MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: WILLOW P. — 101 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 29th, I fished with one of my most regular clients, Steve Niemeier, accompanied by his granddaughter, Macy Fowler, and Macy’s friend, Willow Pratt.

Although Macy moved to a different school district during her third grade year, she and Willow have remained friends since first meeting in pre-school.

Willow had been fishing before, but never on a boat.  And, the weather she fished in was much more fair than the blustery damp conditions we took on as the afternoon progressed toward sunset.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  From left:  Willow Pratt, Macy Fowler, and Steve Niemeier, each with one of the 101 fish they landed after laboring for 4+ hours on what will likely be the last balmy winter afternoon for some time to come.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (PM), 29 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As I greeted Steve and crew, talk immediately focused on catching 100 fish.  If the fishing was as good in the afternoon as it was earlier in the morning, that would be doable, but, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that a great AM bite and great PM bite in the same day is a rarity.  In addition, the wind was a wildcard today — it was calmer than forecast in the morning, but this afternoon it would hinder a bit.

Fortunately, both girls had a “reach the goal” mindset and were persistent.  I actually complimented Willow on being very coachable.  She made a few rookie mistakes with her technique, as everyone does the first time they work slabs the way we did today, but, once I pointed those things out and demonstrated what I was trying to get her to do, she got right on it and focused on doing it better.  She definitely won the “most improved” title for the morning.

As we got lines in the water, it became immediately clear that we would have to work for our fish this afternoon.  We found plenty of fish, but, they were flattened out on bottom and took a lot of coaxing.

For every 20 or 30 fish we teased up far enough off bottom to get full target separation on Garmin LiveScope, only 1 or 2 would continue to move toward the lure to strike.

But, move 4 lures enough times correctly over enough fish, and you can still piece together a decent trip even when the fish don’t cooperate real well; and that’s what we did today.

Due to the wind and having young anglers on board, I stuck with the 5/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook (I would otherwise have chosen the lighter 3/8 oz. version).  With the water now in the low to mid-50’s, that stinger hook is now accounting for well over half of my caught fish and nearly every single largemouth bass we catch as bycatch is hooked primarily on the stinger.  I see this occur at this time of year, every year.

We used an easing tactic in most areas, and, on a few occasions when the fish would lift off bottom in numbers, we used a slow smoking tactic.

When all was said and done, we’d met our goal of 100, plus one more for good measure.  The action quickly tapered as sunset drew near.  Our count stood at 88 fish when we moved to what I thought might me our final location; that area gave up 6 fish.  Now at 94 fish, we had to move again.  The next area gave up 3 fish.  Now at 97 fish, we had to move three more times to get our final handful of fish needed for the girls’ 100 fish goal. They stuck with it right to the last and accomplished what they’d set out to do.

Hazy Eye Slabs and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  No helpful bird activity today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  1:15P

End Time: 5:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation:  1.20 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour fall and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Hard S. wind all day, varying from 14 to 17 straight line, with higher gusts

Sky Condition: Grey cloud cover with mist and some brief, light rain in the last 90 minutes before sunset.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 100% illumination (full moon is tomorrow)

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas  B0185C to 0147, 171 to 788, 709, B0011C, 1679, and 409 (2 short hops)

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#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

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES — 115 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 29th, I fished with returning guests Max Lopez, and Joe and Dawson Adcock.

Joe and Max are both U.S. Army veterans, and both are members at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen, where Max serves as the maintenance man.  In his retirement, Joe began volunteering to help Max fix the church’s aging HVAC equipment, and that grew into a post-retirement occupational pursuit for Joe, with him starting to pursue licensure in that field via coursework this coming semester.

Dawson is a student in the Killeen Independent School District in which his mom, Danna, is an teacher.  He plays soccer when he’s not at school, sleeping, or eating.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  From left: Dawson and Joe Adcock, and Max Lopez with a few of the very cooperative white bass we landed under ideal winter weather conditions.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:   If you closed your eyes and listened as Dawson reeled this drum in, you’d have thought he was straining to outdo his personal best bench press record!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (PM), 29 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Yes, what a difference a day makes.  Yesterday, I had four anglers labor for 5.75 hours to wrangle 102 fish under foggy skies and an uncomfortably cool NE breeze.  Today, it took three much less experienced anglers only 3.75 hours to boat 115 fish, the difference being the weather.

There really is no more influential factor on fish behavior in freshwater than local weather.

This morning was the perfect mix of diffuse light, grey cloud cover, wind, and balmy temperatures (continuing from the overnight hours), all in advance of a major change in weather approaching tomorrow.

For the middle two hours of this trip we had aggressive, suspended fish continuously moving on and off our Garmin LiveScope sonar screens, eager to chase an artificial lure moving at a steady clip.  And, the lead up to that and the taper off from it afterwards were both still pretty decent.

We used 5/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks affixed to catch 100% of our fish this morning.  When the fish were less aggressive, we used an easing tactic, and when they were more aggressive, we used a slow smoking tactic.

We wound up with 3 largemouth bass, 5 drum, and 107 white bass.

Hazy Eye Slabs and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 115 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  No helpful bird activity today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  8:00A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation:  1.20 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour fall and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Hard S. wind all day, varying from 14 to 17 straight line, with higher gusts

Sky Condition: Grey cloud cover all morning, but without precipitation

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 100% illumination (full moon is tomorrow)

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas  1362, B0011C, vic B0005G, 2052, and B0066G

 

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

FOGGY SKIES, FUNKY WEATHER, FISHY MORNING — 102 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, Dec. 28th, I fished with Gary & Rachel Davidson, and their teenaged sons, Elijah and Micah Garrett, all from Kerrville, TX.

This was Gary’s fourth trip with me since early October, and Rachel’s third.  Since the boys were joining them for the first time, and given the season, water temperature, and weather all factored in, I thought fishing Stillhouse would serve us best.  It typically means fewer, but much better quality, fish.

Once again, the weather I anticipated based on the forecast when I went to bed was not what we experienced this morning.  I was expecting a cloudy but dry day with winds from the NNE at 8-9.  What we got was a damp fog with occasional drizzle, and a lack of breeze, save for a few unsustained puffs from the ENE.  Perhaps I need to go to bed later!?!

Anyway, if I had to be on Belton or Stillhouse under these conditions at this time of year, I would definitely prefer Stillhouse as it seems to produce in a pinch in the winter.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Over ten pounds of bass came aboard in under 15 seconds!  Rachel landed this 3.25 pound fish as Gary tangled with this 7.00 pounder simultaneously.  The fish were taken in 42 feet of water on a 5/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  This was just for starters!  We met at 7:30A, and took this photo just after 8:00A as we were about to leave our first area fished.  The Davidsons wound up putting 102 fish in the boat over the course of the morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 28 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

The weather definitely had the fish in granite gear this morning.  We really had to work to put our fish in the boat this morning, and face an abnormally high “rejection rate” on lures presented well which were just completely refused by the fish.

Birds were somewhat helpful in that on a few occasions they would circle up high over large expanses holding fish, but, they rarely dove down to feed, and, if it were not for sonar, we would have been hard-pressed to figure just where the fish were even when the birds gave us some clues.

We found fish in small bunches roaming the deep flats were much harder to catch than fish more tightly congregated on breaklines.  As usual, the brighter the grey sky got, and the better the breeze pushed, the more fish we landed.

Although we gave bladebaits a try for a short while, landing 2 fish and missing 2 more on them, the remainder of our fish came on the 5/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.  The majority of our catch was hooked with the stinger, as is typical for Dec. – early March fishing.

One major observation made today was that, even with 8-foot rods, the distance we needed to move our lures up off bottom was higher than everyone could consistently, smoothly lift their lures to.  So, we adjusted by simply reeling the lures upward at a slow rate intended to match the rate of rise we’d successfully lured our fish off bottom with.  As soon as we implemented this change, our catch rate improved considerably.

We ended up with 102 fish, including several white bass exceeding 15 inches, and one exceeding 16 inches.  In addition to the two nice largemouth shown in the photo, Gary also landed another 4.75 pounder.

Hazy Eye Slabs and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Even with 8-foot rods, the distance we needed to move our lures up off bottom was higher than everyone could consistently, smoothly lift their lures to.  So, we adjusted by simply reeling the lures upward at a slow rate intended to match the rate of rise we’d successfully lured our fish off bottom with.  As soon as we implemented this change, our catch rate improved considerably.  2) Edge/breakline fishing was much more productive than flats fishing.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  8:00A

End Time: 1:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 49F

Elevation:  1.26 high with a 0.02’ 24-hour fall and 1 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 53.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable under 4mph from ENE

Sky Condition: Dark grey with fog and mist all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 97% illumination

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas 1312, 0101/0270, 0287/1301, SH0034G (blades between here and channel), SH0096C/1358, SH0005C, 1515

 

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

Tough Got Tougher — 90 Fish @ Belton

WHO I FISHED WITH: This Christmas Eve 2020 morning I welcomed four troopers aboard for what we knew before starting was going to be a tough white bass fishing trip.

Joining me today was Shawn Leverington, a U.S. Army officer, his step-son, Ryan Blair, a senior at Belton High School, Jerry Saikley, a military contractor at Ft. Hood, and his son, Derek Saikley, who is going on 10 years in the U.S. Air Force.

A cold front began pushing in late yesterday afternoon with high winds and dropping temperatures going into the night and early morning.  As I prepared for launching just after sunrise, it was a cool 31F with a windchill around 24F, thanks to a brisk 13+ mph breeze.

Between the already cold water, dropping temps, and increasing pressure, fishing for white bass was like trying to wake a hibernating bear.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: Jerry and Derek Saikley, Ryan Blair, and Shawn Leverington on their blustery 24 December fishing trip.  You might say it was a “white” Christmas Eve.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 24 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

To put together our catch of 90 fish, we moved frequently, used small slabs worked slowly, and worked through the distraction of seeing the vast majority of fish sighted on sonar reject our offerings.

I often mention to my clients before dropping my Garmin LiveScope transducer in the water that they shouldn’t look at the screen if they don’t deal well with rejection.  LiveScope opens up the underwater world to you — both the good and the bad.  When you see in real-time how many fish do not go for your lure as a percentage of the whole, it can make even an accomplished angler second guess himself!

We found that the majority of the fish we would catch at any given area would typically come within the first few minutes of offering our presentations.  After we sat over fish which had seen our lures for a while, rarely would any of those fish be fooled.  As this played out and we noticed this trend emerge, we spent less time laboring for stubborn fish, and moved more frequently to get our presentations in front of “fresh” or “dumb” fish.

Fish were generally glued flat to bottom today and held together in small groups.  These groups would not move far or fast out of curiosity to any noise or commotion we or the fish we hooked created, thus, we did “short hops” to move to the fish just a few boat lengths from us as witnessed on sonar.

Of the 90 fish we caught, every single one pursued our lures upwards from the bottom or struck while the lure was at bottom before we raised them upwards.  Not a single fish was taken while moving our lures past suspended fish (in fact, very few suspended fish showed on sonar all morning).

We worked white, 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached.  If we had less wind, I’d have bumped down to 3/8 oz., but the extra weight kept lines hanging vertically and helped avoid tangles.  The 3/8 and 5/8 Hazy Eye Slabs are the same length, with the 5/8 version being thicker and wider than the 3/8 oz. version.

We put in about 5.5 hours of effort for the 90 fish we landed.  This catch included 5 freshwater drum, 3 largemouth bass, and 82 white bass.

Hazy Eye Slabs and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 90 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  8:00A

End Time: 1:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 31F

Elevation:  1.10 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW13 at trip’s start, increasing to NW17, gusting 25 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies in conjunction with the cold front moving in

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 73% illumination

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0189C, B0122C (2 hops), 0412/0403 (2 hops), B0064G (2 hops), and B0065G/B0044G (2 hops)

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#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

DAWN ‘TIL DUSK — 256 FISH @ BELTON (55 AM, 201 PM)

WHO I FISHED WITH: Today, Tuesday, Dec. 22nd, I fished with two separate parties.  This morning, I welcomed mother/daughter duo Pat Lehman and Chris Schwenke aboard at 8AM and fished with them until noon.  They landed 55 quality fish after our first 70 minutes’ worth of fog cleared.

My party this afternoon fished from 1:15 to 5:30P and desired not to have their names disclosed in any form of social media.  This granddaughter/grandfather pair landed 201 fish, a majority of which were small white bass.

Between noon and 1:15, I loaded and trailered my boat, wolfed down a Jaliso salad with grilled chicken at Sol de Jalisco in Morgan’s Point, and then re-launched in order to stay clear of the forecast afternoon winds.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Pat Lehman and her daughter, Chris Schwenke, with a few of the 55 fish these ladies took on Lake Belton during the first 4 hours of morning light.  This was a personal best for both women in terms of number of fish landed during a single outing.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:   Chris wrestled this 5.75 pound drum into the net around 10AM.  As we work closer and closer to bottom for white bass, more and more drum and largemouth have begun showing up in our catch.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM & PM), 22 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

MORNING: This morning we were greeted with lake-specific fog which lasted about 70 minutes, during which time the bite stayed below average, giving up only 16 fish, with us having to seemingly pry each fish up off bottom to get bit.  As the fog cleared, the wind also rose to ~SSE11, and the bite loosened up.

We fished 4 areas this morning, each by working a 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with Stinger Hook vertically using an “easing” tactic.

There are areas that hold mainly quality, 12+ inch fish, and areas which hold smaller fish.  This morning we were able to get to those areas holding quality fish.  The fishing has been made tougher by the falling water temperatures, and the fish tend to come in spurts.  Once a single fish is fooled and is reeled in, others nearby get momentarily excited and are, for a short spell, more catchable.  Things then cool off and fire back up after another fish is landed, and so on.  Generally, suspended fish are a lot more prone to bite than bottom-huggers, but, the bottom-huggers make up the vast majority of fish we’re seeing on sonar.

AFTERNOON: This afternoon my location options were limited by the wind.  Winds peaked around 3p, blowing 17 straight-line, and gusting 23 from the SSE.  This was too rough to get to some of the open water areas holding solid fish, so, we opted for a lot of action provided by smaller white bass.

The approach was the same for my 12-year-old young lady and her grandpa:  find ’em with sonar, Spot-Lock on ’em, work 5/8 oz. lures vertically with an easing tactic near bottom, put ’em in the boat, and repeat.  The fish fed well this afternoon with wind, cloud cover, stable pressure, and a warming trend all working in our favor.  The fish bit well from start to finish, allowing us a take of exactly 201 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 196 white bass.

We caught so many fish they wore the eyes off of my Hazy Eye Slabs!!

Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released AM; 201 fish caught and released PM

OBSERVATIONS:  AM fish came in spurts; PM was non-stop bite.  No bird action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time AM:  8A

End Time AM: 12:00P

Start Time PM:  1:15P

End Time PM: 5:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start AM: 43F

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start PM: 66F

Elevation:  1.10 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.1F

Wind Speed & Direction AM: SSE under 4 during foggy conditions, rising steadily to SSE12 by trip’s end

Wind Speed & DirectionPM: SSE13 at trip’s start, peaking a SSE16 with higher gusts by 3P, then scaling back to SSE12 by sunset.

Sky Condition AM:  Lake level fog until 9:10, then clearing quickly to 20% white clouds on blue sky.

Sky Condition AM: 40-50% grey clouds on light blue sky with some haze.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 55% illumination

GT AM = 80

GT PM = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

AM: **Areas 346, B0063G, 561 (best producer), and B0198C

PM: **Areas 1362, 295, 691, and area triangulated by 164/B0057C/691

 

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

I DON’T CARE WHAT KIND OR HOW BIG — 124 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Monday, Dec. 21st, I fished with Mr. Don Bousquet, Mr. Larry Miller, and four young men: Cameron Miller (3rd grade from New Orleans, LA), and Ryder Balmos, Hudson Slimp, and Luke Carlson (all 5th graders from Salado, TX).

Some weeks ago, Mr. Rodney Tyroch referred Don my way.  Don, owner of Ragin’ Cajun Boat Storage off of Adams Ave. just outside Temple Lake Park, left a message on my voicemail, as I was on the boat with clients at the time.  He said, “…I got three little kids that wanna catch a hundred fish; I don’t care what kind; I don’t care how big; the oldest one’s in 5th grade; we just wanna go catch some fish.”

Today, that very thing took place!

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  This was my crew this afternoon – back left: Larry Miller and Don Bousquet; front left: Ryder Balmos, Cameron Miller, Luke Carlson, and Hudson Slimp.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Hudson (left) and Luke landed these two fish simultaneously as we were catching white bass at a fast clip from out of 34 feet of water on Hazy Eye Slabs.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Ryder Balmos of Salado with his largest fish of the trip; a 3.50 pound freshwater drum.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #4:   3rd grader Cameron Miller came all the way from New Orleans to land this fish, as well as his fair share of the 124 fish haul we enjoyed catching and releasing this afternoon.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (PM), 21 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

After watching today’s weather forecast since this past Saturday morning, I decided with my clients’ input, to postpone this morning’s trip due to cold, bright, windless conditions.  Those conditions are the toughest one can face in pursuit of white bass.  In hindsight, I’m very glad we did so.

This afternoon’s conditions were a bit of a different story … winds were due to develop out of the SW, which did occur starting around 12:30pm.  We had a gentle but constant wind from 3-6mph all afternoon with increasing cloud cover.  The fish were already biting when we hit our first area and they didn’t quit all afternoon.

I hit 4 distinct areas, and made 2 “short hops” at each, relocating the boat a few boat lengths away from our initial position once the action began to slow.  We worked small slabs 100% of the time today just for simplicity’s sake.  One of the gentlemen I routinely compare notes with report good results on MAL Lures elsewhere on the lake after he also delayed fishing until the afternoon.

Since our focus was on the kids’ success, I changed all the lures over on my rods to 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks, thus removing the 3/8 oz. slabs I originally had on.  The extra weight would helps less experienced anglers get to, and stay on, bottom, and help lines hang more vertically so as to help avoid tangles.

We used a very straightforward easing tactic to successfully tempt white bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum at each of the stops we made, eventually piecing together a catch of 124 by 4:30pm.

By this time, all but Luke was doing more snacking than fishing, and given the fact that all four boys elected to wear shorts on a fishing trip in December, we wrapped it up at the 3.5 hour mark to avoid a cold, post-sunset ride back to the dock.

Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 124 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  1:00P

End Time: 4:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  1.08 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 56.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW3-6 entire trip

Sky Condition: High, wispy white clouds at 10% at trip’s start, building to light grey coverage at 40% by trip’s end

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 45% illumination

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1077 (14 fish) and 1362 (18 fish)

**Area B0018C (12 fish)

**Area B0044G (13 fish) and 295 (10 fish)

**Area 0412 (42 fish)

**Area 1394 (15 fish)

 

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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SOME MIGHT CALL THIS CRAZY — 100 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, Dec. 19th, I fished with father and son duo Jason and Mason Woolverton of Killeen.

Jason contacted me a few weeks back wanting to arrange something fishing-related for Mason’s 12th birthday.

The weather and weather forecast were both crazy, and the former bore no resemblance to the latter.  As I rose this morning, there was a 62% chance of rain over the first four hours following sunrise, and a total forecast accumulation of just 5/100ths of an inch … no big deal with some raingear on.

Well, in reality, we endured 2.75 consecutive hours of a cool, steady rain which dropped 6/10ths of an inch or more area wide.  The fellows were troopers, though, and were rewarded for sticking it out through the nasty weather.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  I think someone had a great 12th birthday!!  Nice job, Mason!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Father and son Jason and Mason Woolverton with white bass which made up the majority of our mixed-bag catch this morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Jason Woolverton with a 14 1/8 inch Lake Belton crappie taken on a 3/8 oz., white Hazy Eye slab with stinger hook.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #4:  Not surprisingly, Mason thought he’d snagged bottom when this 24″, 6.75 pound freshwater drum struck and did not budge.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 19 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

While the rain fell heavily and kept the skies very dark, we caught not a single fish up to about 9:20AM (with a 7:55AM start).  At this time, I shifted us up shallower, hoping the better-illuminated bottom in shallower water would hold some feeding fish.  This turned out to be the case.

The bite started slowly — we had to pry the first few fish one at a time off bottom, but, with each fish we caught and each “short hop” we made in areas that held bait and fish, the bite loosened up.  From 10:00 to 1:00 was game on, then the fish started to cool off once again.

I extended the trip since we had no luck in the first full hour plus, and, by 12:45PM, we’d managed to put together a catch of 85 fish.  I told the fellows we’d give it until 1:15PM or 100 fish, whichever came first, and they accepted that as a challenge.

During the 30 minutes that followed, we saw the lead edge of a cold front come through and saw the winds uptick significantly, but, this also briefly fired the fish back up.  By 1:08PM we hit 100 fish on the nose and quickly brought in our gear and ran for the ramp before the wind made for a very uncomfortable ride back for two guys who were already fairly soggy.

100% of our fish were caught on an easing tactic using my own 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks attached.  Shad regurgitated by the fish we caught confirmed this was the right size bait today.  In addition to the white bass, we landed 9 freshwater drum up to 6.75 pounds, 4 largemouth bass up to 3.75 pounds, and 1 crappie which taped at 14 1/8 inches long.

The crappie was a personal best for Jason, and Mason’s largemouth was a personal best for him.  Additionally, the 100 fish catch was the most the two had ever landed on a single outing.

Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Surface temp at dawn stood at 55.7F.  This is a few tenths of a degree warmer than it was as Wednesday morning’s cold front rolled in.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:55A

End Time: 1:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation:  1.09 low with a 0.00’ 24-hour change and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW0-5 prior to 12:45 when the lead edge of a mild cold front pushed in with 11-13 mph NW winds

Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies with rain through 10A, then some breaks and thinning in the clouds enough to allow the sky to brighten a bit.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 26% illumination

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0122C (3 hops), B0003G through 0150 (3 hops), 326 (2 hops), B0018C (2 hops), 2028 thru 2062 (2 hops), B0005G  — all areas produced on an eased 3/8 oz. slab.

 

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

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COOL WARM HAT, BRO! — 102 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, Dec. 16th, I fished with returning guest and solid multi-species fisherman Dwight Stone of Georgetown, TX, and a fishing buddy of his.

Dwight retired from the restaurant business and now spends his time chasing fish and grandkids.

The key to success today was dressing for the weather.  We had a reinforcing cold front come in overnight, dropping this morning’s low to 32F, with a wind chill driven down to 25F by a 10-13 mph NW wind gusting to 15.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: This photo about sums it up … frigid weather and white bass on slowly worked, small Hazy Eye slabs in 3/8 oz.  That’s Dwight (you’ll have to trust me) in his super-fancy, super-warm seal and otter fur headgear he got through a native Alaskan tribe.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 16 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

We went into the morning knowing that it was going to be a bit tough today, but, whenever that wind is blowing, white bass can be caught, so, we sought them out with sonar (as no birds assisted us this morning), and, after about an hour of fruitless searching, found a nice bunch of fish in three different areas, each covering a sizeable area of the bottom in distinct groups, each with several hundred fish per group.  These fish were packed together in three different areas, each perhaps 200 feet in diameter.

The presentation today was “low and slow” — we used an “easing” tactic with my 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs equipped with stinger hooks to seal the deal on 102 fish, including 2 drum, 3 largemouth, and 97 white bass.

We never landed a single fish outside of the lower third of the water column.  The speed at which the fish wanted the lure presented varied with activity level, so, it was great to have three guys fishing abreast of one another AND watch each others’ presentation on Garmin LiveScope to see who was getting hit.  In this way, the other two guys could adjust presentation speed “on the fly” and everyone started catching until the fishes’ mood changed again and we had to experiment with speed once again.

We caught a lot of smaller fish today as I moved away from some of the areas I’d been on in order to escape the wind, and because these areas showed to hold no fish early on in the morning.

Our best fishing went from 9 to 11, with a slow tapering off as the winds dropped to below 8 fairly suddenly around that time.  We wrapped up right at the 4-hour mark, as I had a follow-on sonar training to conduct this afternoon.

See the MAL Lure, Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks 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: 102 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   We lost another full degree of heat thanks to a brisk, overnight cold front.  Surface temp at dawn stood at 55.3F.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:45A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 32F

Elevation:  1.07 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 55.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW13 through 10A, then tapering down to NW10

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bluebird skies as high pressure built in with a cold front which arrived overnight.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon, 2 days past new moon at 4% illumination

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0005G, B0186C, and B0003G all produced well on “eased” small slabs

 

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

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WINTER’S GRIP IS TIGHTENING — 96 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 15th, I fished with a pair of fathers and sons.  Mr. Greg Jones and his son, Michael, and Greg’s brother-in-law, Toby, and his son, Tyler.  Greg works for the Aire Serv segment of Neighborly, getting franchisees set up to do business, and Toby works for UBS, a large financial firm.  Both sons are in college.

In addition to the fishing, Greg was curious to see the Minn Kota i-Pilot Link/Humminbird sonar system work to find and position on fish.  He has such a setup on his Blue Wave center console fishing boat, but has yet to use it to its fullest extent.   We gave that system quite a workout this morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  From left: Michael, Toby, Tyler, and Greg  — despite the damp and cold and the stubborn fish, everyone really enjoyed fishing with the Garmin LiveScope to see and catch fish that would simply have gone undetected without that technology.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 15 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Bottom line:  we had to work for every fish we caught today.  Between unstable weather, a cold front’s passage yesterday, and steadily falling water temperatures, the fish were just really not in a feeding mood for a majority of our time on the water.

Yes, we landed 96 fish, but, this was not a simple matter of heading out, hitting a couple areas or parking under some birds for a few hours and going home warm, fat, and happy.  Rather, all four fellows (occasionally joined by me, as well) worked small, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks slowly off bottom for 6.5 hours to coerce fish into biting.  Only occasionally did we get fish to fire up long enough to rise up off bottom and take MAL Lures.

Thick, grey cloud cover, which was forecast to thin in the last portion of our planned 4 hours on the water, did just the opposite.  Light mist and fog actually developed.  Then, the southerly winds which were forecast, actually blew from just east of north for the second hour of our trip.  Fog and mist stayed with us all morning and never allowed for brightening skies

We had to move nearly continuously as we found fish in distinct, small clusters, worked them for all they were worth, and then, as soon as the fish turned off, we had to move once again, as there was no re-energizing them.  The fish were certainly not moving about sufficiently for us to sit in one spot and expect to see fresh fish move in from outside the area.

Of the areas we found active fish at, perhaps one in four would have fish sufficiently “fired up” after we worked them up with slabs to chase and strike MAL Lures.  It was interesting that once these fish passed this “willing to chase” threshold, the MAL caught better than the slabs.  I also noted that once the fish quit chasing, neither the slab or the MAL would tempt them.

See the MAL Lure, Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks 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: 96 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   There was no helpful bird activity this morning, in fact, I only spotted 12-15 birds even patrolling today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:45A

End Time: 2:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation:  1.04 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 56.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for first hour, then a NNE breeze at 4 with light mist, followed by a steady SSE breeze at 3-5 the remainder of the trip

Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies with mist and fog for the entire trip

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon, 1 day past new moon at 1% illumination

GT = 128

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0152JWC   (2 short hops), Area 327, Area 0409 to B0011C (3 short hops), Area 1000, Area B0028C, Area B0173C to B0192C (4 short hops), Area 150/1325.

Area B0173C to B0192C produced the most fish, and these fish were the most active we found all morning.

 

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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A DAY JUST FOR JOEY — 48 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday morning, Dec. 12th, I fished with mother/son team Jessica and 6-year-old Joey Ybanez of Killeen.  Jessica is a first grade teacher at Cavazos Elementary School in Nolanville.  Each Christmas season she dedicates one full day to spend exclusively with each of her three kids, one at a time.  Today was Joey’s day.

Joey got to plan the meals and the activities for the day.  He and Jessica began with breakfast on the go consisting of many pounds of snackfoods provided by Joey’s grandpa.  Joey seemed to home in on the Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  The morning was to be spent on Lake Belton fishing with me, followed by lunch at What-A-Burger, the afternoon spent at an arcade, and closed out with dinner (another burger) at the Dead Fish Grill.

When Jessica contacted me about a month ago to schedule their trip, I actually tried to talk her out of this and into something in the warmer months when I have more variety to offer younger kids.  I was concerned that the fishing would be too technical and too one-dimensional to keep such a young boy’s interest.  Jessica decided to go forward with the trip, and all turned out well.

 

We booked this as a “Kids Fish, Too!” package, which it a bit shorter and less expensive than a full, 4+ hour adult trip.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Joey and Jessica Ybanez put 46 white bass and two largemouth bass in the boat under tough conditions this morning.  Little Joey hung in there the entire time!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:   You gotta read the story for the explanation on the pink socks and wagon-load of provisions!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 12 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Overnight, a cold front moved in, changing our weather from a balmy, calm, 70F atmosphere at sunset on Friday to a cold, crisp, 41F morning with north winds and bluebird skies today.  The early bird definitely did NOT get the worm this morning.  I actually delayed our meeting time until 7:45, meaning we would not wet lines until at or after 8:00AM, and, even then, we did not find fish to catch for the first 30 minutes or so.

I always arrive well in advance of my clients, and, as I did so this morning witnessed birds working over bait naturally occurring at the surface right at first light, however, there were not gamefish pushing these shad there.  The activity drew 4 or 5 boats, but to no avail — they quickly dispersed.

We encountered no helpful bird action this morning — everything was done by slowly probing the depths with sonar.  We spent about an hour atop the first group of fish we found, putting exactly 25 fish in the boat before they got lazy (still present on sonar, but totally disinterested in presentations of any speed).  We caught all of our fish here on MAL Lures, with suspended fish witnessed on Garmin LiveScope being the most likely candidates to chase and be caught, while the fish on bottom tended to be more reserved.

About the time we transitioned from our first area to our second, Joey let his mom know that his feet were getting cold.  He had multiple layers of socks on, but the caused his feet to fit too tightly in his shoes, so, mom “engineered” a solution, taking his shoes off, adding a third layer of socks, and having Joey stand on a spare jacket to keep his feet dry.  This actually worked okay, even if Joey did resemble a character out of a Dr. Seuss story!

We moved on to fish two more areas, both in 45-47 feet of water.  Sonar revealed the fishing was going to be tough before we even dropped lures down to test things out, as the fish were super-tight to the bottom and only one fish deep.  There was no clean target separation on these fish on my Garmin 8616 in DownVu with magnification turned up, meaning they could not even be seen on the lower resolution of the Humminbird Solix 15.

We just kept working the MAL Lures on the fish we could find, doing well catching cruising “suspenders”, and, once in a while, fooling a group of greedy bottom-huggers into chasing and biting, as well.  This “ground and pound” got us 23 more fish before the wind went out of their sail and the bite stopped right at 11:30.

With that, I cleaned the “sticky” off of Joey’s spinning reel handle (Cinnamon Toast Crunch residue), bid them farewell, and watched Joey march off in his pink socks, headed for What-A-Burger!!

 

See the MAL Lure, Hazy Eye Slabs, and Stinger Hooks 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: 48 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   There was no helpful bird activity this morning.  Although birds did feed on shad naturally occurring on the surface right at first light, these shad were not driven there by gamefish.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:45A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Elevation:  1.00 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW10 just about the entire trip — post-frontal tapering off of wind velocity was in play.

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 7% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0201C, 1552, 1298, vic 1325  – slow but steady action at each location under post-frontal weather.

 

 

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