14 | May | 2021 | Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, May 13th, I fished with returning guests Dwight Stone and Kyle Simank of Georgetown.

Dwight is a retired restaurateur and Kyle operates Guns Plus in Georgetown. For you gun buffs out there, Kyle employs his own on-site gunsmith who has done good work for me and got my gun back to me ahead of schedule and under budget. I like dealing with a store with an in-house gunsmith because it cuts down on the turnaround time to get work done, and you can speak face-to-face with the person doing the work, unlike shops which farm the work out.

Some of you may recall the incredible 38-pound, 5-fish haul of largemouth we had back in January on Stillhouse Hollow — it was Dwight whom I was guiding on that once-in-a-lifetime trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: Kyle Simank (left) and Dwight Stone really worked their MAL Lures a full four hours with a “diminishing returns” factor slowly kicking in thanks to a failing north wind which would die back to ~3mph by trip’s end. They landed 160 fish this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 13 May 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

For the third morning in a row we had a 59F air temperature, heavy grey skies, and just a touch of occasional drizzle. The wind was still blowing from the north at 10 while I launched my boat, and was still going 8-9 as we began fishing. Our first hour was our best, and as the wind nearly came to a halt by our fourth hour, so did the bite.

Since the hybrid number have been (very) down this season, we made up our minds in advance that we were going to shoot for high number of white bass.

Dwight had used the MAL Lure/Garmin LiveScope combination previously, so he was primed and ready to catch fish. Kyle was a fast study, so he started contributing almost immediately, partly driven by his desire to beat Dwight’s fish count!!

It is great to see guys (and gals) get excited as they watch white bass zero in on their MAL Lure as is works its way off bottom, see the signatures of fish and lure merge, then have the rod come to life in your hand. It’s like watching a safety outrun a receiver and make a perfect open field tackle from behind — BAM!!

We fished two areas in our first hour, and landed a total of 85 fish. As the winds subsided and the bite got weaker, we would move a lot and work the remaining three hours to put another 75 fish in the boat.

As the winds weakened and the fish turned off, we would find fish, get our MAL Lures down to them, get the fish fired up temporarily, catch a few, then watch them get lackadaisical soon after. This scenario repeated itself many times over as we fished another 6 areas in those last 3 hours.

Most of our fishing took place at or deeper than 40 feet this morning.

We ended the morning with 160 fish caught and released; 159 white bass and 1 freshwater drum.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

Tutorial on how to fish MAL Lures is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: As the wind speed declined, so did the bite. We observed the first post-sunrise topwater action by white bass forcing mature shad to the surface since before the spawn. Moved a lot this morning to stay on the fish.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00AM

End Time: 11:00AM

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 0.74 eet high, +0.14 24-hour change, 27 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.4F (this represents a slight net cooling for the week)

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-9 at trip’s start, tapering to NNW3 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies all morning

Moon Phase: 2nd day after new moon; waxing crescent at 3% illumination

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0078C count to 29; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area 355 count to 85; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area B0052G count to 101; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area B0086G count to 114; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area 678 count to 124; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area 1404 count to 135; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area B0149C count to 142; white bass on MAL Lures

**Area B0120C count to 160; white bass 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

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#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday evening, May 12th, following a successful morning trip, I welcomed aboard my brother, Andy Maindelle, of Austin, and a co-worker of his, Johnny Perez, who traveled in from San Antonio.

The two work at Blizzard Entertainment in Austin providing support for online video gaming.

It remained unusually cool today, rising only to 64F in the afternoon with heavy grey skies and a steady NW wind with just a touch of drizzle for a few minutes during our first hour on the water between 4:00 and 8:15 p.m.

PHOTO CAPTION: Johnny Perez, left, and Andy Maindelle with two of the sixty fish we caught in our first 2 hours’ of effort using MAL Lures worked vertically in ~42 feet of water.

PHOTO CAPTION: We devoted the last 2 hours of our trip to “hanging bait” for hybrid, but, that species continues to elude this spring. Suspiciously absent are the 18-19″ fish which normally make up the majority of a spring trip’s hybrid catch.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 12 May 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Although cool, the conditions were solid for a good catch with grey cloud cover and wind. We set out and immediately got into fish which were literally carpeting the bottom in about 42 feet of water. Once both fellows (quickly) got the hang of using the MAL Lure, it was game-on.

Andy and Johnny landed 65 fish in our first two hours on the water — 100% white bass, all with the aid of Garmin LiveScope.

So, when two guys who make their living in the video game industry come aboard your boat, look at and use your electronics successfully and say things like, “This is so cool!” or “It’s like having a video game come to life.” — you know you’re on to something. Truth is, everyone who uses this technology –whether young, old, techy, or old-school — really see the value in using it.

Well, since I had live bait on board from the morning’s strong spawning run, I suggested we put in another hour of fishing for whites, then devote our final hour to fishing bait in an attempt at hybrid stripers.

The fellows considered the offer and “countered” with calling it quits on the white bass and heading right out to shoot for hybrid stripers at that point, thus allowing us a full 2 hours to pursue them.

We fished lively live shad for 2 hours, right up through 8PM. We landed only one legal hybrid during that time, as well as a bonus smallmouth bass, and numerous white bass. The crop of 18-19″ hybrid are glaringly, obviously lacking from the population structure this year.

By 8PM, the light was beginning to fail early due to the still-heavy cloud cover. I felt we had another 15 minutes, max, to put fish in the boat, so, at that time, we reverted to fishing the MAL Lures for their flash, color, and vibration, and added a final 15 fish to the count in that short period of time.

We ended the evening with 95 fish caught and released.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

Tutorial on how to fish MAL Lures is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

TALLY: 130 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The crop of 18-19″ hybrid are glaringly, obviously lacking from the population structure this year.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00 PM

End Time: 8:15 PM

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 0.34 feet high, +0.08 24-hour change, 27 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 70F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-9 all afternoon with occasional higher gusts

Sky Condition: Heavy grey skies all afternoon

Moon Phase: Day after new moon; waxing crescent at 0% illumination

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0078C – white bass galore — 65 fish in one Spot-Lock in ~ 2 hours’ time on MAL Lure

**Area B0089C – 1 hybrid and multiple white bass on shad

**Area B0084G – 1 smallmouth and multiple white bass on shad

**Area B0084G – 14 white bass on MAL Lure in final 15 minutes of light