July | 2020 | Fishing Report

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

WE WENT TOPLESS! — 46 FISH

July 28th, 2020July 28th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, 28 July, I fished Lake Belton with Dwight and Connie Stone of Georgetown. Dwight gave me a ring about this time last year and has since booked a number of trips with me, and has also referred a number of others, for which I’m very grateful.

Dwight is a retired small businessman, a good angler, a Christ-follower, and so the two of us just hit it off right away.

This was the first time Miss Connie came aboard. She does the term “better half” much justice!!

We set out with high expectations of topwater action after yesterday’s resurgence following Hurricane Hanna’s weather anomaly. That topwater action just was not in the cards, however. Between an easterly component to the wind and a more dry than humid feeling to the air, the morning just didn’t have that “topwater feeling” to it.

So, when I say we went “topless”, I mean we did not have ample opportunity to sight-cast to aggressively feeding topwater feeding fish this moring whatsoever.

PHOTO CAPTION: A dry atmosphere and winds just east of SE put the fish down today. They bit, but not on topwater. Our fish were caught via downrigging and working MAL lures vertically.

WHEN WE FISHED: 28 July, 2020, AM

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

HOW WE FISHED: We tried mightily in the first 70 minutes under low-light conditions to find topwater action, but there was none to be found. I noted a number of the weekday “regulars” also spot-hopping looking for a topwater bite, but finding none.

By 7:40, we gave up on that, settled in to use the downriggers to find fish, and then, when the situation allowed, sealed the deal with MAL lures worked vertically.

We hit 3 distinct areas, catching best early on, then finding the bite waning slowly toward 10:45 when we called it a day and headed in.

We only found one opportunity to work lures vertically. All of the other scenarios in which I identified bottom-hugging white bass resulted in those fish moving off before we could get locked on them, despite our efforts to hustle and get on them promptly.

Summer, with its high water temperatures, mean fish metabolism is at a peak. These fish must feed to meet the demands of their bodies, and the white bass are nearly constantly patrolling after shad, not staying put very long.

TALLY: 46 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Beating/thrashing the water definitely kept fish pulled in under the boat and helped reignite a waning bite several times in the one instance we had to fish vertically with MAL lures today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 1.29′ low, 0.03′ 24-hour change, 54 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6-7 all morning

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon +1 (a.k.a. waxing gibbous moon)

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0123C – encountered multiple, hesitant schools of mid-depth white bass in ~20 feet of water; took 3 on downriggers anticipating they would emerge on the surface shortly thereafter, but, they never did.

**Area B0031G – the one location where downrigging resulted in a nice take of white bass fished vertically, hitting MAL lures in about 38′.

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

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AFTER HURRICANE HANNA – 102 FISH

July 27th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 27 July, I fished with Mr. Terry Spidell of Harker Heights, TX, accompanied by his two grandsons, 17-year-old Kristian Barr, and 12-year-old Adrian Booker, also of Harker Heights.

Terry joined me once before, accompanied by his son back in May when the fish were still bottom-oriented and the water much cooler, so, today was a very different sort of trip fishing for bait-oriented fish with an existing thermocline.

Lake Belton white bass fishing — PHOTO CAPTION: Terry Spidell, Adrian Booker, and Kristian Barr with a portion of our 102-fish catch.

WHEN WE FISHED: 27 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After laying off the fishing this weekend due to poor conditions generated by Hurricane Hanna, I was back at it this morning under solid conditions, complete with grey cloud cover and SE winds.

The cloud cover was actually a bit heavier than desired, with some light drizzle falling until around 7:10. The fish got off to a later start thanks to the dreary, grey skies, but, around 7:15 things started to happen and the fishing stayed solid right up to around 9:20, then tapered down over the hour that followed.

We started off casting MAL lures to topwater feeding fish for about 40 minutes up shallow, in under 22 feet of water. Once they quit, there was no residual downrigger bite to be had, so we moved on.

Over the next 75 minutes an open-water topwater bite began, peaked, and fell, allowing for downrigging, sight-casting, and some vertical work with MAL lures.

By 9:30, we’d landed 88 fish and hoped to hit 100 by 10:30. We moved to a new area to try to find some fish with the downriggers which we could then sit atop of and work MAL lures vertically for. As it turned out, the fish we found were pretty scattered, so, we just stuck with the downriggers. At 10:30, we had 95 fish, and I told the boys we’d fish until 10:45 or until we hit 100, whichever came first. They redoubled their efforts at keeping up with the downriggers and playing their fish well. By 10:40, we hit 102, thanks to a couple doubles

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Although the low-light topwater action lasted the longest I’ve seen so far this summer, there was no open water feed thereafter from 8-10AM in the locations such feeding had occurred Mon. – Wed. this week.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 1.26′ low, 0.00′ 24-hour change thanks to light rains over the weekend spawned by Hurricane Hanna, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-6 all morning

Moon Phase: First Quarter Moon

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0123C low-light topwater

**Area B0123C – shallow topwater action & downrigging

**Area B0105C – shallow topwater action, downrigging, and some vertical work

**Area vic B0024G – late morning fish feeding from bottom to halfway up in the water column in ~25-27′

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

HALF-AND-HALF

July 24th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, 24 July, I fished with Mr. Rick Sacket and his wife, Paula.

The Sackets came out with me once before for a sonar training session on their Lowrance Hook 12 unit conducted on Stillhouse Hollow. However, due to some health issues, they weren’t able to get right back out on the water and put into practice the things I showed them, and so they desired a “refresher”, especially since adding a Humminbird Helix unit to the bow of the boat.

We did a split “half-and-half” fishing/sonar training trip so I could demonstrate how the sonar I have was useful in finding fish and what it takes to catch white bass consistently in the summer months, and so I could review and set up the sonar units for Rick on his own boat. Note: this is not something “new” that I’m offering — rather, it is a unique scenario for a couple who had already been through my 3-4 hour sonar session.

Lake Belton Texas white bass caught via downrigging — PHOTO CAPTION: Rick and Paula Sacket with a few of the 37 fish they landed in just under 2 hours on a day made tough by the north wind. We went on to do a sonar training afterwards on Rick’s boat, which he trailered to our fishing trip and left in the parking lot as we pursued white bass.

WHEN WE FISHED: 24 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As the old saying goes, “Winds from the north, the fisherman goes not forth.” We had a northerly breeze blowing well before sunrise this morning thanks to the counterclockwise spin of the atmosphere induced by Tropical Storm Hanna, which is sitting in the Gulf of Mexico poised to come ashore around Corpus Christi this weekend.

This really killed the bite today, despite being on the dark cycle of the moon.

We observed all of about 15 minutes of topwater action before sunrise, had these fish to ourselves as long as they fed, and put just 12 fish in the boat before they sounded. Neither Rick nor Paula were real strong on casting with spinning gear, so that hindered us a tad, but, the greater factor was the wind significantly dampening the action.

My desire during that portion of the trip we dedicated to fishing was to demonstrate topwater action and how to respond to it, downrigging, and vertical work for fish located on/near bottom while downrigging.

As soon as the topwater bite was over, we moved on to downrigging. We picked up a single, then two sets of doubles before encountering a large school of bottom-oriented fish.

This allowed us to retool with spinning rods equipped with MAL lures and work vertically, allowing us to catch a final 20 fish all from one location in about 28 feet of water. We concluded our fishing efforts at 8:15, with a catch of 37 fish in just under 2 hours.

TALLY: 37 fish caught and released (in just under 2 hours)

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 8:15A (ended fishing effort, began sonar training)

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 1.2′ low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE 2-5 all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (New moon +4 days)

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 016 – brief pre-sunrise topwater action

**Area B0023G – downrigging leading to vertical work with MAL lures

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

EVER CAUGHT A SUNFLOWER FISH?

July 23rd, 2020July 23rd, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, 23 July, I fished with 5-year-old Jed Miller. Ned is the son of Dusty Miller, and grandson of Dirk Miller, all of Miller’s Smokehouse fame in Belton, TX.

Today, Pappy Dirk came along in a support role simply to enjoy and encourage his grandson, and to help me help Jed be successful.

**PHOTO CAPTION #1: Dirk Miller and his grandson, Jed Miller, with a pair of the 34 white bass we took under ideal summertime conditions for a low-light topwater bite.**

**PHOTO CAPTION #2: Jed landed two fish on one lure at the same time on his very first attempt with a topwater after doing some previous damage with an MAL lure retrieved sub-surface.**

**PHOTO CAPTION #3: Once the sun hit the water and the white bass sounded, it was sunfish time. Jed landed this beautiful longear on live bait fish under a float.**

WHEN WE FISHED: 22 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Thanks to a gentle SE breeze and thin cloud cover, the environment was just right for some low-light topwater action just before, during, and after sunrise. We essentially drove from the boat ramp directly to fish just beginning to push shad to the surface and then proceeded to catch them non-stop for about 70 minutes.

5-year-olds need variety to keep them focused, and so when I sensed that Jed was getting antsy catching fish on my custom MAL lure, I switched him over to a topwater plug so as to add a visual aspect to the fishing. About the time he was losing interest in that, the fish sounded as the direct sun struck the water, thus allowing us to begin downrigging.

The downrigging produced two sets of doubles which Jed was excited about, then, once the novelty of downrigging wore off, we dove into yet another experience — that of sunfishing, or, as Jed called it, “sunflowerfish fishing”.

By the time we left the white bass behind, Jed had landed 34 of them.

As the heat intensified at the second of two stops we made for sunfish, Dirk and I saw Jed’s interest quickly fading and knew the time to wrap things up had come so as to keep this a memorable and positive experience for Jed.

With our tally now standing at 68 fish, Dirk told Jed he’d take him to lunch if he could land two more fish to make it an even 70 for the morning’s effort. Jed knuckled down and landed a juvenile largemouth for his 69th fish, and, shortly thereafter pulled in a final bluegill sunfish to make it an even 70.

We snapped a few photos to commemorate the trip and then headed to the dock.

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 1.17′ low, 0.07′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-7 all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (New moon +3 days)

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 013 to 1792 – low light topwater action

**Area 1792 to 292 – post-topwater downrigging

**Areas B0029G and 492 – 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)

#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

TOPWATER TIME – 107 FISH

July 22nd, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, 22 July, I welcomed Gary and Kathy Janacek aboard for a morning in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton.

Gary is the retired CEO of the Scott & White Credit Union in Temple, where Kathy also more recently retired from.

I donated a fishing trip again this year to the Morgan’s Point Fire Department fundraiser held each Valentines’ Day, where the Janacek’s bid on it. Today was the day they chose to redeem it, and that turned out to be a good choice.

**PHOTO CAPTION: Gary and Kathy Janacek with a few of the 107 Lake Belton white bass we took using a combination of downrigging, sight-casting, and vertical jigging.**

**Spend enough time in the outdoors, and you’ll see all manner of sights … this floatplane took a few passes over us this morning.**

WHEN WE FISHED: 22 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After a poor result under low-light conditions impacted by an easterly wind yesterday, the fish more than made up for it this morning by feeding aggressively on the surface for right at an hour just before and after sunrise. These fish were herding shad to the surface and feeding upon them voraciously. Most of the fish we landed regurgitated 2 to 8 shad and were going for more when they hit our lures.

This action wrapped up around 7:30. We then went searching for fish, hopeful that we would find fish revealing their locations by feeding on topwater out over open water as has been the case the last two mornings.

Indeed, we were able to find a school of fish absent of any other boats and caught fish in abundance before any other boats arrived. As the fish wrapped up their topwater feed around 9AM, they continued to feed subsurface. This is where the downriggers really shined. They allowed us to effectively cover water while presenting 6 baits at the exact depth the fish were holding at (25-30 feet), and then stop over top of exceptionally large schools revealed by sonar. Once atop these fish, we worked MAL lures with their exceptional strike-to-land ratios until the fish dissipated, at which time we then resumed downrigging. We went through 6 or 7 such iterations between 9AM and the time we called it quits at 10:10AM.

TALLY: 107 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile at depth:

0 feet 86.1

5 feet 86.1

10 feet 86.1

15 feet 85.9

20 feet 85.1

25 feet 84.5

30 feet 83.1

35 feet 80.7

40 feet 75.7

45 feet 71.2

55 feet 69

55 feet 67.6

65 feet 66.4

65 feet 65.5

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 1.1′ low, 0.11′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-7 all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (New moon +2 days)

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0104C – low light topwater action allowing for sight casting

**Area vic 506 – mid-morning topwater action over open water lasting briefly, but leading to downrigging and vertical jigging success

**Area vic 155 to 1975 – found fish with sonar, downrigged until large schools were found, then worked vertically to capitalize

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

2 DAYS, 6 KIDS, 334 FISH

July 21st, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Monday and Tuesday this week I fished with 3 generations of the Oliver clan. The common denominator each day was Papa Joe Oliver who treated both kids and grandkids to a morning of fishing on Lake Belton.

On Monday, Joe’s daughter, Amber, accompanied by her three kids, Ben (age 13), Beau (age 6), and Addie (age 5) came aboard, as did the kids’ uncle, Thomas (Joe’s son/Amber’s brother).

On Tuesday, Joe’s son, Corey, and Joe’s daughter-in-law, Britt, accompanied by their three kids, Cullen and Presley (10 year old twins), and Harper (age 8) joined me as part of their visit from Oregon.

PHOTO CAPTION: Back row – Amber, Thomas, Ben, and Joe; front row – Addie and Beau

PHOTO CAPTION: Back row – Joe and Britt; front row – Cullen, Harper, Presley, and Corey.

HOW WE FISHED: As I thought through what we might anticipate over the course of these two days, I came equipped to fish with downriggers, to fish vertically with MAL lures, to fish on top with MAL lures and/or Gang Banger Spoons, and to fish up shallow for sunfish.

DAY 1: On day 1 we were fortunate to stay in the white bass from before sunrise until 10 A.M., save for a short lag just as the sun hit the water, and for about 20 minutes thereafter. Prior to sunrise, we took singles and doubles on newly modified Pet Spoons fished on the downriggers, taking a total of 24 fish before the action waned as the sun rose.

About 25 minutes after sunrise, we found white bass feeding aggressively over open water and very willing to hit MAL lures as they fed on shad from 1 to 3.5 inches. About 60% of the fish we caught from this topwater action regurgitated multiple shad.

DAY 2: An early east wind sure put a damper on the low-light bite this morning. We landed only a half-dozen fish in our first 75 minutes on the water. As the clouds cleared, the skies brightened, and the wind faded and shifted SE, the bite came on strong with a repeat of yesterday’s long, intense, open-water feed with multiple, large schools of white bass working the surface and staying there, gorging on shad from young-of-the-year, up to 3.5 inches in length. The action was best from 8AM to 9:15AM, then faded to nil by 9:35AM. By this time, we’d landed 111 white bass and 1 hybrid striper. These were all taken on the MAL lure.

We put in a final 25 minutes focused on sunfish, catching bluegill, longears, and greens in shallow water using bait, and adding a final 40 fish to the count for a day 2 total of 152

WHEN WE FISHED: 20 & 21 July, 2020, AM

TALLY DAY 1: 182 fish caught and released

TALLY DAY 2: 152 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: When fish were apparent on the surface, we sight cast to them; when they could not be seen on the surface but could still be seen on sonar, we allowed our MAL lures to drop to a 10-count to get bit.

CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30A both days

End Time: 10:00A both days

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F on day 1, 77F on day 2

Elevation: 0.9′ low, 0.05′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow on day 1

Elevation: 0.94′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow on day 2

Water Surface Temp: 84.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE 8 at sunrise and for about 75 minutes, then dropping and shifting to SE4-5 and clearing slightly

Moon Phase: New moon on Day 1; Waxing cresent (new +1) on Day 2

GT = 60 & 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

DAY 1:

DAY 2:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

DAY 1

**Area 016 thru 017 for pre-sunrise white bass on downriggers (which certainly could have been taken on topwater, as well)

**Area 1120-1206 – open water feed which lasted 2.5 hours

DAY 2

**Area B0133C & vic 1579 – light, brief instances of schooling whites on surface

**Area B0027G through B0028G – open water frenzied feeding for long whiles from 8AM to 9AM

**Area vic 490 – open water feeding providing consistent action from 9 to 9:30AM

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

1st FISH OF THE A.M. = 1st FISH OF HIS LIFE

July 19th, 2020July 19th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday, July 18th, I fished with Clint Tippett and his two young sons, Carter (age 7) and Carson (age 5). We attempted to make this event happen last year, but dates didn’t work out. Then, again in February we tried to set something up for March and COVID saw to it that those plans were foiled. So, the third time was a charm this morning.

This trip was specifically focused on the boys’ success, so Clint, an anesthesiologist at Baylor Scott & White in Temple, helped me help them.

Prior to this morning’s trip, Carson had never landed a fish, and Carter only had a handful to his credit.

PHOTO CAPTION: 5-year-old Carson Tippett proudly displays the first fish of his life, a Stillhouse Hollow white bass landed just after sunrise while downrigging in deep water.

PHOTO CAPTION: 7-year-old Carter Tippett with the largest of the 50 fish we landed today. This white bass fell for a Pet Spoon – one of three presented simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig.

WHEN WE FISHED: 18 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Clint and I spoke by phone the evening before this trip (which was originally just to include Carter) and agreed that Carson would join us. I laid out what to expect based on my experience in fishing with kids this age and in this season of the year.

We planned to fish for white bass early on when the kids’ attention span and enthusiasm level was high, then move on to fishing up shallow for more cooperative and abundant sunfish later in the morning.

These plans worked out pretty well. The white bass action was more subdued this morning than over the past few trips, but the boys both landed 4 white bass a piece, included Carson’s very first fish ever, thus earning him a TPWD First Fish Award. By around 8:15, the deep action on white bass was waning, and so we retooled and headed up shallow.

All of these white bass came on downrigged 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons. At no time did I see a congregation of white bass which I felt warranted stopping to work vertically for.

We made two stops up in shallow water specifically targeting sunfish. We landed 36 sunfish at our first stop, then made a tally of 50 fish (which would require each boy catch 3 more fish) our goal at our final sunfish stop. The boys handily met that goal and, now at the 3.5 hour mark, dad and I knew it was time to wrap up before the boys got too (choose any combination): hot, bored, hungry, irritable, whiny, distracted, etc. Thus, we ended on a good note with the boys landing roughly equal numbers of fish.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile at depth:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 0.9′ low, 0.05′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87F

Wind Speed & Direction: S6 at sunrise, increasing to SSE12 by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moving to a new moon on 20 July

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 062 thru SH0031G – serpentine downrigging pattern for deep white bass in lower third of water column

**Area 200 and 189 – 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)

#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

FISH SATURDAY … GET MARRIED MONDAY — 40 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

July 12th, 2020July 12th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, July 11th, I fished with returning guest Shawn Leverington who has been out with me twice before. Accompanying Shawn this go-round were his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Matt Todd, as well as his soon-to-be father-in-law, Mike Carroll.

Shawn is to be wed this coming Monday to his fiancee, Kelly, in an evening ceremony at the Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton, so family from both sides have come to town for the event. Sarah, a teacher, and Matt, a federal fire fighter, drove down from Wisconsin, and Mike, a estate planning attorney, came in from Austin.

Shawn is a U.S. Army Reservist working full-time at Fort Hood as commander of the Warrior Transition Unit there. The WTU’s stated mission is to provide command and control, primary care, and case management for soldiers in transition to establish conditions for healing and to promote the timely return to the force or transition to continue serving the nation as a veteran in their community.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Sarah and Matt Todd, Mike Carroll, and Shawn Leverington

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! 3 fish on the 3-armed umbrella rig simultaneously.

WHEN WE FISHED: 11 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After experiencing just so-so fishing on Belton yesterday morning, and given that I expected a heavy weekend crowd there, I fished with Shawn and crew on Stillhouse today and was glad we made that call.

Summer fishing is always a challenge, but, thanks to some wind from the SSW, we did alright today. The bite started just as the sun cleared the eastern horizon and went strong until around 8:15, after which fishing slowed dramatically.

As has been the case for the last few weeks, and will be the case for weeks to come, we found and caught fish on the downriggers, which allowed us to cover ground with sonar and to cash in on the occasional “patch” of bottom-hugging fish via vertical jigging with MAL lures. The ‘riggers were equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs rigged with Pet Spoons.

We actually gave vertical work a try before our first downrigger run this morning, as I saw a nice 50-60 fish school right on bottom in water just over 45 feet, but, it was still pretty dark down there and we just couldn’t get them excited. We stopped to work vertically about 5 times this morning, catching fish on two of those pauses.

We witnessed no topwater action today, which was not surprising, as there was next to zero cloud cover.

We finished our morning right around 10:30 with 39 white bass and 1 largemouth landed.

TALLY: 40 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No clouds, no topwater action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 0.57′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83F

Wind Speed & Direction: S7 +/- 1 mph all morning

Moon Phase: Last day of the waning gibbous, moving into the last quarter moon tomorrow.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0030G to SH0031G to SH0032G – downrigging and vertical work

**Area vic 878 – 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)

#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

WE WORKED FOR ‘EM TODAY — 27 FISH @ BELTON

July 10th, 2020July 11th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, July 10th, I fished Billy Champlin of Killeen, TX, and his father-in-law, Tom Estes, of Florence, TX. Billy’s wife, Teri, put the trip together as a Fathers’ Day gift to the both of them.

Billy serves as a TPWD Lieutenant Game Warden here in Central Texas and has been in law enforcement off the pavement for over 20 years now.

Tom retired from the quarry/stone business and just this year began a post-retirement job of substitute teaching in Florence’s public schools.

Both fellows had fished a good bit previously.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tom Estes and his son-in-law, Billy Champlin, with a few of the white bass we worked to catch from Lake Belton this morning.

WHEN WE FISHED: 10 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was tough today. We had lightly whitecapping waves (w/ a ~13 mph wind) prior to sunrise and no cloud cover for about 90 minutes. The wind relented a bit and broken white cloud cover built in as the morning progressed. There was no topwater action in the areas I searched during the key topwater time right before, during, and just after sunrise.

We wound up covering a lot of water today with downriggers, encountering small schools of white bass with roughly 20-30 fish in each school. These schools were typically 2-6 feet off bottom but were not carpeting the bottom, rather, they were “balled up” and appeared similar to shad when they form into bait balls, except the individual fish in the school were clearly visible, especially on Garmin DownVu.

On a number of occasions (probably 9 or 10) we saw excellent sonar returns, pulled the downrigging gear in quickly and circled back to Spot-Lock on top of the fish we’d seen, only to find them a) gone, b) present but in lower numbers than we first encountered, or c) unenthusiastic. Over the course of our trip, we only landed 3 or 4 by fishing vertically.

Around 8:30 I noticed some light topwater action fueled by white bass chasing very large shad (4+ inches) over about a three-quarter acre area. We tried pinning these fish down to fish for them, but they were in very small, splintered groups and moving quickly. After failing to catch any by patiently waiting for a boil and sight-casting, we again tried a vertical approach resulting in 1 fish, and then went back to downrigging to cover water, and picked up another 4 fish this way. Covering water was the key for these moving fish.

TALLY: 27 fish caught and released, including 26 white bass & 1 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS: Only sporadic topwater action under a waning gibbous moon as we just passed full and are heading into the new moon which will occur on 20 July.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 0.05′ low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 82F

Wind Speed & Direction: S13 +/- 1 mph all morning

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0025G to B0026G – downrigged with some success after keying on sporadic, light topwater

**Area 1975 to 687 – downrigging

**Area vic -1604 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)

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday