May | 2020 | Fishing Report

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

WHERE’S THE BEEF?? — 79 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 20th, 2020May 20th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning I fished with a crew of five from the Georgetown area. Joining me was Dwight Stone, Oscar Leal, Terek Brown, Donnie Boyd, and Jay Stein.

The only one of the five who had not yet been out with me was Donnie, who works in ministry to the poor and who brings his interest in photography into ministry, as well.

The whole bunch are godly, easy-going, self-deprecating, fun fellows to have on board. I always look forward to fishing with whomever Dwight rounds up!

Dwight first started fishing with me last fall after retiring from running a string of Sonic restaurants. As we were talking about current events, Dwight expressed concerns about a forthcoming meat shortage, the first indicators of which he’s already seen in the supply chain of the restaurant industry. it seems nothing has gone untouched by COVID-19, from fishing to filet mignon.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dwight Stone put this trip together for his buddies.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jay Stein with a Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken on live threadfin shad.

PHOTO CAPTION: I netted about 300 baits with my trusty 5/16″ mesh Fitec net this morning in anticipation of ample bait consumption! Terek Brown put his fair share of those baits to good use.

PHOTO CAPTION: Donnie Boyd with his first hybrid striped bass. He said after landing it, “Man your forearms could only go for 4 or 5 of those before you’re done!”.

WHEN WE FISHED: 19 May, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip divided neatly into two halves. The first half was spent fishing live shad for hybrid striped bass. That went swimmingly up until around 8:15 when sonar returns became few and far between and the steady bite we’d enjoyed slowed to a crawl. During that 2.5 hour span we managed 12 legal hybrid, 4 shorts, and a few white bass.

The second half of our trip was driven by what we found via sonar. The group concurred that if we found hybrid, we’d fish for them, but if we found white bass, we’d fish for them, instead. The very first thing I came across was a well-congregated school of white bass in just over 40 feet of water, covering a roughly 25 yard patch of bottom. We broke out the slabs and started catching very aggressive white bass. The action lasted for perhaps 20 minutes, then cooled, although the fish were still present, just not chasing any longer. We dropped bait to them and fished them until they quit, right around 11 AM.

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing blue herons feed on whole white bass which occasionally get throat-hooked when using shad. These large birds spear these fish through with their beaks as they land in open water, rebalance themselves as they prepare to take off, and then lift out of the water with fish easily weighing 3/4 of a pound. Neat stuff! And, it is nice knowing the fish did not go to waste.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Abundant spawning shad at Area SHAD027.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 0.50′ high, 0.05′ rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 72.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: ~9 mph from the SSE

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with no cloud cover

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 346

**Area vic 1012

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS — 73 FISH @ BELTON

May 20th, 2020May 20th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday evening I fished with Mike Richardson of Thorndale, TX, and a long-time friend of his, Dale Huggins, from near Corsicana, TX. Mike is a former law enforcement officer now in the construction trade, and Dale is in the pawn shop business.

Mike is friends with Cliff Brown over at Texas Boat World in Killeen. After Cliff saw me making use of my sonar units during a recent trip with his grandkids, he suggested Mike come out with me to observe what he had observed, and catch a few fish, to boot.

So, I conducted a multi-species trip for Mike and Dale, with a running narrative on what I was doing and why I was doing it concerning sonar use, and responded to Mike’s questions as we used the sonar in real-life fishing-finding scenarios.

Mike shared something which is true of many anglers — all of his fishing time is spent fishing, and in Mike’s case, tournament fishing for largemouth bass. He admitted never really taking the time to learn and observe his sonar due to his focus on fishing, knowing in the back of his mind that if he invested some time in the sonar, his time spent fishing would be more productive.

PHOTO CAPTION: From right, Dale Huggins and Mike Richardson, each with a late afternoon hybrid taken on live shad.

WHEN WE FISHED: 18 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: We employed a number of tactics this evening and were able to put fish in the boat from start to finish doing so. We started our efforts in deep water along a significant breakline using downriggers to cover water as I studied sonar with baits in tow. This yielded several white bass and helped me identify a few hybrid stripers holding near bottom, as well.

We brought the ‘riggers in, Spot-Locked, and commenced to fishing bait (live threadfin shad) where we’d seen hybrid holding. We picked up several legal fish, as well as a large “pygmy” hybrid, and then moved as soon as the action waned.

Next, we encountered great numbers of white bass holding in “patches” on bottom, again with the aid of sonar. These fish appeared quite active, so, after Spot-Locking on them, we used Hazy Eye Slabs in 3/4 oz. to tempt them while at the same time using Garmin LiveScope.

Thanks to Zach Brown of Garmin, I was able to upgrade my Garmin LiveScope to include the new bracket which permits the “Perspective” mode, and did the required software update to accommodate that new mode. Although I haven’t experimented with that horizontal view yet, what I really did like about the upgrade is the decal and accompanying witness marks on the new bracket which leave no doubt as to whether the transducer is in forward mode or downward mode — something that has caused a lot of confusion for the several students I’ve trained on this equipment.

Anyway, we caught white bass at will as long as they hung around, taking our tally into the 60’s. Since both fellows are experienced anglers, I suggested we set aside our final hour to return to bait fishing in an attempt to boat a few more hybrid. We wound up with 6 more fish landed in our final hour, including 2 legal hybrid, thus taking our total catch to 73 fish, which included 7 legal hybrid striped bass.

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Abundant spawning shad at Area SHAD026.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:20P

End Time: 8:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 92F

Elevation: 0.49′ high, 0.05′ rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 75F

Wind Speed & Direction: ~9 mph from the SSE

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with no cloud cover

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1269

**Area vic BG0026

**Area vic 714

**Area vic Lost Rod 2

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

OLIVER CLAN’S ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE BACK TO LAKE BELTON — 115 FISH

May 19th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning I fished with brothers Jack and Joe Oliver, and 2 of Jack’s sons, Asa and Isaac, on Lake Belton, primarily in pursuit of hybrid striped bass. Jack runs American Electric Company out of Marble Falls, TX, Joe is a retired school superintendent, Asa is a firefighter who works in the Lake Travis area, and Isaac is currently job-hunting after the restaurant chain he worked for fell victim to COVID-19 and closed its doors for good.

PHOTO CAPTION: Above, Jack Oliver, who coordinated this trip for his brother and sons, with a his second hybrid of the morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Above, Joe Oliver with hybrid in hand.

PHOTO CAPTION: Above, Jack’s son Isaac landed our heftiest hybrid of the trip. This thick-bodied fish weighed in at 5.75 pounds.

PHOTO CAPTION: Above, Jack’s son Asa with a Lake Belton hybrid which absolutely slammed his live threadfin shad

WHEN WE FISHED: 18 May, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We enjoyed much improved conditions over last week in that the weather is stable, and the flood gates at the dam were shut late last week, leading to a no-flow condition with slowly rising water. We lacked wind and cloud cover this morning, which certainly didn’t help our cause. Nonetheless, we got into the hybrid striped bass we sought over the first 2.25 hours of the trip, then, after finding heavily congregated and very cooperative white bass, we shifted gears, re-rigged with spinning rods and Hazy Eye Slabs and proceeded to wear out the white bass, thus enjoying quality and quantity on this morning’s trip.

TALLY: 115 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Abundant spawning shad at Area SHAD026.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 0.49′ high, 0.05′ rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 72.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light, under 4mph from the SSE

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with no cloud cover

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1384 – caught a majority of our 9 legal hybrid in the first 2 hours

**Area vic B0075C – switched over to vertical jigging for white bass upon finding heavily congregated fish around the midpoint of the trip

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

MAKING LEMONADE — 104 FISH @ BELTON

May 19th, 2020May 19th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Sunday evening I fished with returning guests Brian Parker and Lucindy Packer, accompanied by Brian’s niece, Jamie Johnson from North Carolina, and Brian’s sister, Ruth Guy, from Florida.

Most of you know I don’t fish on Sundays, but, I made an exception for Brian. He scheduled this trip some time ago in conjunction with his relatives’ travel plans, and we were supposed to fish on Saturday morning. High winds and 0.75 inches of rainfall on Saturday forced a cancellation, and Jamie and Ruth were due to depart today, Monday, May 18th.

So, after church I grabbed lunch, got in a quick nap, and loaded up the boat to take on the Sunday afternoon recreational traffic at Lake Belton.

Despite the clear, bright skies, and light, northerly winds, the fishing actually exceeded my expectations.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ruth, Jamie, Brian, and Lucindy, each with a stocky Lake Belton white bass taken via a smoking technique using 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs.

WHEN WE FISHED: 17 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Due to the bright, near-calm conditions, I looked as deep as I could find life on the sonar — just shy of 50′ — for starters. Right off the bat I located a bottom-oriented school of white bass holding on a breakline. We stopped atop them and tried vertical jigging, but they were locked down tight. So, given the fish were spread over an area perhaps 40 yards in diameter, I gave downrigging a try with a single 3- armed umbrella rig. We put 8 white bass in the boat, including a triple, in 4 passes over the area before the fish dispersed.

We moved on and continued looking for fish, and were fortunate to essentially drive right to a very active school of white bass. We got on top of these fish and never left them until sunset shut them down, only repositioning a few yards at a time if the bite started to wane. Once everyone got the hang of the smoking with the 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs we were using with a smoking tactic, I layered in the use of LiveScope and it was like kids in a candy store. All of the ladies were uber-competitive, calling out their individual tallies each time another fish was landed.

As the sun set in the west, this deep-water bite quickly ended. By this time we’d amassed a catch of 104 fish.

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:20P

End Time: 8:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.48′ high, 0.05′ rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 74.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light, under 3mph from NW entire trip

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with no cloud cover

GT = 215

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1743 – 8 whites on downrigger

**Area vic B0149C – 3 solid hours of white bass action on smoked slabs – 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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

WHEN THEY SAY “QUICK RELEASE”, THEY MEAN IT !! — 55 FISH @ BELTON

May 16th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday evening I fished with Steve Niemeier and his grandson, Caleb Fowler. If that name rings a bell, it is because Caleb is the young man who, back in March of this year, set a new Stillhouse Junior Angler record for the blue catfish category with a 17+ pound monster.

Today will not be one I look back upon with fond memories, although the day was quite memorable.

Originally, I met Steve, Caleb, and Caleb’s sister, Macy, at 7AM for a long-awaited hybrid striped bass fishing trip. As was the case the previous two mornings since the gates were opened and releasing water, the bite was super-slow for the first 2 hours.

At exactly 9:12, we spotted our first really good school of fish which I knew would provide us with some action. As my Ulterra trolling motor deployed and then started to take us to the spot I’d located our fish at, it literally powered itself loose from the mounting bracket and wound up in the water, prop still spinning.

I ran to the front deck to grab it (it was still attached via the power cable and coiled steering command cable) and held on for dear life while talking Steve through how to shut it down with the remote control located near him. We got it shut off and recovered, then I tried remounting it. The 4 stainless steel bolts threaded into the aluminum “quick release” bracket had, over time and with much use, just worn out the aluminum threading. As soon as I tried testing the motor, it came off a second time and we had to call it quits, agreeing to meet back up in the afternoon for a white bass fishing trip, instead, assuming I could fix the motor. Yes, it is truly a “quick release” bracket!!!

Here’s the silver lining: The guys and gals at Texas Boat World picked up my call on the first ring (thanks, Maggie), then Ken in parts let me know what my options were. When I got there about 40 minutes later, Jay in service was all ready to get helicoils in my aluminum base. Ronnie came out and visited with me and made sure my blood pressure did not exceed safe limits. Ken and Jay worked together quickly to get me back up and running, function-checked, and out the door. Just awesome!! Heck, I even had time for a 25 minute nap before heading back to Belton to try again.

So as not to provide an encore performance, I elected to through-bolt two of the four bolts in that bracket. It adds a step to sliding the bracket off, but, in the 4 years I’ve owned that motor, I’ve only done that 3 or 4 times anyway.

PHOTO CAPTION: Caleb Fowler with a 3+ pound bluecat taken just near dark on Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 15 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: As we ventured out on Belton, fishing was tough for the first two hours of the afternoon. I looked over a lot of water, finding some shad and a lot of blue catfish, but no real strong signs of white bass or hybrid.

I looked at the hydrologic data for Belton prior to the trip and saw that the 1607 CFS flow had been reduced back to 17CFS (essentially closed gates). So, after 4 days of flowing what had become the norm, we now had yet another significant factor to deal with, creating the beginning of another new normal. This day was getting really interesting!!

Finally, just prior to 6PM, we found a nice school of white bass laying tight to bottom in about 28-32 feet of water. We all hooked up on our first slab drop down to them and kept right on catching pretty consistently in this area for about an hour. During this time we “short hopped” in the same vicinity two more times. Finally, around 7:10PM, these fish shut down.

We moved to another area which was a bit more wind exposed and found fish getting poised for the final, low-light feed right at 7:15PM. Just as we stared to get into them, the wind ramped up suddenly about 8 mph more than the 12 or 13 mph it was already blowing.

We had discussed shooting for white bass for the majority of the trip, then hanging bait for the final hour when hybrid action typically increases. Now, the wave action made the bait option a non-option. We stuck with our slabbing until the wind, evidently related to distant thunderstorms to our south, decreased. We were able to fish with bait in the final 20 minutes prior to dark, but that only produced the same white bass we’d been catching, as well a nice 3-pound class blue catfish.

Caleb, in the 12 years I’ve fished with him, has always had a “thing” for catfish. When he was in scouts, we specifically caught and kept one (likely the only fish ever kept by my guide business) so he could clean and cook it himself to earn some manner of badge or award for doing so. At least the day ended on a good note.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 4th consecutive day of water flowing thru dam at ~1607 CFS

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15P

End Time: 8:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 0.25′ high, 0.12′ drop, 1606 CFS flow reduced to 17 CFS during the morning hours

Water Surface Temp: 74.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12, then ramping up suddenly around 7:30P

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with ~20% white cloud cover

GT = 110

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1827 to 1624 – fair white bass action

**Area vic B0037C to Area vic 098 – final hour of light produced moderate action

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

AUNT SALLY, QUEEN OF THE HYBRID — 146 FISH @ BELTON

May 16th, 2020May 16th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday evening I fished with a crew of 4. Jim Downing was supposed to bring a crew out in pursuit of hybrid last Friday morning, but, the weather had other ideas.

After a few personnel changes to the lineup, I welcomed Jim, his Aunt Sally Hardeman, his nephew, Eric Martin, and Jim’s friend, Gary Hannemann aboard.

Although there are exceptions to every rule, Belton typically does not produce hybrid striped bass nearly as well, nor for as long of a time in the evenings as it does in the mornings. For this reason, I do not offer hybrid-specific trips at that time. Jim was okay with “converting” his trip to a multi-species trip, and so we met up at 4:15pm and put in a good 4 hours in pursuit primarily for white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jim Downing, Sally Hardeman, Eric Martin, and Gary Hannemann.

PHOTO CAPTION: The first fish taken from our first area fished this afternoon. It would be our largest of the trip as we primarily focused on white bass which tend to be active longer and more predictably in the afternoons.

WHEN WE FISHED: 14 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: As I mentioned earlier, there are exceptions to every rule. As a rule, my 4-hour afternoon trips start slowly with the first 2 hours often involving lots of looking, and a little finding and catching, with the fishing taking off in the last 2 hours as the light level decreases. This afternoon, we looked over our first area in search of white bass, saw what I thought were hybrid on sonar, dropped down a bit of live bait I’d brought exactly in case this happened, and Jim landed a keeper hybrid in no time. This area went quiet thereafter, so we moved on, but …

Our next stop would lead us to 2.25 hours of non-stop catching in the early part of the afternoon. We found white bass stacked up about 4 fish high along the bottom in around 43 feet of water. Everyone was rigged up with a 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached. We hovered over the fish relying on Spot-Lock technology and just kept the fish coming over the side. Aunt Sally had a knack for drawing vicious strikes from both just-legal and just-short hybrid. 4 of her first 6 fish landed consisted of that species, and, as the day unfolded, she would wind up catching the majority of all of the hybrid we landed, thus earning her the title “Queen of the Hybrid” given by her manservant, Jim.

We used a smoking tactic the entire time spent on this area until finally the fish relented and we moved on to look for more fish.

Things went quiet from about 6:15 to 7:15. Then, about an hour before dark, we found another, smaller, but still active group of fish. Because hybrid often do perk up for a low-light feed just before dark, we decided to try using live shad at this area. We just about could not keep the white bass off of our baits no matter what size we used, nor how high up in the water column we placed them. We landed both white bass and a few blue catfish in this location consistently right up until they quit as last light turned to dark. We ended up with 146 fish landed, including 4 legal hybrid, all of which struck on the 3/4 oz. white slab.

TALLY: 146 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 4th consecutive day of water flowing thru dam at ~1607 CFS

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15P

End Time: 8:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 0.37′ high, 0.21′ drop, 1606 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 74.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Blue sky with ~20% white cloud cover

GT = 125

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area triangulated by B0037C/1012/2059 – 2.25 hours of solid white bass action

**Area vic B0078C – final hour of light produced well here, as it did on Tuesday

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

A PREACHER & A HACKER GET ON A BOAT … 74 FISH @ BELTON

May 14th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, May 14th, I fished with P.J. Condit and Reggie Walker. PJ serves as the pastor of Community Christian Church in Round Rock where Reggie and his family attend. Reggie is, literally, a professional computer hacker. He works for corporations by hacking into their systems in order to find and then fix weaknesses in those systems’ defenses.

We originally had this trip scheduled for late March when Gov. Abbott ordered all non-essential Texas businesses closed.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pastor P.J. Condit with a low-light hybrid striped bass we took during a short stint of bait fishing right off the bat this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Reggie Walker and PJ with a few of the larger white bass we landed out of a large, deep school of suspended white bass.

WHEN WE FISHED: 14 May, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was once again very tough for the first 2.25 hours this morning as this morning’s conditions mirrored yesterday’s same tough conditions during that time, with a murky, grey sky, a cool, damp feeling to the SE wind, and wind speed just shy of creating whitecaps.

As a little icing on the cake for their patience, I wanted to try to get a few hybrid during the low light period just as we began around 7AM. I found a few fish along a breakline, got set up over them, and wound up putting 1 blue cat and 2 white bass in the boat before our first hybrid came along. After we landed that one, the sonar screen went clear and the hybrid bite at that location was over.

We looked around at a number of areas through 9:15, catching only 1 more white bass and 1 small largemouth during that time.

Finally, around 9:20, I spotted a school of white bass feeding on the surface in open water over a 62′ bottom. I motored to the area, slowed way down, looked intensively with sonar, and found a 5-foot thick band of white bass holding between 35 and 40 feet over that deeper bottom.

These fish were suspended above a colored layer which clearly showed on sonar. I don’t know if it was a thermal break, settled silt, or something else, but it was visible and the fish would not venture below it.

I used the Minn Kota Ulterra’s Spot-Lock function to hold us over these fish, got baits down, put some chum down, got the thumper working, and we worked that school of fish for 2 hours and 20 minutes, landing 68 fish from out of it, all using my 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached, in combination with Garmin LiveScope.

Reggie already was very enthused about the Garmin LiveScope before I even turned it on, and asked if we might use it earlier in the morning as we bait fished. So, it was fortuitous that we were able to put the technology to use in a real-world application for such a lengthy period of time for someone who was so interested in it.

By 11:40, the fish had had enough and, try as I might to keep them congregated beneath us, they dissipated and our morning was over within minutes of when the fish quit yesterday. In all, we landed 74 fish including 1 hybrid striper, 1 largemouth, 3 blue catfish, and 69 white bass.

TALLY: 74 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Shad spawn still going strong. Netted ample bait at Area SHAD019

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 0.37′ high, 0.21′ drop, 1606 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 72.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-14 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies through 9:15A, then slowly brightening and clearing

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Open water just upstream from Area 1941 over 62′

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

MIKE FARRIS M.I.A. WHILE FRIENDS CATCH ‘EM UP @ BELTON (79 FISH)

May 13th, 2020May 14th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, May 13th, I fished with the crew from Bates Nissan over in Killeen. The crew, that is, minus Mike Farris, who, according to his friends either slept in or was possibly abducted by aliens. The end result was no Mike at the end of the dock by 7AM when David said, “Go!”. And we went.

Regardless, our 4-man crew which was supposed to be a 5-man crew, fished 6 rods the entire trip, which is about as many as is practical while still avoiding tangled lines (although that does still happen from time to time).

That crew consisted of trip organizer David Vahrenkamp, a coworker of his from Bates Nissan — Clay O’Dell, as well as Clay’s brother, Robin O’Dell, and Robin’s adult son, Tyler O’Dell.

PHOTO CAPTION: Clay O’Dell with one of our 5-pound class hybrid taken on live and cut shad this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Robin O’Dell found this largemouth hanging deep with his line-sided cousins.

PHOTO CAPTION: David Vahrenkamp hoists one of his own fish and one of Tyler O’Dell’s fish as Tyler was busy immediately catching another fish just after landing one of these.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tyler O’Dell with one of our 3-pound class fish which went just a shade over 18″.

WHEN WE FISHED: 13 May, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was very tough for the first 2.25 hours this morning. I looked over a number of typically-productive haunts and found little more than sparse blue catfish widely spread at a few areas. We put baits down at 3 separate areas where I saw a few suspected hybrid holding and drew only white bass and blue cats, and not an overabundance of either of those.

Around 9:50 we found a school of mixed white bass and hybrid stripers and stayed on them for 2+ hours. We fished 4 livebait rods and 2 cutbait rods with all of them producing about the same.

By the time the fish quit, around 11:50A, we’d boated a total of 79 fish, of which 19 were legal hybrid striped bass, 6 were short hybrid, 4 were largemouth bass, 1 was a smallmouth bass, 3 were drum, with the remaining 46 being a roughly 1 to 6 mix of blue cat to white bass.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Despite fishing baits high and using large baits, we still ran into a lot of action by white bass when hybrid stripers were our target species.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 0.58′ high, 0.19′ drop, 1607 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 69.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies the entire trip

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 187

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

SPIDELL FATHER-AND-SON OUTING – 91 FISH @ BELTON

May 12th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Monday, May 11th, I fished both AM and PM. In the evening I was joined by retired Command Sergeant Major Terry Spidell and his son, Tyler, who is currently working his way toward licensure as a commercial airline pilot.

The Spidell’s have a shallow, 14′ skiff with basic sonar and a GPS-equipped Minn Kota trolling motor. In addition to catching fish, the pair also wanted to see how they might use their equipment more effectively by learning how I put similar equipment to use in pursuit of white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Why is it that you can’t get as excited about catching white bass during a hybrid trip as you can about catching hybrid during a white bass trip? Tyler Spidell with a nice Lake Belton hybrid striper.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tyler and his dad, Terry, with one of the 31 fish we landed in our final 25 minutes on the water.

PHOTO CAPTION: And some Belton Lake fatties as far as white bass go. All taken on a 3/4 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.

WHEN WE FISHED: 11 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: We fished artificial baits (my 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached) vertically the entire trip in water from 12 to 48 feet, finding most of the fish and action between 35-47 feet. I started off with the fundamentals of using a “smoking” tactic, they offered pointers on hooking and landing techniques to help improve our “strike to land” ratio. Next, I layered in the use of LiveScope. Terry was blown away at the video-like quality of this Garmin technology, and Tyler, a self-confessed gadget nut, quickly grasped the concept of what was being shown and how to improve efficiency based on the data available.

We fished 5 areas with success and passed on 3 other areas where down-imaging, side-imaging, and colored sonar did not reveal evidence of aggressive fish behavior.

With about 25 minutes’ worth of light left to fish in, we motored into an area with our tally standing at exactly 60 fish. I had commented to the fellows at the beginning of our afternoon that afternoon trips typically start slowly and end well, which is just the opposite of morning trips.

In those 25 minutes, we boated more than a fish per minute, taking our final tally up to 91 fish. That equates to 34% of our catch made in the last 9% of our time on the water.

When all was said and done, the fellows had a blast and were encouraged that they would be able to do better going forward while fishing on their own.

TALLY: 91 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No laughing gull action observed this evening. Saw gizzard shad in great quantities feeding on the surface between vic 0147 and the shore, over 9-12 feet of water. We cast into them thinking initially that they were being driven to the surface by gamefish, but, on closer inspection we saw this was a feeding behavior by the shad.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15P

End Time: 8:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.93′ high, 0.00′ rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 72F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-13 at trip’s start, dying back to SSE9 in the last hour

Sky Conditions: 25% white cloud cover on a bright blue sky

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1743

**Area vic 150

**Area vic 0147

**Area vic 817

**Area vic B0078C

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)

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday