WE CAME BACK IN THE SECOND HALF — 65 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Thursday, June 30th, I welcomed aboard two returning guests — long-time friends Larry Brewer and Blake Hoekstra, both from the Georgetown, TX, area.

Larry has been involved in the Austin area HVAC industry for decades, and Blake is a retired accountant.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on 1, 10, & 11 August.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Our better sized fish were all taken on the MAL Dense (chartreuse tail) fished either vertically or horizontally.  Smaller, but more numerous, fish came on the downriggers, but were quite scattered about.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  For the seventh consecutive trip we managed a “triple” — catching three fish at a time, one on each of the three Pet Spoons on my 3-armed umbrella rig fished behind a downrigger.  This was our one and only triple today under continued calm, bright conditions.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 30 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite a wind shift back to the south overnight, the wind velocity stayed quite low and the fishing was tough once again under hot, cloudless, bright skies.

We picked up about 15 fish in our first 40 minutes on the water as we downrigged, all the time looking for opportunities to stop and fish vertically in order to catch a lot of fish in a short span of time, but, that did not happen early on.

We continued downrigging, finding very little to get excited about through around 9A.  During this time we picked up only 9 additional fish.  On numerous occasions as we passed over schools which, under better conditions I’d have bet money on; however, many failed to chase and strike our downrigged presentations despite good depth and speed control.

Around 9A, after spotting multiple schools feeding briefly in the same general area on multiple occasions over a short span of time, I headed over to investigate, saw some promise on side imaging, Spot-Locked, and cashed in on a solid, final 90 minutes of fishing through around 10:30A.

During this time we watched multiple, aggressive schools of white bass, most about 80 fish in number, move under and around the boat.  We worked MAL Dense Lures (chartreuse tails) vertically for the majority of our catch.  If the screen got sparse, I looked for options out to our port and starboard and we worked the same lures with a “sawtooth” retrieve for additional fish in that manner.

During that final 90 minute span we landed an additional 41 fish until, just after 10:30A, the fish quit.  By this time we had all sweated through our shirts and welcomed the self-made breeze of the boat ride back to the dock.

Our 65-fish catch included 61 white bass, 2 freshwater drum, & 2 largemouth bass.

TALLY: 65 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Bright, near-windless conditions really made it tough going this morning, for the second day in a row.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 5.57 feet low,  0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 50 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Puffing 0-3 from SE for the entire morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 2% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT: For the second consecutive day the wx forecast missed the mark.  We never had sustained wind and we never had any cloud cover. Tough!

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area 1614 produced fish on downriggers right at sunrise, then all other downrigged fish came from small, scattered groups – 24 fish via downrigging.

Area B0203G to B0204G – vertical and horizontal MAL Dense work from 9a to 10:30a for 41 fish

 

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

ARE YOU UP ON YOUR DOWNRIGGING? — 51 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, June 29th, I welcomed aboard U.S. Army veteran and retiree Robert Rhodes of Killeen, TX.

Robert, like many anglers, has a boat which is well-equipped with sonar, a trolling motor, and quality batteries to keep everything powered up, but he knew he just was not using this equipment to its full potential when it came to finding and catching fish.

We made some inroads today toward that goal of consistently finding and catching fish after Robert booked both a fishing trip, followed by an on-the-water sonar training session with me.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on 1, 10, & 11 August.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION: With clear skies and light winds following Monday’s cold front, we really had to work for what we caught today.  By the end of the trip, Robert got great exposure to downrigging, sonar use, the smoking tactic, and the sawtooth tactic.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  For the sixth consecutive trip we managed a “triple” — catching three fish at a time, one on each of the three Pet Spoons on my 3-armed umbrella rig fished behind a downrigger.  This was our one and only triple today under calmer, brighter conditions.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 29 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

We came as close to “post-frontal” tough as we could today without the winds actually going calm.  Despite a forecast to the contrary, we endured bright skies and near-calm, puffing winds all morning. The fish really didn’t put on the feed bag at any point this morning, but, the latter half of the trip was definitely more productive than the first half.

The downriggers really earned their keep this morning.  When the bite gets tough, the downriggers allow for covering a lot of territory very quickly.  Many folks mistakenly think of downrigging as an expensive, highly-technical form of trolling, but it is much more than that.

By precisely controlling the depth of your presentation (and verifying it on sonar), lures can be run in and around many times more fish than could be presented to with a vertical or horizontal presentation over the same amount of time from a fixed position.  Further, at a time when fish begin to organize horizontally (parallel to the bottom) due to thermal stratification, the downrigger keeps your baits right in the “zone” better than any other method.  The Hell-Pet, Jet Divers, Dipseys, and trolled crankbaits just can’t match the downrigger’s accuracy and allowance for tight turns.

When fish are turned off, a downrigger can help expose that low percentage of fish willing to chase and eat to your lures while the vast (disinterested) majority of the fish just watch that bait go on by.  You are able to weed out the aggressive fish from amongst the passive fish.

We used the downriggers to find and catch fish, and, on the occasions where the caught fish came from an area with an abundance of other fish present, we stopped and worked MAL Dense Lures more thoroughly over those areas with a horizontal “sawtooth” method, guided by side-imaging which showed us which direction to cast, and how far out away from the boat the fish were.

We caught roughly 3 fish on downriggers for every 1 we took on the MAL Lures today because the fish were very spread out and pretty disinterested all morning.  We took two fish on the MAL Original (the lightest version of the MAL) when the burst up on the surface chasing after shad, literally, for just seconds.  I rigged up our downriggers with unweighted 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.

Our 51-fish catch included 49 white bass, & 2 largemouth bass.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Bright, near-windless conditions really made it tough going this morning.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 5.52 feet low,  0.03’ fall in last 24 hours, 50 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Puffing 0-3 from ENE for the entire morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies all morning.

Moon Phase: New moon.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: Unfortunately, this wx forecast missed the mark.  We never had winds above ~4 mph, with multiple spans of calm; and, we never had any cloud cover.

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas B0099G, and B0180C to 347 — all downrigging to find fish, then horizontal MAL Dense work to capitalize on what we’d found.

 

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

SPEAK SOFTLY AND WEAR A BIG GLOVE — 43 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, June 28th, I welcomed aboard Dwight (Boom-Pa) Stone, his wife, Connie (YaYa) Stone, and their 6-year-old grandson, Jackson Rogers.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip — a trip intended just for kids, which is less expensive and shorter in duration than my adult trips.  I always ask parents or grandparent who come on these trips to come with a mindset of helping me help the kids be successful, and that is just what Connie and Dwight did today.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on August 10th & 11th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Dwight “Boom-Pa” Stone, Jackson Rogers (age 6), and Connie (YaYa) Stone, with Jackson’s two largest white bass of the morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  For the fifth consecutive trip we managed a “triple” — catching three fish at a time, one on each of the three Pet Spoons on my 3-armed umbrella rig fished behind a downrigger.  Jackson actually landed three triples today!

PHOTO CAPTION:  Jackson was a little leery about touching the white bass we caught and released, but, with suitable personal protective equipment, he overcame that challenge!  Speak softly and wear a big glove!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 28 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

The impact of Monday’s cold front was still noticeable, but more diminished this morning.  Winds were still from the north, and we enjoyed some rainfall area-wide overnight.  The fish were still just a bit reluctant today.  On numerous occasions we had solid schools of fish pass beneath the boat which, under “standard” summertime conditions with hot temperatures, southerly winds, and hazy skies would normally perk up and chase, overtake, and eat our baits, simply refuse to do so this morning from time to time.

We just rolled with these punches and put together a decent morning over the three hours which Jackson stayed engaged.

In summary, we downrigged to both find and catch fish, and, on occasions where sonar revealed strong concentrations of fish, we stopped to fish for them vertically using a smoking tactic with MAL Dense Lures (white body, chartreuse tail) in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

For variety’s sake, I brought along a set of juglines generously donated to me back in 2019 by Mr. Greg Wade for use with kids aboard.  With my jugs, and Dwight’s “secret bait”, we set out ten jugs to drift parallel to one another.  After about an hour we went back and checked them without success.

“Action” Jackson did really well today — he followed instructions, was courteous and thoughtful, and took good care of his catch so each fish could be released in healthy condition.

Our 43-fish catch included 41 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.

TALLY: 43 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 0.50″ caught in the rain gauge between 7p Monday and 7a Tuesday thanks to a cold front colliding with a low pressure system right over Central Texas.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  9:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 5.50 feet low,  0.03’ fall in last 24 hours, 50 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNE11 for the entire morning.

Sky Condition: Greyed over skies all morning, right up until 9:15, at which time the clouds began to “burn off” pretty rapidly.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 0% illumination (new moon tomorrow).

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas B0030G, 1608, B0201G thru B0031G — all downrigging to find fish, then vertical MAL Dense work to capitalize on what we’d found.

 

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

ONE MAN, ONE LIMIT, ONE PRETTY TOUGH MORNING — 35 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Monday, 27 June 2022, I fished with first-time guest Jim Perciavalle who drove in from just north of Georgetown, TX.

Jim, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, operates Veterans Advocates Group LLC, which aids veterans and their families with their disability claims before the Veterans’ Administration.

Through the planning phase of this trip, our headcount varied from 2 to 3, but, as it turned out, Jim joined me solo this morning.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on August 1st & 2nd.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: Jim Perciavalle with a pair of white bass taken on MAL Dense Lures worked over an area we first identified via downrigging.  If the fish were active enough to chase and overtake our downrigged baits, they would typically also be tempted as we worked lures through them vertically.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Despite fishing made tougher by a wrinkle in the weather, this made the fourth consecutive trip during which we landed at least one “triple”, catching one fish on each of the three Pet Spoons on the 3-armed umbrella rig as we searched for fish using the downrigger.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 27 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Our nice run of “cookie cutter” weather days came to a crashing halt last night as the wind shifted to the north with the arrival of a mild, summer cold front.  Even though it has been hot, the weather has been consistent, as has the fishing (not great, mind you, but at least consistent).  This cold front “wrinkled” that consistency and the fishing took a bit of a dip this morning.

In ~5 hours on the water, we spotted perhaps a half-dozen schools of white bass doing their “popcorn” routine, where they blitz bait on the surface for just seconds, and then disappear for good.

Finding collections of fish was definitely tougher today, and, even when we found them, two of three were disinterested.  Those schools that were interested just didn’t “stick” very long beneath us.

We used the downrigger as a search tool today.  Each time we found fish with it, we’d circle back to where the fish came from and, when they were still present, we fished for them, knowing at least a few of them were active enough to chase and strike.

We “exploited” the downrigger catch by fishing MAL Dense Lures vertically with the help of Garmin LiveScope, using a smoking tactic.  Only three or four times over the course of the morning did a large enough school of fish show on side-imaging out to our port or starboard as we sat on Spot-Lock to make it worth tossing out horizontally and using a sawtooth tactic.

Our 35-fish catch included 33 white bass and 2 short hybrid striper.

TALLY: 35 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile down to 60 feet; note the greatest change from 30-35′:

0 feet 86.2F
5 feet 86.4F
10 feet 86.4F
15 feet 86.4F
20 feet 86.4F
25 feet 86.2F
30 feet 81.9F
35 feet 77.0F
40 feet 74.7F
45 feet 69.6F
50 feet 64.3F
55 feet 62.3F
60 feet 60.6F

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 5.47 feet low,  0.01′ rise in last 24 hours, 50 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW7 at sunrise, increasing to NW13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0-5% coverage with wispy, white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 2% illumination (new moon in 2 days).

GT = 225

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0084G – vertical with MAL Dense

Area B0202G – vertical with MAL Dense

Areas 1974 to 1411 – downrigged to find; vertical to catch

 

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

BOOM-PA, YAYA, & JEMMA – 72 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Thursday, June 23rd, I welcomed aboard Dwight (Boom-Pa) Stone, his wife, Connie (YaYa) Stone, and their 8-year-old granddaughter, Jemma Rogers.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip — a trip intended just for kids, which is less expensive and shorter in duration than my adult trips.  Boom-Pa was basically my first mate for the morning, and YaYa tended to snacks and photography, while I watched sonar, took fish off the hook, and steered the boat.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 22nd and August 1st.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Dwight “Boom-Pa” Stone, Jemma Rogers, and Connie “YaYa” Stone.  The Stone’s enjoyed having their granddaughter do a sleepover for an early wakeup for this morning’s very successful fishing adventure.  Jemma landed 72 fish in all.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  8-year-old Jemma kicked things off with a “triple” — three fish landed at the same time on a downrigged 3-arm umbrella rig!

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 23 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

With an unchanging run of “cookie cutter” weather days, the fishing has become pretty predictable with the fish doing about the same things, at the same times, and in the same places day by day, with the big variable being wind.  Wind blows, fish bite; wind quits, fish quit … it’s as simple as that on these deep, clear Hill Country, limestone-bottomed lakes.

When Jemma first arrived she was quite sheepish, barely wanting to speak, and reluctant about boarding the boat.  We went over my safety talk, prepped the gear for her right-handedness, prayed for safety and success, and then got lines in the water.

Don’t you know, that girl sprung to life when a “triple” took her downrigging rod and ripped her line out of the release clip.  When she saw that yellow Eagle Claw downrigger rod dancing in the rod holder she started to squeal and laugh and yelled for her Boom-Pa to help.  Landing three fish at the same time on one rod is a great way to start the day, and it helped bridge a gap for Jemma.

We downrigged for as long as she stayed interested.  She stayed interested as long as we were catching fish.  We caught fish as long as the wind blew.  By around 8AM, the nice 6-7mph southerly breeze quit, and so did the fish.  By this time, we’d already amassed a catch of 36 fish, all on the downriggers using both downriggers, each equipped with a 3-armed umbrella rig, each rig equipped with three Luhr-Jensen Pet Spoons.

We left the white bass fishing behind and headed up shallow to target sunfish using a “bream pole”, slip float, and bait.  Jemma quickly got the hang of setting the hook as the sunfish pulled the float under, so, she hooked and landed a lot of fish, and hooked most of them in the lip (versus inside the mouth).  By the time the novelty of the sunfishing wore off, she’d landed 27 sunfish — a mix of redear, longear, green, and bluegill sunfish.

It was now just after 9A, and a light ripple had returned to the water, this time from the SW.  It didn’t last long, but, it was long enough to give us one final shot at the whites.  We headed out to a more steeply sloped area, downrigged it, and came up with a final 9 additional white bass to bring Jemma’s morning tally to 72 fish landed all by herself.

In my estimation, using tactics with the MAL Lures, given Jemma’s limited prior experience and small frame, would not have resulted in a better catch than the catch we made today, so, we kept it simple and stuck with what was working.

Our 72-fish catch included 42 white bass, 27 sunfish, and 3 short hybrid striper.

 

TALLY: 72 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The white bass activity rose and fell with the wind today; the USACE bumped up the flow through the dam from 38CFS to 50CFS — still pretty insignificant.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 5.31 feet low,  0.04’ fall in last 24 hours, 50 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S5-7 until 8, then calm until 9, then SSW4-5 from 9A to 9:50A, then calm again.

Sky Condition: 0-5% coverage with wispy, white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 27% illumination.

GT = 10

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0193C – downrigging

Area B0155C thru 834 – downrigging

Areas 502 and 492 – sunfish

Area B0039G thru 1937 – downrigging

 

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

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2022 – 101 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, June 22nd, I welcomed aboard Jason Martinez, accompanied by his daughters, Sophie (age 14), and Olivia (age 10).

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip — a trip intended just for kids, which is less expensive and shorter in duration than my adult trips.  So, instead of fishing for his own fish, Jason’s role was to help me help the girls be successful.  He untangled lines, unhooked fish, set downriggers to depth, and more, all so we could maximize our catch for the girls while the fish were active.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 22nd and August 1st.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Olivia, Jason, and Sophie Martinez with a few of the white bass Lake Belton gave up this morning on this “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for the girls.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: 10-year-old Olivia started us off right this morning.  Our first contact with fish resulted in a triple — three fish at one time on a downrigged 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Not to be outdone by her younger sister, Sophie came up with a triple of her own.  The girls would go on to land five sets of triples and even more numerous doubles as the white bass really cooperated today.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 22 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite any appreciable change in winds or weather, fishing today was just much simpler and more productive than the last two days have been.  We noted more topwater action (although it wasn’t through the roof), more fish in a feeding posture up off the bottom, and bait much more tightly bunched and up higher in the water column as they were being pursued by the white bass for three-plus hours straight this morning.

We began the day downrigging with twin ‘riggers deployed, each rigged with a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons to imitate the young-of-the-year shad.  We stuck with this for about 45 minutes until the sun’s increasing angle and intensity drove the fish down in the water column and out away from shore.  We’d already landed two dozen fish by now, and then added another dozen taken by smoking MAL Heavy Lures in just over thirty feet of water where we found a nice bunch (~60 fish as seen on sonar) piled up together.

When this dried up, we went hunting with sonar (primarily relying on side-imaging) to find congregations of fish large enough to hover atop of and fish vertically for.  We found one such school fairly quickly in about 34 feet of water and worked them for about a half hour, adding another 27 fish to our tally on the MAL Heavy Lures.

We again hunted fish, and again found fish on side-imaging, this time in 32 feet of water in a more wind-exposed location (which kept the girls cooler as the summer heat was pouring on).  We took another 12 fish on the MAL Heavies and then detected a weakening in the bite right around 9A.

By this time, both girls had worn out their wrists and were ready for the more relaxing approach of downrigging for one last round.   The fish really put on a show as we covered lots of ground, straining out the still-active fish from amongst an increasingly inactive population.  We took our final tally from 75 fish up to 101 fish in our final 30 minutes on the water, and still arrived back at the dock about 15 minutes early as the heat and action just about had the girls worn out.

Kudos to Jason for being a supportive, loving, present, encouraging, and (most importantly) godly dad to his daughters.  Our nation needs more of that!

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our 101-fish catch included 99 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 short hybrid striper.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Despite any appreciable change in winds or weather, fishing today was much more productive than were the previous 2 days.  We noted 1) more topwater action, 2) more fish in a feeding posture up off the bottom, and 3) bait much more tightly bunched and up higher in the water column.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  9:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 5.26 feet low,  0.04’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 0-5% coverage with wispy, white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 36% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area 1404 to 1041 – downrigging early, then vertical once sun pushed fish down, 36 fish

Area 1411 – smoking MAL Lures for 27 fish

Area B0098G – smoking MAL Lures for 12 fish

Area 840 – downrigging for a final 26 fish

 

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

GAVE HIM A BASS-WHUPPIN’ — 80 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, June 21th, I welcomed aboard Dr. Aaron Baggett and his father-in-law, Dr. Jim Williams.

Aaron is an assistant professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where, among other things, he provides oversight to the school’s bass fishing team.

Jim retired in November of 2021 after 50 years as a public health veterinarian with the United States Department of Agriculture, working in slaughterhouses to ensure the safety of the nation’s food supply.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 13th and 15th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Dr. Aaron Baggett and his father-in-law, Dr. Jim Williams used a combination of downrigging, vertical tactics, and horizontal tactics to put together a catch of 80 fish on a hot summer morning in Texas.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 21 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Let me start at the end … as Aaron and Jim stepped out of the boat, I told them our results were not unusual for the summer, but the way the fishing “flowed” today definitely was, in that we caught fish steadily from start to finish for all four hours this morning.  Summer morning trips are typically “front-loaded”.

As for a day-over-day comparison, we enjoyed ample, steady winds today right around 8-9mph the entire morning.  This was not what was forecast — it was actually better (see wx chart below).

I came prepared for four tactics: downrigging (to find fish), topwater (which normally gets increasingly reliable sometime between Fathers’ Day and Independence Day and they stays steady into August), vertical smoking, and use of the horizontal “sawtooth” method.  As it turned out, we employed all but topwater, which, for the second day in a row, did not materialize.

As typically happens on Lake Belton (and Stillhouse Hollow) in the summer as the thermocline forms, the white bass have splintered into small schools which can be found just about everywhere as they, like nomads, just cruise and patrol for shad.  Where multitudes of these “wolf pack” collect, fishing can be great.  Where you encounter just one or two such schools, the catching can be “brief”.

Today, we were fortunate to be in three separate areas where many of these wolf packs were grouped together.

The fishing played out at each one in much the same way.  I checked on areas (wind-blown areas) where, based on past summers’ notes, I suspected fish would be.  We downrigged through those areas with a single downrigger running a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Luhr-Jensen Pet Spoons while watching sonar like a hawk.  When DI, SI, or 2D revealed fish, we used the Minn Kota i-Pilot Link system to go to these fish, Spot Lock on them, and begin fishing them vertically with the MAL Heavy (chartreuse tail).  While on Spot Lock, we’d keep SI running and watch for schools swimming out to our port or starboard side.  When a sizeable school showed, we would reel up, fire casts out to them and keep fishing them as long as they showed on sonar and were willing to strike.  We repeated this “process” of finding and fishing, finding and fishing all morning, and did so successfully.

By trip’s end, Jim said Aaron had given him a bass whuppin’ by catching 2 fish for every one Jim brought in, but, I know the numbers were closer, and, in fairness, Aaron has been out with me before, during which time he’d used these same tactics, so, he had no learning curve to go through.

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our 80-fish catch included 79 white bass and 1 short hybrid striper.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  We saw only 2 briefly appearing schools of fish feeding on topwater this morning after abundant topwater action most every day last week.  When we don’t have humid, muggy air and/or cloud cover in the morning, that topwater action just seems to be much less prevalent.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 5.22 feet low,  0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE9 all morning

Sky Condition: 0-5% coverage with wispy, white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 46% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 1993, three short hops (vert. and horiz.) and downrigging for 44 fish

Area vic 214, vert. and downrigging for 15 fish

Area B0201G, vert. and downrigging for 21 fish

 

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

CAMPIN’ & FISHIN’ WITH PAW PAW — 70 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Monday, June 20th, I welcomed aboard Mr. Scott Sutphen and his grandsons, Josh (15), Jacob (12), and Jace (11).

Scott and his wife are from the Bryan-College Station area where Scott works for Lochow Ranch, a pond and lake management company, providing comprehensive private lake and pond management services throughout Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.  They routinely camp at Lake Belton, and that’s how they came to book with me.

The boys are all from the rural town of Iola, out between Bryan and Huntsville.

After fixing them his “Paw Paw Special Breakfast” (that’d be Pop-Tarts), the crew drove over from their campground and showed up on time for our 6:30A start.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 13th and 15th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jacob, Josh, Jace, and Scott Sutphen with a few of the Lake Belton white bass we really worked for today under bright skies and near-calm wind conditions.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 20 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

We faced pretty tough conditions today — nearly cloudless skies, and nearly calm winds through 10AM.  Our best run of catching actually came right at the close of the trip, between 10:10A and 10:55A, when we put a final 31 fish in the boat.  This is atypical, especially in the summer, to catch more fish in the latter part of the trip, but, the fish turned on when the wind blew.

Until that wind kicked in, we faced very much the same scenario at each of the places we searched … we’d see a few fish on sonar, Spot-Lock on them, create some commotion to draw them in, and caught a few, only to have their interest drop off very quickly.  We could not get fish to stay under the boat for any length of time.  So, seeing this, we adjusted by moving frequently, taking a few fish from a given area, and then moving again as soon as the bite dropped off.

All of the fishing we did, up until the wind began blowing, was vertical smoking with the MAL Heavy (chartreuse tail).  Once the wind started blowing, we got on top of a good school, caught some vertically, and then noted large, patrolling schools of fish on bottom out to our starboard side, as witnessed on side-imaging.  I gave everyone targets on the horizon to aim for so their casts would fall among the fish, and everyone started catching using the “sawtooth” method on that same MAL Heavy.  We never saw a single such school of feeding whites while under calm conditions.

By 10:55, the bite was waning, the heat was rising, and the boys’ appetites were increasing, so, we called it a good morning right there, having achieved a “personal best” for number of fish caught on a single fishing trip for the Sutphen crew.

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our 70-fish catch included 68 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Here is the temperature profile I measured down to 60 feet. Note the 6-degree plunge between 40-45 feet:

0 feet 83.6F
5 feet 84.5F
10 feet 84.8F
15 feet 85F
20 feet 84F
25 feet 82.6F
30 feet 79.6F
35 feet 77.9F
40 feet 75.2F
45 feet 69.2F
50 feet 65.3F
55 feet 62.4F
60 feet 61.2F

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 5.17 feet low,  0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable from the south, puffing at 1-4mph through 10A, then picking up to S8 thereafter.

Sky Condition: 5% coverage with wispy, white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 57% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  We moved around a lot today, picking up a few here and there.  The only areas which produced more than 10 fish were…

Area vic BDH005

Area vic 489

Area B0098G

 

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

SUMMER TRAIN WRECK!!! — 91 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Thursday, June 16th, I welcomed aboard 9-year-old Miss Adi Zwern of Houston.

Adi is in the midst of her annual summer visit with her Grandma and Pop Pop in Georgetown.  For the last three years now, fishing with me has been a part of that summer visit.

Adi was accompanied by Pop Pop Larry Brewer and Uncle Blake Hoekstra on this “Kids Fish, Too!” trip — a trip intended just for kids, which is less expensive and shorter in duration than my adult trips.

In addition to the fishing, games and craft projects are also a traditional part of Adi’s summer visit.

This year, the domino game “Train” was the big hit, and painting birdhouses was the craft du jour.  It seemed Adi took particular delight in causing “train wrecks” for her Pop Pop, thus causing him undesirably high scores (like 87 … 87 … 87… 87 … 87)!!

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 12th and 13th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Pop Pop Larry Brewer, Adi Zwern, and Blake Hoekstra, each with one of the larger white bass we took mid-morning from deeper water after topwater feeding by smaller fish died down.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: A few pieces of Adi’s summers spent with Grandma and Pop Pop through the years.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 16 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

There is a very definite transition to summertime fishing patterns now underway at Lake Belton, as was the case over at Stillhouse Hollow earlier this week.

This morning on Belton, lots of small, young-of-the-year shad made easy pickings for white bass under low light conditions right at sunrise.  We sight-cast to fish in schools of perhaps 100-200 fish each all tightly bunched together as they worked together to pin bait up against the surface.

We threw MAL Original Lures with white tails to these eager feeders and caught a fish each time Adi could reel the lure fast enough to keep it from sinking below the fish.

After the sun rose above the clouds and started brightening things up, we continued catching these same fish which were now visible only on sonar down between 12-18 feet.  I ran just one downrigger with a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with silver Pet Spoons to catch these fish until they finally pushed deeper in the water column and away from shore.  By this time we’d landed 16 fish, including a double on the umbrella rig.

From this point and until about 9:15, we went out into deeper, 38-44′ water searching for more bottom-oriented schools of fish.  We found two such groups of fish, drew them in toward the boat with the commotion we created, and caught them on MAL Heavy Lures (silver blade/white tail) steadily, greatly aided by Garmin LiveScope.

The sole tactic we relied upon in this deepwater fishery was “smoking” MAL Heavy Lures  up off the bottom repeatedly.

We picked up 32 fish at our first deepwater area, and another 19 fish at our second.  By the time our fish count approached 45, Adi’s little wrists were starting to give out.  I’d already swapped her spinning reel handle from left to right and back again multiple times to give her arms a break, but, at fish #67, she said she didn’t think she could reel in any more.

With about an hour still remaining, we took photos, did a bathroom break, and I then re-tooled to pursue sunfish up in shallow water.  This was a much less strenuous exercise and Adi, who’d sunfished with me previously, did wonderfully well at watching her float and setting the hook.

In about a half-hour, Adi put 24 sunfish in the boat, including redears and bluegills, thus bringing our final fish count to 91.

Adi reeled in every last one of those 91 fish all by herself!

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our catch included 67 white bass, and 24 assorted sunfish.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY:  91 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The fairly light winds and thin, but complete, grey cloud cover this morning made for great topwater conditions, with fish feeding for an extended period of time versus a bright, cloudless and/or windy morning.

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 5.01 feet low,  0.04’ fall in last 24 hours, 38 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4-5 at trip’s start, slowly increasing to S12 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Thin grey cloud cover at sunrise gave way to 50% patchy, thin cloud cover thereafter

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 94% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0031G (topwater and downrigging early)

Area 2033 and B0200G (mid-morning smoking with MALs)

Area 502 – 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 #mepps

SUMMERTIME’S “SO-SO” KICKING IN — 60 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, June 13th, I fished with Drew and Cathy Dennison and their 18-year-old son, Zach.

Of the three, only Zach had been out with me previously during a Spring Break trip earlier this year which he attended with two of his buddies from Belton High School.

Drew works designing homes for Omega Builders, Cathy works to keep her family functioning, and Zach is preparing to head off to college where he’ll continue running track in the 1-mile, 2-mile, and cross-country events this coming fall.  Go Lumberjacks!

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 12th and 13th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Zach, Drew, and Cathy Dennison each with a 14+ inch-long white bass taken in our first hour of fishing using MAL Lures in ~42 feet of water.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Cathy picked this “bonus” 3.75-pound largemouth bass up after he came over to see what all the white bass were doing as we caught fish out of a school in 38 feet of water by racing MAL Lures from off bottom toward the surface.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 13 June 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

It seems the impact of heat is definitely bringing on the summer-time fishing.  As I’ve shared with many of you on the boat, June is my least favorite month to fish.  The fish are transitioning locations due to the thermal stratification of the water, they tend to be most active early and late under low-light conditions, they tend to get finnicky, and, year after year, I see my fish counts drop significantly in June.  I have to let my statistics guide my expectations.  If I can put 45-70 fish in the boat in 4 hours with 1-3 anglers on board, I feel pretty good about that on Belton and Stillhouse during the month of June and into early July.

After a week off the water to join my brother for our annual prairie dog hunt (destination: Montana for 2022), I was back on the water hunting fish this morning.  I chose to give Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir a try this morning, as it normally begins fishing more consistently than Lake Belton, and almost always produces better quality fish than Lake Belton where white bass are concerned.

Over the weekend, I put my downriggers back on the boat, anticipating that I will start to begin to see fish holding in horizontal bands (suspended up off bottom) as the thermocline begins to develop.

We got going a bit early this morning, and, since Stillhouse white bass almost never bite before sunrise, I did some looking for fish and bait just prior to sunrise at around 6:45A.

I found a few fish which looked catchable via downrigging, holding close to bottom in about 40 feet of water.  We took one small fish and saw only a handful of others as we made 2 passes over the area, and left thereafter.

The rest of our fish were taken by searching and finding with side-imaging, using the precision of the i-Pilot Link Spot-Lock technology to “park” on top of these fish, and goad them into biting using a “smoking” tactic.  As we sat in one area and created commotion, fish would “slide in” along the bottom and higher up in the water column.  Whenever fish showed both on bottom and up higher in the water column at the same time on Garmin LiveScope, the fish highest off bottom were almost always the most aggressive as far as willingness to chase our lures.

The later it got, the shorter the duration of the bite at a given area until, around 10:30, even though we could pull fish in, we could no longer get them interested in chasing or striking.

The primary tactic we relied upon today was “smoking” MAL Dense Lures  up off the bottom repeatedly.  One significant variation is worth noting.  Once the fish we parked atop of showed a reluctance to chase vertically, we were able to “milk” a few more fish from that area by just pitching the lure a short (~30 feet) distance out from the boat, and working it back with a sawtooth method.  That extra horizontal component really made a difference.  This tactic has been verified by others on  Lake Buchanan, Hubbard Creek, and Fort Phantom Hill.

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our catch included 59 white bass, and 1 largemouth bass (3.75 pounds).

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY:  60 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   We broke a record for the daily high temperature this past Saturday (105F) and tied the record for June 12th on Sunday (104F).  Today and tomorrow are supposed to hit 100F before an entrenched high pressure system moves east and allows some cloud cover to cool us off before it move back over us for Thurs. thru Sat.

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 5.13 feet low,  0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 82.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW10 at sunrise, increasing to SSW16 with gusts to 19 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Blue skies with wispy, white, thin cloud cover at ~60%

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area SH0130G – 29 fish (2 hops)

Area SH0131G – 3 fish

Area SH0132G – 28 fish

 

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