Window of Opportunity — 110 Fish, Belton Lake, 29 Dec.

This past Tuesday afternoon, December 29th, I fished Belton Lake with returning clients Jason and Morgan Tuggle from near Liberty Hill, TX.

Photo-bombed!  Morgan displays her discontent at Jason’s landing of our 100th fish after she worked hard for it, only to have it shake the hook loose with a headshake just as it broke the surface.  Jason holds a pair of white bass, each exceeding 14″, that came at our last stop of the evening out of 24 feet of water on silver 3/4 oz. slabs.

Morgan with yet another pair of 14″+ white bass from the last area, and most shallow area, we fished this evening.

Jason works in the printing industry, and Morgan, a two-time collegiate All-American volleyball player out of Trinity, both works for a yearbook company and coaches a girls’ club volleyball team.  The couple also raise exotic animals on their property, including blackbuck and oryx.  Jason and Morgan have taken some pretty neat fishing trips together, including an alligator gar trip on the Trinity River, and a jumbo blue catfishing trip on Lake Tawakoni.  This coming summer they’re heading to Alaska for a salmon/halibut run.

The Tuggle’s contacted me while I was out on the water last Saturday afternoon fishing in the pre-frontal conditions in advance of the hard, wet cold front that swept over Texas Saturday night through Monday morning.  As I quickly looked at the NOAA weather forecast at that time, I saw this afternoon’s “window” of opportunity as the only half-day time frame I could get excited about.  I suggested we nail that date and time down, and they gave me a thumbs-up.

NOAA called for a brief return to ESE winds, some grey cloud cover, and the highest afternoon temperatures of the entire week before the winds turned northerly once again on Wednesday.  We booked the trip and, as it turned out, NOAA was fairly accurate with their forecast, and we did enjoy good results and very fishable weather.

The cold front knocked about 3 degrees Fahrenheit off the water surface temperature — I left nearly 61F water on Saturday and returned to 57.8-58.3F water today as we moved from area to area.  This is still very warm water for this late in the year.

The fish were a bit tentative as we began our trip.  I found isolated patches of fish near only some of the areas that have been producing well lately, but the fish tended to be holding deeper in these locations — around 34-36 feet today while the sun was still bright during the first 2 hours on the water.  As we would begin jigging with slabs at a given area, I would watch on sonar as 5, 6, 7 or more fish would tentatively follow upwards after a slab without striking it.  When a fish bit, it would ignite a “mini-feed”, allowing us to catch 3-4 fish in a spurt, then the fish would settle down again very quickly and we’d have to work at it to generate the next spurt.

Then, at 3:30p, a thick blanket of grey clouds moved in, totally obscuring the sun, and lowering the light level.  The fish really turned on at this point and the catching got much easier.  I shifted us up out of the deep water we were in and into shallower 23-27 foot depths.

We put half of our 110 fish in the boat in the 3rd hour of the trip, right after that cloud cover moved in.  The cloud cover is a bit of a double-edged sword, however.  Although it helps the daytime bite, it also darkens the skies earlier near sunset, and, depending on how thick the clouds are, can trim as much as 30 minutes of the end of a trip  Today, by 5:25p, we caught our last fish and watched on sonar as the whole food chain just shut down in the failing light.

We wound up with exactly 110 fish for our efforts today, including mostly white bass with a few short hybrids sprinkled in, as well as 2 freshwater drum.

 

TALLY = 110 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:40p

End Time:  5:35p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Water Surface Temp:  57.8-58.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6-8

Sky Conditions:  Fair, nearly cloudless skies for the first 2 hours, then 100% grey cloud cover the last 2 hours

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1677 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1678 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1679 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1680 with a short hop to 1676 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1681 with a short hop up about 3′ shallower – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Pate’s One-Ton Great White — 120 Fish, Belton Lake

This past Saturday afternoon, December 26th, I welcomed aboard a youthful crew of boys — nearly 9-year-old Pate Palomino, 10-year-old Kaden Lehrman, and 11-year-old Blayne Hoelscher.

From left: Blayne Hoelscher, Kaden Lehrman, and Pate Palomino, each with a nice white bass landed between storms in advance of a big cold front this past Saturday, 26 Dec.  We took this shot on shore as we waited for nearby storms to clear before returning to the water.

Pate not only caught the first fish of his life this afternoon, but also landed the largest fish of the trip — this Lake Belton hybrid striped bass, also known as a palmetto bass.  Fishing on the 26th of December in short sleeves!

Kaden was given a fishing gift certificate for Christmas by his grandparents, Don and Monica Mikeska of Temple. We had planned to conduct the trip during the week after Christmas, but, when I saw the duration and severity of the cold front forecast to enter the scene on Saturday night, I called to see if we could bump things up.

Kaden invited his two buddies, Pate and Blayne, along.  At 1:30p Pate and Kaden’s moms arrived with the three boys in tow and dropped them off at the boat ramp. We agreed to meet back at the same place four hours later.

I covered both safety and fishing basics and then we pushed off and got down to business.

Pate had never caught a fish before and, I quickly discovered, has a flair for the dramatic. So you can imagine, when that first fish hit his line and he connected to the life on the end of it, he about came unglued. He was shouting and panicking and rejoicing, all at the same time. I tried to coach him, but adrenaline drowned out anything I said. We captured that 10 inch white bass pretty smoothly, but you’d have thought a one-ton great white just came over the transom by all the commotion that ensued. That was fun!

The boys all got the hang of the necessary vertical jigging technique that would serve us well all afternoon. Their innate desire to compete with one another created an interesting dynamic. They all understood their technique had to be “spot-on” in order to catch fish, so, when one or both of the “other guys” was catching, the one who was not knew that he had to sharpen up on his presentation. This kept all 3 boys in check and fishing very effectively, as no one wanted to fall behind in the fish catching.

Over the 4 hours we were on the water, we caught fish the entire time, literally, from start to finish. The pre-frontal conditions that led me to invite the boys out early had kicked in and were goading these fish to feed hard.

There were 4 times when we had to stop fishing and go to ground on the shoreline due to the rumbling of thunder in the area as isolated, small storm cells quickly passed from south to north. Despite these brief interruptions, we were able to get right back onto active fish each time.

When all was said and done, the boys caught exactly 120 fish.

That first fish of Pate’s lifetime earned him a Texas Parks and Wildlife “First Fish Award”. That streak of beginner’s luck also helped young Pate to put the largest fish of the trip in the boat, as well — a barely 18″ hybrid striper.

We all got soaked to the bone, we all felt the chill that wet clothes make on your skin, we all caught fish, and we all had a really good time!

TALLY = 120 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  60-61F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE15-16 at trip’s start; winds increased as storm cells passed nearby and eased after their passage

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip, with occasional downpours

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1659/1671 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1660/1673 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area triangulated by 1674/1620/1658  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

3 Generations – 104 Fish, Belton Lake

This past Saturday morning, December 26th, I fished with Steve Stewart of Georgetown, Steve’s son, Nick, Steve’s son-in-law, Brian Massey, and Brian’s son, Owen — three generations on my boat, all looking forward to catching fish.

Brian Massey and his son, Owen, with our very first fish of the day — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid from out of 24 feet of water.  It fell for a 3/8 oz. silver slab.

From left: Nick Stewart, Steve Stewart (to rear), Owen Massey (in foreground), and Brian Massey with 14″ class, beefy white bass caught on slabs under ideal conditions this morning.

Steve owns his own business in Georgetown, Nick works for the Dept. of Defense in Washington, D.C., Brian is a doctor working at Baylor-Scott & White in Round Rock, and Owen is working his way through elementary school.

I was very encouraged about the weather forecast we faced this morning; so encouraged, in fact, that I moved two trips that were scheduled for the following week up to this date.  What I saw was the final day of a long, stable warming trend, with abundant grey cloud cover, SE winds at a high but manageable velocity, and an approaching wet cold front.  All of these things, added to the still-warm 59-60F water temperature added up to a very promising day on the water.

As we departed the ramp area following straightforward instructions on the fairly simple jigging method we’d employ over the duration of the trip, we headed to our first fishing area.  The sonar lit up with bottom-hugging fish tightly schooled together in about 24 feet of water.  Owen took the first crack at these fish and came up with our largest fish of the trip right off the bat — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid.  This area would give up another 19 fish before it played out, sending us looking elsewhere.

One thing I noted today was how the fish did not really stay fired up very long after the first “icebreaker” fish was caught and the school it came from got active.  In fact, the greatest number of fish we caught on a given stop was 20.  We did a lot of “short hops”, in which I simply moved the boat a few yards from where we’d been previously in order to catch fish which refused to move over to the “commotion” we created by catching fish nearby.

As the trip began I left all of the fellows know that in every one of the past 11 trips conducted since the 8th of Dec. we’d boated over 100 fish.  As 11:00am rolled around, we were right at the 98 fish mark, but, as it often does late in the morning, the feed was tapering off quickly.  Everyone focused so we could take advantage of every one of the strikes we got so as to covert them into landed fish.  Steve hooked one and missed it, then Brian hooked one and it got off, then Steve had another one escape — we were just stuck at 98!  Finally, the 99th fish came in after a good bit of effort, and I think we were all really wondering if 100 was going to happen given all the effort we put into that last fish.  Well, young Owen put that wonder out of our minds as he exclaimed, “I’ve got one!”.  We all stopped and watched to see if the fish was going to stay on the hook and come over the gunwale, or not.  By now, Owen was an old pro landing his fair share of the 99 fish we’d boated, and that newfound expertise now shined through.  He put that 100th fish in the boat, and we all cheered and high-fived him for doing a great job!

Now, with the pressure off, the “big guys” all chipped in another fish or two and we ended up our great adventure with 104 fish landed this morning.

I’m concerned that with the strong, wet cold front due into Central Texas Saturday night into Sunday morning, and the “linger time” of the cold accompanying it, this may be the final day of this awesome run of fishing.  Only time will tell.

 

TALLY = 104 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE14 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE17-18 with higher gusts

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  778/1634 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar under low light conditions

**Area  1670 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1671  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1658-1619  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  327-1672  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

When Big Fish Eat Little Fish — 150 Fish, Lake Belton

This past Wednesday morning, December 23, I fished with Bryan Hefley and his two sons, nine-year-old Coen, and seven-year-old Brennan.

From left: Bryan and Coen Hefley with a pair of nice Belton Lake hybrid stripers taken in the closing minutes of our trip.

 

The above photo shows Brennan’s lure hooked into both the white bass and the largemouth bass that tried to swallow that white bass!

 

From left: Coen, Brennan, and Bryan Hefley with Brennan’s 3.75 pound largemouth which attempted to swallow a smaller white bass as Brennan was reeling it in.  Look closely and you can see the white bass still in the mouth of the largemouth bass!

Bryan works as the senior estimator at MW Builders in Temple, a construction firm focused on commercial, military, and industrial construction.  The boys, who live in Salado, are both homeschooled, with their homeschool education supplemented by coursework taken through Providence Preparatory School in Belton.

As we began our trip this morning, we encountered tough conditions nearly identical to those encountered yesterday – bright, cloudless skies and a lack of wind. We caught an even dozen fish via vertical jigging in about 25 feet of water after locating fish on sonar. We kept an eye out for helpful bird activity, but none was to be found. The birds simply respond to fish activity, so when there is little to no fish activity, the birds don’t feed either.

I decided to search out an entirely different population of fish than those that the birds had led me to of late, and at the first area we searched, I found ample, heavily congregated white bass of all sizes holding on a break line from 27 to 34 feet. We stayed in this general vicinity working that break line at several points along the same contour, each several boat lengths away from the other, and pulled over 100 fish in about 2.5 hours time. During this time the wind steadily built up to approximately 16 mph, and the fishing stayed solid throughout this time frame.

With about 30 minutes left in our trip, and with the boys attention flagging, I decided to make a move, primarily for variety’s sake. As we arrived, I issued a challenge to the boys to see if they could contribute 12 more fish to our fish count of 138 in order to make it an even 150 fish trip. They had roughly 25 minutes to accomplish this task. Things went very well all the way up to fish number 148. By this time, the once strong bite was beginning to wane significantly. Then, as it if someone turned off a switch, the bite just shut down. It was now approximately 11:15, the time I had planned to wrap up, but we were so close to our goal, and all three fellows were so set on catching 150, that we stayed on.

I began tidying things up and recording information from my sonar unit as to where we had been successful. Then, all of a sudden, both Coen and Bryan’s rods got bit. As I saw the bend in the rods all the way down into the butt section, I knew they both had nice fish on. As it turned out, when both of these fish came to net, they were 3 and 4 pound class hybrid stripers. We not only caught 150 fish, but we finished up the trip with a bang!

Not to be excluded from the big fish action, Brennan landed his own 3.75 pound largemouth today, also in the closing minutes of the trip. As he was fishing with a slab for white bass, a white bass struck the slab and was hooked on the treble hook, leaving the stinger hook free. As he reeled in the white bass, a largemouth decided to try to make a meal out of it. The largemouth attempted to swallow the white bass headfirst, and as it did, it got hooked on the inside of its own jaw with the stinger hook. Never a dull moment fishing with a kids!

Now we understood why those smaller white bass shut down.  The big boys moved in and spooked them off their turf!

We accomplished our goal of boating 150 fish (technically, 151 if you count the white bass that the largemouth nearly swallowed!), and then enjoyed a “refreshing” ride back to the boat ramp, complete with waves, whitecaps, swells, and lots of cool spray — just what a fishing guide with arthritic shoulders and knees looks forward to!!!

TALLY = 150 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15p

End Time:  11:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at dawn and for 1 hour thereafter, slowly increasing to SW15 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Fair w/ no cloud cover

Water Level: 4.55 feet above full pool with 0.28 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1645 to 1648 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar under low light conditions

**Area  1666 to 618 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1624 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Warm Water Hot Streak — 120 Fish with the Burns Family

This past Tuesday evening, December 22, I fished with the Burns family of Killeen on Lake Belton in search of white bass and hybrid striped bass.

From left: Kelly, Kaden, and Sheila Burns “wore ’em out” this evening, boating 120 fish in under 4 hours.

Kelly Burns is currently assigned to a aviation unit on Fort Hood, and his wife, Sheila Burns is a judge advocate general (JAG) officer. The couple brought their soon-to-be-seven year old son Kaden, as well.

After a 103 fish morning in which all the fish were caught in the last two hours, I was quite hopeful about our chances this afternoon, given the stronger winds we now had, and the fact that those winds were from the southwest.

We got going around 1:30 PM, and after a short safety briefing and a bit of instruction on the jigging method we would be using, we were landing fish within our first 10 minutes on the water. The fish were in a somewhat positive feeding mode this afternoon, as evidenced by the fact that there was at least some activity at most every area we stopped and fished at, and by the fact that several fish regurgitated whole shad, indicating they were in the midst of a feed right then. The middle two hours of our trip definitely saw the best action, with the first and last hour a ramp up to, and a taper off from, that two hour peak.

As we wrapped up our trip today we managed to put exactly 120 fish in the boat. This catch consisted of a mix of white bass of all sizes up to 13.75 inches, with a few hybrid striped bass, and even fewer largemouth bass mixed in.  This “hot streak” has been brought about by unseasonably warm water and has allowed 100+ fish trips each week since early November. Although this time of year is great for numbers of fish, there is not a great variety to the techniques that are effective.

Although we caught fish from start to finish, little Kaden was truly engaged in the fishing for about the first 90 minutes, and after that we had to be sure to give him tasks to keep him engaged such as returning the fish to the water using my dip net, or snacking, or doing a headcount on the number of fish in the live well, etc.  As long as he had something to focus on, he did just fine for a young guy.

Just a note to parents: In my experience the fishing this time of year is ideal for kids ~10 and older who enjoy the fishing, but don’t require the variety driven by a shorter attention span.  The main reason we did this trip is because Kelly will be on orders taking him away from home for a good bit of time in the next year, so, we wanted to get in a good fishing trip while the conditions were just right to put a lot of fish in the boat and make some good memories while the opportunity was there.

TALLY = 120 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp:  60F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9-10

Sky Conditions:  Fair w/10% cloud cover

Water Level: 5.1 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 10

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1623/1659 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1667-1669 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1624 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  788 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1668 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

www.Facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Thankful — 103 Fish, Belton Lake

This Tuesday morning, December 22, I fished a morning trip on Belton Lake in pursuit of hybrid striped bass and white bass with Ray Behan and his wife, Gaby.

Gaby and Ray Behan with a sampling of the 103 fish they caught while “learning the ropes” on Belton this morning.

Ray is an Army aviator with 24 years of service to the nation.  He is a Chief Warrant Officer 3 flying the Apache attack helicopter and is currently assigned to a cavalry unit on Fort Hood. Gaby previously served as a nurse in the US Army.  After leaving active duty, she began to pursue her Bachelor of Science in nursing through the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas.

We had a bit of a rough start this morning. In the first two hours on the water, we only boated eight fish. The winds were nearly calm, the morning was cold and clear, and the fish and birds just didn’t have their game on under those conditions.

Without birds to lead the way, we relied on sonar to find our fish this morning. At around 9:15 I located a large shoal of fish holding on a major breakline between 27 and 30 feet deep. On our first pass with sonar, I detected several hundred fish in this large congregation. As soon we got set up over these fish using the Minn Kota Spot Lock feature, we begin to catch fish steadily.

In our last two hours on the water we put an additional 95 fish in the boat until they began to taper off around 11. By 11:20 the action was done and we called it a good day with 103 fish boated.

After this trip, and another fished with a party of three in the afternoon, I took my wife to the movies for “date night”.  When we returned home, I received this really nice note from Ray, who granted permission to share it:

First off…… we had a great day fishing with you, when we showed up, I was hoping to just CATCH a fish, as we haven’t had much luck this winter.   To not only catch many fish, but use the time to discuss techniques, signs, learn how to interpret my fishfinder, all in one trip…… it was more than worth getting up at O dark thirty.   You were professional, honest, and willing to miss lunch to let us keep fishing, and we both appreciate it.   I just hope that you DIDN’T miss lunch…..   Neither Gaby nor I wanted to reel in the lines and go home, we were having such a good time, catching so many fish this near to Christmas….. thank you !   We will definitely be seeing you again, as the seasons change, and the techniques needed differ, we will be calling you to get out there and see how it is supposed to be done.  Thanks!

I really appreciate a client taking the time to write something like this.

TALLY = 103 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:40a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Water Surface Temp:  58-59F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable until 9:15a, then turning SW5-7

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird

Water Level: 5.1 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 10

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1645/1648 – vertical jigging at low light; fish found with sonar

**Area  1666 & 1667 – vertical jigging 9:15 to 11:30; fish found with sonar on breakline here

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

www.Facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Winds from the South Blow the Hook into the Fish’s Mouth — 140 Fish, Belton

This evening, Friday, 18 Dec., I fished with Mr. Gabe Carreras and his 7-year-old son, Christian, of Round Rock, TX, and Gabe’s father-in-law, Chris, from Birmingham, AL.

IMG_1174 (2)

From left: Christian and Gabe Carreras with a nice Lake Belton hybrid striped bass that came out of 22′ of water on a slab.

From left: Chris, Christian, and Gabe, each with one of the larger 13″ class white bass we boated this afternoon.

This trio fished with me earlier this year in early September when the topwater action on white bass and hybrid stripers was strong.  So, today’s slower vertical jigging approach was a real change-up for everyone.

This trip was an early Christmas present from Gabe and his wife to Chris and Christian.  The couple managed to keep this all a secret, however,  on Wednesday when grandma and grandpa suggested the family catch a movie together this evening, Gabe had to do some quick thinking to maintain the element of surprise.  He contacted me by email to see if we could bump the trip start time up a bit so the fishing trip AND the movie could both take place on Friday evening.

So, we planned on fishing from 1:00 to 5:00p.  As I watched the weather forecast develop and planned my trips this week, I left Wednesday and Thursday alone due to light north winds and bright skies.  I was eager to see today’s wind shift back to the south come in just in time for this trip.

There is an old fishermen’s rhyme that goes like this:

Winds from the west, fish bite best,

Winds from the east, fish bite least,

Winds from the south blow the hook in the fish’s mouth,

But winds from the north, the fisherman goes not forth!

Despite lingering post-frontal conditions, no sooner did the lake’s surface begin to ripple with the gentlest of southerly breezes than the fish turned on and stayed turned on all afternoon, which is a very good thing when you have a 7-year-ol on board!

Gabe had been keeping up with my blog/Facebook posts and seeing the handsome numbers of fish we’ve been putting in the boat, so, he shared this with Chris and Christian and the 3 wagered on our fish count.  Christian bet 121, Chris bet 124, and Gabe, by default, would win if we exceeded that 124 fish wager.

As it turned out, we put exactly 140 fish over the gunwales today, including only white bass and hybrid stripers (and no largemouth, drum, nor catfish as we seen in the past few outings).

The methodical jigging stroke we’ve been using the past 3 weeks or so continued to produce today when used in conjunction both with a 3/8 oz. slab and a 3/4 oz. slab.

As the clock struck 4:45p, we brought the lines in, cranked up the Honda, and pointed the bow for the boatramp so as not to jeopardize the 6:45p start of “Alvin & the Chipmunks”

 

TALLY = 140 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:00p

End Time:  5;00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  60F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-6

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird

Water Level: 6.2 feet above full pool with 0.25 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 5

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1659/1623 found with sonar

**Area  173/1573 found with sonar

**Area  between 1664 & 1665 thanks to brief feeding display by 1 gull

**Area 415 found with sonar

**Area 1664 – returned here with limited time remaining after Area 415 played out.

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

www.Facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Warm Water Makes for Hot Fishing — 125 Fish, Belton

This morning, Tuesday, December 15, I fished a morning trip with Troy Hensley, his two-year-old son, Trace, and Alexander Moses.

Troy Hensley with two “keepers”: his son and apprentice angler, Trace, and an unidentified Lake Belton hybrid striped bass.

Louisiana transplant Alexander Moses and his best fish of the morning which fell for a 3/4 oz. slab — a dead-on match for the forage the white bass and hybrid stripers were feeding on today.

Troy is a U.S. Army combat veteran and member of Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen. He and Alexander, who recently moved to Harker Heights from Louisiana, became friends through one of the church’s small groups.

Our target this morning was white bass and hybrid striped bass. The conditions this morning were excellent. We had a south-southeast wind, heavy grey cloud cover, warm air temperatures (55F), and unseasonably warm water temperatures (59-60F).

We met at 7:15 AM, and by 7:30 AM were observing for signs of fish activity and signs of bird activity. Before long, we found both. The action today occurred in two distinct areas, and was spread out over a full 4+ hours. The approach at both areas was essentially the same. We used three-quarter ounce slabs to imitate the shad which the game fish in these areas were feeding upon.

Because the water temperature is still fairly high, we used a jigging stroke of moderate speed to attract white bass of all sizes, hybrid striped bass of all sizes, as well as numerous largemouth bass, and freshwater drum.

I did note that the flatter and shallow the areas we fished were, the more likely the fish were to be congregated on bottom. Deeper and more sloped areas tended to offer fishing both on the bottom and for fish that were suspended between the top and bottom.

The suspended fish tended to be larger hybrid striped bass, and we targeted them with a slow smoking tactic, instead of the moderate jigging tactic we used for the bottom oriented fish. By the time the winds went calm, and the bird activity ceased, at around 11:15 AM, we had amassed a catch of 124 fish.

Back in the summer, I had taken Alexander’s sister, niece and nephew out fishing on a SKIFF program trip. The kids caught 124 fish that day. Alexander pointed out this observation, but, I saw that “gleam” in his eye! He knew Ethan well enough to know that tying his nephew’s results was not going to raise any eyebrows. No, Alexander was out to beat 124 fish.

So, since he had expressed an interest earlier in the trip about how my downriggers work, I suggested we kill two birds with one stone and catch one final tie breaker fish on the downrigger. I rigged it up while explaining the process to Alexander, and, no sooner did we start watching the rod, then it “went off” on a small white bass – the 125th fish to enter the boat this morning!!

 

TALLY = 125 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 9-10 until 11am, then going slack

Sky Conditions:  100% heavy grey skies with light fog from 7:15 to 7:30a

Water Level: 6.81 feet above full pool with 0.09 feet of water gained in the past 24 hours from the ~2″ of rain that fell early Sunday AM

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1663 first action under birds

**Area  1647/1652 under birds

**Area  Vic 133 under birds

**Area Vic 1129 under birds

**Area  153 last action under birds

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

www.Facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Lake Record Warmouth!! (What’s that?!?) — 131 Fish, Belton Lake

On Monday morning, December 14, I fished with Pastor Jimmy Low, Pastor Tom Zintgraff, and Tom’s son, James Zintgraff, who works in the cardiology department at Scott and White Hospital in Temple.  Jimmy and Tom both minister at the Heritage Church, near the new Cinemark Theater on I-35 in Temple.

 

Pastor Jimmy Low took big fish honors this morning with this freshwater drum (a.k.a. gaspergou) which fell for his slab right at sunrise.

Pastor Tom Zentgraff took this hybrid striper from out of an aggressive, mobile school of fish which attracted the attention of ring-billed gulls, which, in turn, attracted our attention.

James Zentgraff was very consistent in his technique this morning, and was rewarded with white bass, hybrid stripers, and freshwater drum .

Pastor Tom Zentgraff caught this rare warmouth.  There is no warmouth on the recordbooks for Belton Lake, so, he’s “starting the bidding” at 1/8 pound.

I was a bit concerned about this morning’s trip, given that we had just come off of a cold front which moved in late Saturday night into Sunday morning, and given the forecast for bright skies and light winds.  Well before dawn, as I got my first glimpse of Belton Lake, I could see a light wind was already at work on the surface, causing a ripple. My expectations for the trip increased as sunrise drew near and the winds increased.

As we launched around 7:15 AM, plenty of bird life was already in the air scouting for breakfast.  By 7:35 AM the first bird action directly connected to fish activity began to unfold. The birds stayed active for a full two and half hours and then quit around the same time the winds went calm, right at 10 AM. By 10 AM, we had already put 103 fish in the boat, but our task got infinitely harder at this point given the bright skies and calm conditions I initially thought we’re going to face us the entire morning.

I left this population of fish and searched for an entirely new population of fish, hoping that the change of venue would lead us to some fish that could be finessed with smaller lures and more intentional jigging tactics. By 10:15 we had arrived in the area I’d hoped to find fish.  Sonar revealed a few fish along a deep, gentle breakline and in a feeding posture, just slightly up off the bottom in about 30 to 33 feet of water. We changed over to 3/8 ounce slabs and jigged more slowly and more intentionally, and did get a few fish excited. We landed 27 additional fish in our last hour on the water in this area.

We would pull up on some fish, use the Minnkota to Spot Lock over top of them, and catch what was there; the only problem with such sluggish fish, however, was that nearby fish would not come over out of curiosity to see what was going on.  Rather, we had to move a boat length or two to the left or right in order to go to them.

During this final hour on the water, Tom and landed a very rare catch. He put a 1/8 pound warmouth, which is a small, wide-mouthed, brown colored member of the sunfish family, in the boat. Because no lake record for this species exists, we measured and weighed it end entered it on Tom’s behalf as a new lake record for that species, despite it being a fairly small fish.

By 11:15, the wind had completely died, there were no birds in sight, and the bite had wound down to nothing. We called it a day with exactly 131 fish landed in 4.25 hours of effort.

 

TALLY = 131 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Water Surface Temp:  59.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: S7 at sunrise, increasing to S10 in the next 2 hours, then going slack by 10:15am

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird skies.

Water Level: 6.69 feet above full pool with 0.27 feet of water gained in the past 24 hours from the ~2″ of rain that fell early Sunday AM

Other: GT= 25

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  Vic 1648 first action under birds

**Area  Vic 1069 under birds

**Area  Vic 133 under birds

**Area Vic 1125 last action under birds

**Area  Vic 619 with 3 short hops along same contour w/fish found via sonar

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

SKIFF Kid Catches Belton Lake Record White Bass — 101 Fish, 12 Dec.

Wow!  What a trip!  On the afternoon of Saturday, 12 Dec., I conducted a “make-up” fishing trip for 9-year-old Zack Giertz and his 7-year-old brother, Nathaniel.

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7-year-old Nathaniel Giertz landed this 15.75 inch, 2.00 pound white bass, thus beating the existing Junior Angler white bass lake record that has stood since 2010.

 

9-year-old Zack Giertz landed the largest fish of the trip, this freshwater drum that weighed in right at 3 pounds.

We originally planned to fish the Saturday following Thanksgiving, but a wet cold front put the brakes on that outing.

The timing on this trip was intended to beat the arrival of the next cold front which would arrive around 1:30 AM Sunday morning. We enjoyed grey cloud cover, an unseasonably warm ambient air temperature of 72F, and an even more unseasonably warm water surface temperature of 62F. The only thing that hindered was a bit of rain and the winds — the direction (south) was ideal, but the velocity (20 and gusting higher) was dicey. Seeing the NOAA prediction for calming winds around 15-16mph for the afternoon, we decided to head out at that time instead of risking a morning trip.

As we got going, I tried to learn a bit about the Giertz family. Matt, the boys’ father is currently deployed with the U.S. Army in Kuwait. Liz, the boys’ mom, is a 1997 U.S. Military Academy graduate who left active duty when she and Matt started their family. Liz was attending a fundraiser in support of Fort Hood’s Santa’s Workshop when one of the vendors there, Beads for Life entrepreneur LeaAnn Crawford, saw Liz alone with her boys and mentioned the SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) program fishing trips I offer. Ft. Hood Chaplain Bill Shelnutt had also mentioned this program to Liz, so, she decided to give me a call.

The fish were in a strong, pre-frontal feeding mode, so much so that we saw light surface action at 2 of the 3 locations we fished, and bird action at one of these locations. The fish were so aggressive that there were times when I watched on sonar as bottom-oriented fish rose 6-8 feet off bottom to attack our descending slabs.

As we used i-Pilot technology to hover over the first area I’d chosen to try, I attempted to give the boys instructions on the slow jigging tactics we’d be using with spinning tackle. I first instructed Nathaniel on how to open his bail and ensure his line was on bottom, then, I turned my attention to Zack. By the time I was half-way through tutoring Zack, Nathaniel had his first fish on and was shouting in excitement on the port side. As I went over to Nathaniel to unhook his fish, Zack hooked and landed his first fish and was now shouting in excitement over on the starboard side.

And so it went for nearly four hours of fish-catching fun in the blowing rain.

Zack got the idea early that we might be able to catch 100 fish, after our first stop of the trip yielded 26 fish in under 40 minutes. He kept mentally comparing our “catch to date” with the time remaining in the trip, and kept his eyes set on that 100 fish goal.

As we steadily caught fish, including white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum, the boys really got the hang of jigging, and rarely required much coaching after the first hour.

In our third hour on the water, Nathaniel hooked into something much larger than the average white bass we’d been catching up to that point. He was grunting and groaning as he tried to keep his rod tip out of the water and keep his line from contacting the boat. When we “saw color”, I realized he had a record-class white bass on the line. I scrambled for the net and we landed a new Belton Lake record!!

Nathaniel’s white bass measured 15.75″ and weighed 2.00 pounds on a certified Boga Grip scale. This beat the previous Junior Angler record of 1.50 pounds which measured 14.88 inches and which was caught by another young client of mine, Alex Harman, back in November of 2010.

Both boys caught numerous hybrid stripers and freshwater drum in the 2-3 pound class, as well.

As the daylight dimmed and the window for catching fish was closing at around 5:15pm, our fish count stood at 98. I put my own rod away and told the boys that if we were going to hit 100 fish, it had to be through their efforts alone.

Zack did his part, bringing in an 11″ white bass. The count was now 99. Things got really quiet as the boys concentrated on jigging and feeling for a bite. Finally, Nathaniel spoke up and said, “I’ve got him! I’ve got him!” and in came a short hybrid striper — our 100th fish of the trip. Then, with the pressure off, we landed one more fish for good measure and, as the sonar screen when clean and the day turned to night, the bite died and we called it a great day on the water!

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, organizations, and companies 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. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.

 

TALLY = 101 FISH, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p

End Time: 5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp: 62F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE20-25

Sky Conditions: 100% cloudy with occasional, spitting light rain.

Note: Lake continues to fall at ~.30 feet per day and is currently 6.30 feet above full pool with a night of rain forecast.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1659 – solid bite on slabs with light sub-surface feeding occasionally reaching the surface

**Area triangulated by 1660, 1661, and 1662 – solid bite on slabs under birds and with light sub-surface feeding occasionally reaching the surface

**Area 1626 – moderate low-light final bite on slabs

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com