WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, November 20^th, I fished with returning clients Jim Downing, Gary Hanneman, and Sally Hardeman.

Jim lives in the Killeen area, Gary lives “out in the county” in Coryell Co., and Sally has retired to Sun City in Georgetown.  Of the three, Jim has been out with me the most, and was the one who coordinated everything for this trip on what would turn out to be a “cast and blast” weekend for him.

With the weather essentially unchanged all week, the fish and the fishing was pretty predictable.  The only variation on the theme today was the cloud cover.  We had thick, grey cloud cover with light fog as we met at 7:30, but, the fog quickly dissipated, and the cloud cover still allowed for a brightening of the atmosphere, which, in turn, triggered the fish to begin feeding just a tad later than earlier in the week.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: This was my Friday morning crew, from left, Gary Hannemann, Sally Hardeman, and Jim Downing.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: That’s Jim’s cousin, whom he calls “Aunt Sally” from down at Sun City in Georgetown.  I didn’t notice until posting this photo that she wore her floral purse all during our trip — very classy!!

PHOTO CAPTION #3: This was the “cast” part of Jim’s weekend …

PHOTO CAPTION #4: …and this was the “blast” part of Jim’s weekend at Gary’s ranch — a nice 11-point buck.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 20 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Since conditions were solid, complete with grey cloud cover and a southerly wind, I passed on marginal fish activity and I also left productive areas to find more productive areas once the catch rate at such an area began to drop.

In this way, we were able to fish 6 distinct areas, and experienced a typical normal or “bell-shaped” curve of activity at each, with a quick ramp up of activity as soon as our lures first appeared at bottom, followed by a sustained peaking of the fish action, and ending with a tapering back to slow fishing.

Thanks to the water temperature, which has stalled in the mid-60s, the use of moderately paced tactics is still paying big dividends.  Every one of the 174 fish we landed was taken on a vertically worked MAL Lure (we used white and chartreuse interchangeably) reeled up off bottom with a steady cadence.

In addition to the white bass, which made up the lion’s share of our catch, we also landed 3 legal hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 flathead (yellow) catfish.

The Garmin LiveScope added a significant percentage to our catch today in that beyond those fish holding on the bottom, LiveScope revealed small groups of suspended fish moving more quickly in a horizontal band beneath the boat.  Instead of stopping our retrieve when it was clear that no bottom-oriented fish were chasing, we’d keep right on reeling a few handle turns beyond these suspended fish to see if they would react and chase.  More often these fish, which were likely on patrol for food already, would respond positively by chasing and striking.

 

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 174 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed this morning. We just need more cold weather and north winds to push these migratory fish-eaters south.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation:  0.79 low with a 0.02’ 24-hour drop and 20 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were S9-12 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies with light fog pre-dawn, followed by ~3 hours of continued grey clouds with slow clearing beginning around 10A.  70% white clouds by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 33% illumination

GT = 63

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0012C; 20 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 354; 8 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1012; 32 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1007; 40 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0055G; 30 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0052G; 44 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

 

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 18th, I fished with U.S. Air Force veteran Steve Gates, a former F-4 Phantom pilot, and U.S. Army veteran Brian Pedersen, a forum armor branch officer.

The two fish and hunt together in and around Choke Canyon Reservoir, near San Antonio.

Steve also heads up to Alaska and works operations for Adventure Alaska, a hunting and fishing operation on Prince of Wales Island, about 3-4 months out of the year most years (www.FishOrHunt.com).

The fellows shared that they both do well on white bass in the spring and on into the summer, but the deep water, cool season fishery is something they’d hoped to improve on.

Steve has a new Ranger boat on the way and also wanted to check out the array of sonar on my own boat in order to narrow down makes and models which would suit his own multi-species pursuits, so, in addition to catching fish, I also intentionally pointed out what I was (and wasn’t) seeing on sonar which led us to fish on certain areas and pass on others.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Steve Gates with an early morning hybrid striped bass taken from 43′ on a MAL Lure in chartreuse.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:   Brian Pedersen with out single largest white bass out of 237 landed; this baby went just over 14″ and also came on a chartreuse MAL Lure.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3:   White bass were plentiful this morning; whenever we found them, there were plenty to go around.  Four separate stops made the entire 4-hour trip.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 18 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:   

Fishing was nearly “cookie cutter” as compared to the day before, only better, as we had winds from a definite direction (SSE) which constantly strengthened (from 2 – 12 mph) over the course of the trip.

With two experienced anglers on board, I essentially provided a quick tutorial and then let them get right down to catching without having to do much coaching or polishing of their techniques whatsoever.

Like most folks new to working the MAL Lure, the tendency to try to set the hook upon feeling a strike would be a bit difficult for these fellows to overcome (the longer you’ve fished, the harder this is), but, the main thing of getting the spinner blade spinning in a short vertical span was mastered by both fellows right off the bat.

We fished only four distinct locations this morning, and the fish activity followed a normal, bell-shaped curve, getting started in the first hour, building to a peak in the middle two hours, and then falling off to nothing by the end of the fourth hour.

We worked the MAL Lures in a “plain Jane” vertical retrieve the entire time on the water, save for about 10 minutes of experimentation with slabs at the very end of the trip so the fellows had a glimpse of what will be required to continue to catch fish when (or if) the water temperatures fall into the 50’s.

For their efforts, Steve and Brian landed 244 fish, including 2 hybrid striped bass, 2 largemouth bass, 3 freshwater drum, and 237 white bass, of which only a handful were sub-legal (under 10″).

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 244 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Still no helpful bird activity in any amount after just 2 days of minimal assistance 2 weeks ago.  I think it just hasn’t been cold enough long enough to get the birds pushed down here and get the fish oriented on suspended bait quite yet. What gulls are present are preoccupied chasing loons.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation:  0.74 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise and 35 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 63.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were SSE2 at sunrise, slowly tapering up to SSE12 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Cloudless

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 15% illumination

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0022C; 12 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0042C; 51 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0052G; 139  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0151C; 42 fish on MAL Lures/Hazy Eye Slab (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, November 17th, I fished with Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, TX, and a friend of his, Chad Tarvestad.

Jim was on my standby list in the event I had a postponement/cancellation.  The fellow I was due to provide sonar training to today had equipment issues, so, Jim jumped on the opening.

Jim’s medical specialty is wound care — a field he is ‘slowly retiring’ from.  He’s also a model train enthusiast.  So, when I asked him how many days a month he’s now working, he told me “about three”, and I observed that that was just enough for “electric train money and then some”.  He chuckled, and agreed.

Chad is a U.S. Army veteran originally from North Dakota.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From left:  Dr. Jim Wood and Chad Tarvestad with a portion of their 119 fish catch made on vertical presentations this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 17 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:   

After cancelling a trip yesterday due to “textbook” post-frontal conditions (cold, calm, clear), we were due to have a bit more wind today, about which I was encouraged.

I moved our start time back to 7:30AM, and allowed the sun to rise and begin to fully shine on the water before we began hunting fish.

Our first area searched was a bust.  The second area produced fish from out of 43 feet of water.  We used MAL Lures worked vertically to put our first 38 fish in the boat, all of which were white bass.

Our next stop, made with a gentler breeze now blowing, gave up another 25 white bass from out of 52 feet of water, also on MAL Lures worked with a moderate cadence.

As we kept fishing, the wind kept dying.  Our third area gave up 18 fish; our fourth area gave up 29 fish, and the last area we hit gave up a final 9 fish.

We watched the wind go out of the fishes’ sails at that final spot we hit as the fish perked up as soon as we let our baits down, but then, after just 3 fish caught, the interest level dropped off with fish either half-heartedly chasing our baits, or not chasing them at all.

After having experienced this “end of the morning feed” routine the fish have been doing around 11-11:30AM, I came prepared with small slabs (3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached) to try a finesse presentation if/when the fish reached this point.

We put our final 6 fish in the boat using this “easing” tactic, but it was painfully slow fishing.  By 11:40, the fish were done.

Total catch was 119 fish, (1 drum, 118 white bass) of which 113 were taken on the MAL Lure, with the remaining 6 taken on the Hazy Eye Slab w/stinger.

 

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 119 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Still no helpful bird activity in any amount after just 2 days of minimal assistance 2 weeks ago.  I think it just hasn’t been cold enough long enough to get the birds pushed down here and get the fish oriented on suspended bait quite yet.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F

Elevation:  0.71 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise and 35 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were WNW at 12 at sunrise, slowly tapering to near calm by 10:05A, then shifting SE1-3 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Cloudless

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 7% illumination

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0201C; 38 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0151C; 25 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 561; 18 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0050G; 29 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic B0150C; 9 fish on MAL Lures/Hazy Eye Slab (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I fished with Brett Williams and his two kids, 23-year old Brett II, and 10-year-old Trinity.

I got to know Brett last year when the two of us met at Rogers Park boat ramp on Belton following a morning of fishing.  Brett serves as the executive director at the Ralph Wilson Youth Club in Temple and was recently re-elected as a trustee for the Killeen Independent School District.

We talked about the possibility of getting RWYC kids out fishing during the summer months, but, COVID-19 neatly curtailed that idea, at least for the summer of ’20.

Brett II is soon to graduate from Texas A&M with a degree in civil engineering, and Trinity is working her way through 5th grade in the Killeen ISD.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From left: Brett Willams I, Trinity Williams, and Brett Williams II, each with a pair of the white bass we’d landed up to our trip’s mid-point.  The Willams crew would go on to land a total of 106 this morning, despite high winds hindering our efforts.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 14 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:   

The wind forecast I woke up to this morning was very different from the one I studied heading to bed the night before; so different, in fact, that I made a last-minute change to our meeting location so as not to launch from a ramp it would be dangerous (or impossible) to return to by boat should the winds get as bad as forecast, or worse.  This turned out to be a good move.

As I launched, the pre-dawn air was humid, with grey cloud cover keeping the previous day’s heat in, and leaving the air temperature right at 70F.  A southerly breeze around 10 was already blowing.

As the Williams family arrived, we did a launch site train-up on the technique we’d employ with the MAL Lures once I found sufficiently congregated fish to fish for.

We then headed out to hunt for fish.  I passed on two locations, each with fish on them, but with those fish showing to be super-tight to the bottom and only in small clusters.

At the third area I searched, we found what we were after — a large congregation of fish (perhaps 30-40 yards in diameter) which were already rising off the bottom to feed as indicated by obvious target separation on both down-imaging and colored sonar.   I got the boat in “Spot-Lock” directly over top of these fish and we went to work on them, with the Williams employing their newly practiced vertical fishing skills very well.

The first few fish hooked allowed me to do some further coaching, and from that point on we caught fish continuously right up until they ground to a halt between 11 and 11:30 AM.

All things being equal, I like to be in open, wind-blown areas, but today, by 10:15AM, that was no longer safe, so, we retreated to more protected waters which I had not fished during the mornings in a white, but which have consistently held fish during my recent afternoon outings.

As we checked our very first wind-protected area, side-imaging indicated a nice school of fish out to our left.  Using the i-Pilot Link feature, I directed the trolling motor to that school of fish, just hoping they’d stay put long enough for us to catch just one and thereby get the entire school enticed to stay in our vicinity.  That soon became a reality, and, despite the wind, we were able to put a final 26 fish in the boat to take our morning’s tally up over 100 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 drum, and 104 white bass.

Brett was, literally and figuratively, blown away.  Blown away literally by the stiff wind, but, more importantly, blown away by the real-world application of sonar technology which led to our fishing success this morning.  As owner of a bass boat equipped with Lowrance sonar, he realized he is not getting near the full potential out of his equipment, and came away with a number of lessons learned which will help him in his own pursuit of fish going forward.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation:  0.64 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour rise and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 66.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were S all morning, starting a 10-11, and increasing quickly to 16+ by 10AM, then slowly going even higher between 10A and 11A forcing us off of more open water areas

Sky Condition: Varying between 75 and 100 % grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 1% illumination

GT = 10

Wx SNAPSHOT:  Check out that wind scenario!

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 958; 51  white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0055G; 30 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0056G; 26 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning I fished with a couple from Burleson, TX, — the Wiggins.

Originally, this trip was booked by Linda Hankins of the Belton Small Animal Clinic to share with her friends, the Wiggins, but, overnight, Linda’s dad had some medical issues which landed him in the hospital with Linda and his wife there looking after him (he’s stable now!).

Linda insisted that Dana and Kelly continue their plans to fish with me, so, we did just that.

Dana is a plumber and, although Kelly’s career has been founded in veterinary medicine, she’s currently teaching anatomy and physiology at Tarrant County College, doing everything online.

Although both Dana and Kelly had fished before, neither had ever specifically pursued white bass in the manner we did today.

Kelly told a great story today about attending a veterinary conference in which a well-meaning gentleman signed her in and obtained Kelly’s name badge for her by telling a white lie about Kelly being laid up in a hotel room nursing her twin babies, thus being unable to sign herself in by the evening’s deadline.  When this man met Kelly for the first time through a mutual friend, he introduced himself to her as the father of her twins — a title which has “stuck” for that fellow, whom Kelly became friends with, ever since!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From left: Kelly and Dana Wiggins of Burleson, TX, caught and released 120 fish on Belton this past Friday morning fishing MAL Lures in deep (35-52′) water using a vertical tactic.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 13 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:  Morning trips with winds sufficient to ripple Lake Belton’s surface have been pretty “cut-and-dried”, and if any cloud cover develops, that has been like icing on the cake.  On these 4-hour morning trips, the first hour has been consistently slow; the middle two hours have seen the majority of the catching, and, from around 10:15 to 11:15, there has been a gradual slowdown to nil by 11:15 or so.

We fished four areas today.  I normally will not stop the boat to fish this time of year unless I see an abundance of bottom-hugging fish on sonar.  Such was the case at the last three of these areas we fished.  Knowing the first hour has been slow, I’ve been willing to stop atop more marginal sonar readings during that time.

Once we found fish, the MAL Lure took care of the rest provided it was used with good technique.

Before leaving the dock, I have found it useful to do a “demo” of the technique, and then check each angler out on their own technique so we don’t miss any fish to poor technique once the fish are found.

At our second stop of the morning, I’ll “layer in” the use of Garmin LiveScope, and then sit back and just tactfully coach, take off fish, and generally be helpful as my folks have fun catching.

Our four stops this morning produced 8 fish, 45 fish, 51 fish, and 16 fish, respectively for a total of 120 fish, which included 1 drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 118 white bass.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 120 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation:  0.64 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NNE 6-10 all morning following an overnight wind shift from the S.

Sky Condition: ~75% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 4% illumination

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 958/B0149G; 8 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0053G; 51 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0002C; 45 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0148C; 16 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday evening I fished with 12-year-old Colby Anthony and his grandfather, Doug Streater.

Doug serves on the board of directors for the Ralph Wilson Youth Club in Temple and, after Mrs. Sharon Wilson won a fishing gift certificate which I had provided at their recent fundraiser, she turned around and put that gift certificate back up for auction.  Doug bid on it and won, and the date for that trip was set for today after finding a clearing in Colby’s school and athletic schedule.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Doug Streater and his grandson, 12-year-old Colby Anthony, landed 94 fish on a very tough afternoon, “featuring” calm winds, clear skies, and a glassy lake surface.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 11 November 2020 (Veterans’ Day)

HOW WE FISHED:

Conditions don’t get much tougher than the ones we faced this afternoon.  Despite NOAA’s call for a NE breeze at 5-6, we had a glassy surface and cloudless skies for the majority of this afternoon’s trip.

I told Doug and Colby right from the get-go that we’d likely have a slow first hour and a slow final hour, with all of our catching taking place in the middle 2 hours of the afternoon, and that is exactly how it laid out today.

We searched high and low for evidence of fish for a full 75 minutes before I spotted just a little glimmer of hope in about 51 feet of water.  Even on a 15-inch sonar screen, what I spotted wasn’t much, but I was confident it was white bass.  We Spot-Locked, got baits down, and the bottom just lit up.  We put 2 shy of 50 fish in the boat at that first stop before it played out, using  MAL Lures to catch them.

Our second stop was in slightly deeper 53 feet of water.  These fish were more fired up than the first bunch we encountered, but did not stay fired up as long as the fish at the first area did.  Using the MAL Lure in a vertical presentation, we put another 26 fish in the boat.  By now, the sun was getting low and I felt the deep bite would not last long, so, I moved us to shallow water for our last shot at fish.

After searching several areas unsuccessfully, we located a batch of fish — most small — in about 26 feet of water.  We landed exactly 20 fish before the sun set below the horizon and the bite died nearly instantly.  In total, we boated 94 fish on a very tough evening.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 94 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Deep water was insurance against the impacts of post-frontal weather both AM and PM today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  1:30P

End Time: 5:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation:  0.62 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 70.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were N1-4 all morning, then went flat calm this afternoon

Sky Condition: Post-frontal, bluebird skies with 20% white cloud cover all morning which would later clear to 0% around 1PM.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 11% illumination

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0052G; 48 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 717; 26 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 380; 20 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with Anthony and Sheila Johnson of Killeen.

I first got to know the Johnsons when I went out on their boat to provide them with on-the-water sonar training on the Lowrance equipment they owned at that time.  As we wrapped that effort up, they asked about peak times of year for the fisheries on Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow. I told them about the underappreciated autumn fishery for high numbers of white bass we see each fall.

They put a date with me on the calendar on the spot, and today was the day.

Like many Texas anglers, the Johnsons normally hang up their fishing gear one the warm weather passes, not picking it back up again until the spring warmup.  They walked away today with their eyes opened to a winter-long fishery right in their own backyard.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Sheila and Anthony enjoyed the learning as much as they did the catching this morning as they put together a 171 fish trip under tough conditions.

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Sheila landed our largest fish of the trip.   This recent arrival to deep water was taken over a 51′ bottom.  It was one of four largemouth taken from that same depth as a bycatch as we focused on white bass.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 11 November 2020 (Veterans’ Day)

HOW WE FISHED:

Today was going to be difficult according to the forecast as post-frontal high pressure built in, skies cleared, temperatures dropped, and winds went nearly slack.

Unfortunately, the weatherman got it just about right this go-round.  Our saving grace was that the north wind blew just enough to ripple the water all morning — we never went flat calm (until the afternoon, but, that’s the topic of my next report).

We started right at 7AM with  the sun cracking over the eastern horizon right at 6:56AM.  The fish were very sluggish for the first hour or so during which time I found fish, but after initially dropping into them and creating some commotion, the fish became disinterested, only half-heartedly chasing our MAL Lures.  We landed only 3 fish, with more than that missed thanks to “rookie” mistakes which everyone makes the first time they have my MAL Lure on the end of their line, despite doing a practice session before leaving the launch site.

After a lot of searching and hardly any finding, I saw a small pack of fish holding off a slope in 52 feet of water.  It didn’t look like much, but, when conditions are tough, I will go ahead and try to fish for “marginal” action knowing that as a bite builds, such a thing can turn into more.

This is exactly what happened to us.  Once we got those deep water fish going, they never slowed down until about 10:35, and then didn’t quit until around 11:05.

We put together this morning’s trip on just one stop, and landed 168 of our 171 fish on the on stop.  This catch included 1 hybrid striped bass, 4 largemouth bass, and 166 white bass.

Every fish we caught today was taken on a white or chartreuse MAL Lure worked vertically.

The Johnsons very much wanted to see the approach I took to finding and catching fish this morning.  Learning was to them even more important than catching, and they both asked smart questions all through the morning as they thought about how to take what they were learning and apply it to their own approach, given the equipment they now have.

Whenever Anthony hinted that an equipment upgrade to sonar or trolling motor, etc. might need to be considered, Sheila would bring him back to reality and remind him that Ramen noodles would be on the menu frequently if his spending plan went through.

As Anthony kept on dreaming, Sheila doubled-down and told him Ramen may become a delicacy if he kept on with the big ideas, and that catsup soup might just become the standard fare, instead.

One thing the two did agree upon  —  that was to book a spring-time hybrid striper trip with me so as to see live shad fishing first hand.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 171 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Deep water was insurance against the impacts of post-frontal weather.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:00A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation:  0.62 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 65.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were N1-4 all morning

Sky Condition: Post-frontal, bluebird skies with 20% white cloud cover all morning which would later clear to 0% around 1PM.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 11% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0112C; 3 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1743; 168 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, November 10^th, I fished with returning guest Steve Murphy.  Joining Steve this go-round was his son, Ron, and Ron’s son, Ronnie.

This was a farewell trip of sorts, as Ronnie, age 23, is headed off to basic training with the U.S. Navy in December.  He’ll be headed to the Great Lakes for basic and then off to advanced training as a yeoman.

Steve is a U.S. Army veteran and is now retired, and Ron is both employed by Suddenlink and operates his own landscaping company.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: Ron, Steve, and Ronnie Murphy — 3 generations aboard my boat for a farewell trip for Ronnie before he heads to basic training in the U.S. Navy.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 10 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

We enjoyed pre-frontal fishing during the last 2 hours of this trip, complete with a windshift from SW through the W, then slightly NW.  As the wind shifted, we watched a line of light rain move towards us from the west (as well as on weather radar, which showed it would be light and short-lived).

The fishing was best just before and just after the rain band passed, although we also caught fish during the brief rain event.

Fishing was just so-so for the first 90 minutes or so this morning as the winds were light and variable and as the sun shone intermittently through high, quickly moving cloud cover.

Once the bite started, it stayed solid right up until it died quickly, right at 11:18AM.

We fished five areas this morning, with each giving up fish to the MAL Lure presented vertically.

The third area we fished was in shallower water than I’ve routinely been fishing in.  I gave it a try when several consistently producing deeper areas failed to show fish present on sonar.  In 26 feet of water and on a gently sloping bottom, we got into the single best runs of fish of the trip, which also corresponded with the winds swinging through the west.  Our previous two stops had produced 13 fish and 5 fish, respectively.  This area produced 58 fish.

After it played out, we moved just as the winds were swinging slightly north of west.  The first area we stopped at had previously not held fish earlier in the morning.  It produced 51 fish.

Our final stop got us to the 150 fish mark, producing a final 23 fish.

 

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed this morning.  I found solid fishing mid-morning in under 35’ of water (26’) for the first time in quite a while (although I haven’t been routinely checking shallower areas).

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:00A

End Time: 11:18A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.61 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 65.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were light and variable for the first 2 hours, then during the last 2 hours of this trip, we had classic pre-frontal weather, complete with a windshift from SW through the W, then slightly NW.

Sky Condition: We had fast-moving, high altitude cloud cover which caused the light level to go from dark to bright and back again, although winds were light at the surface.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 40% illumination

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0201C; 13 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0118C; 5 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0133C; 58 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1482; 51 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1753; 23 vic white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning, November 9th, I fished with two fellows who’ve been fishing buddies for decades: Brad Phillips and Jim Davis.

Brad ran an industrial supply business in Temple for many years and currently does home inspections.  Jim recently retired from the commercial banking business.

Brad received this trip in the form of a gift certificate from Linda Hankins, a close friend of his who operates the Belton Small Animal Clinic.

Linda, Jim, and Brad (and a few others) have travelled internationally to fish together through the years, and I enjoyed having experienced anglers aboard.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Jim Davis with one of the hybrid we took while fishing MAL Lures vertically primarily for deep white bass this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  This 4 lbs. largemouth was a bit of a surprise.  I came up off bottom after Brad’s MAL Lure as we fishing in 47 feet of water.  Most largemouth I take as bycatch when fishing for white bass tend to be smaller 1 to 2.5 pound class fish.

PHOTO CAPTION #3:  We caught a nice mess of white bass today, with above average-sized fish being the norm today as compared to the last 6 weeks’ worth of trips which have included a lot of small fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 09 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As we got to know each other a bit at the start of the trip, I learned that Brad and Jim were both experienced, well-travelled anglers.  This actually concerned me a bit because oftentimes experienced anglers (and especially male experienced anglers) will not follow the guidance I provide very closely and wind up doing below average as a result.

Fortunately, when I tried to tactfully express this concern, both men understood what I was getting at, and had witnessed examples of other who failed to follow their guide’s suggestions do poorly.

Both fellows got the hang of using the MAL Lure very quickly and, as a result, they caught fish consistently from start to finish, landing 134 fish.

Things started a bit slow with a surprise layer of light fog settling in just before sunrise.  However, it dispersed quickly and we then got down to catching and stayed catching right up until the fish quit at around 11:30.

In all, we hit 5 areas, and each produced white bass which began on bottom (where we located them with sonar) and then climbed higher into the water column as the fish we caught created commotion and drew them upwards.

In all, we landed 134 fish, including 2 legal hybrid striped bass, 4 legal largemouth bass, and 129 white bass.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 134 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed this morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:00A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.59′ low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 65.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were ~S6 with the fog, then picked up to S12-14 after the fog lifted.

Sky Condition: Light fog developed right before sunrise, then remained for about 40 minutes thereafter.  When it dissipated, 100% grey skies remained then began clearing around 10AM.  By trip’s end we had 50% white cloud cover on blue skies.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 40% illumination

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1152; 49 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0157C ; 6 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0051G; 20 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 593; 14 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 346; 45 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, 07 November, I fished with the Thornal family — Eric and Michelle, and their kids, Camden and Maddie.  Michelle’s mom, Donna, also joined us.  This event was in celebration of Camden’s 8th birthday. It was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip specifically for the kids, so the duration was shorter than for an adult trip, and only the kids did the fishing.

Camden, who, according to his mom, watches hours and hours of fishing videos on YouTube, must have asked a thousand questions this morning, but, his first one was the one that impressed me most.  He asked, “Will we be using the MAL Lure today?!?”.

I said, “Wow, you must have done your homework.”  He explained that his neighbor, Mr. Holle, had told him about the lure, after which Camden went and watched the tutorial video about that bait.

I greatly appreciate the Niemeier/Haberer crew referring this family my way.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: That’s 8-year-old Camden, the birthday boy, joined by his mom and dad, Michelle and Eric, and by his 10-year-old sister, Maddie.  The kids landed exactly 100 fish this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 07 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Well, we pulled a rabbit out of the hat this morning!  Under clear, calm conditions, we fished just two areas and pulled 91 white bass from Lake Belton in right at 3 hours’ time before the white bass put on the brakes.  This family must be living right, because those kind of results don’t typically happen with that kind of weather.

We found one small patch of white bass in about 36 feet of water just as the sun was rising and caught our first 8 fish there (at Area 1791) and, more importantly, got the kids trained up on how to use the MAL Lure, working the kinks out of their retrieve and cadence.  These fish only stayed fired up around 15 minutes or so.

We moved on and searched out a group of fish near the old river channel.  They were hard to made out on sonar because of the presence of timber, but, once we got them fire up, they stayed active for nearly 2 solid hours.  Many of these were small fish, but, with kids, quantity is much more important than quality, so we stuck with these fish as long as they lasted.  Once the kids showed they were able to use the MAL Lure  well, I layered in Garmin LiveScope, and, with mom and grandma Donna helping Maddie and Eric helping Camden.

By the time 9:45 rolled around, our fish count stood at 91 white bass and the fishing was dying hard.  I wasn’t sure if the shallows would warm up enough to draw sunfish given the cool overnight temperatures, but, I brought sunfish tackle so as to be able to offer the kids variety.

We put our final 30+ minutes into sunfishing up shallow and, by 10:35, put our 100th fish in the boat.  The 9 sunfish the kids landed included bluegill, green, and longear sunfish.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed this morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation:  0.56′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 65.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:   Light and variable all morning

Sky Condition: Clear skies and calm winds all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 61% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1791; 8 white bass on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 355/1152 ; 83 fish (1 largemouth, 82 white bass) on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0045G; 9 sunfish on bait under slipfloats

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec