WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, June 9th, I fished on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with Miss Finley Zwern.  Finley is on her annual summer visit with her grandparents who live north of Austin.  Accompanying Finley today as non-fishing chaperones were her grandfather, Larry Brewer, and her uncle, Blake Hoekstra.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Larry Brewer brought his granddaughter, Finley Zwern, out on a multi-species fishing trip during her annual summer visit with him and his wife.  Also planned this week for Finley is “craft day” and a visit to the Vintage Market Days at the HEB Center north of Austin.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 09 June 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Finley is just shy of 9 years of age and fished with me last summer.  She did well then and so I had a pretty good idea of her abilities and how long she’d stay interested in a particular presentation.

I came prepared this morning to fish for white bass both vertically and with downriggers, and to fish for sunfish, as well.  Over our 3.5 hours (the normal duration for a Kids Fish, Too! package trip just for kids), we employed all of these tactics.

We started off the morning finding well-schooled white bass in ~42 feet of water and fishing atop them vertically using a white MAL Heavy Lure.  Given the grey skies and gentle breezes, the fishing conditions were great.

We sat on that first school of fish for right at 1.5 hours and caught them until Finley’s wrists were too tired to reel in any more.  When holding the rod and reel got uncomfortable, I placed it in the downrigger’s rod holder for support, but, eventually, even that didn’t help.  By this time, we had landed exactly 35 white bass.  As much as I hated to do it, we left those fish still biting to go pursue sunfish up shallow so as to introduce the variety a kid her age requires.

We moved into some flooded cover (wood, rock, and weed) and did well on sunfish, landing a total of 25 sunfish, including both bluegill and redears (but no greens for longears).  It didn’t take quite so long for this second method to lose its appeal, and we wound up moving after about a 45 minute stay on the sunfish grounds.

We wrapped up our trip shooting for doubles and triples using a 3-armed umbrella rig targeting white bass on downriggers.  We found white bass in about 30 feet of water this go-round, and got a triple on one rod and a double on the other right off the bat.  We continued for a few more passes, catching additional singles and one final triple for a total of 12 white bass on the downriggers before I suggested to Finley that we could put more fish in the boat in our closing few minutes by switching back to the MAL Lure used vertically.

Since she knows her siblings (younger sister and older brother) are going to want to compare total fish caught after they come out with me later in the summer, Finley thought she’d better “run up the numbers” while she had the chance.  We wound up landing a final 10 more white bass on the MAL Heavy before calling it a great morning with 82 fish landed.

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

TALLY: 82 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Lake Belton is still rising.  Today it stood at 9.26 high, with a .37′ 24-hour rise and an outflow of 5,440 CFS.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:40A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation:  3.02 feet high, -0.02 24-hour change, 783 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: S4-9

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent; 1% illumination (new moon tomorrow)

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 006 – 35 white bass on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area SH0046G – 25 sunfish on pole/float with bait

**Area 996 to SH0024G – 12 white bass on downrigged 3-armed umbrella rig with Pet/spin combo; then 10 more whites on MAL Heavy (white) after we Spot-Locked on the center of mass of the population of white  bass we’d been downrigging over

 

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

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

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, June 5th, I fished with returning guests from the north Austin area who preferred not to be named/seen on social media.  This dad and his three kids, an 8-year-old daughter, and twin 5-year-old sons, have been out with me for several years now.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Given the fish-attracting power of the MAL Lure, which is a form of inline spinner, I have begun experimenting with several light, low-drag inline Mepps spinners, incorporating them into my downrigging setup.  This proved successful for the first time this morning.  Small presentations are key when white bass begin keying on young-of-the-year shad.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 05 June 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

One of the keys to successfully fishing with kids aboard is ensuring that I offer variety.  Even on a highly productive day, if young kids (under age 9ish) have to do the same thing in order to be successful, they will grow disinterested even while enjoying success.

So, today I planned and prepared for three separate approaches for by 5 and 8 year old anglers.  I came ready for vertical work with MAL Lures enhanced by Garmin LiveScope, I came ready for downrigging, and I came ready for fishing up shallow for sunfish.

With the rising water, the USACE opening the floodgates slightly (724 CFS), and the water warming, I felt we’d do best on the vertical work with the MAL Lures, so, that is what we started the day with and put the most time into.

We fished just two areas, and landed 41 legal white bass up to 13.5 inches using the MAL Lures.  Because the kids are more mature now and have been with me before, thus gaining an early exposure to spinning gear for the past several years, they did much better than average.  As it does with anglers of all ages, the Garmin LiveScope really helped keep the kids focused and engaged longer than without it.

When the novelty had worn off on the vertical work, I was headed up shallow to target sunfish when, along the way, I spotted some light topwater action on the barely rippled surface.  White bass were forcing shad to the surface and feeding on them there.  The ideal approach would have been to cast topwater baits to these fish, but the kids did not have the ability to do so.  Instead, we opened up the downrigging chapter of our morning and worked for another 10 white bass including a triple, three doubles, and a single.

With about thirty minutes left to go, we headed up shallow and worked long poles with fixed-length lines using floats and live bait targeting sunfish.  We landed a combination of 12 bluegill, longear, and redear sunfish.

When the talk turned exclusively to Chick-fil-A, dad and I knew it was time to head in.

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

TALLY: 63 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   First summertime topwater sighted today; USACE opened gates allowing a 724 CFS flow.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation:  3.16 feet high, +0.18 24-hour change, 724 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 76.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE2-4

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent; 21% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0110C – 16 white bass on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area vic 718 – 25 white bass on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area SH0021G/SH0024- 10 white bass on downrigged 3-armed umbrella rig with Pet/spin combo

**Area 422 – 12 sunfish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

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

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, June 3rd, I fished with Cliff Brown, former owner of Texas Boat World, his son-in-law, Cory Gates, and three of Cliff’s grandkids, including Isaiah Brooks (age 14), Michael Edmondson (age 13), and Caleb Gates (age 6).

Cory is on active duty with the U.S. Army where he just commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Chemical Corps after going through the “Green to Gold” program wherein enlisted personnel can earn a commission as an officer.

Here’s the ironic part: Cory had never caught a fish before in his life.  The first fish he landed today was a white bass.  Yet, Cory grew up in Carthage, TX, which is world-renowned for its Sabine River white bass fishery with tens of thousands of quality white bass coming up out of Toledo Bend Reservoir and passing right near his hometown every spring.  Hey, better late than never!!

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Cliff Brown, Michael Edmondson, Caleb Gates, Isaiah Brooks, and Cory Gates.  This 5-man crew put together a 118 fish catch in just under 4 hours this past Thursday on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 03 June 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The weather was a bit more turbulent this morning than it was the past two mornings on Stillhouse, and, as a result, the fish were a bit more tentative.

We had rain-free conditions with heavy grey cloud cover and light winds right up until 10:40AM when nearby thunder and lighting drove us off the water about 10 minutes earlier than we would have otherwise departed.

Fishing was pretty straightforward once again this morning with fish found in 30-40 feet of water and  throughout the lower third of the water column with most fish originally found on bottom, then rising up off bottom as we created commotion and stirred their interest.

We fished four areas successfully this morning, with 100% of our fish accounted for on the white MAL Heavy lure fished vertically and in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

Although the water temperature is solidly in the mid-seventies now and although we had fairly light winds and solid grey cloud cover, I could not see any surface activity which led us to catch fish this morning, although that time is, no doubt, drawing near.  Perhaps the overnight low of 63F was the cause.

We finished up this morning with exactly 118 fish caught and released in just under 4 hours of effort.

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

TALLY: 118 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No topwater action observed, despite conditions which typically produce it.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:50A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation:  2.15 feet high, +0.35 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 76.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE2-4

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent; 38% illumination

GT = 10

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1312 – all fish on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area 1496 – all fish on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area vic 544 – all fish on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area SH0045G – all fish on MAL Heavy (white)

 

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

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

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning, June 2nd, I fished with returning guests John Shotwell and Bob Shea, joined by first-time guest, John’s son, Thomas.  Bob is John’s father-in-law and Thomas’ grandfather, whom he calls “Opa”.

John’s wife, Jenny Shotwell, presented him with a fishing gift certificate for Fathers’ Day 2020, and, after being plagued with weather and scheduling issues several times, we finally got in a full 4-hours of rain-free weather and did well on the fishing.

John is a public school teacher in the Copperas Cove School District which finished up their 2020-2021 year last week.  With no summer school teaching plans, his schedule was freed up to do some weekday fishing.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Shotwell, Bob “Opa” Shea, and Thomas Shotwell with a portion of their 209 fish catch from this past Wednesday morning, June 2nd.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 02 June 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

As June arrived and the rains keep falling, it looks as though access to Lake Belton is going to be limited going forward, so, planning ahead, I’ve begun conducting my guided trips on Stillhouse Hollow, instead.

Over the course of a normal year, I run about a 40/60 Stillhouse/Belton split, with most of my attention focused on Stillhouse from mid-December to late-March, and then again in the summer once the thermocline develops, and up until solid topwater action materializes on Belton (if it ever does!).

So, I’m getting a tad earlier start now this year.  Yesterday’s 2-man trip yielded 109 fish, and this morning I was able to build on what I’d observed and learned to put my 3-man crew onto a 209 fish catch today.

Despite nearly calm conditions, the thin grey cloud cover which crept in from the SW just after sunrise, coupled with just a ripple on the water from the west was enough to get the white bass feeding this morning.

We used sonar to find the fish, Minn Kota Spot-Lock technology to hover over the fish, and Garmin LiveScope to track both the fish and the path of our MAL Heavy lures to connect again and again and again over the course of the morning.  As was the case the day before, the bite softened in the fourth hour.  However, learning from the day before in which I spent about an hour up shallow with minimal results early on in the trip, this morning’s first hour I invested in deeper water with a good result — we landed our 100th fish by 8:03AM.

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

TALLY: 209 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Proctor is 11.5 feet high with 2900CFS flow, Belton is 7.2 feet high with no release, and Stillhouse is 2.15 feet high with no release.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation:  2.15 feet high, +0.31 24-hour change, 202 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 75.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: W0-2

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning, save the first 20 minutes

Moon Phase: Last quarter; 48% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 0299 – 131 fish on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area SH0011C – count to 150 on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area 549/798 – count to 196 on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area 108 – count to 205 on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area 1984 – count to 209 on MAL Heavy (white)

 

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

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

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, June 1st, I fished with father-and-son team Curt and Ryan Sullenberger.  Ryan teaches Bible and honors courses at Lipscomb University, a private Christian 4-year school in Nashville, TN.  He and his family came to Texas to visit his parents who live on a farm between Cameron and Rosebud, Texas.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Just look at that fish! A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 01 June 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

With Belton Lake at nearly 7 feet high and rising, and with Lake Proctor (upstream of Belton, also on the Leon River) nearly 12 feet high, there is a lot of water yet to be released into Belton.  However, with a more critical need to release water from Lake Granbury, Lake Belton’s outflow is fairly low, meaning the water is accumulating in Lake Belton for the time being, and with forecasts for more rain.  Out of concern that Lake Belton may have limited/no access soon based on past experience, I turned my attention to Stillhouse, just in case.

Stillhouse has its own issues related to the influx of new water, but, thus far, has not experienced muddy water which is a big plus in targeting white bass.

We got out there this morning and just went to work with sonar looking for signs of life along the bottom and managed, several times, to find exactly what we were looking for.  With the water squarely in the mid-70’s now, the white bass will typically chase and eat anything that comes close to them, so, the real challenge was in the finding, not the tempting, of these fish.

Although we searched (many) other areas, we did all of our catching at two areas, both in ~40 feet of water, and both on a gentle slope near the river channel.

I looked up shallow during our first hour, but we only landed two yearling fish on bladebaits doing so.

All of our catching took place between 7:50 and 10:15. The MAL Heavy in white was just more than the fish could stand this morning.  If that bait came within six or seven feet of a white bass, that white bass was going to attack it.

By 10:15 the fish had all but shut down.  I switched over to downrigging to try to strain a few still-active fish from out of the disinterested majority, and we managed one final white bass doing that, taking our final tally to 109 fish.

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

TALLY: 109 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Proctor is 10+ feet high with 2828CFS flow, Belton is 6.8 feet high with no release, and Stillhouse is 2.15 feet high with no release

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation:  2.09 feet high, +0.31 24-hour change, 202 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 75.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW2-4 at trip’s start, shifting and increasing to NNW6-8 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous; 58% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1984 – 49 fish on MAL Heavy (white)

**Area 0183/SH0011C – final tally to 109 on MAL Heavy (white)

 

 

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