104 FISH FATHER-SON OUTING ON BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, April 7th, I fished with first-time guest Nathan Young and his 6-year-old son, Rob.

Nathan works in real estate appraisal, and Rob does a combination of home-schooling and participation at Providence Preparatory School in Belton.

Although my preference is to fish mornings, as the bite is typically a bit longer and a bit stronger then versus afternoon’s, a combination of Nathan’s schedule and the incoming weather made the afternoon our best option today.

Nathan let me know ahead of time that he actively follows my fishing reports and very much wanted to witness first-hand the use of the various sonar technologies aboard my boat in a real-world find-and-catch scenario.

I was a bit concerned that accomplishing that while at the same time trying to keep a 6-year-old engaged would be a bit tough, but, as it turned out, Rob was quite advanced for his age in his ability to handle a spinning rod.  Further, he was quite articulate, grasped the whole sonar concept (especially Garmin LiveScope) very quickly, and contributed handsomely to our 100+ fish tally.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Nathan Young and his 6-year-old son, Rob, with a few of the early-afternoon deep-water fish we took on Lake Belton.  The father-son team would go on to land 104 fish on the evening.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 07 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

After another dark, murky morning which got uncomfortably humid and warm in the calm before the dry cold front moved in, we enjoyed favorable windspeed sufficient to move the water and motivate the fish all afternoon.

Due to the lack of cloud cover, we began our afternoon search deep and moved progressively shallower, catching fish well over the entire 4 hour span.

The slowest fishing occurred earliest in the afternoon.  We used 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs in 50+ feet of water to get quickly down to bottom-dwelling fish.  For every 15 or 20 fish we observed on LiveScope, we were able to get one or two to strike.  Once a fish was hooked, many nearby schoolmates would briefly fire up, thus allowing for doubles to be taken routinely.

The lower the sun got, the easier and shallower the fishing became.  We wound up having to fish only 4 distinct areas, making to “short hops” at the first three areas to fish them thoroughly, then “camping out” on top of an abundant school of white bass at our final stop without having to move at all.

By the time we got to our third area and found fish in ~34 feet of water, these fish were fired up enough to chase and overtake the MAL Lure, so, I switched Nathan over to that first and we could see the definite preference the fish had for that active bait versus the more reserved action of the slab Rob was still using.

Before long, we got Rob trained up on the MAL Lure and from that point on that was all we used.

We’d amassed a catch of 62 fish prior to moving to our last area around 6:50.  Over the next 40 minutes Rob and Nathan quickly landed another 40 fish after setting our sights on 100 fish by 7:30, the time by which I felt the fish would slack off significantly due to the setting of the sun.

With 102 fish in the boat right at 7:30, and given that Nathan had expressed interest earlier on my downriggers, I offered that we may be able to “strain out” another fish or two via downriggers, primarily just to show him how they worked.  We set a single 3-armed umbrella rig out behind us, armed with #13 Pet Spoons, and set the ball to run at 20 feet on our first pass and then at 35 feet on our second pass.  Both passes resulted in a hookup on a single white bass — enough for Nathan to connect all the dots and see how this form of controlled-depth trolling was very efficient and effective.

We headed on in with 104 fish landed and released.

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

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: First trip fished in shorts and during which I “wet waded” for boat launching.  Just a handful of laughing gulls observed which offered no assistance in fish-finding. A majority of the deeper fish we took at our first two areas (717 & 150) were obviously spawned-out fish — very gaunt sides.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  3:30P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation:  0.81 feet low, .01 foot 24-hour rise, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.2 F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW13 with higher gusts during the first half of the afternoon, tapering down to NW7-8 by sunset

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 20% illum.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area V717

**Area V150

**Area B0009C thru B0003G

**Area B0080C

 

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

STILLHOUSE QUALITY OVER BELTON QUANTITY – 54 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, April 6th, I fished with first time guests Randy and Sherie Garrett of Temple.  This retired couple bought a gift certificate from me for Randy’s birthday last year and finally waited through COVID, etc., to redeem it today.

Randy will turn 70 this year, and the two will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2021, as well.

NOAA called for high winds today, so, we headed to Stillhouse to try to escape the worst of it.

For two lakes so near one another, Stillhouse and Belton certainly fish and produce fish very differently.  I’ve told clients for the last several years (if they have a preference) to choose Stillhouse for quality and Belton for quantity.

Today, despite very dark, murky skies, Stillhouse produced quality white bass for us.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Randy and Sherie Garrett accompanied me on Stillhouse Hollow this morning.  We heeded the NOAA wind forecast and fished Stillhouse instead of risking being denied access to areas I’d have fished if we had headed to Belton.  The quality of the white bass at Stillhouse is hard to beat in this part of the Hill Country.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 06 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning was very “murky” grey.  There is a big difference when it comes to early morning fishing on light levels being reduced by cloud cover.  When I say “murky” I mean sufficiently dark that your eyes need not squint without sunglasses on to filter out light to a comfortable level.  This is usually not a good omen for a great start to a trip.  On the other hand, skies can be fully greyed over, yet with enough light still coming through to make you squint (or want to put on sunglasses) due to cloud cover thickness — such a light level is something to get excited about.

This morning, unfortunately, we endured the former and struggled in the first hour to put more than a handful of fish in the boat at any of the three stops we made.

The later and brighter it got (although still 100% greyed over), the better the bite got.  We found scattered schools of white bass on flats adjacent to the river channel and caught them on bladebaits by casting horizontally; we found tighter, larger groups in a few similar areas and worked MAL Lures through them vertically; and, we found a few small fish driving bait to the surface and visibly/audibly feeding on them there.  We cast Cork Rigs to these fish and did well during the short span during which that took place.

Our best fishing of the morning took place from 10:40A to 11:20A as we enjoyed the first, albeit brief, breaks in the clouds letting direct sun come though, accompanied by a sharp increase in the wind speed from ~12mph up to ~15-16mph.  During this time, fish appeared suspended at mid-depth in 23 feet of water and they were moving horizontally very rapidly.  Fish on bottom rocketed up off bottom to chase our MAL Lures, and we caught nearly as many fish in this window as we had for the entire balance of the morning.  By 11:30A these fish shut back down to the low energy level we’d seen most of the morning, and we called it a good morning right around 11:35 with 54 fish landed, including 52 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.

The largest of our white bass stretched to 14+ inches and still were plump with spawn.  The Garretts had never fished for white bass before and their catch of 54 fish was the greatest number of fish they’d ever caught in a single trip.

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

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Only 3 gulls spotted anywhere on Stillhouse today, and they were not feeding.  Cormorants, white pelicans, and ospreys were present.  Most of the coots have now moved on and the white herons are beginning to show up. Whippoorwills can be heard in the cedars before sunrise now — the first I heard was on 04 April.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation:  0.08 feet high, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.5 F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 through 10:40, then increasing sharply as some sun broke thru the clouds to SSE15-16

Sky Condition: Murky grey cloud cover for first 3 hours, with a few breaks beginning 10:40a

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 28% illum.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0130C – low light action on fish under birds driving shad to surface and breaking surface routinely

**Area 764 – hesitant fish on blades

**Area 094 – light topwater on cork rigs

**Area SH0043G – best action on MAL Lures (S)

 

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

GOOD WIND & CLOUD COVER – 150 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 5th, I fished with returning guests Jered, Don, and Tyler Benedick, this time joined by first-time guest, Sandy Detherage.  Don and Sandy are Tyler’s paternal and maternal grandfathers.

Jered, Don, and Tyler’s last trip out with me was an evening trip back on June 5th of 2020.  We landed 70 fish with four aboard on that effort, so the talk at the dock as we met up was centered around hitting that 70 fish mark.

Jered works as a youth counselor, focused on kids with anxiety and depression, Don once worked for a major insurance company, then went into ministry up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Sandy is a retired FAA air traffic controller, and Tyler is working his way through middle school where he enjoys playing golf and football.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Sandy Detherage, Jered, Tyler, and Don Benedick.  This crew wound up with 150 fish on their 4-hour morning trip on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 05 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The morning started a bit darker and more dreary than we’ve encountered lately, and that thick, grey cloud cover hung on for about 3.5 of our 4 hours on the water.

We enjoyed a nice SSE breeze between 10-13 mph.  Thanks to heavy clouds all weekend and overnight air temperatures which were cooler than the water surface temperatures, we saw just a bit of a cooldown on the surface, which registered between 59-60 just about everywhere we fished this morning.

We started with MAL Lures this morning and used them to catch all except our final half-dozen fish.

We hit five areas this morning, with birds assisting us in finding fish at our first two locations, then we were on our own to use sonar to find everything else after ~9AM.

This morning’s feeding was definitely front-loaded.  We took our 100th fish at exactly 9:01AM, and ended the trip at 11:15A with 150 fish, thus, our catch rate decreased by 50% in the last half of the trip.

Fishing through 10:45A was pretty straight-forward:  I found fish with a combination of down-imaging, side-imaging, and colored sonar, then Spot-Locked atop them, tuned in the Garmin LiveScope, and let properly worked MAL Lures take care of the rest.

When I say “properly worked”, there is a lot to that.  I explain all of that here: USE IT RIGHT!

As we entered our fourth and final hour on the water, the fish really started to slow down.  As we screened what would be our final stop of the morning, we had boated 143 fish.

Because the MAL Lures would have to be moved too quickly off bottom to get the blade started for the mood these fish were in, I switch everyone over to 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks, given the 52′ water we found these fish in.

As Jered landed the 144th fish, it was right at 11A.  I challenged everyone to really work the fundamentals and scrutinize the LiveScope to try to hit that 150 fish mark by 11:15.  With about 90 seconds to spare, Ron came up with our 150th fish of the morning and we called it a solid trip and headed on in.

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

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Two separate episodes of bird activity (including laughing gulls now in the mix) helped keep us on the fish this morning for our first two of five areas fish.  The fish really downshifted at 9A despite no obvious trigger.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation:  0.80 feet low, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Thick grey cloud cover all trip with a few breaks beginning 10:30a

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 38% illum.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0130C – low light action on fish under birds driving shad to surface and breaking surface routinely

**Area 748 – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area 960 – aggressive action on MAL Lures at start, but fish really slowed down while we were here ~9A

**Area BG0015CH – moderate action on MAL Lures, and the last mid-depth area we would fish before going deeper to close out the trip

**Area 1403 – a 20-minute long, slow, tough bite on slabs to finish out the trip

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) 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

BEST 1/2-DAY TRIP IN 15 YEARS OF GUIDING – 333 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, April 2nd, I welcomed aboard returning guests — the father-and-son team of Robin and Tyler O’Dell.  Joining them for the first time aboard my boat was Robin’s fiancee, Lori Ostberg, and Lori’s 15-year-old daughter, Leslie Ostberg.

Now, Robin and Tyler know how to fish.  In fact, they were two of a group of six which scored last year’s highest 1/2-day trip tally of 288 fish, back in November of 2020.  They have their own boat and do pretty well.

In addition to that, Lori (a volleyball coach and guidance counselor) and Leslie (a student athlete focused on volleyball) were both very coachable and had some prior fishing experience.  They got the hang of the essentials quickly, and willingly made the little fine-tuning adjustments to their technique necessary to maximize their results whenever I pointed things out to them.

Finally, everyone really stuck with it.  There was no snacking, no lounging, no sightseeing, and no bathroom breaks.  Everyone was focused on catching fish from start to finish.  All of these things, combined with good weather (wind speed, wind direction, and moderate cloud cover) and rising water temperature came together in a perfect storm of good results.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tyler O’Dell, Lori Ostberg, Robin O’Dell, and Leslie Ostberg.  This crew amassed a catch of 333 fish in just a shade over 4 hours of fishing on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 02 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

With just-right wind and sky conditions, the fish got feeding right at sunrise, and kept feeding strong up until around 11:10 when things began to slow to a stop, which occurred right around 11:30.

In order to get everyone to master the fundamentals of effective lure movement, I started everyone off with my 3/4 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.  This helped everyone get the hang of feeling bottom and minimized wait time on the drop.  Everyone caught multiple fish this way right off the bat, thus bolstering their confidence and engaging each person.

Next, I layered in the use of Garmin LiveScope.  Now, everyone was able to more purposefully present their lures to fish seen in the water column, and time their presentation to correspond with the passage of fish in that vertical segment of water each was fishing in.

Finally, I changed each person over, one at a time, to using the MAL Lure which is quickly beginning to outperform slabs now that the water temperature is solidly at or above 58F.

We fished only five distinct areas this morning, with three courtesy of some bird assistance.  At each location, white bass first showed on bottom, but then quickly got aggressive and rose up into the water column up off bottom once we began working our lures, and once hooked fish began to be reeled up through the water column.  The higher in the water column fish appeared, the more likely they were to strike our presentations.

We used slabs only at our first and least productive area, then fished MAL Lures the balance of the trip.  My crew of 4 landed their 100th fish (with a 7:05 boarding time) by 9:07A.  By 10:57A we swung our 300th fish aboard.  We put a final 33 fish in the boat in the ~40 minutes which followed and as the bite was quickly tapering off.

Doing the math, that was 333 fish landed in 270 minutes, or 1.2 fish per minute over a 4.5 hour span.  I attribute this extended, aggressive feed to the slow but steady warmup we are enjoying this spring and to stable water conditions.  The “metabolism trumps all” factor I have mentioned, written about, and posted about is playing out now.  See my recent article on this topic here: Metabolism Trumps All Else

Since some will ask, my single best trip with clients aboard took place in early January many years ago.  Harker Heights resident Jerry Worley, owner of the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency, accompanied by two young men he had mentored in his role as assistant youth pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen, landed 354 fish on a full day trip (sunrise to sunset) just in advance of a major cold front.

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

TALLY: 333 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Three separate episodes of bird activity (including laughing gulls now in the mix) helped keep us on the fish this morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.77 feet low, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.7 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light ENE winds around 6-8mph, save for the period from ~5-6P (our toughest window)

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 71% illum.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1007 – low light action on least active and most bottom-oriented fish; slab bite

**Area 1871 – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0078G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0079G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0080G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) 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

THREE GENERATIONS, FOUR HOURS, 190 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon, April 1st, I fished with first-time guests Bennie Goddard, his daughter, Ashley Goddard, and his father-in-law, David Barkemeyer.

This trip was Bennie’s Christmas gift to David and came at a perfect time in the season.

David has retired (multiple times) and lives in Cameron; Bennie just retired from Dow Chemical on the Texas coast and now lives in Morgan’s Point, and Ashley works as a mobile physical therapist, also living in Morgan’s Point.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Bennie Goddard, Ashley Goddard, and David Barkemeyer with white bass we took from out of 26 to 52 feet today as the ENE winds blew.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 01 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Today was one of those days where our afternoon results were actually stronger than our morning results (which is atypical).  This was thanks to a lack of wind in the morning and due to sufficient winds for most of the afternoon.

Given the light winds, and cloudless skies, I began our search for fish this afternoon in deep (52′) water.  We found an abundance of fish tight to the bottom on a gently sloping bottom and began working my 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs in their midst with immediate, strong results.  As the fish began to lose interest in the slab, we fired them back up with the MAL Lure, once my three guests had already gone through most of the vertical fishing learning curve while using the slabs in combination with Garmin LiveScope.

We boated 84 fish in our first 90 minutes on the water, through ~5P.  At this time, the ENE breeze we’d enjoyed went slack.  I searched unsuccessfully for the next 50 minutes under calm conditions and found nothing to fish for.

Around 6P, the ENE winds returned at about 6-7 mph, which was enough to ripple the surface.  I found fish in ~32 feet of water, and we took our tally up to 145 fish caught and released through 6:50P.  All of these fish aggressively pursued the chartreuse MAL Lure.

From 6:50P through to sunset at around 7:35P, we landed a final 45 additional white bass in ~26′.  Unlike the previous two groups of fish we located, this group was suspended and patrolling in the lower half of the water column.  These, too, were taken on the MAL Lure worked at a moderate cadence and vertically.

David made it a point to tell me at the trip’s conclusion that what he experienced exceeded his expectations …  he thought we’d get into one good group of fish and enjoy the lion’s share of our success from that find, so, he was pleasantly surprised when were were able to spread the wealth over the full 4 hours of the trip by fishing for the 3 distinct groups of fish we located.  I really appreciated him sharing that with me.

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

TALLY: 190 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  No bird activity this afternoon.  The fish quit as the sun dropped below the horizon.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  3:30P

End Time: 7:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.79 feet low, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.7 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light ENE winds around 6-8mph, save for the period from ~5-6P (our toughest window)

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 81% illum.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0077G – 84 fish in 90 minutes out of 52′ primarily on 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs

**Area 817 – 61 fish in about an hour on MAL Lures

**Area B0187C- 45 fish in about an hour on MAL Lures

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) 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

EAGLE RESCUE — 100 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, April 1st, I fished with long-time client George Van Riper of Harker Heights, accompanied by first-time guest Jim Hantke, George’s brother-in-law from near Denver, CO.

George did me the great service of providing a pre-trip “bio” on his brother-in-law, letting me know Jim is 72 years old and a U.S. Air Force veteran.  Jim was a journeyman carpenter in Temple, TX before joining the Air Force.  He served as a Chinese linguist on active duty monitoring Chinese radio traffic from an airborne station flying off the coast of China. He is an Eagle Scout and still serves the Scouts as a mentor and ceremonial leader. He also “rescues” Eagle Scout Badges that he finds for sale and tries to return them to their rightful owners if he can.  If he cannot, he finds a way to get them to deserving current Eagle Scouts.

George is a retired U.S. Army aviator and Vietnam veteran.  He’s active in his church, fishes from his own stick-steer style panfish boat, loves his grandkids, and contributes routinely to the editorial segment of the Killeen Daily Herald.

PHOTO CAPTION: George Van Riper (left) and Jim Hantke caught and released 100 fish during their 4-hour outing, despite post-frontal conditions.  Check the girth of that white bass in George’s right hand!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 01 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Of all of the weather forecast for this week, this morning’s weather had me the most concerned.  We were due to have light NE winds, zero cloud cover, and a very chilly start to the morning following the passage of yesterday’s blustery cold front.

The fishing was impacted by the post-frontal conditions, but, as I’ve alluded to a number of times recently, the “metabolism trumps all” factor saved our bacon this morning.

Any other time of year the conditions we faced today would have been enough to cause me to reschedule a trip or at least let clients know the fishing would be extremely tough if they chose to press on.

Now, if you actually read my reports in detail, you may note that we caught 100 fish in ~4 hours yesterday, just as we landed 100 fish in ~4 hours this morning, however, yesterday’s catch was taken by 2 anglers, whereas today it took the efforts of 3 anglers to match the prior morning’s results.  Hence, this was a tougher morning, and the post-frontal conditions were the driving force behind that.

We started our morning observing for any helpful bird activity.  At this time of year when most of the birds (gulls and terns) are migrating away from here, even brief activity by just a bird or two can be the only hint nature will offer of fish feeding beneath the surface.

Such was the case this morning when 3 ring-billed gulls just hesitated over a 100 yard patch of water long enough to indicate gamefish-driven bait was immediately below them.  We hopped on this opportunity and boated our first fish of the morning on horizontally worked bladebaits.

As the sun rose higher and the winds remained near calm, the fish moved deeper.  We positioned on two different areas which were similar in construct in that they were flat runs parallel to the Lampasas River channel.  In about 22 feet of water I Spot-Locked up atop a handful of fish seen on down-imaging and colored sonar.  As we began fishing vertically with MAL Lures, the commotion we created by working the baits and catching fish drew more and more fish in.

We three caught fish steadily right up through 11:15.  We called it a great morning as the 100th fish swung over the gunwale, as the sun began to beat down, and as the winds remained light to calm.

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

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  After abundant topwater action in a heavy chop in yesterday’s north winds, there was next to zero topwater action this morning thanks to the clear, bright skies and cold (36F) overnight temps.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 36F

Elevation:  0.20 feet high, .03 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.9 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light NE under 3 to calm the entire morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 81% illum.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 745-713 – blade baits for scattered but active low-light whites

**Area  SH0075C – channel edge action on MAL Lures

**Area  SH0082C – channel edge action on MAL Lures

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) 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