his efforts and both Jim and John got to hook up on a few more legal hybrid at this area before the whole bite shut down as the winds went calm, the clouds began to clear, and the heat really started pouring it on in the humidity left in the wake of yesterday’s storms.

We put only 2 more fish in the boat after that, both on downriggers, and called it a day with 16 fish boated for our efforts.

 

TALLY = 16 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time:  10:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  71F (rain cooled from previous day)

Water Surface Temp:  82.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  N5-7

Sky Conditions:  30% until clearing around 10am

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  307-506 – hybrids on downriggers

**Area  499/181 – brief topwater

**Area 1411 – bottom-oriented schooled hybrid

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Belton Lake Tutorial — 10 Fish, 10 July 2014

This evening I fished with Ben Lowry and his 16-year-old son, Dawson, of Belton on Belton Lake.

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Ben Lowry and his son, Dawson, came out tonight for a “Belton Lake Tutorial” — more interested in what it takes to catch fish than in actually catching them.  We covered a number of productive summertime tactics in our time on the water.

Ben is pain management doctor at Scott & White and Dawson is a high school student at Belton High School involved in football, baseball, and competitive cheer.  Ben has been a boat owner for about a year and a half and has fished Belton Lake, but with limited success, and with most of that success coming via flatline trolling with crankbaits.  Ben’s intent tonight was to get an exposure to the techniques required to become more proficient at fishing Belton.  For that reason, we intentionally divided the trip up into live bait fishing, downrigging, vertical jigging, and topwater fishing.

Belton typically fishes much better in the mornings in the summer, and, although this trip was initially scheduled for the morning, Ben’s work demands required we move it to the afternoon.  The afternoon bite tends to be shorter and less intense than the morning bite, and wind, high sun intensity, and heat can all play a negative role, as well.  Regardless, we took lemons and made lemonade and got on a few fish with the various techniques we tried.

We spent most of our time and had most of our success on live bait.  We made 5 stops and found fish at the first and the last of these stops.  Most of the action and sonar returns were at between 24-32 feet, and a majority of the time we had our baits at 26-29 feet over deeper bottoms.  We landed a number of keeper hybrid, short hybrid, and largemouth bass and then stopped live bait fishing in order to have enough time to do some downrigging and then look for some sunset white bass.

Since Ben does not have downriggers on his boat, I didn’t spend much time on this technique, but walked both he and Dawson through the entire setup process.  We trolled a very short distance, picked up one short hybrid and one white bass, one of which pulled the fishing line out of the release clip, with the other requiring a manual trip.  So, this was a well-rounded, successful exposure to that technique in a short span of time.

We were now within 20 minutes of sunset, and it was clear that the winds were not going to subside sufficiently to allow for spotting topwater action.  So, we ran to some more wind-protected areas looking for white bass and hybrid churning the surface, but found none.  I still explained the setup of the topwater “Cork Rig” that I favor for such scenarios and, once we spotted some bottom-hugging white bass where we’d hoped to find some topwater, I demonstrated the “easing” technique used with slab spoons for such scenarios.

We ended the trip using a pole to catch small sunfish as I demonstrated how to capture these as a hot-weather alternative to shad.  Fortunately, despite the late hour, two green sunfish cooperated so the demonstration could be completed.  By now it was dark, so we cranked up and headed back in with 8 fish caught on bait and 2 on the downriggers — pretty slow as compared to the past several morning trips with catches of 72 fish yesterday, 47 fish on Monday, and 36 fish on Saturday.  But, that, in an of itself is a lesson about timing and the distinctions between AM and PM fishing on Belton.

 

TALLY = 10 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:55pm

End Time:  9:30 pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  94F

Water Surface Temp:  83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE13-15

Sky Conditions:  10% clouds on a fair sky

Other: GT=30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1408/833 – bait for 1 legal hybrid, 1 short hybrid, 1 largemouth

**Area  151/152- bait for 2 legal hybrid, 1 short hybrid

**Area 084 – downrig for 1 short hybrid, 1 white bass

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Big TIme Topwater — 72 Fish, 09 July 2014

This morning I fished with returning guest and retired naval flight surgeon Ray Johnson of Harker Heights, TX.

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Ray Johnson with a typical topwater hybrid striped bass.  These smaller hybrid and white bass fed long and hard on the surface at mid-morning today.  Spotting them, casting to them, and watching them trail and then smash our lures was a lot of fun!

Although the weather has been stable and the fishing very consistent, especially on Belton’s topwater bite, I’m always a bit concerned when I see us going towards a full moon as that seems to dampen the topwater bite.  Today the moon rose during the day, so overnight illumination was not a big factor, and the fish fed well.  Actually, they fed better on top in the middle of the morning than they did at first light.

Long story short we spent 3.5 hours of our 4.25 hours on the water looking for and/or cashing in on topwater action.  When we found active fish I tried to stay as far away as I could while still being able to reach the fish with a long cast.  We used Cork Rigs with shad imitators designed to “match the hatch” of the baitfish the white bass and hybrid striper were feeding on.

I had intended to do more live bait fishing than we did today (only about 20 minutes’ worth at the very end of the trip), but the topwater was so abundant, easy, and fun, Ray and I were loathe to leave it behind for the uncertainty of a few larger fish.

We boated 71 fish throwing Cork Rigs, all of which were a mixture of white bass and “short” (less than 18″ long) hybrid stripers.  We also landed one just-legal largemouth during the short time we fished live baits.

Just a few tips on topwater:

1. Beware of your boat’s wake.  A folding wake will cause topwater fish to leave the surface.

2. Keep your distance.  Don’t go any closer to the fish than you need to.

3. Have plenty of line on your reel.  Full spools cast farther.

4. Match the hatch.  Look at what the fish are eating and match the color and size.

5. Approach from upwind.  It’s always better to cast downwind and drift into the fish than to chase them into the wind.

6. Use single hooks.  Treble hooks take a long time to get out, and increase the time between landing a fish and taking another cast.

7. Keep your retrieve speed high.  On Belton and Stillhouse, with their clear water, you’re just trying to create an illusion of fleeing baitfish, denying the gamefish a real good look at your fake offering.

 

TALLY = 72 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00 am

End Time:  10:15 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  75F

Water Surface Temp:  82.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW7-8

Sky Conditions:  Thin grey haze on a fair sky

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1271 Low light topwater

**Area  718 to 497 to 1069 widespread topwater feed from 7:45a to 9:15a

**Area 1409 largemouth on live bait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Happy Birthday, Junior! — 47 Fish, Belton Lake, 07 July 2014

This morning I fished with Mr. Doug Stephen and his son, Doug Jr.  Doug contacted me some time ago and requested a trip to celebrate his son’s 15th birthday, and today was the day we made that happen.

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Doug Stephen treated his oldest son, Doug Jr., to a fishing trip for his 15th birthday.

The Stephen family (mom, dad, and four kids aged 4, 10, 15, and 17) is from Temple, TX.  Doug works as a correctional officer at the state prison in Gatesville.  He and Doug Jr. work together in the children’s ministry of Canyon Creek Baptist Church.

Today turned out just right as the weather was good and both fellows had solid casting skills which allowed us to capitalize on all of the topwater action we encountered today.  As they have for the past two weeks, white bass and smaller hybrid striped bass fed hard on topwater for the first 30 minutes of light up shallow.  Shortly after that bite died, a deep, open water surface bite materialized, allowing us another 40+ minutes of solid catching as we pursued these fish with the trolling motor on high, using long, accurate casts so as to keep our distance from these schools and not spook them.

Around 7:30a when the topwater bite was over for good, we shifted to live baits fished at 24-29 feet deep over deeper water and drew a limit of 5 fish, each 18+ inches long into our baits and into our net.  This bite lasted about an hour and then dropped off.

We probed the depths with downriggers set at 24-27 feet deep after seeing scattered fish on sonar, landing a white bass and a largemouth.  The better news was that as I watched sonar as we downrigged, I spotted additional large hybrid loosely grouped at 23-29 feet deep over deeper water.  This led me to put away the downriggers and get our livebaits back down in front of these fish.  In the closing 35 minutes of our trip we landed a second legal limit of five 18+” hybrids.  By 10:25 all had come to a crawl and we headed to the dock.

TALLY = 47 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00 am

End Time:  10:25 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  72F

Water Surface Temp:  82.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW7-10

Sky Conditions:  Fair & cloudless

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1271-302 Low light topwater

**Area  300 – began a 1,500 foot chase of loosely connected schools of white bass and hybrid headed generally SSW

**Area 1400 5 hybrid on live bait

**Vicinity of Area 508-1408 downrigging to probe for fish

**Area 1408 5 hybrid on live bait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Family Tradition – 36 Fish, Belton Lake with Andrew Sonnier, 05 July 2014

This morning I met 14 year old Andrew Sonnier of Manvel, TX, at the boatramp on Belton for our second trip together.  Each year his family has a tradition of vacationing over the 4th of July weekend at a bed and breakfast near Arrowhead Point on Lake Belton.  We first fished together in 2012.

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Andrew Sonnier of Manvel, TX, with a nice 4th of July weekend hybrid striped bass taken on live bait at Belton Lake.

As we got going well before sunrise this morning I was hoping to encounter topwater feeding white bass and hybrid stripers.  I knew our “window” of opportunity would be short, as the skies were cloudless this morning, and the rays of the direct sun usually kill whatever strong topwater feed is occurring.

We did find about 15 minutes’ worth of action and used Cork Rigs to capitalize on what we found, but, when all was said and done we’d only bagged 13 fish before being forced to change tactics as the sun drove the fish away from the surface.

Over the next 90 minutes we searched for and spotted multiple schools of “popcorn” topwater feeding fish.  By “popcorn” I mean white bass and hybrid striper that force bait to the surface for just a few seconds at a time, but do that over and over again in the same general vicinity.  Typically, if you see this kind of action and wait a bit once you arrive at the scene, at least a few fish will present themselves close enough to be cast to.  We picked up another half dozen fish throwing Cork Rigs at these fish.

Next, we did a bit of downrigging in the same general vicinity of the “popcorn” action, assuming that the fish and bait were still present, even though neither was willing to show themselves under the ever-brightening sun.  We picked up another 8 fish on the downriggers using a 3-arm umbrella and a tandem rig, both rigged up with Pet Spoons.

Finally, once a bit of wind developed, I felt the time was right to give live bait fishing for hybrid a try.  Wind and hybrid fishing success are very closely tied.   Rarely do I have excellent results without some wind blowing.  A 13-14 mph wind with cloud cover is just right, but, today we had to settle for 6-7 mph and bright skies.  We used sonar to locate suspended hybrid stripers hanging around 29-34 feet over a 45+ foot bottom along a breakline.  We used my i-Pilot trolling motor to hover over the fish and present our baits on downlines hanging vertically.  The results came quickly, allowing us to boat 10 keeper hybrid, 1 short hybrid, and one 2.25 pound channel catfish all in about a 75 minute window.  All of the keeper hybrid went right at 3.50 to 3.75 pounds and looked really healthy.

I really enjoy fishing with young men like Andrew — he is very enthusiastic about the sport, and is also very teachable.  He listened more than he spoke and followed directions well which served to increase his success.  He was also very hands-on and willing to try things himself so he could do these things himself when not with guide and fishing on his own.

 

TALLY = 36 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:05 am

End Time:  10:15 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  Rain-cooled 68F from showers the previous night

Water Surface Temp:  83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE 3-6

Sky Conditions:  Grey thin cloud bank in the eastern sky at dawn, followed by clear, bright skies, with a thin layer of clouds causing some obscuration of the sun in the last hour on the water.

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  084 Low light topwater

**Area  972 & 1407 “popcorn” topwater under sunny skies

**Vicinity of Area 1074-509 downrigging for schooled white bass

**Area 1406 hybrid on live bait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Consolation Trip — 60 Fish, Belton, 04 July 2014

This Independence Day morning I took my brother, Andy, and nephew, Trent, out on Belton Lake.  This was a “consolation trip” in that it was to make up for not being able to get out on Stillhouse Hollow the night before to do some bowfishing as we had originally planned to do thanks to some heavy rainfall and high winds stemming from afternoon thunderstorms.

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My nephew, Trent Maindelle, with 10.25 pounds of fish taken 20 seconds apart.

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My brother, Andy Maindelle, and nephew, Trent with fish taken on live baits fished on downlines over 40 feet of water.

Our trip broke down into 4 distinct “chapters” — early morning topwater, mid-morning livebait fishing, downrigging for suspended fish, and pursuit of “popcorn” white bass and hybrid stripers on topwater at the close.

Beginning at exactly 6:05am, moderate-sized mixed schools of white bass and hybrid striped bass began forcing shad to the surface thus making enough commotion that they could be seen and heard in the low light conditions.  We kept our distance and threw long casts into these fish using Cork Rigs and pulled 19 fish in over a 35 minute span before the short feed ended.   That feed probably would not have gone even that long were it not for a grey cloud bank in the eastern sky that kept the sun’s direct rays off the water for a few extra minutes.

Next, we rigged up with live bait and fished downlines set at 24-29 feet over a 40+ foot bottom and focused on larger, 18+ inch hybrid striped bass.  What we actually caught was a nice mix of 2 largemouth, 1 smallmouth, and 5 hybrid, with the largest largemouth weighing in at 6.00 pounds and the largest hybrid going 4.25 pounds (both measured on a certified scale).   When the sun began to shine brightly and what little wind was blowing began to lay down, this bite died.

Next we did a bit of downrigging using umbrella rigs set down to 19-24′ for suspended fish.  We never really found more than some scattered schools, none of which stuck in one area very long, so, we boated 4 fish with this method and, since a light wind had returned, decided to give live bait another try at a different location.

As we got setup for live bait, a large grey band of clouds began to move into the area.  Not minutes after these clouds obscured the sun, mixed schools of white bass and hybrid stripers began feeding on the surface once again.  We broke out the Cork Rigs and, with the trolling motor on high, did all we could to keep up with several fast-moving schools.  We chased these fish for about 6/10ths of a mile and for about 35 minutes, catching fish constantly, and adding a final 28 fish to our tally.  Once that band of clouds passed and the direct sun shone hot and bright once again we called it a good morning and headed in.

 

TALLY = 60 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:05 am

End Time:  10:15 am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  Rain-cooled 68F from showers the previous night

Water Surface Temp:  83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE 3-6

Sky Conditions:  Grey thin cloud bank in the eastern sky at dawn, followed by clear, bright skies, with a thin layer of clouds causing some obscuration of the sun in the last hour on the water.

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  834-793 Low light topwater

**Area  1405 Live Bait for Largemouth, Smallmouth, Hybrid

**Vicinity of Area 483-830

**Vicinity of Area 155

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

‘Pointers on Squid — 20 Fish, Belton, 02 July 2014

This morning I fished with retirees Lynn Niedermeier and Michael Vlies, both originally from Wisconsin.  Both are occasional anglers who often cashed in on “destination fishing” in conjunction with business trips taken to watery locales during their working years.

 

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Lynn, Michael, and I enjoyed some topwater action on white bass and short hybrid stripers in the first 2 hours of light this morning.  Fishing was otherwise pretty tough given the clear skies, bright sun, and low wind speeds.

I always enjoy getting to know the folks who come out on my boat, and especially so when I find I have things in common with them.  As it turns out, Michael was stationed at Ft. Hood in the 1970’s and recalled how Belton Lake looked back then.  Also, Lynn and Michael’s daughter is a Naval Academy Graduate (referred to as a “squid” by we West Pointers) of the Class of 1994, so, we got to talk a bit about service academy life, too.
On the fishing front, we had a bit of a tough day today, with 20 fish boated for our efforts.
We began the day in pursuit of topwater feeding fish, and found some spotty action in the waves pushed by a 9-10 mph breeze pre-dawn.  We landed 9 fish (white bass and short hybrid stripers) on Cork Rigs used on spinning gear.  This action lasted from around 6:15a to 7:00, then, as the sun began to climb above the grey cloud bank in the east the action waned.
We tried down rigging right back over top of the fish that were just on the surface feeding, but caught only one as we backtracked that way.
We moved on to deep, open water and kept our eyes peeled for “off-shore” schools of white bass and hybrid striper, finding several.  With the sun getting brighter and the winds calming, we typically only got one cast each at these fish before they sounded and disappeared.
After these open-water schools disappeared for good we began down rigging, adding several more short hybrid and white bass (and one blue catfish) to our tally.  By now it was around 9 am and the surface was getting glassy.  We pulled up shallow and caught some fresh bait, then hovered out in deepwater off a break line and targeted loosely schooled hybrid down around 22-34 feet.  Although we had a number of fish come into our spread, we only got 3 strikes.  Michael capitalized on one of this, landing our largest fish of the trip, a 16″ hybrid striper.
I extended the trip a bit, but by 10:45 I could tell we’d done all we were going to do.  Unfortunately, this 4th of July weekend’s forecast looks like continued tough conditions with light, variable winds, little cloud cover, and bright, direct sun called for on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Despite these somewhat unfavorable conditions, the solar input and increasing temperatures should cause further development of the thermocline, eventually making bait fishing and down rigging a bit easier and more consistent by late July (which is much later than this normally occurs, thanks to a long winter and a cool, cloudy, damp June).

 

TALLY = 20 FISH

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time: 10:45am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Water Surface Temp: 80.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE-9, tapering off to S3-4

Sky Conditions: 20% cloudy

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 814-080 topwater at sunrise

**Vicinity of Area 1084-678 openwater topwater action

** Vicinity of Area 1402-483 downrig

** Between Areas 180-1400 live bait for hybrid

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Pretzels in the Livewell — 35 Fish, SKIFF Trip #12 of 2014

This morning I fished the twelfth SKIFF trip of the 2014 season, welcoming aboard 5 young ladies from 3 different families, and ranging in age from 5 to 11  .  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

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L to R Front Row: Valerie Ousley (11), Erinn Sewell (6), Rayanna Walters (11), Rayna Klutse (8), and Victoria Klutse (5)

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Valerie was the first of our lady anglers to land a large hybrid this morning.

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Erinn boated 3 at a time on her umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.

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And little Victoria came up with a big hybrid right near the end of our trip.

 

Mrs. Brandy Klutse (who is 9 months pregnant and still got up at 0-dark thirty to make this happen) coordinated this trip for the 3 families in her capacity as the Family Readiness Group (FRG) leader for the company her husband, Captain Raymond Klutse, commands — C Company of the 2-5 Cavalry.   Brandy’s two children participating today were 8-year-old Rayna Klutse, and 5-year-old Victoria Klutse.  Also attending were two daughters of Private First Class and Mrs. Sewell, Erinn Sewell (age 6) and Rayanna Walters (age 11); as well as Valerie Ousley the daughter of Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Robert Ousley.  All three soldiers are in the same unit and have been serving in Germany for the last 2+ months.  They are due to return in July.

I have never fished a SKIFF trip (or any children’s trip) with 5 children aboard before, but wanted to honor Mrs. Klutse’s efforts at providing opportunities for the families she ministers to.   So, I recruited my mother, Charlotte Maindelle, to be my First Mate and run crowd control with all the moving parts aboard my boat today.

The fish were a bit more sluggish today, as we had more direct sunlight and less wind.  They got going around 8am and fed moderately well until 10:30, with a noticeable spike from 8:15 to 9:00.  With so many kids aboard, casting just was not a safe option, although there were plenty of surface feeding white bass to cast to were we able to cast.  Instead, I stuck with a combination of flatline trolling and downrigging.  I used tandem rigs on the flatlines and 3-arm umbrella rigs on the downriggers, all equipped with Pet Spoons.

We “sorted” the girls by height and place them in a rotation from tallest to shortest, giving each girl a chance to catch fish in that order so that by the end of the trip, each girl was able to catch roughly the same number of fish.  As it turned out, everyone got several turns on the reel, with an average of 7 fish caught per girl.  We had several large, 3 pound class hybrid stripers crash our baits and landed every one that struck.  We also had a number of “doubles” and even one “triple”, where the girls boated 2 & 3 fish at a time on the same rod at the same time.

When younger (under 7 years old) kids come aboard, I always fill the livewell with water and keep the first few legal fish in the livewell.  These younger kids find this entertaining, often returning to the livewell to “check” on the fish, name the fish, and even feed the fish.  All three of those things happened today.  How do I know this?  Well, there was about a half a pound of pretzels in my livewell discovered during post-trip cleanup!

This was a very enjoyable trip for these girls and the mothers were all very, very thankful for the opportunity this SKIFF trip afforded their daughters.

TALLY = 35 FISH

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Water Surface Temp: 80.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: S10-13

Sky Conditions: 50% cloudy

Other: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1403 downrigging 12-18 feet down

**Vicinity of Area 1401 to 1402 downrigging 22-24 feet just above trees along breakline

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com