WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 4th, I fished with first-time guest John Gossard of Morgan’s Point Resort, Texas.

John retired from the U.S. Air Force, then went on to retire from 3M after working at their Austin location.

As we got to comparing notes about places the military and fishing had taken us both, he had especially fond memories of catching blue and striped marlin out of Cabo San Lucas.

PHOTO CAPTION: John Gossard effectively worked an MAL Heavy Lure all morning in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to put together a solo 60-fish, 4 hour morning.  Multiple fish exceeded 14 inches.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 04 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I shared with John about this morning’s trip being the only one of the week I was a bit concerned about after studying the wind and weather forecast.  We are still in a post-frontal situation following the passage of two cold fronts in rapid succession on Sunday evening and on Monday morning.

Today’s winds were supposed to be light and from the ENE, with less cloud cover than we’ve enjoyed the past several days.  Had the forecast had calm winds and clear skies, I would have postponed the trip.  As it was, we were due to have a little of both, so I felt we’d be okay.

As I prepared the boat after launching, I was glad to see more wind and cloud cover already in place than the weatherman guesstimated, and we found the fish in fine form this morning.

We downrigged for our first 9 fish, including two sets of triples, a double, and a single all in a matter of 10-15 minutes before the thin cloud cover let enough light through to illuminate the depths and get the white bass patrolling for shad.

Once I saw fish hunting forage, we immediately changed over to MAL Heavy Lures (I used chartreuse, John used white, and we did equally well) in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

John watched the pre-trip video I sent him describing the “dos and don’ts” of working the MAL Lure, and did well coming out of the blocks.  With very little coaching, he was effectively using the lure and catching fish steadily.

We looked at five areas this morning, finding fish at three of them, with the results declining at each as the morning moved on, the skies brightened, and the wind settled.

By 10:10 things ground to a halt, and by 10:30 we were back at the dock.

In all, we landed 60 white bass this morning.

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

TALLY: 60 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  1) Very light topwater action by schoolie largemouth was witnessed as the winds went nearly calm around 10am, but the action was so widespread that it was not enough to stop and fish for. 2) USACE is still releasing at 1,589 cfs on Belton.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation:   0.74′ high, .06′ fall, and a flow of 201cfs

Water Surface Temp: 84.9

Wind Speed & Direction: ENE6-7 at sunrise, slowly tapering to near calm by 10:30.

Sky Condition: Thin grey cloud cover for the first 2 hours after sunrise, then clearing to a hazy, brighter sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 16% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1424 – downrig w/ transition to vertical MAL Lure work as skies brightened

**Area 910/1102 – MAL Heavy in white & in chartreuse worked vertically for solid results on white bass; 2 short hops

**Area SH0059G9 – MAL Heavy in white and in chartreuse worked vertically for solid results on white bass

 

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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, August 3rd, I fished with returning guest Stiles Parker, joined by first-time guest Steve Parker, Stiles’ dad.

Stiles works as a commission-only salesman in the construction industry, and resides in the Georgetown, TX, area.

He and his wife, Sarah, are excitedly anticipating the arrival of their second child, a daughter, in September.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left, Stiles and Steve Parker with a pair of quality white bass, representative of the quality of fish we took all morning, primarily fishing MAL Heavy Lures vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 03 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Yesterday’s on again/off again rain showers fueled by the passage of a low-level cold front (in the wake of Sunday’s cold front) stopped just before sunset yesterday, leaving cool, cloudy conditions in place for this morning’s fishing.

Stiles and Steve arrived early so as to see how I use my bungee-cord contraption to quickly launch my boat solo.

After that demo, we loaded up and made our way to the fishing grounds.

Steve was excited to see the Garmin LiveScope in action as the last sonar he used had rolls of temperature-sensitive graph paper in them!!  Aside from that, Stiles had really “talked up” the technology from his several previous trips out with me.

With the low-light level made dimmer than usual by the clouds, the deep-water bite didn’t immediately fire up, so, we took a couple of downrigger passes catching fish on each pass until the fish came alive and began to reveal themselves positioned up off bottom and in a feeding posture.

We worked 3-armed umbrella rigs on a pair of identical, limber, fiberglass downrigger rods, with each umbrella equipped with Pet Spoons selected to match the approx. size of the forage.

From that point on we worked MAL Heavy Lures in white color for the remainder of the trip, sitting on our first area for an unusually long hour-plus.  After that, around 9:00, as the bite began to wane, we moved and more briefly fished four additional areas, three of which produced fish for us, through about 10AM, when the fellows decided to call it a great day in the outdoors and head back in.

In all, we landed 72 fish, including 71 white bass and 1 freshwater drum.

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

TALLY: 72 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Saw a handful of grey terns this morning and yesterday morning.  2) USACE is releasing at 1,590 cfs on Belton.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:   0.77′ high, .04′ fall, and a flow of 201cfs

Water Surface Temp: 85.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE6-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 24% illumination

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1424 – downrig w/ transition to vertical MAL Lure work as skies brightened

**Area 1968 – MAL Heavy in white worked vertically for solid results on white bass

**Area vic 198 – MAL Heavy in white worked vertically for solid results on white bass

**Area SH0052C/1569 – MAL Heavy in white worked vertically for solid results on white bass

 

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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 2nd, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip with cousins Luke and Liam Shinners and Cooper Wankerl, all from the Georgetown area. The twins are headed into 5th grade this coming school year, and Cooper joins the 4th grade ranks.

The boys came out with me exactly one year ago on this date, accompanied then, as they were today, by the twins’ dad, Brian Shinners, and Steve Murphy, the boys’ grandfather.

On that trip, the boys landed exactly 70 fish, of which 23 were sunfish.  I normally reserve sunfishing for younger and/or less experienced kids.  This morning we pursued only white bass, given the boys’ ages, experience level, and level of interest.  They stuck with the program and did very well.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left, Luke Shinners, Cooper Wankerl, and Liam Shinners with the “first fruits” of our morning effort on Stillhouse on a morning greatly influenced by an atypical summer cold front’s arrival.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 02 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The 800-pound gorilla in the room this morning was weather.  We had a cold front move over Central Texas around 5pm last night, and then a mild, low level cold front pass this morning.  I felt that as long as we had wind and cloud cover, we’d be able to catch fish.

We delayed our intended 6:30A start to 7:00A as an ominous storm cell worked its way toward us from the Florence area.  It fizzled within 30 minutes, after which we got down to business.

The morning activity started strong and slowly but steadily tapered to nil by 11:15A.

We bounced back and forth between downrigging with Pet Spoon-equipped 3-armed umbrella rigs and using white MAL Heavy Lures presented vertically with the aid of Garmin LiveScope, finding quality fish all morning within 4 feet of bottom.

As we came off the water, the ambient air temperature had risen from 75F to only 78F, and would only make it to the mid-80’s in the heat of the afternoon.  Crazy!  And wonderful to be out in!

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

TALLY: 61 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) The shad which our fish regurgitated this morning was of a much greater size than the young of the year shad I’ve seen of late.  2) USACE is releasing at 1,595 cfs on Belton.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:00a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:   0.82′ high, .05′ fall, and a flow of 201cfs

Water Surface Temp: 87.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW3-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Varying degrees of cloud density with completely greyed skies all morning; three brief shots of light rain.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 32% illumination

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area triangulated by SH0048G/258/950 – downrigging, transitioning to vertical MAL work with LiveScope & back again for 58 fish

**Area 1741 – downrigged for 3 fish from the same suspended school at trip’s end

 

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 #mepps