GOLD STAR FISHING WITH BRADLEY WARNER — 57 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: In just about anything else American, earning a gold star is a desirable outcome.  In the military, it means you lost your life while on active duty.

Today, I fished with Bradley Warner, the son of a Gold Star soldier, the late U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Daniel Warner.

Bradley showed up punctually and eager to fish.  I was particularly thankful today for all those who have helped SKIFF come into being and expand through the years.  Over the holidays, Bradley’s mom, Jennifer, picked up on a SKIFF posting on the Fort Hood Area Events Facebook page, felt a trip would be a good fit for her son, and, in a matter of a few days, I was welcoming Bradley across the bow of my boat.

ABOUT SKIFF:  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.  SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty.  In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans.  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.  Call or text 254.368.7411.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Bradley Warner of Killeen with a pair of hefty Lake Belton white bass.  During our 4-hour trip, we also landed hybrid striped bass and freshwater drum.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday, 07 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  Following a very chilly 36F start, complete with a north breeze making it even chillier, we began our catching for the day by finding bottom-hugging white bass holding on a deep breakline at right around 8:10AM.  The sonar returns were scarce at first, but, knowing few other forms of life would be in the areas we searched, we went ahead and dropped baits on what we saw.  Before long we were boating small white bass routinely, landing a total of 19 before our luck ran out at this first stop.

We looked over 3 distinct areas thereafter and found little.  I headed on to a fourth location and, as we found fish and began slabbing, the only bird action we witnessed all morning materialized right on top of us.  It was great to be able to ride out this entire episode of bird action from its start at 9:44 to its conclusion around 10:40, which coincided with the cessation of the wind.  The most intense bird action took place in the first 40 minutes, from 9:44 to 10:20, then tapered off afterwards.  Although a few birds remained flitting around beyond 11AM, the bite all but ended when the wind laid down.

Interestingly, the slower the action got, the deeper the fish moved until, just before it got slow enough for us to call it quits, we were taking white bass off the bottom in over 60 feet of water.

Prior to the bird action, the lighter of the two slabs I traditionally rely upon (the white 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook) used with an easing tactic worked best.  As we encountered more mobile, aggressive fish under birds (and a greater proportion of hybrids mixed in), we bumped up to a 3/4 oz. slab and used a slow smoking tactic.  Several times this morning we had white bass and drum regurgitate whole shad, and each matched the length of the larger 3/4 oz. slab.

Bradley was a fast learner, and had a very natural, easy hookset motion, which served him well. He also played the larger fish he hooked very patiently.  As a result, we lost very few of the fish we hooked this morning.

TALLY: 57 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   NNW wind = bird action.  We experienced the deepest fish activity I’ve encountered thus far this winter with white bass caught on bottom in 62′.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:45A

End Time:  11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  36F

Elevation: 3.07′ low, 0.01′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   53F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW7 at sunrise and for 2 hours thereafter, then slowly tapering to calm by 11:10

Sky Conditions: Bluebird skies

GT = N/A

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1390 – easing for bottom huggers

**Area 682 thru 953 under birds

**Area B0013G endpoint of AM action in 62′ water (with lake -3′)

 

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

YOU “BEN” FISHIN’ WITH MATTIE VERY LONG? — 73 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, 04 January 2020, I fished with Ben Adams and his girlfriend, Mattie Hawkins, on Lake Belton.

Ben, originally from Spring Branch, TX, is working his way through an MBA program with Texas A&M, focused on oil industry logistics, and Mattie, an A&M grad. from Friendswood, TX, is working as a veterinarian technician at Gulf Coast Veterinarian Specialists, where the TV show ‘Animal ER’ is filmed.

The two came to visit Central Texas so Ben could meet Mattie’s extended family — her grandfather, aunt, uncle, sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephews.  Ben’s previous experiences angling have all been via wading in shallow saltwater for speckled trout and redfish, and he was looking forward to the change of locale and tactics that came with this afternoon’s trip targeting white bass and hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ben Adams, with most of his prior fishing experiences taking place in salt water, immediately noted the similarities between this 6 pound freshwater drum and its saltwater cousin, the redfish.  Freshwater drum are also related to black drum and the Atlantic croaker, all of which are in the Sciaenidae family of fishes.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: As long as the wind rippled the water, the white bass bit.  Ben and Mattie landed 73 fish this afternoon on Lake Belton.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 04 January 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED:  After this morning’s prolonged feed, I came off the water between trips, grabbed some lunch and just hoped that the wind velocity, which was forecast to be NW6-9 all day, would behave as forecast.  Without that wind, we’d be looking at a bright, calm, post-frontal condition which is amongst the toughest there is.

As it turned out, the wind did hold up through 5P.  When it died, the fishing died with it, but, before that happened, we managed a nice mixed bag of 73 fish including white bass, largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, and freshwater drum.

During our 4 hours on the water there were two brief episodes of light bird activity over open water.  We got to both quickly and fished them both thoroughly, but found the birds were behaving more aggressively than the fish beneath them.  Nonetheless, we did add a few fish to our tally during both of these events, but, the lion’s share of our success came as we found deep, well-consolidated groups of white bass holding on breaklines in 35-42 feet of water.

We found three such groups and vertically jigged for these fish using an easing tactic.  We made use of my thumping device to increase fish interest, we made use of Garmin LiveScope technology to know how and when fish were responding to our presentations as well as to “pick off” high-riding fish suspended up in the water column.  And, we made use of the “old faithful” 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached to seal the deal over and over again.

As the wind died around 5p, the fish activity quickly tapered to nil.  We caught and released a total of 73 this afternoon.

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    1:40P

End Time: 5:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  66F

Elevation: 3.04′ low, 0.00′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW6-7 at trip’s start, tapering to calm by around 5P

Sky Conditions:  Post-frontal, bluebird skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0196C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

**Area vic B0078C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

**Area vic 1750 (light bird action)

**Area vic B0098C (bottom-huggers found with sonar)

 

 

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

THEN AND NOW — 127 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, 04 January 2020, I fished with Dr. Craig Molyneaux and his adult son, Christian Molyneaux, of Salado.  Craig, a retired dentist, now serves as the Associate Pastor of Ministries at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen.  Christian is a U.S. Airforce airman serving in his first enlistment, and is currently stationed at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.

I’ve had the privilege of knowing the Molyneaux family since 1995 when they first arrived in Killeen to establish a dental practice (Killeen Dental) from the ground up.

I’ve fished with Craig and Christian a few times in the years since, hence the “then and now” photo below…

PHOTO CAPTION: Then (September 2007) and now (January 2020).  Both the boy and the fish grew considerably!!

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Well, the old man’s still got it.  Craig landed our biggest fish of the morning!  This Lake Belton hybrid striper went 5.00 pounds on a certified scale.

PHOTO CAPTION: Father and son landed 127 fish on a beautiful, clear, dry, breezy Texas winter morning.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 04 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After shaking the fog which made fishing pretty tough of late, a nice, stiff cold front pushed all of that out to the east on Friday, leaving cool, dry, but still breezy conditions this morning.  The northwest winds typically mean bird action, and this morning was no exception.  After finding our own fish on sonar along a deep breakline, bird action erupted about 70 minutes after sunset and stayed “fishably intense” right through 11:30.

By “bird action”, I mean the scenario in which migratory, fish-eating birds, namely ring-billed gulls and Forster’s terns, concentrate on one patch of water and begin rapidly and repeatedly feeding on dead and crippled shad which gamefish, namely white bass and hybrid stripers, are pushing toward the surface as they feed on those shad from the bottom, upwards.

During the 70 minutes or so during which we fished for bottom-hugging and less aggressive white bass, we used a slow, easing tactic equipped with Hazy Eye Slabs of my own making.  We used white, 3/8 oz. versions with stinger hooks attached.  (You can find those here:  SLABS).

Once I observed the bird action and looked at the relative intensity of it, I felt we’d be dealing with more aggressive fish, and with more hybrid striped bass.  For this reason, we changed out our 3/8 oz. lures for the 3/4 oz. version (also in white and with stinger hooks attached).  These have hooks which are one size larger (5’s versus 6’s) and they sink more quickly.  As we began fishing under the birds, we switched over to a more aggressive smoking tactic.

Some clients grasp the tactics I try to coach them in more quickly than others, and, to their credit, Craig and Christian came out of the shoots really executing the easing tactic and the smoking tactic very well, and their results this morning reflected that.  When I saw flaws in their technique, I pointed them out and they adjusted well, and then continued to fish more efficiently thereafter.

TALLY: 127 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:45A

End Time:  11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  34F

Elevation: 3.04′ low, 0.00′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW7-9 all morning

Sky Conditions:  Post-frontal, bluebird skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 2038 easing for white bass

**Area 1275 through 1749 for mixed bag under birds

 

 

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

DOCTOR IN “TRAIN”ING — 101 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, 02 January 2020, I fished with Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, TX.  Jim is “essentially” retired, but still works a few shifts now and again in his specialty of wound care over in Harker Heights.

Jim runs his own bass boat with Lowrance electronics, but enjoys doing a guided trip now and then in pursuit of something other than largemouth.

I’ve got an Alaskan vacation planned for later this year with my mom and wife and was picking Jim’s brain about it since he’s been up that way with family three times now.  As we were discussing all this, a recent trip he’d made to a model train museum on the East Coast came up.  As it turns out, Jim’s had a lifelong fascination with model trains and even worked for the railroad in Houston during his summer breaks while working his way through college.  I don’t know if Mrs. Wood knows this yet, but Jim shared that he’s planning on converting one of his bedrooms to a train room over the course of the next year — he’s got something like 28 large U-Haul boxes of accessories to equip said room!!!  I remembered thinking to myself about this time that a plan is really only a wish if your wife hasn’t bought into it yet.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, TX, had a 101 fish morning on Belton.  98 white bass, 2 largemouth, and 1 drum, all on the 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook affixed.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Thursday, 02 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  We’re definitely in winter fishing mode and the fish are “moody” as they typically are from now until the warmup in March.  We found fish as shallow as 16 feet and as deep as 32 feet this morning, and their responses to our presentations were all over the map.  We had stopped the boat and let down lines at ~15 distinct locations this morning; at only two were the fish really geared up and ready to bite; at another 2 or 3, the fish were just turned off — we could get them to raise perhaps a half-foot to a foot off bottom, but they would not chase any further, nor would they bite.  The rest of our stops saw action somewhere in between — we’d roll up on the fish, catch a few eager ones right off the bat, then the fish would throttle back, allowing us to catch a handful more before turning off and forcing us to move on.

Slowly but surely we put together a decent catch.  By 11:30A, we’d landed 88 fish.  I suggested to Jim that we either fish until we’d caught 100 fish or until noon, whichever came first, as I had to scoot over to Stillhouse for a sonar training by 1:30P.  Well, at exactly 11:53A, our 100th and 101st fish came aboard and we began wrapping up at that time.

With the exception of 4-5 smaller white bass which we landed while working small Cicada bladebaits horizontally in 16-18 feet of water, every other fish was taken on the white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.

OBSERVATIONS:  Fish behavior varied greatly today, even amongst small schools geographically near to each other.

TALLY: 101 Fish

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:45A

End Time:  Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  50F

Elevation: 3.07′ low, 0.05′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SW8-9 all morning

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover with light rain in the final 30 minutes

GT = 25

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 826

**Area vic B0184C to 1619

**Area vic B0028C to 2032

**Area vic 788 (shallow blades)

**Area vic 381 to B0071C

 

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

 

 

STARTING 2020 OFF RIGHT — 50 FISH ON SEASON’S FIRST SKIFF TRIP

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, New Year’s Day 2020, I kicked the season off with a S.K.I.F.F. program trip just for 14-year-old Emani Frazier of Killeen, TX.  Emani is an 8th grader at Union Grove Middle School where she enjoys playing volleyball.  She’ll head to Harker Heights High School for her freshman year next year.

Emani’s mom, Melissa Frazier, is a disabled U.S. Army veteran and single parent to her 5 daughters, of which Emani is the youngest.  Melissa left Queens, NY, in her early 20’s to join the military and was honorably discharged as a sergeant after multiple enlistments.  She is active with the Central Texas Wounded Warrior Project and, through their Facebook page, learned of the S.K.I.F.F. program.

ABOUT SKIFF:  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.  SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty.  In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans.  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.  Call or text 254.368.7411.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: 14-year-old Emani Frazier and her mom, Melissa Frazier, worked up 50 fish on a pretty raw, cool, cloudy, damp morning on Lake Belton.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Wednesday, 01 January 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Both Melissa and Emani had a little prior fishing experience, albeit with bait, before this morning’s trip with me, so, I assessed what they already had a good grip on and then built on that.

Both were good listeners and fast learners and, in no time, had the “easing” tactic which is so effective this time of year down pat.  We used light spinning gear with the very reliable 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached and wound up catching white bass, largemouth bass, and hybrid striped bass.  No freshwater drum this morning.

Today’s weather was just an average “between fronts” kind of day, and the fish activity reflected that.  The fish were not shut down, but they weren’t fired up, either.  Each time we found fish using sonar, we caught a few (perhaps 5-10) and then had to move on as the remaining fish there quickly lost interest, and we did not draw other fish in with the commotion our hooked fish caused.

By 11:20, we’d landed 43 fish and I could tell that Emani was getting cold, despite dressing well.  I suggested we fish until 11:45 or until we’d landed 50 fish, whichever came first, mainly to give Emani a goal to shoot for and a known end time so she could anticipate warming up again.  The ladies were both good with this challenge, and, by 11:40, we’d landed our 50 fish and were taking photos to commemorate the morning.

Thanks to the cloud cover, we found fish up shallow, and, thanks to the cooling water, we also found fish deep.  We caught fish from 16 to 28 feet deep this morning.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Scant bird activity this morning with more terns than gulls doing a lot of looking and feeding on surface-oriented shad, but not working over fish. After the trip concluded, I scouted several additional areas, finding fish at B0058C, B0010G, and B0072C, landing 5 fish at each and moving on while the fish were still biting.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    7:45A

End Time:  11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  48F

Elevation: 3.01′ low, 0.02′ 24-hour change, 20 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm and foggy conditions which were very localized.  The entire area was not foggy, only the lake’s surface due to the temperature disparity between the cold air and the warmer water.

Sky Conditions: Sun obscured all morning by grey cloud cover which served to stabilize the temperatures overnight and into this morning

GT = N/A

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 818 to 1024; 4 short hops

**Area vic 1659

**Area vic B0003G; 3 short hops

 

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