SKIFF Provides Free Fishing Trips for Soldiers’ Kids — 66 Fish, Feb. 27th

On Saturday, 27 Feb., I conducted the second SKIFF trip of the 2016 season.  SKIFF stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun, and exists to get the children of soldiers out on the water while those soldiers are away from their families due to military duty.

IMG_1408

Emily had great vertical jigging technique and landed fish consistently once I coached her on how and when to set the hook.

IMG_1407
Although Josh enjoyed catching fish, he enjoyed releasing them even more.  I equipped him with my small bait net and then deposited every fish we caught into that net for him to release.

Joining me this afternoon were Emily and Josh Reynnells of Harker Heights, TX. The children’s father, U.S. Army Major Steve Reynnells is currently stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. With dad gone, and big sister, Lauren, now in college at Dallas Baptist University, that leaves mom, Johanna Reynnells, as essentially a single parent of two elementary-aged kids for a majority of the time. Mrs. Reynnells needed a break, and I was glad to oblige by getting the kids on the water for most of the afternoon.

Water temperatures have already risen into the high 50’s on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, and the white bass we were targeting are definitely on the move up into the upper reaches of the reservoir, in and near the Lampasas River.

Based on success I enjoyed with two clients from South Dakota earlier this week, I began our trip in deep water. I find deep water buffers some of the factors that often diminish a shallow bite, such as turbulent weather, calm conditions, and bright conditions.

This turned out to be a good choice, as we sat for 90 minutes on top of one boat-sized area and landed 51 fish including 49 white bass and 2 freshwater drum, all fishing vertically with slabs. The Spot Lock feature on my Ulterra trolling motor held us tightly atop the bottom feature we were fishing, and allowed me the freedom to move about to unhook fish, untangle lines, and coach.

It’s funny how, even on the best days of fishing, kids’ enthusiasm can wane in situations that would keep adults’ hearts pumping for hours. Despite the one-fish-every-two-minutes catch rate we were enjoying, Josh wore out first. Having fished professionally with kids for years now, I had to reach into my bag of tricks to keep him engaged so Emily could continue fishing. I pulled out my “thumping stick” and had Josh beat on the bottom of the boat while having him observe sonar to watch the fish “reply” to his efforts. I put Josh in charge of returning all caught fish to the water using a variety of creative techniques. And, of course, there was good, old reliable “snack time”.

By around 4p, the kids were both ready for a change of scenery, so, we headed up towards the Lampasas River observing for helpful bird activity as we went. Although the gulls and terns didn’t provide us with any clues, sonar sure did, indicating a nice school of white bass holding on the edge of the river channel in a place that would lend itself to more vertical jigging, which the kids were now experts at.

We landed another 15 fish at this second and final stop of the day, then cranked ‘er up and headed ‘er home to mom and Princess, the family dog. The kids put together a respectable catch of 66 fish during their afternoon on the water.

If you are a military family and mom or dad is away on duty of any sort, please call me if I can help your situation by providing a free fishing trip.

If you are a supporter of SKIFF, thank you for coming alongside the Austin Fly Fishers to make such trips possible for the families at Fort Hood, TX, and beyond.

 

TALLY = 66 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:15p

End Time:  6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp:  59.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S13-14

Sky Conditions:  40% white clouds on a blue sky.

Water Level: 622.39 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.03 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   531 – Casting blades for shallow whites under birds

**Area   054 – Slow action on blades and slabs for whites as they wrapped up their low-light feed

**Area  094 – Moderate action on blades in 16-17 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

**Area  092 – Moderate action on slabs in 20-25 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

 

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

Variety is the Spice of Life — 32 Fish, 27 Feb., Stillhouse (Trip 1 of 2)

This Saturday morning, Feb. 27th, I welcomed Mr. Brad Bennett and his 11-year-old son, Bret, aboard for a morning of white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow.

 IMG_1400

 

A few weeks back Brad sent me a note saying, “My son Bret just turned 11 and is starting to get interested in fishing.    I would like to see about booking him an afternoon or evening trip with you.  We would both love to soak up any fishing tips you have because I haven’t fished in many years,  but just got a boat to try to get my son out on the lake.  I am afraid he will lose interest if I keep taking him without catching anything.”

So, Brad chose to come along as an observer while I worked one-on-one with Bret to show him the ropes.  One of the first questions Brad asked was if we were going to fish for bass.  I told him we would instead be targeting white bass.  Because of the relative abundance of these fish in Stillhouse, one is likely to land far more white bass in a given period of time as compared to largemouth, and, for those who lack precision and distance in their casting, white bass can be forgiving in these areas.

It all came together as soon as we idled into our first area.  Some helpful gull activity pointed the way to fish, and, with some basic instruction, Bret was casting a spinning rod and reel (something he’d never done before) quite well.

The white bass cooperate for about 1 hour, but, after that, the bright skies and calm winds brought that to an end.  We worked over the last location we’d seen birds working at with vertical tactics, horizontal tactics, and downriggers and did poorly.  It was time for a change of location.

We headed to another area where, what little wind was blowing, would be acting best on the water to ripple the surface.  We found fish shallower than I anticipated in only 16-17 feet of water, and worked them over for about a half hour with Binsky blade baits.  Once this large slug of fish dissipated, we made short hops in the same general vicinity and very precisely vertically jigged with slabs for small groups of fish, one group at a time.

We pulled fish consistently for the last 45 minutes on the water.  Bret hung with the program about as long as most 11 year olds would and eventually tired of the fairly intense concentration level and attention to detail that vertical jigging for sluggish fish requires.

Around 10a, dad observed that Bret had reached his limit.  I’d let Brad know ahead of time to communicate this observation to me so we could end on a positive note and not turn this into an endurance contest for the young man.  The point was to teach Bret a few things about fishing and have him look forward to his next trip, as well.

We ended the trip a bit early, after 3.25 hours on the water, with 32 fish boated, 100% of which were white bass.

TALLY = 32 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time:  10:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Water Surface Temp:  57.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S0-3 for the first 2.5 hours, then slowly increasing up to S10 from 9:15 to trip’s close.

Sky Conditions:  Clear and bright.

Water Level: 622.39 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.03 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area   531 – Casting blades for shallow whites under birds

**Area   054 – Slow action on blades and slabs for whites as they wrapped up their low-light feed

**Area  094 – Moderate action on blades in 16-17 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

**Area  092 – Moderate action on slabs in 20-25 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

 

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

Snow birds land on Stillhouse — 91 Fish, 25 Feb (Trip 2 of 2)

On the afternoon of Thursday, 25 Feb., I welcome Mr. Steve Robar and his wife, Mary, aboard for a half-day’s pursuit of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow.

IMG_1393

Mary Robar drove from South Dakota for a big Texas bass, and, around 4:30p today, she got one!!

IMG_1397

Mary and Steve were already familiar with vertical presentations given their experience in fishing for walleye.  This established skill came in handy as they were able to take full advantage of the strong, but brief, vertical bite we experienced this afternoon.  No on-the-job-training required; they just got down to brass tacks and caught fish.

The Robar’s are retirees wintering here in Texas at an RV park near Kingsland. They drove their truck and fifth-wheel trailer down from South Dakota and will be headed back that way Sunday.

Before leaving Texas, they wanted to enjoy some fishing on unfrozen water, and, since they left their walleye rig up north, they contacted me to help them accomplish that.

I shared with my wife, Rebecca, as we had lunch together in between my two trips today that I was a bit concerned about our chances at catching fish. The morning trip’s fishing was great for the first two hours, but when the winds turned northerly, the fish just quit. This afternoon’s winds were due to continue at 12-14 mph from the NNE.

My first instinct was to head deep — really deep, as depth seems to negate the impact of tough conditions.

This gut feeling served us well. At our first stop, and in 61 feet of water, we jigged up 29 white bass and a single largemouth over the span of an hour. These fish were all smallish, but, I was glad just to get our strings stretched in the middle of the day under tough conditions.

We decided to leave fish to find fish, hoping for some better size, and, despite checking 5 nearly identical areas, did not get back on the fish for another hour.

Around 4p, as the shadows began to lengthen and the sun’s intensity began to wane, we hit an area in about 41 feet of water after I saw a handful of gulls and terns hesitate over this area and then move on. Sonar told a much more encouraging tale than the birds did, as my fish finder lit up with heavily congregated white bass in the lower third of the water column.

For the next 75 minutes it was “game on”, with Steve positioned on the starboard gunwale to my right, Mary on the starboard gunwale to my left, and me in the middle of them just taking off fish. The pair took their count from 30 fish up to 87 by the time the fish gave up.

As we prepared to make our next move, I offered two options: catch more fish vertically by doing the same thing we’d been doing, only in a different location, or catch fewer fish but experience a new tactic in so doing, by casting blade baits up shallow.

They opted for variety, and, in the final 40 minutes of the trip, we rounded it off at exactly 91 fish. The final 4 fish came on Binsky’s used used up shallow in under 12 feet of water.

TALLY = 91 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time:  6:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Water Surface Temp:  57.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNE14 for the first 3 hours, tapering down to NNE10 by trip’s end.

Sky Conditions:  Clear and bright.

Water Level: 622.42 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.03 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  947 — 60′ deep whites on slabs

**Area  074 — 41′ deep whites on slabs

**Area vic 0733/764 — horizontal casting Binsky’s in ~14′ at low light

 

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

California Boys Go Fishing — 30 Fish, 25 Feb. (Trip 1 of 2)

Today, Thursday, 25 Feb. , I returned to the water after some pretty wacky, windy weather extending from late Monday into late Wednesday.  A windy, but not particularly cold, cold front blew in with gusts over 30mph.  As a result, the water temperatures dropped just a bit, but are still in the high 50’s.  This morning I fished with Brad Simonds and his friend, Kirk Hull.  The two have been friends since childhood.

IMG_1386

From left: Brad Simonds of Temple, TX, and his childhood friend, Kirk Hull, in visiting from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Most all of the catching this morning took place in the first 2 hours as we enjoyed action in under 16 feet of water aided by the presence of gulls and terns feeding over top of these white bass as they chased bait toward the surface.  The 3/4 oz. Binsky made short work of these hungry fish.   These early morning fish have shown a preference for flat topography.  When these freshwater pelagics get on a flat piece of ground, they like to move — fast!  Thus, keeping up with them can be a chore.  Today, we chose our intercept angles well and landed 25 fish before the shallow bite died.

It was a different story, however, once the birds stopped flying around the same time our winds shifted from SE to NW on a mild, dry cold front.

We searched a number of mid-depth and deep water areas, finding little.  What few birds remained active were distracted by feeding loons, so that was of no help to us.  We finally contacted some fish on a deep flat, averaging about 41 feet deep.  I saw occasional suspended schools of white bass ranging from 10-25 individuals, and, I saw occasion fish glued tight to bottom.  So, we ran tandem downriggers set at staggered depths accordingly and began to catch fish one at a time in this manner.  This yielded another 40 minutes of action for 5 more fish, and then the bottom dropped out and the bite was over by 10:15am.

TALLY = 30 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:55a

End Time:  11:35a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F

Water Surface Temp:  57F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WSW11 at sunrise, briefly shifting SSE7-8 for about 40 minutes, then coming on strong from the N at 13-14 for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Conditions:  Clear and bright.

Water Level: 622.45 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.04 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.  The ~1.25 inches of rain that fell Mon/Tues mostly soaked in, but did bump the lake up a few inches.

Other: GT= 20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  888 — shallow whites under birds, all spread horizontally over a large areas; used Binsky bladebaits

**Area  531/290 — shallow whites under birds, all spread horizontally over a large areas; used Binsky bladebaits

**Area vic 074 –  downrigged for white bass suspended at 25-27′ and for fish laying tight to bottom in 41′.  ThinFins worked well.

 

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

Off-Duty Fishin’ — 43 Fish, Stillhouse, 19 Feb.

Today, Friday, 19 Feb., I fished with brothers-in-law Jason Smelser and Stephen Pearson, both of Killeen.

Jason retired from the U.S. Army where he served as a musician playing both the guitar and drums. Stephen serves as a firefighter with the City of Killeen out of the fire station on East Trimmier Road.

 

IMG_1371 (2)

City of Killeen firefighter Stephen Pearson enjoyed some off-duty action this morning gunning for white bass on Stillhouse Hollow.

IMG_1372 (2)

U.S. Army retiree Jason Smelser invited his brother-in-law along for some early spring white bass action.  The two amassed a catch of 43 fish in 4 hours.

Jason initially contacted me after a friend of his, Steve Webb, “liked” my all-fishing Facebook page, providing Jason with a glimpse of what I offer on Belton and Stillhouse to the angling public.

Because Stephen’s shift did not end until 7am, and because the strongest bite of the day has been taking place just before sunrise to about two hours afterwards, I encouraged the fellows to come directly to the ramp — no donuts, no coffee, no breakfast tacos! This was all so we could take advantage of the aggressive low-light bite.

As the fellows pulled up the walked from the car, to the dock, into the boat with motor running, and we headed right out to get on fish.  I’d been watching gulls feed over active fish for about 15 minutes, and knew we needed to get to the fish right away to take full advantage of this easier, early morning bite.

All three of us were hooked up tight to white bass within our first 3-4 casts, and the low-light bite, enhanced this morning by cloud cover and a bit of wind, lasted for a good 2 hours. During this time we boated 34 fish by making “short-hops” in two distinct areas, both less than 20 feet deep.

During the entire time from 7:15 to 9:15 we enjoyed helpful bird activity. Contrast this with the last two hours of the trip in which we had no bird activity and in which the skies slowly brightened. This time frame yielded only 9 more fish.

The shallow fishing has lately involved lots of fish spread out horizontally in distinct clusters, whereas the later morning, deep-water fishing has involved more heavily concentrated groups of fish holding on the river channel walls or suspended over the channel. We enjoyed good results today fishing 3/4 oz. Binsky blade baits up shallow, and the old reliable Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 did the trick out deep.

Just before wrapping up we encountered some fish spread horizontally along bottom on a 40 foot flat. These fish were too scattered for effective vertical jigging and too deep to work blade baits effectively, so, I rigged up the downriggers and went as slowly as I could with Storm ThinFins in tow. We picked up 2 solid white bass and a short largemouth in the closing minutes of the trip.

Our tally today was 43 fish including 42 white bass and 1 largemouth.

 

TALLY = 43 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Water Surface Temp:  59.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S8-9 the entire trip.

Sky Conditions:  100% grey skies, slowly clearing to cloudless by 11am

Water Level: 622.25 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.01 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 20

 Wx Snapshot:

19FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1701– shallow whites under birds, all spread horizontally over a large areas; used Binsky bladebaits

**Area  1702 — whites in ~15-18 feet of water under birds in a channel bend;  used Binsky bladebaits

**Area 1704 — deep, scattered whites on flat in ~40-42′.  Responded to slow raised slabs

**Area 1698 –  deep white bass heavily congregated on a breakline 43-50′; slow lifting slabs

**Area 1705-17066 — deep, scattered whites on flat in ~40-42′.  Responded to slow raised slabs and downrigging

 

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

Thar She Blows! — 50 fish in the wind, 18 Feb., Stillhouse

This Thursday morning, 18 Feb., I fished with husband and wife team R.C. and Marsha Stephenson of Sun City, near Georgetown, TX.   We targeted white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

IMG_1367 (2)

R.C. Stephenson of Sun City in Georgetown, TX, with a 7.00 pound bass (measured on certified scale) that fell for his Binsky bladebait worked around schooled white bass in 16-18 feet of water at first light.

The Stephenson’s originally booked with me in the spring of 2015, but the flooding rains that came prevented that trip, as did heat in the summer which they preferred not to fish in, and then, in November, Marsha broke her wrist in a fall, thus pushing our plans even further into this year.

I saw today’s “fishy” conditions developing while watching the forecast last week and suggested that we make a go of it.  After the past two days of bright, high pressure, with fairly low wind speeds, today’s clouds and wind promised a big turnaround.

We got going right at 7:00am and were on the fish less than 10 minutes later.  Some wide-spread gull activity got us close to the fish, sonar helped us find the spot on the spot, and the Spot Lock feature on the #Ulterra sealed the deal by keeping us there even in a stiff 20+ mph wind.

As we encountered fish in under 16 feet of water we cast bladebaits and worked them horizontally.  I experimented with a new bait on my clients’ rods today that I had success with while experimenting prior to this trip.  This bladebait is called the “Binsky” and fills a gap that the Cicadas that I’ve come to rely on over the years do not fill at the 3/4 oz. weight range.  The Binsky casts well into the wind and gets to bottom quickly in up to 20 feet of water.  It does have a vibration to it, but not nearly as strong as the Cicada.

For deeper work today, we relied on the 3/4 oz. Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 with a stinger attached..

We fished up shallow until around 9:15am, then transition to deeper 45-50 foot waters immediately adjacent to the old Lampasas River channel.

Th fishing tapered down to nil by 11:00a and we called it quits at that point with 48 white bass and 2 largemouth landed today.  Roughly half the catch came from the shallow horizontal tactics and the other half from deeper vertical work.

TALLY = 50 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F

Water Surface Temp:  57.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S16 at trip’s start, steadily increasing to S22 by trip’s end.

Sky Conditions:  100% grey skies, slowly clearing to cloudless by 11am

Water Level: 622.26 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.01 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  116/1699 — shallow whites under birds with loons mixed in, all spread horizontally over a large areas; used Binsky bladebaits

**Area  1700 — whites in ~15-18 feet of water under birds in a channel bend;  used Binsky bladebaits

**Area  vic 103 – vertical jigging for whites in 25′ on breakline

**Area 1690 –  deep white bass heavily congregated on a breakline 43-50′; slow lifting slabs.

 

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

He Eats Every 2 Hours — 50 Fish, Stillhouse, 15 Feb.

This past Monday morning I fished with father and son Joey and Jayden Rogers of Georgetown, TX, targeting white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

 

IMG_1354 (2)

From left: Joey and Jayden with a sampling of the large, plump, healthy white bass we took on artificial baits from 14 to nearly 50 feet deep.

 This was the first time I’ve fished with Joey and Jayden.  After they booked this Presidents’ Day trip with me based on Jayden’s school holiday, I watched the weather very closely and was pleased to find we’d be fishing on a windshift in advance of yet another mild, dry cold front.
As we got going this morning a negative fishing report from a fishing buddy, Rick Aker, haunted me a bit.  He’s a good fisherman and spent a considerable amount of time on the water over the weekend and came up with little.  The last two trips I took on Stillhouse found fish in a migrating mode, up over the old river channel or down in the old river channel and moving upstream in preparation for spawning.  When they get in that “mode”, they can be tough to catch.
I felt these pre-frontal conditions would override all of that  today, however, and that hunch proved to be correct.  As we began our trip, our first stop came under the largest flock of gulls I’ve seen working over fish yet since the birds arrived in November.  Although fish were definitely present and feeding under these gulls, the main attraction was the feeding loons.  We boated a few fish casting bladebaits in 14-16 feet of water, but moved on when yet more gull action presented itself.
Our next stop came at a bend in the river channel with yet more gulls and terns working the area.  The fish were definitely on the move here, as evidenced by seeing packs of fish quickly appear and then disappear on sonar as we sat still, anchored in place by our @Spot Lock feature on the @i-Pilot equipped @Ulterra trolling motor.  Jayden thought the self-deploying feature was pretty cool.  We landed right at 20 fish in this location before the bite dried up and the birds dissipated.
Our next stop came up shallow again on a flat in 12-14 feet of water.  Again, some minor gull action brought me here and sonar confirmed the presence of fish.  We picked up 3 more white bass, including our largest of the trip, but the place wasn’t just crawling with fish, so, with winds picking up and skies brightening, we headed for deeper, more open water to find fish.
We stopped at 2 areas where birds were working, and found fish at both, but the bite was tough and slow for scattered fish, so we kept looking.  Around 10am we found what we were after — a large school of white bass holding fast along a breakline from 42 to 53 feet of water.  Fortunately, this break was oriented NW to SE, the same direction the wind was blowing, so, when we Spot Locked on this area, the depth of our presentation stayed constant, despite shallower water to our port and deeper water to our starboard.
We arrived at this location with 27 fish in the boat, and ended the trip a bit early, around 10:40, with 50 fish boated.  Despite snacking for a majority of the time on the water, Jayden’s belly demanded more attention.  The discussion he and Joey had about the possibilities of eating tostados at Coronas de Oro on the creek in Belton was too much for the young man, and he just had to lay down his rod and pick up his fork.  Joey told me Jayden can eat a full meal roughly every two hours!
So, we wrapped it up with a few photos, having landed a total of exactly 50 white bass with no other species in the mix this morning.

TALLY = 50 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  10:35a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F

Water Surface Temp:  57F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW8 at trip’s start, shifting and increasing to NW16 by trip’s end on the arrival of a mild cold front.

Sky Conditions:  Clear, bright, cloudless skies at first, followed by a band of thin grey clouds (50%) just after the front started moving through following the wind shift.

Water Level: 622.31 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.0 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 5

Wx Snapshot:

15FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  290-531 — shallow whites under birds with loons mixed in, all spread horizontally over a large areas; used bladebaits

**Area  vic. 1696 — whites in ~20-25 feet of water under birds in a channel bend; all vertical work

**Area  732 — spotty shallow whites under birds; used bladebaits

**Area 1697 –  deep white bass turned off by lead edge of front’s arrival; more bird action than fish action

**Area 1698 –  deep white bass heavily congregated on a breakline; still sluggish, but sheer numbers of fish allowed for a catch of over 20 fish on a vertical presentation with slabs.

 

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

Pumping Prohibition — 28 Fish, Belton, 09 Feb.

This past Tuesday morning I conducted the first Fort Hood SKIES program of the new year, taking 14-year-old Aaron Cherry on a 4-hour fishing trip on Lake Belton.

 

IMG_1335 (2)

Aaron Cherry with a solid 3.00 pound Belton Lake hybrid striper that struck his slab in ~35 feet of water around mid-morning.

Aaron has fish with me twice before, once accompanied by his 13-year-old sister, Rachel.  This was back in the summer when down rigging was the primary tactic.  So, with cold weather now firmly in place, a whole new tactic (vertical jigging) awaited him.
The air was cold, the skies clear, and the winds calm as we began our day following the passage of a mild, dry cold front yesterday with characteristic high winds.  This made our first two hours on the water the toughest two hours I’ve encountered lately.  But, by 9:15am, the winds picked up and began to shift from NW to WSW and the fish began to respond.
We caught all of our fish on just two areas, about 3/4 of a mile apart.  Both were in ~35′ of water and both had ample quantities of bait in and around the actual patch of water we fished.  At the first area there were more fish concentrated in a small area, so we stayed put.  At the first area, the fish were more spread across the bottom, so, we would catch a few fish, then do a “short hop” left, right, forwards, or backwards to access “new” fish that hadn’t seen our bait yet.
Our go-to bait was a 3/4 oz. Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in white with a Gamakatsu G-Stinger affixed to it.  This is a staple bait for me all winter on both Belton and Stillhouse.
As we got into fish, I noted that Aaron was working his bait well and was very disciplined about keeping it the right distance off the bottom.  As a result, he was hooking as many fish as I was as we fished side-by-side.  However, many of Aaron’s fish got off before they were landed as a result of his “pumping” the rod.  Once we got that fixed, he kept pace with me and we both did equally well.
As the bite began to tail off around 11:35, we had worked up 28 fish in all, including 26 white bass, a nice hybrid striper which Aaron did a great job of fighting, and one school-sized largemouth bass.

SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors.  To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

 

TALLY = 28 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:35a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F

Water Surface Temp:  52.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable generally from NW, shifting to WSW by mid-morning

Sky Conditions:  Clear, bright, cloudless skies as cold front pushed through the day before.

Water Level: 594.58 with 594.0 being full pool.  0.09 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

Wx Snapshot:

09FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1680 – vertical jigging for fish found solely on sonar.

**Area  1626/1672/211 – vertical jigging for fish found solely 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

Skirt Alert! — Bryce & Cole Land 85 in a Big Blow

This Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of fishing with two very well-raised young men from Lorena, Texas.  14-year-old Bryce Strickland was given a fishing gift certificate for Christmas by his grandparents.  Today he invited his lifelong buddy, Cole Pitts, also 14 and also from Lorena, along on the great adventure.

IMG_1316 (2)

The boys from Lorena — from left: Cole Pitts and Bryce Strickland.

IMG_1322 (2)

Cole proudly displays the largest white bass taken today — just over 14″ from out of 52 feet of water and from out of a school of hundreds of fish slowly on the move toward the Lampasas River for the spawn in March.

And quite an adventure it was, too!  Not only was the wind blowing at 24mph with gusts over 30mph this morning, forcing me to postpone my morning trip, but, as I launched this afternoon about a half-hour before the boys arrived, my new “as-seen-on-TV” Z-Launch bungee cord boat launching gadget failed.  The Z-Launch is supposed to allow you to launch your boat solo without having to climb in the boat nor get wet, and it did work the first 3 times I tried it.  Long story short, I watched my very new center console drift, with Z-Launch fragments still attached, as the now 20mph wind drove it toward the (very rocky) south shore.  I flagged down two nearby bass fishermen and they provided water-taxi service to help me get my act back together.  After all that, we still shoved off 7 minutes early.

As they often do when a dry front approaches, and before the strong northerly winds subside, the fish fed heavily today, with their appetites rising and then falling with the wind speed.

Our first hour was our most productive — 45 fish in 57 minutes.  The second hour was a bit slower, the third hour saw a real lull and gave up only smallish fish, and then the last hour brought with it a low-light sunset bite through 5:45.

Bryce is a freshman basketball player, and Cole is a team manager.  Cole also plays football when that is in season.  The boys were both very coachable, so, when I saw them making mistakes in their technique and pointed it out to them, they quickly responded with positive results.  For example, in the first hour, we were all hooking the same number of fish.  I landed nearly all of mine, Cole was going 50/50, and Bryce was only boating one in every 6 or 7 he hooked.  As I watched him to analyze the problem, I saw he was reeling his fish in very quickly and was literally pulling the hooks out of the fish.  I lightened his drag and had him focus on reducing his reeling speed by half on the next several fish.  This instantly fixed the problem and he landed the majority of the fish he hooked for the remainder of the trip.

When all was said and done, we’d landed a total of 83 white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 crappie.  This was the deepest I’ve seen fish yet this winter season.  Great numbers of fish were found at 50 feet and deeper today.

TALLY = 85 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time:  6:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 53F

Water Surface Temp:  53.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW20 at trip’s start, tapering down to NNW11

Sky Conditions:  Clear, bright, cloudless skies as cold front pushed through.

Water Level: 622.47 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.07 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

Wx Snapshot:

06FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  074 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds (~20 Forster’s terns)

**Area 1692 – – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds (~12 Forster’s terns)

**Area  1055 – vertical jigging for fish found solely on sonar.  Fish here were smallish.

**Area 1693 – vertical jigging for fish found with initial assist by birds (~9 Forster’s terns)

**Area 745 – vertical jigging for fish found with initial assist by birds (~6 ringbill gulls)

 

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

Copperas Cove Vets Score Big — 101 Fish, Stillhouse

This  past Tuesday morning, 02 Feb., I fished with Gary Moore, his wife, Margaret, and their friend, Kirk Bateman, all U.S. Army veterans, all members of Eastside Baptist Church, and all residents of Copperas Cove.

IMG_1311 (2)

Margaret poured it on landing 2 at a time when we made our final push to boat 100 fish or more this trip.

IMG_1312 (2)

From left: Gary, Margaret, and Kirk.  The average white bass we’ve been catching on Stillhouse this winter has far exceeded the average size of the white bass we’d been catching over on Belton up until the week after Christmas.

During their time in the military, Gary served in various combat arms roles, Margaret served in positions involving chemical, biological and radiological weapons, and Kirk worked in the supply field.

I first got to meet Gary in person at the recent Central Texas Boat Show where he “trolled” by my booth.  He’s a regular reader of my “Guide Lines” newspaper column in the Sunday edition of the Killeen Daily Herald, and wanted to put a face with the name and talk fishing.  Since he, his wife, and friend Kirk are all retired with very flexible schedules, he asked that I just look for “fishy weather” and give him a call, preferably on a weekday.

When, on Saturday evening, I looked at the forecast from the National Weather Service and saw a wind shift in advance of a cold front scheduled for Tuesday, I liked what I saw, gave Gary a call, and we put the trip on the books.

The weather forecast held true and we awoke to a 54F, breezy morning.  The only drawback was the very clear skies instead of the preferred grey cloud cover, but this simply meant we’d have to fish deep this day.

There was very little early morning gull action.  In fact, our best fishing, which came from around 8:30 to 10:30a, came on a fish-laden structural feature we found strictly with sonar.  This one area, fished in four “short-hops”, gave up 70 fish.

We experienced a bit of a lull from 10:30 to 11:00 and were planning on wrapping up at 11:15, but, as the wind increased, a large flock of Forster’s terns began to feed over open water in 53-54′.  The fish were stacked from bottom, upwards to within 20 feet of bottom.  These fish were not very aggressive, so very slow, intentional jigging methods were required.  Once we zeroed in on what they preferred, we put another 31 fish in the boat over the next 75 minutes.

We wrapped up our trip around 12:30, about 5 minutes after the birds stopped working and the catch rate dropped to a point where we all realized the party was over.  The Cove crew boated exactly 101 fish on this trip, including 1 freshwater drum, 6 largemouth bass, and 94 white bass, of which all but about 4 were well beyond the legal minimum of 10 inches.  Our white bass averaged right at 12″ with several approaching 14″.

This cold-water period vertical jigging using a sonar-intensive approach for deep, heavily congregated fish will typically last until mid-March.  If this is “up your alley” give me a ring before then and we’ll get you on the water.

TALLY = 101 FISH, all caught and released

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S HOME PAGE

CLICK TO RETURN TO FISHING GUIDE’S FACEBOOK PAGE

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  12:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  53.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  W7 at trip’s start, increasing to W12-13 by end

Sky Conditions:  Fair, cloudless skies.

Water Level: 622.67 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.07 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

Wx Snapshot:

02FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1689 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds (~7 gulls)

**Area 1055 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar only

**Area  074 – vertical jigging for fish found under active flock of ~20 terns

 

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