November | 2021 | Fishing Report

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 115 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) As is typical for this time of year, the largemouth bass bycatch has begun to take place. We took 3 largemouth today (second consecutive day). 2) Next front is due in in the early morning hours of Thursday, 18 Nov.; the initial wind shift is due ~9P tonight.

Here is the pre-frontal water temperature profile down to 60 feet:

0 feet 68.6
5 feet 68.6
10 feet 68.6
15 feet 68.6
20 feet 68.6
25 feet 68.6
30 feet 68.5
35 feet 68.2
40 feet 68.1
45 feet 68.1
50 feet 68.1
55 feet 67.4
60 feet 67.9

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 1.64 feet low, 0.02 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 at trip’s start increasing steadily to SSE13 by the 3 hour mark, then quickly going SSE17 in our final hour

Sky Condition: Fully clouded grey skies with enough light filtering thru to making it “squinting bright”

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 93% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 23 fish with multiple short hops under low-light conditions and with bird assistance; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail worked horizontally

**Area 1075 – 14 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area vic B0103G – 21 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 376 – 7 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 1815 – 35 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area B0066G – 15 fish; ; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

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

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GOTTA LOVE THAT WIND & GREY CLOUD COVER — 154 FISH

November 16th, 2021November 16th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, 16 November, I fished with returning guests Mike McLaughlin, his son-in-law, Keith Duncan, and Keith’s 15-year-old son, Alex Duncan.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition for Mike’s wife to give him a fishing gift certificate for Christmas, and, the three fellows know that the combination of low fishing pressure, mild temperatures, and excellent fishing in October thru early December make that an excellent time to cash those certificates in. Today was no exception.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Keith Duncan, Mike McLaughlin, and Alex Duncan with part of our 154 fish haul. All caught and released.

PHOTO CAPTON: I’ve begun to experience a bycatch of largemouth bass mixed in with the white bass I am pursuing. Three black bass turned up deep today on the 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab – a very, very close imitation of an adult threadfin shad in size, color, and profile.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

HOW WE FISHED:

Once again we enjoyed the company of a southerly wind, this time accompanied by nice, grey cloud cover just thin enough to make you squint, but not thin enough to let it heat up too much.

We caught fish well from start to finish this morning while fishing 5 distinct areas.

Once again birds led the way to our first successful stop this morning, giving up an even three dozen fish (and our best average sized fish of the five locations we fished). The birds were hard after shad being driven to the surface by smaller white bass patrolling 6-10 feet beneath the surface, and we found better fish closer to the bottom as we cast our MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) horizontally in 18-24 feet of water. If, at the end of a retrieve and before casting again, we saw fish on Garmin LiveScope, we’d let down for them and fish the same rod/bait vertically, but the majority of these fish came on the sawtooth retrieve.

Our next success came on a small, 26-foot deep flat adjacent to the channel. We landed 17 fish here before the fish shut down pretty abruptly (as they do sometimes when a large predator, like a jumbo blue cat or large gar, moves in). These fish were all taken vertically, as were the remainder of our fish from this point to the end of the trip.

Our third stop yielded 47 fish. These fish were on a gently sloping bottom, again, near the channel. During the time we fished for these fish, we had surface action constantly occurring on the channel-side of the boat, but no birds present. This was 100% vertical.

Our fourth stop produced only small fish, so, as soon as the action waned (which wasn’t long after we arrived), we departed after boating only 7 fish.

Our final stop produced best and was at the time of the greatest leap in wind speed. On yet another gently sloping bottom near the channel we encountered bottom-hugging fish on sonar, Spot-Locked on them and began catching them easily on a vertical tactic with the MAL Heavy Lure. After about 25 minutes of catching, the fish began to slow down. They’d chase the MAL half-heartedly, but then headed back to bottom after traveling only 3-4 feet upward. Having seen this last week in the lull between fronts, we rearmed with long spinning rods rigged with my 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (in white), and, thank to the slower speed at which the small spinner on this lure turns, worked these slowly and effectively by bringing them slowly and steadily upwards off bottom while observing Garmin LiveScope for a response. We added a final 46 fish to our count at this last stop, with a 50/50 split between the MAL Heavy and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

This area gave up a bycatch of 3 largemouth bass.

When all was said and done, we landed 154 fish, including 3 largemouth bass, 8 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 142 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 142 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) As is typical for this time of year, the largemouth bass bycatch has begun to take place. We took 3 largemouth today. 2) Next front is due in in the early morning hours of Thursday, 18 Nov.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 1.58 feet low, 0.02 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 at trip’s start increasing steadily to SSE13 by the 3 hour mark, then quickly going SSE17 in our final hour

Sky Condition: Fully clouded grey skies with enough light filtering thru to making it “squinting bright”

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 93% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 36 fish with multiple short hops under low-light conditions and with bird assistance; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 1075/972 – 17 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area vic B0103G – 48 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 0154/1934 – 7 small fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 1675/1626 – 46 fish; 50% on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically, 50% on Bladed Hazy Eye Slab fished slowly/vertically

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

A Returning South Wind — 118 Fish @ Belton

November 15th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 15 Nov., I fished with returning guests Woody and Peggy Ray, joined by first-time guest, John Ross, who is Peggy’s uncle.

Woody runs well-respected large/small animal veterinary hospital in Killeen, and Peggy used to work on the administrative side of a large construction firm. John is a retired U.S. Army Aviator and Vietnam War veteran.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Peggy Ray, “Uncle” John Ross, and Woody Ray with a sampling of the white bass we took this morning on MAL Heavy Lures (white blade/chartreuse tail) as the winds returned from the south following tough, post-frontal conditions over the weekend.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 15 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Weather-wise this morning we enjoyed a returning south wind following tough, post-frontal conditions over the weekend (calm, clear, cold). I actually postponed a trip on Saturday and did a sonar training course instead due to those post-frontal conditions I wished to avoid.

We met up around 6:45A and the fish started doing their thing just a little after 7A. Widespread bird activity, indicating mobile, feeding fish, helped us to a 55 fish catch in our first 2 hours. During this time a light fog settled over us, but, since the birds had already found the fish, they just stayed low over the water and kept right on feeding, thus being of great help to us in finding fish. The vast majority of these fish were taken with a vertical presentation using MAL Heavy Lures with white blades and chartreuse tails.

By 8:50A, the fog cleared and we had about a 25 minute span without much wind. I looked over a number of areas without finding much and was about to return to more open water for the sake of fishing where the wind was rippling the water, but, the wind picked up, rippled the water right in our vicinity, and the fish turned on. We landed 47 fish at our second stop of the morning and stayed on these aggressive fish until they quit.

It was now into the fourth hour after sunrise and the bite began to wane. We found two more bunches of fish, landing 10 at the first and a final 6 at the second and then called it a good morning right at the four-hour mark. We did look over three areas with sonar on our way back in, just in case, but none of these areas showed much in the way of fish (nor bait).

When all was said and done, we landed 118 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 116 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 116 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Next front is due in in the early morning hours of Thursday, 18 Nov.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 1.58 feet low, 0.02 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE4 at trip’s start, going slack after the patchy fog cleared, then picking up again at SSE6-9

Sky Condition: Blue skies with a light haze and some clouds building in the eastern sky near trip’s end

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 87% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 55 fish with multiple short hops under low-light conditions; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area vic 097 – 47 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area B0050G – 10 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 560/B0131C – 6 fish all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

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

TWO FRONTS IN TWO DAYS — 103 FISH @ BELTON

November 13th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, Nov. 12th, I fished with first time guests Lee Hendrick, his son-in-law, Thad Thompson, and Thad’s sons, 11-year-old Zane and 8-year-old Sam Thompson.

Lee is an instructor at the same private school the boys attend, and Thad is a software designer. This crew of four came in from the Liberty Hill area.

The boys’ grandmother, Jody Hendrick, coordinated everything well in advance.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Lee Hendrick, Zane, Sam, and Thad Thompson with a few of the white bass they landed on MAL Heavy Lures with white blades and chartreuse tails in the hours between the passage of one cold front and the arrival of another.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 12 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We had an unusual weather scenario play out leading up to this morning’s trip in that a cold front passed over Central Texas in the early hours of Thursday, 11 Nov., leaving cool, dry air and northerly winds briefly in its wake. However, overnight, the winds shifted back to just barely south of west in advance of the arrival a mild reinforcing front. Our trip took place between these two fronts, as the WSW wind was shifting more westerly and beginning to increase in velocity.

We caught fish well under the low-light conditions around dawn, then had below average results for the middle two hours of the trip under bright, clear skies and low winds. Our final hour produced results well above average as the winds hit ~13 mph due west.

We picked up 22 fish in our first hour while the light level was still low.

We moved around a lot taking a few fish here and a few fish there during our middle two hours, using the jog function on the Minn Kota trolling motor extensively. We found that by catching a few fish upon arrival and then moving to another group of fish once they original fish we’d found shut down, we did better than by just staying put, as the fish were just reluctant to come our way. We only added 34 more fish during the middle 2 hours of the trip.

Finally, as the west wind kicked in, the fish turned on and we were able to pick up a final 47 fish in under an hour at our final stop of the morning.

All fish landed today were landed using a vertical retrieve with the MAL Heavy with white blade and chartreuse tail.

Zane and Sam really locked onto the possibility of catching 100 fish in one trip, and they redoubled their efforts and stayed quite focused on that goal during that final leg of the trip.

When all was said and done, we landed 103 fish, including 1 blue catfish, 8 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 94 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 103 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) The bite increased with the wind this morning as we faced a light W wind between yesterday’s 1A frontal passage and another front which would arrive around 2:30P on this day.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation: 1.52 feet low, 0.06 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 66F

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW2-4 at trip’s start slowly increasing and swinging more westerly to a peak of W13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Clear, bluebird skies

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 60% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0006G/B0113C – 22 fish with 2 short hops under low-light conditions; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 381 – 14 fish with 3 short hops; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area vic B0072C – 20 fish with 3 short hops; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 1815 – 47 fish all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

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

176 FISH W/ BELTON’S FIRST FAMILY OF REAL ESTATE

November 11th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, November 11th (Veterans’ Day), I fished with returning guests, the Covingtons.

Joining me were three generations of Covingtons … Terri, her son and daughter-in-law, Dave & Stephanie, and their two boys, Levi (11) and Andy (8).

The Covingtons have something which, according to Scripture, is more precious than silver or gold … and that is a good reputation. They are generous folks who are part of the fabric that makes Belton the still-solid, conservative, small town it is.

I always enjoy writing in their name on my “booking board”, as I know the company will be good (and the boys’ sayings unpredictable, but predictably humorous!).

We were blessed with frontally-influenced weather today after some “between front doldrums” of late.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Back from, from left: Terri, Stephanie & Dave; front row, from left: Andy & Levi Covington. These three generations of Covingtons landed 176 fish on MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) under ideal, frontal conditions.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 11 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The meteorologists at KWTX nailed this one. The mild cold front which had been forecast to arrive around 1A did indeed arrive around 1A. A thin line of rain and wind passed quickly by to the east. As I drove to the lake I could see the lightning flash within the bygone bank of clouds moving away from our area.

We enjoyed fishing in the steadily increasing, cool, dry breeze of the front as the NW winds grew from 6-7 to ~16 with occasional higher gusts.

I looked over 5 distinct areas this morning with sonar, and found fish at 3 of them. The fish were not all that willing to move to the commotion we created as we fished and caught fish, so, we did a lot of “jogging” using the jog function of the Minn Kota Ulterra to do so.

With 4 of my 5 anglers being only occasional fisherfolk, I decided to set aside my standard vertical MAL Lure gear and equip them with the faster gear ratio and larger spool diameter of my “sawtooth” rod set. This was to ensure that the MAL Heavy Lures we used today had the blades turning all the time throughout the retrieve. For this work, I had an MAL Heavy with white blade and chartreuse tail tied on for everyone.

The catching was pretty straightforward this morning. We found ’em, Spot-Locked on ’em, let the lures down, reeled ’em up, and caught fish for 4 straight hours. There was no sluggishness this morning like the late morning situation I experienced yesterday which required we gear down and use the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. This morning’s fish were perky, aggressive, and swimming with “pep in their step”.

Now, catch this: We did not land a single fish deeper than 28′ all day. We caught some in as little as 16′ (and not right at sunrise, either). I noted this was one of the obvious impacts that last week’s strong, windy cold front had on the white bass, and that impact has persisted.

When all was said and done, we landed 176 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 11 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 163 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 176 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) The front which passed around 1A definitely perked up the bite today. 2) The fish we caught were all in less than 28′, with some as shallow as 16′. 3) No helpful bird action today. 4) Here is the temp. profile down to 60’…

0 feet 69.1
5 feet 69.1
10 feet 69.2
15 feet 69.2
20 feet 69.2
25 feet 69.2
30 feet 69.2
35 feet 69.2
40 feet 69.2
45 feet 69.2
50 feet 69.2
55 feet 69.1
60 feet 69.1

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:05A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 1.46 feet low, 0.01 rise, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 69.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW7 at start, increasing steadily to NNW15-16 with higher gusts by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Clear, bluebird skies

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 50% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0006G – 15 fish under low-light conditions; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 0138 – 9 fish all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 1622 – 17 fish; 3 short hops; fish all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 1845 – 25 fish; 2 short hops; fish all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area 0152 – 9 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area B0114G/B0128C – 44 fish, 2 short hops; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area B0116C – 28 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

**Area B0125C – 29 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail

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

MODERN MEN ABOARD — 100 FISH @ BELTON

November 10th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, Nov. 10, I fished with Cullen Mills and his son, 11-year-old Noah Mills, on Lake Belton.

Cullen makes a living running the family business, Modern Appliance (formerly Modern TV and Appliance), in Killeen. This business has been in the family for several generations and was at one time run by T.J. Mills, after whom T.J. Mills Boulevard on Fort Hood is named.

Noah is making his way through middle school with an eye toward taking over the family business in years to come.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Caught just minutes apart just before (obscured) sunrise, these Lake Belton hybrid stripers were taken on MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail), worked horizontally in ~20 feet of water under small whites working bait on the surface.

PHOTO CAPTION: Our 100-fish catch included 86 white bass this morning. Once the fish turned off from aggressively feeding, and now that the water temperature has dropped into the 60’s, we began using Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs for working baits more slowly with excellent results.

PHOTO CAPTION: Here is what the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs look like (far left, and far right) versus the standard Hazy Eye. These are my 3/4 oz. versions. They also come in 3/8 oz. and 5/8 oz.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 10 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We emerged from the “doldrums between the fronts” this morning as another cold front approaches Central Texas. This one is supposed to be dry and mild with pretty tame wind speeds. It is due in around 1AM Thursday morning, 11 Nov.

This approaching front helped “squeeze” the atmosphere and created pre-frontal warming with increasing S winds throughout the day. Our winds ramped up from 8 to ~16 while we fished this morning.

During the low-light conditions preceding the obscured sunrise this morning, the white bass went to work pushing shad to the surface, attracting birds from above. The action spanned an area about 1/8 of a mile with the white bass moving constantly and really pushing the bait hard.

We occasionally sight-cast when the action was on top and obvious, otherwise, we worked MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) horizontally with a “sawtooth” pattern to get bit. Once the bird activity scaled back, I stayed in the area, searched for a bottom-oriented school of fish, and worked for them vertically with MAL Heavy Lures (white tail, silver blade), counting on the commotion we created by working our lures and catching fish to draw others in. This succeeded today (whereas it definitely did not succeed yesterday), thanks to the increased energy level of the fish, all tied to the changing weather.

This “hot” fishing wrapped up around 8:30A. By this time we’d landed 56 fish in 1.75 hours. We would then go on to work another 2.25 hours for our final 44 fish as the bite began to slow down and finally ended.

After we left the scene of the bird action, we moved to a moderately sloped bottom near the channel and found two groups of white bass, catching about a half dozen from each. It was here that we really began to notice the reluctance of the fish to chase, even when in the company of many other schoolmates — a scenario which normally goads even reluctant fish to feed out of a sense of competition. This was easily witnessed with Garmin LiveScope.

As we watched this trend continue, I began to experiment with my Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs which I gave a “face lift” to late last winter after having such great success with the MAL and MAL Heavy Lures.

The “new spin” on the old slab comes in the form of the addition of a bladed treble hook. Named the VMC Bladed Hybrid Short Shank Treble, this (pricey!) hook has a very durable swivel attaching a small split ring and a willowleaf spinner blade to the confluence of the hook’s three tines. I’m going to warn you ahead of time (and you can shop this all you want)… these hooks alone retail for about $2.50 – $3.00 each.

Try one here: https://whitebasstools.com/

We took our final 35 fish on my Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in white, 3/4 oz., with stinger hook and bladed treble.

The appeal here is that you have the spin, flash, and vibration of a spinner (albeit a small one), but can move the slab vertically much more slowly than an inline spinner. The very small, light spinner blade on the bladed hybrid treble spins and flashes readily so long as the slab is moving, regardless of speed.

Based on excellent results last winter, I know this is going to pay big dividends as the water cools this winter, and is already doing so now, even in still-warm water (~68F this morning) once the fish turn off.

In our catch of 100 fish, we had 2 freshwater drum, 8 short hybrid stripers, 2 legal hybrid, 2 largemouth bass, and 86 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Pre-frontal warming positively impacted fish “mood” this morning. 2) This was this fall’s second trip which came together courtesy of bird activity, supplemented by sonar. 3) The wind shift on our next cold front is currently forecast for 1A Thursday morning, 11 Nov.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 1.47 feet low, 0.01 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 69.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at launch time, slowly ramping up to S16 with higher gusts.

Sky Condition: Very light fog in first 25 minutes, clearing to 100% thin, grey clouds with a bit of sun breaking through in the final 40 minutes

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 39% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 56 fish from this ~1/8 mile stretch on combination of MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically; MAL Heavy Lure with white blade/chartreuse tail fished via the “sawtooth” method.

**Area B0103G/447 – 14 fish on 2 short hops; noted fish getting very “sluggish” here, even when heavily congregated.

**Area vic 1619 – this is where we switched to Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to tempt these increasingly “sluggish” fish. 2 short hops, 18 fish.

**Area vic 1819 – we continued on with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to finish out the morning with exactly 100 fish in right at 4 hours’ time.

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

‘TWEEN THE FRONTS — 62 FISH W/ THE PARKERS

November 9th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Nov. 09, I fished with first-time guests Craig, Tanner, and Reed Parker — representing three generations of Parkers.

This trip was in celebration of Craig’s 60th birthday. It was organized by his son, Tanner, accompanied by Tanner’s 4-year-old son, Reed. The two men are in a family-run commercial construction business together.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 21 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lake Belton birthday fish! No bows required for this 60th birthday gift brought to net by Craig Parker.

PHOTO CAPTION: Three generations of Parkers aboard this morning. From left, Craig, Reed (age 4), and Tanner.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 09 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

In summary, the fish were in a bit of a “ho-hum” mood as they can be this time of year between fronts. They fed, but not long; they fed, but not hard.

We began the morning with a touch of patchy fog which burnt off pretty quickly. Our first hour on the water produced just 14 fish. We found these fish up in 18-22 feet of water and seemed to catch only from out of the schools of fish we initially spotted on sonar, but no more; in other words, we did not draw nearby fish into the commotion we created as we caught fish. Hence we had to do a lot of moving this morning to go to the fish which would not come to us.

The middle two hours of this four hour trip produced best, allowing 44 additional fish to be landed during that time. Most of this time we spent under or near about 15-20 birds (gulls) working atop very mobile white bass chasing shad near the surface. The nearer the surface the fish were, the smaller they tended to be, so, we used both vertical and horizontal tactics which would interest fish holding on the bottom. During these middle two hours, we still found it necessary to hop around frequently a few yards one way or another to stay on top of the fish.

By 10:05 the bite was shutting down quickly. I wanted to end the trip on a positive note, especially with a 4-year-old on board, and wound up searching 5 solid areas over a 40-minute span coming up with nothing until finally contacting a small group of white bass in 32′ and pulling our final 4 fish from that group to finish the morning up with 62 fish landed.

We alternated between vertical use of MAL Heavy Lures (white tail/silver blade) and horizontal use of the same (white blade, chartreuse tail). Given the bird action and what we witnessed in the light chop on the surface, the fish were obviously chasing, so despite the trend of late of the fish preferring vertical presentations over horizontal ones, we adapted to the situation.

Again, it was just a “funky” kind of morning which I’ve seen happen in years past with long runs of other than frontally-influenced weather this time of year.

In our catch of 62 fish we had 3 freshwater drum, 6 short hybrid stripers, 1 legal hybrid, 1 largemouth bass, and 51 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

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

TALLY: 62 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) I spotted the season’s first loon on Belton this morning. 2) This was this fall’s first trip which came together courtesy of bird activity, supplemented by sonar. 3) The wind shift on our next cold front was revised from ~2A to ~1A Thursday morning, 11 Nov.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 1.47 feet low, 0.03 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 69.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Light, patchy fog in first 30 minutes, clearing to 100% thin, grey clouds

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 28% illumination.

GT = 500

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1802 – 4 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically.

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 58 fish from this ~1/8 mile stretch on combination of MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically; MAL Heavy Lure with white blade/chartreuse tail fished via the “sawtooth” method.

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

FOGGED IN – 116 FISH @ BELTON

November 8th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 08 Nov., I fished with returning guests Frank and Marcos Sumner.

Frank is a retired U.S. Army veteran living in Killeen where he now serves active duty soldiers on Fort Hood by helping improve their eyesight by providing various medical procedures, just as he did while on active duty.

Marcos, his wife, and their young daughter live down in San Antonio where he works on the operations side of the banking business.

Fog was a major issue to contend with this morning. NOAA’s forecast completely missed it, and my backup, KWTX, didn’t figure it out until I was already on the water. Here’s how things unfolded…

______________

My next three openings will be on 14, 15, & 16 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Frank and Marcos Sumner put together a 116 fish morning on Belton Lake despite being hindered by thick fog for over half of the morning. MAL Heavy Lures with white tails and silver blades did the trick.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 08 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The fog set in right around 6:20A as I was getting launched and prepared to receive Frank and Marcos. After going over all of the pre-fishing admin, we launched into the fog, which kept us going a maximum of ~10 mph for safety’s sake. With limited light coming through the fog, I searched for fish as shallow as I could find them, and connected with a few white bass (6 total) on a slow-tapering bottom in 22′. We used MAL Heavy Lures (white tail/silver blade) worked vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to take as many as we could before they moved on (which, in shallow water, they are much more likely to do than when bunched up more tightly in deeper water).

After this initial bit of success, we continued looking at promising bottoms with similar depths, but found little shad and no white bass. I then moved out a bit more to near 30′ and still found little.

Our next spot of luck came when, to my surprise, we happened upon a small flock of gulls working low and tight to the surface over top of white bass pushing some shad to the surface. This didn’t last long and the action wasn’t what you’d normally expect when birds are working, but, we added 10 fish to our tally going both vertical (first), then horizontal (when LiveScope indicated fish to our starboard).

Next came a bit of a dry spell. As the fog thinned, it did so from the lake level, upwards, so, even though some of the shoreline became visible, very little light was coming through as the fog hovered yards above us. The entire time this was taking place (about 35 minutes), I saw no promising sonar readings after looking over 5 typically productive areas.

Finally, after the fog dissipated, leaving ~90% white cloud coverage and a SSE12 wind blowing, things began to happen.

I returned to the same vicinity where I’d found those birds in the fog earlier and we found fish in a neutral posture in about 28′. We fished hard and began pulling fish. Although we’d witness 20-30 disinterested fish for every one we caught, we kept at it and began putting together a catch. By the time these fish turned off, we’d added 32 more fish to our tally, which now sat at 48 fish. It was now already 10:20 and we’d been at it for just shy of 4 hour by this time.

I moved to look at two areas, both more steeply sloped and nearer the channel than the areas we’d been on. The first had shad, but not fish — lots of shad. This encouraged me to look at yet another similar area, as the amount of shad I saw was like nothing I’d seen up shallower all morning.

As we pulled up on what would be our final area fished, sonar lit up. Shad were present and tightly balled up — hence, I knew something was chasing them. A few yards further (and a bit deeper), the fish showed up. They were about 6 feet thick off the bottom!

We literally doubled our catch and then some in the next 25 minutes which followed, taking our tally from 48 fish up to 116 fish. Every last one of these was taken vertically on the MAL Heavy Lure with white tail/silver blade. Up until this time, we’d landed 2 short hybrid in our catch of 48. Mixed in with this batch of white bass were another 7 short hybrid. I’ll mention here again that the 2023 hybrid season appears to be in good shape!

By 11:10 the action died to a crawl and we decided to call it good at that time. Better to start slow and end well, I suppose.

In our catch of 116 fish we had 2 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, 9 short hybrid stripers, and 104 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

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

TALLY: 116 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Fog made things tough for our first 2.5 hours. 2) Slowly but surely our winter population of gulls is increasing on Belton. 3) The wind shift on our next cold front is currently forecast for ~2A Thursday morning, 11 Nov.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 1.44 feet low, 0.02 rise, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7 under fog, increasing to SSE12 after it lifted

Sky Condition: Fog for 2.5 hours, lifting fog for .5 hours, last 1+ hour w/white clouds cover at 90%

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 18% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1802 – 6 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0100G – 10 fish, fish, 6 on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically; 4 on “sawtooth” method

**Area 798 – 32 fish on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0022C – 84 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

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

ALL THAT’S TYPICALLY TEXAS — 56 FISH

November 6th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon I conducted a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for three young ladies from Belton, chaperoned by their father, Baylor Scott & White anesthesiologist Shawn Malan.

My “Kids Fish, Too!” trips are shorter and less expensive than my adult trips, and, we focus on whatever is biting well so as to keep the kids engaged.

Working the rods this afternoon were Reese (age 4), Leeya (age 7), and Ellery (age 10).

I appreciate Skip Culp’s referral sending Shawn and his daughters my way. The Malans are originally from Utah and have plans to return there after Shawn’s fellowship is completed, so, he and his wife are trying to do as many “Texas-y” things in the time before they leave, and this fishing trip was one of them.

My additional suggestions for close, kidsy things included: The Alamo, Longhorn Caverns, the Congress Street Mexican free-tailed bat exodus, and Cameron Park Zoo.

Here’s how Thursday evening’s fishing went…

______________

My next three openings will be on 9, 14 & 15 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Shawn Malan with his three girls, from left: Reese, Leeya, and Ellery. The girls landed 56 fish during their 3.5 hour trip this past Thursday afternoon.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 04 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Since I had a morning trip on this day, I simply laid over after that trip wrapped up around noon, grabbed a quite bite to eat, and then relaunched and did a little scouting before Shawn and the girls arrived so I could get them right on fish and capture the girls’ interest early by providing them with some early success.

The one thing that concerned me this afternoon was the tapering off of the north winds which accompanied Wednesday’s wet cold front. Tapering winds means we’re headed toward the very difficult, calm, cold, clear post-frontal conditions (which materialized on Friday and Saturday morning), which I try to avoid like the plague.

As the kids arrived, they were excited and enthusiastic (and also dressed sufficiently for the 55F daytime high and the falling temperatures we would encounter toward sunset).

My scouting paid off, as the girls all landed their first several white bass within minutes of me wrapping up my “safety briefing” and my “tactics talk”.

The bite did get tougher as the afternoon went on, thanks to winds which went nearly calm by sunset.

We contended with this by moving frequently and plucking the first few aggressive fish out of each of the schools of fish we encountered, then moved on and looked for the same elsewhere.

Shawn covered down one-on-one with Reese so as to ensure that her bait moved as it needed to to be attractive to the white bass we pursued.

By the time the normal window for the sunset “low light” bite had come, the incoming high pressure just about nullified that bite.

We wrapped up the afternoon with exactly 56 fish, 2 of which were juvenile hybrid striped bass.

Because I knew the girls would struggle with keeping the MAL Heavy Lures were were using moving fast enough, I equipped them with the higher gear ratio, larger spool diameter reels which I normally use on my rods intended for horizontal work. This worked out well.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

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

TALLY: 56 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Dying winds on the tail end of a cold front’s entry brought the pre-frontal/frontal bite to a close this afternoon.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:15P

End Time: 6:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 1.35 feet low, 0.06 rise, 40CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8 tapering to calm

Sky Condition: Clear “bluebird” skies this afternoon

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0002G – 10 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 526 – 14 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreusetail fished vertically

**Area B0001G, 2 short hops for 16 fish on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area B0108G – 5 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area B0173C -11 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/chartreuse tail fished vertically

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

GLOVES ON, LONGJOHNS ON, FISH ON! — 226 FISH @ BELTON

November 5th, 2021November 5th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Thursday, November 4th, I fished with longtime clients Joe, Jack, and Jamie Oliver, joined on this trip by Joe’s friends and first time guests of mine, brothers John and Dwayne McMeans. John drove in from Georgetown, and Dwayne came in from near Sulphur Springs.

Joe, John, and Dwayne are retired educators and coaches, Jack runs an electrician business out in Marble Falls and also deals in real estate there, and Jamie is a retired psychiatrist now living near the Dallas Motor Speedway.

This trip was gifted to Joe for Fathers’ Day this year by his daughter, Amber, his son-in-law, Izzy Pugh, and their kids.

Here’s how Thursday morning went…

______________

My next three openings will be on 9, 14 & 15 December. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwayne and John McMeans, and Joe, Jamie, and Jack Oliver. With hoods up and gloves on, my crew set out on a cold, windy, 48F morning which resulted in a catch of 226 white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 04 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to thick cloud cover, it was still fairly dark at our 7:30 start time, so much so that I spent a full 25 minutes looking for our first batch of fish to fish for. Once we found fish, they were pretty reluctant at the first three areas we tried. Each of these areas gave up just a few fish, and we experienced many fish that would simply pass on our presentation without interest.

As the skies brightened, although we still had 100% grey cloud cover, the bite slowly built. This was aided by increasing winds which got to just shy of NW13.

We did 100% of our catching today on the silver-bladed, white-tailed MAL heavy Lures used in conjunction with LiveScope.

If there is one thing I noticed on the water this morning which I would attribute to Wednesday’s rain and falling temperatures, I would say that it moved the fish somewhat shallower. Most all of our fish today came in 20 to 26 feet of water.

I also noted that by putting all five of my anglers on one side of the boat, we did better than having them divided with three on the starboard side and two on the port side. Until I did that, my two anglers on the port side did not fare as well. I suspect this is because the three anglers on the starboard side were creating more commotion which drew more fish, which turned into a cycle which built on itself.

Of the 226 fish landed, 203 were white bass, with 1 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 21 juvenile hybrid striped bass mixed in.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

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

TALLY: 226 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: I saw only two gulls this morning, but they were working over fish, and helped us get on top of the second area at which we enjoyed success.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 1.35 feet low, 0.06 rise, 40CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW10 to building to NNW13

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% for 3 hours; clearing to 60% white cloud cover by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 130

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0135C – 8 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1678 – 20 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0188C – 18 fish on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1827 – 17 fish, all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0005G (w/ 2 short hops) – 28 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1814/B0173C – 28 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area B0005G/1635 – 30 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

**Area 1918 – 77 fish all on MAL Heavy Lure with silver blade/white tail fished vertically

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