August | 2018 | Fishing Report

Winds from the West, Fish Bite Best — 208 Fish @ Belton

August 11th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Mr. Mike White and his friend, Mr. Chris Lester, both returning clients who first came out with me last fall just as the water temperature was beginning to fall steadily. When Mike booked the trip about a month ago, I let him know that summer fishing, although fairly predictable, does not typically yield the numbers that fall and spring trips to. He acknowledged this and let me know that his aim was to better understand the tactics needed to pursue summertime fish.

Chris Lester with our largest fish of the trip. With 208 fish landed, only about 6 were hybrid, and just one of those was of legal size. The white bass certainly dominated the surface bite today.

The white bass we caught today were primarily 2-year class fish (~70%) with the balance being smaller 1-year class fish like the one in Mike’s (green shirt) left hand.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 11 August 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We spent our first 60 minutes throwing popping corks to distinct, small groups of fish (perhaps 30ish in number), which were showing themselves on the surface as they chased shad under low light conditions from 6:30a to 7:30a. We put 24 fish in the boat during this time and then encountered a lull as the winds were calm and the sky darkened as a band of storms, of which we were on the eastern edge, moved from south to north. Things were very quiet for about an hour as this weather change occurred, with little topwater action other than by occasional rough fish rolling. Then, it happened … the winds began to blow from the west, going from 0 to ~12 mph over the next 45 minutes. As that significant environmental event took place, a massive open water white bass feed began to take place involving thousands of fish spread over many acres. Groups of several hundred fish would drive young-of-the-year threadfin shad to the surface and feed on them for as long as the baitfish stayed pinned there — typically for 6-10 minutes at a time. At any given time, 6-10 pods of such activity could be seen across the lake’s surface. Once the baitfish escaped, another melee would erupt nearby, and so it went until the last shad was consumed at around 11:10am. During this time, Mike and Chris landed exactly 208 fish including just a handful of short hybrid and one legal hybrid. Although the popping cork rig produced well, a long-casting 8′ spinning rod combined with a Pflueger Arbor reel and a compact 3/8 oz. slab in a natural baitfish color performed even better primarily because the longer casts provided for more coverage and greater standoff distance from these fish which definitely left about a 40′ “buffer” around the boat when it was being propelled by the trolling motor.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: This was one of the two most massive feeds I’ve ever witnessed on Lake Belton in 26 years of fishing this body of water. Spectacular!! After the west wind began, no more rain fell, although the skies were heavy and grey and it remained quite humid. All storms passed to our west and from S. to N.

TALLY: 208 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 11:10a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 8:40a, then a W wind tapering up from nil to 12mph over about 40 minutes, then scaling back to ~8mph

Sky Conditions: 100% cloud cover

Water Level: 7.88 feet low

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 793 – 1791 topwater action under low light early morning conditions

**Area 174-1463-1391 extended topwater action over open water in conjunction with a weather change

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Happy Birthday, David! — 59 Fish on Stillhouse

August 9th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Mr. David Hudgens of Belton, accompanied by his 13-year-old son, William, and his 11-year-old daughter, Kaylee. David works in the information technology department at McLane’s in Temple, William is headed to 8th grade where he’s looking forward to continuing to play tennis, and Kaylee heads into 6th grade where she will continue to pursue the sport of soccer. This fishing trip was a birthday gift to David from his folks, Bill and Debra Hudgens.

Miss Kaylee took the “big fish award” hands down! This nice largemouth went just shy of 4 pounds and came on a Pet Spoon fished at 34′ over a deeper bottom while we were targeting white bass. Although it is difficult to tell from this photo, the bass appeared to have recently fed on a single, large fish, possibly a small white bass, as its abdomen was bulging noticeably out to the sides (look at the tip of the pectoral fin).

Although a “triple” eluded us today, the kids landed multiple doubles and singles as the 3-armed umbrella rigs worked their magic behind the Cannons.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 08 August 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We spent our first 90 minutes throwing Cork Rigs to smallish, schooled white bass feeding on young-of-the-year shad in shallow water. These were young-of-the-year white bass and 1 year class fish, but provided lots of visual, engaging action for the kids and really gave them an opportunity to practice casting with spinning gear under “real-world” conditions. After this action died, we headed to deeper, clearer water to downrig for the remainder of the morning, visiting 3 distinct areas and catching fish at each one. As the lack of topwater action by schoolie-sized largemouth would indicate, the fish were not really jazzed this morning, thus, we had to work for the fish we caught.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: There was a noticeable lack of topwater action by largemouth bass this morning, hence, to find large concentrations of bait and the white bass hanging near them, we had to visit a number of areas and do a lot of looking with sonar.

TALLY: 59 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp: 83.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW under 5 through 8:15a, then building to SSW12

Sky Conditions: ~10% cloud cover

Water Level: 7.58 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 117 white bass on Cork Rigs under low light; young of the year whites

**Area SH0049C white bass on Cork Rigs under low light; one year whites

**Areas 1968 thru SH0041C, 1440, and 1448 – white bass on downriggers with Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Black Helicopters Overhead and a Conspiracy to Catch White Bass — 59 Fish

August 7th, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning I ran a multi-species trip on Stillhouse Hollow for a gentleman from the Round Rock area and his two sons, ages 7 & 9. Due to this fellow’s job with Homeland Security, he preferred not to be named, nor to show photos of himself or his family.

Folks often ask what I mean when I refer to white bass being in a certain “year class”. This simply refers to how long the fish have been in the reservoir since being spawned. Of the fish shown in this photo, the top fish is right at 13.5 inches and is a “three year” class fish, heading towards its fourth “birthday”. The fish in the middle is a “two year” class fish of about 11.25 inches in length. The smallest fish, a “one year” class fish is right at 9.75 inches. These sizes are fairly normal for our relatively infertile central Texas reservoirs. In more fertile waters (like those found in east Texas, like Tawakoni, Cedar Creek, Richland-Chambers, and others, growth rates are higher because food is more abundant.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on sunfish and white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 07 August 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We fished for the first hour and 15 minutes following sunrise up in shallow water for small white bass aggressively herding shad to the surface, thus making their whereabouts known. The boys had very limited prior fishing experience, so, learning to cast with spinning gear was our first prerequisite. After the first 10-15 minutes both boys were casting unaided and with enough distance and accuracy to land their own fish. The boys and their father landed 23 white bass. Once the sun’s angle increased, and with no cloud cover to reduce its intensity, the white bass action on top stopped around 7:45a. We hit two locations searching for sunfish and found fish at the second stop after finding no fish at our first stop (water was a bit turbid thanks to overnight winds blowing into this area). The boys landed 17 sunfish. Our last hour was spent in pursuit of larger, suspended white bass holding at around 34 feet deep. We accessed these fish with downriggers equipped with Pet Spoons on a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs. The boys and their dad landed a total of 18 white bass in the 1 and 2 year class, and a single largemouth at this area.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:

TALLY: 59 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:40a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Water Surface Temp: 84.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 7:45am, then starting due south building to 12mph

Sky Conditions: ~10% cloud cover

Water Level: 7.48 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 093 – small white bass caught from surface-feeding schools of fish on Cork Rigs.

**Area 420 – sunfish

**Area 1242-SH0047C – downrigging for white bass with one largemouth

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Mixed Bag Angling for a Mixed-Ages Crew — 68 Fish on Stillhouse

August 2nd, 2018August 2nd, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with Dave K. and his family from Round Rock, TX, including his wife, his 6-year-old daughter, and his twin 3-year-old sons. Dave requested I not post photos/last names, so, instead of the normal family photos I typically illustrate these posts with, I’ve included some sonar screen shots, instead.

Topwater action generated by schoolie-sized largemouth led us to find white bass feeding on the same bait in the same general area on a deep flat. Downriggers were very effective at presenting multiple baits which imitated the forage size well. Multiple baits yielded multiple hookups. This DownScan screenshot taken from my Lowrance HDS16 Carbon shows just a small patch of the bottom which was blanketed with hundreds of white bass.

This screen shot was also taken off of my Lowrance HDS16 Carbon with the FishReveal technology turned on, thus placing colored sonar images overtop of the DownScan screen. All the fish are shown by the DownScan in light blue, and those fish directly under the boat showed in shades ranging from green (most intense echo) to yellow, then red, then purple-blue (in order of decreasing return-echo strength).

After the bite died and I dropped my clients off at the end of their trip, I returned to the area where we had found our white bass. I found that the fish moved off the flat they were feeding on and were holding, suspended, over the river channel totally disinterested in feeding.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on sunfish and white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 01 August 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We fished for the first 2 of 3 hours in three distinct locations for sunfish, catching a total of 40 sunfish of 3 different species: redear, bluegill, and longear. In our third and final hour I spotted largemouth bass herding bait to the surface over open water. I moved into these fish, found white bass in the lower third of the water column feeding on the same small shad the largemouth were pushing around and deployed twin downriggers with 3-armed umbrella rigs set to present just a few feet above the white bass. We landed 28 white bass in right at an hour’s time as they came in as multiple singles, multiple doubles, and multiple triples.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:

TALLY: 68 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 9:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Water Surface Temp: 82.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 8:15am, then starting NNW building to 7mph

Sky Conditions: 0% cloud cover

Water Level: 7.18 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 201, 888, 420 – sunfishing for the first 2 hours or so under low light, and while waiting for wind to build; 40 sunfish

**Area vic 1512 to 1951 – very aggressive, schooled, suspended white bass holding in lower third of the water column beneath schoolie-sized largemouth; caught 2 largemouth and 26 white bass coming in singles, multiple doubles, and multiple triples

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Kinda Like Fly Fishing — 57 Fish with AJ Cotto

August 2nd, 2018August 2nd, 2018 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with AJ Cotto. AJ is a 12-year-old whose parents are both in the military. AJ and his sister fished with me last July 4th, on a Kids Fish, Too! trip, accompanied by his parents. This morning, his college-aged brother, Jose, came along as a spectator while AJ did all the fishing. Due to some recent travel in from the west coast which involved a lot of hotel-hopping, AJ’s body and sleep patterns were all a bit off. By request, we began the trip 30 minutes later than normal and (again, by request) fished for only 2.5 hours. Regardless, AJ did very well, and, thanks to an incoming cold front, enjoyed the best fishing of the day in the shortened time we were on the water.

ABOVE: White bass were forcing young-of-the-year shad (top half of photo) to the surface this morning very aggressively in a pre-frontal feed which lasted for 2 hours before the wind shifted to the north. Most fish we landed regurgitated shad they had eaten. Once particularly successful white bass actually belched up 16 such shad. We used hand-tied streamers (bottom half of photo) to very closely mimic this forage and AJ proceeded to “wear ’em out”.

AJ Cotto with one of the many white bass he landed during a topwater feeding spree after quickly learning to use spinning gear to cast our “float ‘n’ fly” rig.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 30 July 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We enjoyed 2+ solid hours of topwater fishing for white bass feeding on young of the year shad on the surface. These small baitfish were about 0.75 inches in length, so, I rigged a weighted popping cork (to provide weight for casting distance) with a hand-tied streamer selected to match the forage size, and a fluorocarbon leader. I then provided AJ with instruction on how to cast a spinning outfit (which he’d not done before). AJ’s distance and accuracy slowly improved and, in the end, he wound up putting 54 fish in the boat before an incoming cold front shut the fishing down hard. After that occurred, we downrigged for 3 more fish before his mom arrived back to pick him up around 9:30am. These fish we caught on topwater were smaller yearling fish, but just right for our scenario.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) A mid-summer cold front moved in around 9:10am, shifting the wind suddenly. The north winds blew for 2 more days before returning to the SE on Thursday, 02 Aug. The pre-dawn temperature on Wednesday morning, 01 Aug. was 66F. 2) This week’s temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 86.5°

5 feet 86.5°

10 feet 86.5°

15 feet 86.5°

20 feet 86.5°

25 feet 86.5°

30 feet 85°

35 feet 80.3°

40 feet 74.3°

45 feet 68.4°

50 feet 65.1°

55 feet 62.8°

60 feet 61.1°

TALLY: 68 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 9:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Water Surface Temp: 86.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW4-5 through 9:10am, then shifting suddenly NNW12-13 with the arrival of a summer cold front’s leading edge

Sky Conditions: 20% cloud cover prior to the front’s arrival, then 100% grey cloud cover as the front arrived, with partial clearing to 80% cover within 20 minutes after the front’s arrival

Water Level: 7.09 feet low

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: (which did not accurately forecast the timing of the cold front’s arrival)

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0049C – two solid hours of non-stop surface action by 1-year class white bass.

**Area vic 1888 – downrigging in deeper, clearer water after the cold front’s wind shift killed the topwater bite; 1 white and 2 largemouth in 3 passes

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)