WHO I FISHED WITH:   This morning, Monday, 05 August, I fished with Danny Richardson of Salado, his two adult sons, Casey and Kevin, and Casey’s son, 9-year-old Max.  This was one of several events taking place during a Richardson family reunion centered in Salado.

Casey is a U.S. Air Force test pilot currently serving with the Canadian Air Force in Alberta, Kevin is a special education teacher in a public school in Buda, TX, Max lives with his mom in Idaho, and, although Danny’s home is in Salado, he is a contractor to the U.S. Government working in Afghanistan to maintain aircraft and tends to be overseas more than stateside.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Danny Richardson with a Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken with downriggers set at 21′ over a deeper bottom using Pet Spoons on a 3-armed umbrella rig.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Casey Richardson with a 3.75 pound Belton Lake hybrid.

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Casey, Max, Kevin, and Danny Richardson, each with one of the 36 white bass we landed during this morning’s topwater feeding spree.

 WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  Multi-species targeting white bass, blue catfish, and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED:  Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  05 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We truly went “multi-species” today in order to keep the fish coming over the side of the boat.  Not only is it summertime, but, today we had bright skies and light winds, which always makes things tough.

We began our day downrigging under low-light conditions while keeping a vigilant watch on the surface for topwater action.  We landed several fish on the downriggers using the upsized Pet Spoons I switched to this past weekend.  After this weekend’s wrinkle in the weather passed around noon yesterday, clearing the skies, the fish got back onto their early morning feeding schedule.  Hence, we enjoyed about 45 minutes’ worth of solid topwater action from 2 and 3 year old white bass.

After the topwater action died, the post-topwater downrigging did not last long this morning as the fish sounded, dispersed, and turned off quickly thereafter.

Having seen this routinely, and having a mixed party of adults with one child, I came prepared to target blue catfish after routinely seeing them in several areas while downrigging last week.  We fished using a tactic shared with me by Steve Webb earlier this spring involving cutbait, and wound up putting 8 blue cat in the boat.  I was using chum to draw fish in, but the lack of wind, I felt, did not help the scent disperse well, thus, we caught what was around us, but didn’t draw in a lot of other fish.

After this, we did a bit more downrigging for suspended, moving schools of white bass and found a few schools of suspended, moving hybrid stripers while doing so.  These schools numbered 20-40 individuals, but typically only gave up one or two fish per downrigger pass.

We saved a bit of time at the end for a grand finale for Max, heading up shallow to treat him to some one-on-one time with the local sunfish population.

Max landed 17 sunfish in about 25 minutes’ time and enjoyed doing so, after indicating earlier in the trip that he wasn’t all that interested in the whole proposition.

 

TALLY: 65 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Saw no opportunities for vertical presentations today given how fast the fish were moving after bait.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   6:20a

End Time: 10:40a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 0.26 feet high, 0.0 foot 24-hour drop, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.4

Wind Speed & Direction: Under 5mph from the S the entire trip

Sky Conditions:  High, wispy white cloud cover under 5% on a blue sky

GT =  20

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area – 012 to 016 topwater action under low light conditions

**Area – 487 to 1788 post-topwater downrigging

**Area  – between 2054-2055 fishing cutbait for bluecat

**Area – vic B0161C – downrigging for late morning whites/hybrid

**Area – 502 sunfish

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:   This past Saturday morning I fished with long-time buddies Jim Pratt and Manuel Rodriguez.  The men’s wives presented them with a gift certificate some time ago and today was the day they chose to redeem it.

Jim is in command of a Fort Hood FORSCOM medical unit as a U.S. Army commissioned officer with a background in veterinary medicine, and Manuel, from San Antonio, manages multiple SONIC restaurant franchises in that metropolitan area.  The two men and their wives first got to know one another as neighbors when the Pratts were stationed in San Antonio.  The men, their wives, and their kids routinely “do life” together.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Jim jump started the morning by putting this low-light triple of white bass in the boat as we downrigged for fish which were aggressive, but which did not come anywhere near the surface to feed thanks to the heavy cloud cover.

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Manuel Rodriguez and Jim Pratt with a few of the 49 fish we worked up on an unusually cool, cloudy early August morning in which we even saw a little light rainfall.

 WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  Multi-species targeting white bass

WHERE WE FISHED:  Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  03 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  Nature pitched a curve this morning, ending a 12 consecutive day string of reliable topwater feeding in the low-light period either side of sunrise.  During this time, no topwater action occurred as thick cloud cover obscured the sun’s light thus failing to draw fish toward the surface.  The fish still fed well, and, in fact, were moving and gorging themselves on shad over the same time period during which the topwater action had been taking place earlier in the week, but they did it in the lower third of the water column instead of near the surface.

We scored well with downriggers during this time, putting 28 of our 49 fish in the boat during the first 75 minutes’ of effort.  During this key time, we landed singles, doubles, and triples.  As we caught fish, I observed a number of other boats in pursuit of white bass moving about after not seeing a surface bite develop.  I also noted those remaining stationary and fishing vertically experiencing poor results.  Later, when the bite got tough, we also found that fish were not very interested in a vertical presentation.  Only 2 of our 49 fish came on lures presented vertically.

After the initial strong feed, we searched 6 additional areas, finding consistency at two.  Of those two, one gave up only small fish (Area 2054).  The other area (Area 1814-1936) provided better quality and quantity.  It was here, as the clouds thinned and the skies brightened (although still covered by clouds) that I observed the first “popcorn” schooling of the morning, as white bass pushed shad to the surface and fed for just seconds at a time.

TALLY: 49 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) I bumped up to the next size of Pet Spoon today based on observations on the size of regurgitated shad I witnessed.  2) The temperature profile I took down to 70 feet showing no distinct thermocline developed…

0 feet 86.5

5 feet 86.5

10 feet 86.5

15 feet 86.5

20 feet 85.6

25 feet 85.1

30 feet 84.8

35 feet 84.2

40 feet 82.7

45 feet 81.2

50 feet 80.2

55 feet 79.4

60 feet 78.5

65 feet 77. 6

70 feet 76.8

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   6:20a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.26 feet high, 0.02′ 24-hour drop, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.5

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 5-7 through 9:20, then increasing briefly to SSE13 for about 30 minutes, then dropping back to SSE5

Sky Conditions:   100% grey overcast the entire trip

GT =  40

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 813-1802 – low light downrigging

**Area 2054 – downrigging and tailspinners fished vertically

**Area 1814-1936 – downrigging

 

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:     This morning, August 2nd , I conducted the tenth SKIFF program trip of the 2019 season.  I welcomed aboard 8-year-old brothers Jonah and Jayden Talivaa, accompanied by their mom, Joelle Talivaa, a U.S. Army veteran who served one enlistment as a truck driver.  The boys father, U.S. Army Specialist Johnathan Talivaa, has served a total of 18 years on both active duty and in the Reserves.  SPC Talivaa is currently deployed to Kuwait where he works in a military supply unit.

This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge.  S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.  This program began in May of 2009.  It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with.  S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing.  In mid-2019, SKIFF also began provide trips to dependents whose parents’ military-related disabilities prevent them from taking their own children fishing.  I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Jayden, Joelle, and Jonah Talivaa with a sampling of the white bass that fed intensely, albeit briefly, this morning.  After the white bass shut down, we went up shallow hunting sunfish.

 WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  Multi-species targeting white bass and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED:  Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  02 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED:   This morning’s trip began at 6:20am as we began searching for topwater white bass.  The bite was shorter in duration and less intense this morning than I observed the rest of the week.  We picked up a few casting shad-imitating slabs, but actually did much better downrigging 3-armed umbrella rigs over fish that had already sounded.  By 7:40a the aggressive white bass action was over.  We’d landed 17 white bass and 3 hybrid by this time.

With fairly calm winds, hot weather, and two 8-year-olds on board, it was now time for sunfishing.  We hit only two areas and found all four species of sunfish very cooperative.  The boys got the knack for catching these abundant fish very quickly, and enjoyed it, so, we stuck with what was working well.  The boys went on to catch exactly 80 sunfish, taking our morning’s total up to exactly 100 fish before the Gatorade ran low, the sun got high, and we decided to call it good right there.

TALLY:  100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The white bass topwater bite duration lessened and Friday morning boat pressure increased.  Not necessarily a correlation.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   6:20a

End Time: 10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:  0.29′ high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   83.5

Wind Speed & Direction:  S5-7 entire trip

Sky Conditions:  Under 5% cloud cover on blue sky.

GT =  0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0159C – low light topwater action, followed by downrigging action after the increasing light drove the fish down

**Area v1583 – sunfish

**Area  B0160C – sunfish

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle