ARROWS IN THE QUIVER — 100 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 31st, I fished with returning guest Rick Miller of Belton, TX.

I first got to know Rick a few years ago after first meeting and fishing with his brother, Dirk Miller, co-owner of Miller’s Smokehouse  https://millerssmokehouse.com/  .

Rick and his wife, Karen, operate M&B Auto Repair ( http://www.mbautobelton.com/  ) over on Cori Drive in Belton.  Rick runs his own center-console and typically pursues white bass.

Much as I do on my vacations where I go out with other fishing guides not so much to catch fish but to observe and converse and learn, so Rick did on this day off of his.  Our main objective was to introduce Rick to fishing and catching with bladebaits, which we accomplished, thus adding another arrow to his quiver of tactics useful in the pursuit of temperate bass.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Rick Miller, owner of M&B Auto Repair in Belton, and an avid white bass angler, joined me on Stillhouse to ‘add a few arrows to his quiver’ resulting in a 100 fish morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 31 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We did not make a final weather call on this morning’s trip until 5:30AM with an intended start time of 7:15AM.  Reason being, we had a cold front moving in and most all forecasts called for winds in excess of 20 mph prior to sunrise, then increasing into mid-afternoon with gusts as high as 34 mph.

I rose at 5:15, checked a few forecasts and then compared that with what was actually happening on my back porch, and decided we could safely conduct this trip, and, that’s exactly what we did.

Rick arrived quite early, so, we had plenty of time to cover the “theory” of bladebaits, as well as to show him the modifications I made to the two versions I purchase to make them more effective.

Once “safe light” rolled around (with sunrise obscured by grey cloud cover which persisted for the duration of the trip), we began hunting for fish.

The action this morning began around 7:50A, slowly built to a peak around 10:20 to11:00A, then fell off sharply thereafter.

We fished only three areas today and never ventured into water more than 22 feet deep, due in part to the need to “hide” from the wind to some extent.

We threw bladebaits, both 1/2 and 3/4 oz. versions, until around 9A, until I noticed fish activity on the lake’s surface in the heavy chop caused by the wind.

White bass were forcing shad to the surface, trapping them there and feeding upon them aggressively.  We began using bladebaits for these fish by just counting them down anywhere from 4 to 7 seconds after they hit the water to target these suspended fish, but I felt we weren’t getting near the results we should for the number of fish I was observing.

This led me to switch over to a boisterous topwater approach using a rig of my own design which I call the “Cork Rig” – similar to a saltwater popping cork setup.  The fish really went for this big time, and Rick and I got to enjoy sight-casting on about every third cast or so, then watching the topwater strikes on each of the fish we caught this way.

We spent a short while using MAL’s in combination with Garmin LiveScope, mainly so Rick could see the LiveScope settings I’m using.  We were actually in a bit too shallow of water at the time to really do well with that tactic, so, we switched back to the Cork Rig and finished out the trip with our 100th fish swung over the gunwale by Rick at 11:18AM.

Our 100 fish take included 3 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 96 white bass, some of which were pre-spawn, and most of which were post-spawn.

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

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released (3 largemouth bass, 1 drum, 96 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the first trip of the 2021 season in which we fished with topwater baits for fish which were feeding near the surface for a sustained period of time.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation:  0.23 feet high, .01 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Building from 17 mph to 20 mph from due N. from sunrise to around 11A, then increasing sharply to 24+ thereafter

Sky Condition: Grey skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 90% illum. (3 days past full)

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 764

**Area SH0082G to 374

**Area 127 to 123

 

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

A DOWNWARD SPIRAL — 101 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 29th, I fished with returning guests Steve and Dave Wise.  The brothers fishing with me last in the autumn of 2017 when Dave drove down from Minnesota to visit Steve at his home in Georgetown, TX.

Dave is retired from the business of printer maintenance and repair, and Steve is still working developing software for a Silicon Valley-based company.

I don’t know if Dave will be returning to Minnesota this go-round, mainly because Steve took him to Miller’s Smokehouse after the trip … ’nuff said.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Dave and Steve Wise with a few of the 101 fish we took on this morning’s very “front-loaded” trip on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Steve Wise with our largest fish of the morning — a 3.25 pound largemouth mixed in with a school of white bass.  It struck the chartreuse version of the MAL Lure worked vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 29 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite the overnight ambient air temperature dropping to 46F, the water surface temperature was between 60-61 this morning.

I expressed concern to Steve (who coordinated the trip) over the weekend about the lack of wind and cloud cover forecast for today.  As it turned out, that certainly did impact us negatively.

As we began the trip, the winds were light and variable from SE to S to SW basically just puffing.

Under the early morning, low-light conditions, the white bass fed well.  Thanks to the nearly-calm surface, we could see individual fish and small packs of fish push schools of shad to the surface routinely.

We worked MAL Lures exclusively this morning to catch 100% of our fish in about 26 feet of water.  We used the chartreuse version of the MAL lure in this instance, and worked them as I describe in my tutorial video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Thanks to the lack of wind and clouds, our results were heavily front-loaded.  We landed 93 fish in our first two hours on the water.  In our third hour, we landed only 4 more fish, then, in our final 75 minutes, we landed only 4 more fish.

Once that sun got to a certain point in the sky, and without cloud cover to diffuse it, the fish just quit.

The water’s surface was glassy, no birds were working, no bait was dimpling the surface, etc.  Although the wind did eventually begin to blow, it was a case of too little, too late.

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

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released (2 largemouth bass, 99 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  In the near-calm conditions from sunrise and for about 90 minutes thereafter, we could see white bass pushing schools of shad to the surface and feed upon them aggressively (not quite ON the surface but NEAR the surface).

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation:  0.26feet high, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.7 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light & variable through 9:15A, then calm through 10:30, then quickly picking up through S9 thereafter

Sky Condition: Clear, bright skies.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 99% illum. (1 day past full)

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 554 – 93 fish in 2 hours without ever moving the boat

 

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

ALL KIDS, ALL MORNING — 160 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, March 27th, I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip focused specifically on making my three “junior anglers” successful.  Helping me accomplish that was Dr. David Clark of Belton.  We worked with his two kids, Jacob (8), and Bella (11), and his niece, McKenzie Killion (12) to use multiple tactics aimed at catching white bass.

In an effort to avoid the pressure and crowding of weekend fishing, I chose to no longer conduct adult trips on weekends during the peak fishing season from mid-March through the Labor Day weekend in September.  We managed to tuck away and find a nice bunch of fish to keep the kids engaged for the 3.5 hour duration my kid-specific trips last for.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Jacob Clark, McKenzie Killion, and Bella Clark, each with a mature white bass taken on bladebaits under low-light conditions early in our 3.5 hour trip. The kids went on to land 160 fish using MAL Lures and by flatline trolling crankbaits, as well.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  McKenzie Killion landed our single largest fish of the trip — a 3.50 pound largemouth taken from just over 30 feet of water on a chartreuse MAL Lure worked vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 27 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

After my usual safety talk, gear adjustment and prayer, I brushed the kids up on how to cast with spinning gear, as I suspected the warming water, grey skies, and light winds would allow for us to work bladebaits extensively for aggressive fish in water under 20 feet today.

This suspicion was very quickly confirmed when, on the very first “demo” cast I made at the first area we stopped to check out produced a white bass which I handed off to Jacob to reel in.  That definitely got the kids’ attention and they were chomping at the bit to cast and catch their own fish after that.

We worked bladebaits for a full two hours all the while seeing white bass occasionally pop shad on the surface around the boat, thus letting me know the fish were 1) present, 2) feeding, and 3) mobile — perfect conditions for using the blades.  We left that area around 9:30A as the skies brightened through the cloud cover and the fish moved downward in the water column and outward away from the bank.

The next area we fished was a bit deeper.  We saw only occasional evidence of the presence of fish on the surface, but sonar told a whole different story.  The fish were absolutely racing around in the lower third of the water column as clearly seen on Garmin LiveScope.  With the water at 60F, I brought out the MAL Lures once again (as I did for a short spell on Thursday’s trip on Lake Belton when we fished a “pocket” of warmer water).

The results were nothing short of phenomenal — the kids landed another 101 fish in the time span from 9:30 to 10:25!!   The fish were LITERALLY racing one another to get to the kids’ lures.  We used the chartreuse version of the MAL lure in this instance, and worked them as I describe in my tutorial video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

By 10:25 the kids were starting to flag on David and I — more snacking than fishing was going on, and there was talk of lunch and hurting wrists.  I suggest we close out the trip by doing a bit of flatline trolling with crankbaits.  This would allow us to continue to pluck the occasional fish while the kids would not have to be as attentive and could talk and snack and enjoy the boat ride and surroundings.

We trolled for another 25 minutes or so, picking up exactly 10 more white bass before calling it a great morning with 160 fish caught and released.

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

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released (1 largemouth bass, 2 freshwater drum, 157 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse is about 2 degrees warmer than Lake Belton and the “metabolism trumps all else” factor has definitely kick in on Stillhouse in a big way.  Despite consistent topwater action, there was not much bird activity to match, as many of the gulls and terns have migrated away now.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:20A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.34 feet high, .04 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SE under 5 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies (with “squinting brightness” by 8:45A)

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 98% illum.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  SH0020G – bladebaits for 49 fish

**Area  684 – MAL Lures for 101 fish

**Area SH0067C to 684 – flatlining for 10 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

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

AN AMAZING COMBINATION — 200 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, March 25th, I fished with returning guest Gary Davidson of Kerrville, TX.  Joining Gary for the first time aboard my boat was his son, Russell, and Russell’s friend, Josh Taylor.

Gary is a semi-retired CPA who also serves as coach of the Schreiner University shotgun team.  He’s a very good angler and wingshot.

Russell makes his living as a pharmacist in Kerrville.

Josh got his start in the aerospace field after studying engineering at Baylor.  Now, he’s begun making his own line of shallow water, aluminum-framed, jet-driven, flat-bottomed boats, called Rockfish Boats made in Kerrville.  https://www.rockfishboats.com/

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Russell and Gary Davidson and Josh Taylor with some of the spawn-laden white bass we got on in a big way this morning thanks to an amazing combination of rising water temperatures and overnight frontal activity.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This is an example of one of the line of shallow water, aluminum-framed, jet-driven, flat-bottomed boats, called Rockfish Boats made in Kerrville, TX, by Josh Taylor.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 25 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to a mild cold front’s passage during the early morning hours, we were treated to fish that were both nudged on by slowly rising water temperatures and by the barometric influence of that passing front – an amazing combination which fueled strong fish feeding activity.

The white bass fed voraciously during the time from 7:30 to 8:50, during which time my three anglers landed their first 100 fish.  I had no time to put a line in the water as I went from one man to the next trying to quickly release fish so my guests could “make hay while the sun shone”.

These fish were patrolling throughout the lower half of the water column and were very densely schooled.  We used 3/4 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached in this water which was just nipping at 58F on the surface.  Despite the aggressive fish activity and despite the fact that a number of Forster’s terns were patrolling nearby, these birds only got off the water and fed noticeably for two brief periods during this frenzied feeding we fished atop of.

After this area slowed down around 9:15, our count stood at 141 fish. We moved to a more wind-exposed location and caught fish from off bottom at a slower pace.  I noted that the water was a bit chalky here and that the surface temperature was 58.14F, the highest I’d witnessed in the morning on Lake Belton at any point this calendar year.  Although fish did present in a suspended, moving manner, they didn’t respond well to slabs.  On a hunch, I dropped the MAL Lure (in chartreuse) and it took a fish on my very first trial.  I switched the whole boat over to MAL Lures and we caught fish here steadily on them until the wind made the water too chalky and we had to move.

We ended the trip in deeper, clearer, cooler water, thus we switched back to slabs.  It was around 11AM and we had 179 fish tallied thus far.  Everyone wanted to get to that magic 200 number, so, we really worked the fish and scrutinized LiveScope to make this happen.  With most other clients I would have headed us back well before we wrapped up this morning, but, as long as these fellows stayed engaged in chasing that 200th fish, we stayed on them, as I knew each had the ability to convert a strike to a landed fish  — something less experienced anglers would struggle to do.

Around 12:15PM, Russell announced, “Fish on!”. I unhooked our 200th fish of the trip and we called it a great morning.

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

TALLY: 200 fish caught and released including 2 drum, 2  largemouth, and 196 white bass

OBSERVATIONS: The “metabolism trumps all” factor has definitely kicked in, and this morning it was further fueled by frontal activity.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:25A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation:  0.74′ low with a 0.06’ 24-hour rise and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 58F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNW6 for the first 80 minutes on the water, then began to increase, slowly ramping up to 16mph by trip’s end

Sky Condition: We had clearing grey skies as early morning thunderstorms cleared from W to E.  Skies no sooner cleared than a bank of thick grey clouds began to move in from the NW, putting cloud cover back to ~70% by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 86% illum.

GT = 150

Wx SNAPSHOT:  Well, fortunately, the good folks at NOAA were really off on this morning’s forecast.  We experienced neither the high winds they forecast for the early morning, nor the steady clearing skies they forecast for mid-morning; both worked in our favor.

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0190C – fast action on aggressively feeding fish found throughout the lower half of the water column; 100 fish landed in 80 minutes by three anglers.

**Area B0145C – steady action by bottom-oriented fish until the winds caused the area to take on a chalky cast due to wind-induced siltation.

**Area 1469-1552 – deeper, clearer water gave up our final 21 fish, but it took over an hour of focused fishing to accomplish it.

 

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

WHITE BASS ‘N’ BBQ – 119 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 24th, I fished with first-time guest Mr. Rob Keeney of Harker Heights, TX.

Rob was to fish with his wife, Prudence, but she was called out of town on a family emergency, so Rob fished solo with me this morning.

The two of them previously competed in BBQ cookoff events in the Kansas City and Charleston areas, so, we had that interest in common and got to compare a lot of notes on the topic during our trip.

Rob works remotely in the information technology field for his company based back in South Carolina.  The work-from-home option suited him and Prudence well, allowing them to work and still be near their grandkids (and son and daughter-in-law!) here in central Texas.

Rob has his own 16′ stick-steer Tracker-style panfish boat and is looking to exercise it a bit more as the weather warms.  He was treated to landing his first ever hybrid striped bass on this morning’s trip.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Rob Keeney landed a boatload of white bass and his first hybrid striped bass on today’s spring fishing trip to Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 24 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I know many folks would like to see warmer weather just move right in for good, but, I am very partial to a steady, slow spring warmup as it keeps the fishing steadily improving over a longer span.

We have now been hovering just at or above the 55-57F water surface temperature mark for nearly three weeks now and the fish are right at the simmering point about ready to boil.  The fishing is good and it will get better.

We headed out right at sunrise this morning and caught fish non-stop from then until 11:45 when they tapered to nil.

We put a bit more hustle in our slab presentation this morning, and continued on with the larger 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye slabs with stinger hooks in white.  These were a nearly-identical match for the forage we found many of our fish regurgitating this morning.  The slabs and LiveScope were a deadly combination this morning.

We never ventured shallower than 34 feet this morning.  Fish may have been there, but the bright skies early on were my indicator to stay deep and on the several recent occasions when I’ve gone shallow, the fish have seemed smaller and highly mobile.

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

TALLY: 119 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation:  0.80′ low with a 0.00’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 57.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were WNW6-8 at sunrise, swinging northerly and picking up to 10-11 after 8:45AM

Sky Condition: Light blue sky with building white haze in advance of grey cloud cover building in after the trip’s conclusion.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 78% illum.

GT = 119 fish caught and released including 1 drum, 1 hybrid, and 117 white bass

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0189C at first light with fish slowly migrating out to B0076G by 9:15 – 42 fish (S)

**Area 1859 (end of the shallow water bite took place here around 10:30A) – 26 fish (S)

**Area 1552 (just north of this point) – most productive area – 51 fish in our final 90 minutes

 

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

SALAS REAL ESTATE TEAM – 121 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Monday, March 22nd, I fished with members of the Killeen-based Salas Team Realtors, including Luis Salas, his 15-year-old son, Michael, Dex Manguerra who coordinated the trip, Michael Green, and Mallory Benham.

Dex brought his daughters out with me a few weeks back, did quite well, and booked another date with his co-workers on the spot.

The weather, although not overly comfortable, was made-to-order for fishing — grey cloud cover and a steady wind with a southerly component.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    From left: Dex Manguerra, Luis Salas, Mallory Benham, Michael Green, and Michael Salas with a sampling of the 121 fish they caught and released this past Monday on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 22 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

As spring slowly progresses and the day length increases, the fishing just keeps on improving.

This morning we experienced feeding fish keeping us steadily catching from 7:30 through 11:10 when things shut down pretty quickly.

We fished only three areas and with only a single tactic using a single bait.  We found fish in 32-38 feet of water, we used a slow-smoking retrieve in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, and closed the deal with the white, 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook.  This bait choice was confirmed as the right one many times over as the fish we landed regurgitated freshly swallowed shad exactly the size of this shad-imitating bait.

Everyone was coachable, did well coming out of the chute, and then followed my suggestions on small technique improvements thereafter, and this positively impacted their results.

With the water firmly in the mid-50’s now, fish movement is faster, the chases longer, and the bites and fights harder than just a week ago.

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

TALLY: 121 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  On several occasions in the first 2 hours following sunrise (obscured) I observed white bass feeding for prolonged period of time at the surface as the forced shad upward in the water column and into the wind.  Due to a fairly rough surface, birds, although present, did not capitalize on this action.   Temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 56.6
5 feet 56.5
10 feet 56.5
15 feet 56.5
20 feet 56.3
25 feet 56.3
30 feet 56.3
35 feet 56.1
40 feet 56.0
45 feet 55.5
50 feet 53.7
55 feet 53.9
60 feet 53.1
65 feet 51.6

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation:  0.78′ low with a 0.01’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 56.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SSE13-15 all morning

Sky Condition: Moderately heavy grey cloud cover all morning; no precipitation.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 59% illum.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0198C

**Area 593/097

**Area 1336 – B0145C

 

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

SPRING BREAK TRIP #5 – 34 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, March 20th, I conducted what was both the final Spring Break trip of the week, as well as the first SKIFF trip of the 2021 season.

SKIFF is an acronym for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. It is a program now in its 12th year, sponsored by the Austin Fly Fishers, and supported by individuals and entities, all of whom desire that kids separated from a parent by that parent’s military duty, be given an opportunity to experience the outdoors through fishing during that time of separation, free of charge.  The program offers a time of respite for the home-front parents who made need a short break from single-parenting.

This morning I welcomed the Maness brothers aboard.  Jayden, age 9, and Elijah, age 8, are the sons of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jamal Maness and his wife, Nicole (who is herself a veteran).

SFC Maness has been in the military for 11 years and serves as the acting First Sergeant in an aviation maintenance unit.  His unit is undergoing intensive field time in preparation for a rotation to Germany by year’s end.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Elijah (8) and Jayden (9), were treated to a SKIFF trip, free of charge, as they face separation from their father during train-ups in advance of his unit’s rotation to Germany.

PHOTO CAPTION: Big brother, big fish.

PHOTO CAPTION: Elijah with a Stillhouse largemouth which fell for his crankbait worked at 2.6 mph.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 20 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The boys had limited prior experience in fishing saltwater down in Florida prior to this trip, but, they were both enthusiastic and willing to listen.

Given their age and experience, I tried to “mix it up” the best I could given the weather conditions and fish mood.  We alternated back and forth between flat-line trolling and vertical jigging with 3/4 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs.

The flat-lining gave us a steady feed of fish from start to finish and allowed me to slowly, effectively sweep large areas of bottom with side-imaging.  When I spotted what I thought would be a “can’t miss” opportunity for white bass, based on school size and location, we brought in the trolling rods, quickly switched over to slabs and used a slow-smoking tactic in combination with Garmin LiveScope to add fish to our tally more quickly than the flat-lining allowed for.

In this way, we put a total of 34 fish in the boat in 3.5 hours, including 32 white bass up to 14.25″, and 2 largemouth bass, one for each boy.

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

TALLY: 34 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation:  0.34 feet high, .04 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 56.6 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm the entire morning

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 40% illum.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 730 to 764 to 733 to 374 in a circuit for flatlining; 733 to 374 end of the circuit was best and also offered one shot at slab work.

**Area SH0075C with 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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

SPRING BREAK TRIP #4 – 58 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Friday, March 19th, I fished with first-time guests Brian, Kelvin, and Will Reinhardt, referred my way by Mr. Doug Streater.  This was an afternoon trip.

Brian works for Doug in the management of Extraco Bank in Temple, and took some downtime to get his son, Will, age 9, out for a Spring Break trip in conjunction with his birthday.  This was Will’s first time to catch a fish (although he’d made a few unsuccessful attempts previously while bank fishing).

This was a multi-generational trip as Kelvin is Brian’s father, and Brian is Will’s father.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Kelvin, Will, and Brian Reinhardt — 3 generations of anglers aboard for a combination Spring Break/Happy Birthday trip for Will.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (PM), 19 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Having learned a few lessons about fish location and water conditions on this morning’s trip, I put those things to use in choosing locations for us to search for the fish we would catch this afternoon.  The break in between my AM and PM trip afforded me an opportunity to do some scouting which actually revealed where I would not go in the afternoon, thus, it was still time well spent as I was able to ascertain that without clients on board.

We caught all of our fish at just two locations, the first in 52 feet of water with 4 “short hops” made while there in order to keep up with fish as they moved about (fairly routinely) to feed in the first 2.75 hours of the trip.  Each of the 46 fish we landed at that area came on the heavier 3/4 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook, which I had very good results on in the morning.

Around 6:45P, these fish we’d been on in deep water let up fairly quickly and the handful of birds which had been flitting around in the area (not in any helpful way) disappeared.  This was my signal to head shallow.

We moved to fish water under 25 feet through the close of the trip and, after looking over three areas with minimal results, found willing white bass at what would be the final stop of the trip.  We added another dozen fish to the count at this location, including one largemouth bass which we sight-cast to as it pursued a shad on the surface and gave his location away.

We wound up with 58 fish this evening, including 1 drum, 1 largemouth, and 56 white bass from various year classes.  We took all of the white bass on the 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slab using a moderate smoking tactic.

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

TALLY: 58 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  There comes a point each spring as the water temperature begins to rise where the fishes’ metabolism takes over and they must feed.  Today was evidence of that.  With high pressure, clear blue skies, and cold temperatures, white bass would normally be much more reluctant to hit, yet, despite all that, we enjoyed a good catch today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  3:30P

End Time: 7:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation:  0.78′ low with a 0.01’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 58 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNW13-14 at trip’s start, tapering down to NNW8-9 by sunset

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 40% illum.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0151C – 4 short hops for 46 fish

**Area B0061C/B0126C at sunset – 12 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

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

SPRING BREAK TRIP #3 – 77 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Friday, March 19, I fished with long-time client Steve Niemeier and his five-year-old granddaughter, Zoey Haberer.

The wind kept me grounded for three planned trips this week, and we were not certain until last night that we would be able to get this one in.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Foxy fishing partner you’ve got there, Steve!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 19 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Although our starting temperature was 43F with a 13 mph wind, that was better than no wind at all.

The water temperature at the surface was right around 55 Fahrenheit and some of the windblown southerly exposures were noticeably silty due to the high, sustained winds since Tuesday. I marked fish in as little as 12 feet, and we caught fish in as much as 70 feet today. The fish are definitely on the move as the bulk of the white bass begin to head towards spawning areas.

Today’s fishing was fairly straightforward. We had no assistance from birds until our final 45 minutes, so, our first three hours necessitated the use of sonar to find fish. Because the fish were hunkered down on bottom, they did not show well on side-imaging, therefore, I had to go nearly directly over top of them to find them with colored sonar and down-imaging.

The presentation was the same regardless of depth or location – – we used a slow smoking retrieve with a three-quarter ounce Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook to work for fish that were unwilling to move more than about 2 or 3 feet from the bottom. This was the first time since the fall cool down I used the larger profile three-quarter ounce bait to get the job done over the course of the entire trip. Last week’s warm-up got fish metabolism rising, and although the water temperatures plateaued this week, the fish remain active.

The three-quarter ounce bait shows up a good bit better on Garmin LiveScope than my smaller 3/8 ounce bait, so it was easy to observe both lure and fish response to it.

We fished only four areas of the six we searched to put together our total catch of 77 fish, including three freshwater drum, one largemouth bass, and 73 white bass.

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

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  There comes a point each spring as the water temperature begins to rise where the fishes’ metabolism takes over and they must feed.  Today was evidence of that.  With high pressure, clear blue skies, and cold temperatures, white bass would normally be much more reluctant to hit, yet, despite all that, we enjoyed a good catch today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:40A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation:  0.78′ low with a 0.01’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 55.5 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were WNW12 for our first hour, shifting and increasing to NNW15 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 40% illum.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0138C/B0198C (7 fish early)

**Area 753 – count to 51

**Area 717- count to 77

 

 

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

SPRING BREAK 2021, TRIP #2 – 121 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning I fished with Mr. Dan Stooksberry, his wife Cori, and their son, Jacob.  The Stooksberrys were joined by Mr. Isaac Wankerl and his son, Cooper.

I’d fished previously with Cooper when Mr. Steve Murphy (his grandfather) brought him and two buddies out on a summer outing.  He had a good time and, when the whole family was looking to do something to celebrate his birthday, they gave me a shout.

Dan is into commercial construction consulting, Cori works for Dell, and Isaac works for Apple.  The boys have been friends since they first started going to school.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Isaac and Cooper Wankerl, Cori, Jacob, and Dan Stooksberry each with white bass in hand.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    Dan with one of the few hybrid which have shown up as by-catch as we’ve been targeting spring time white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 16 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Of all the days of this Spring Break 2021 week, this was the most ideal weather-wise with a manageable WSW wind, overcast skies, and a front due in during the overnight hours to come.

Job One was to get everyone, and especially the boys, trained up on properly presenting their lures.  We did this before we left the launch site so when we encountered fish, their learning curve would not be too steep.

I launched with only 2 sets of rods rigged up today: 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks, and MAL Lures.  Both are simple to use and effective.

Long story short, we never even got a chance to try the MAL’s, although the water temp was just nipping at the magic 58F mark when the efficacy of the MAL dropped off as the water cooled in December.

We caught fish from our first stop, non-stop right up to exactly 11:07AM.

Each fish-catching scenario was the same … we’d find fish tightly schooled on bottom (with some bird assistance early on, then relying solely upon sonar in the latter half of the morning), Spot-Lock atop them, use Garmin LiveScope to precisely present our Hazy Eye Slabs to the fish, and kept the magic going at each stop for as long as we could by avoiding breaks in the action.

Over time, the length of time the fish stayed active after we initially excited them grew shorter and shorter until it finally was non-existent.

We fished three distinct areas this morning with three short-hops at the second area fished.

A slow-smoking retrieve with the white bait really did the trick on these fish today. The thumper definitely drew fish in and kept them in range.

I adjusted my approach a bit versus yesterday by NOT chasing birds up in shallow water.  We learned yesterday these birds were working fast moving fish which were working fast moving shad.  This scenario made it difficult to catch more than a few fish at a time.

We landed exactly 121 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 hybrid striped bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 117 white bass of which 90% were of legal length.

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

TALLY: 121 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  I adjusted my approach a bit versus yesterday by NOT chasing birds up in shallow water.  We learned yesterday these birds were working fast moving fish which were working fast moving shad.  This adjustment paid off well.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:40A (Daylight Saving Time began yesterday)

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation:  0.75′ low with a 0.00’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 57.4 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were WSW8-10 all morning

Sky Condition: Moderate grey skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 9% illum. (3  days past new moon)

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0002C

**Area  B0145C (3 hops)

**Area B0074G

 

 

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