WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Thursday, July 7th, I fished with father-and-son Troy and Trace Hensley of Copperas Cove, Texas.

Troy, a U.S. Army veteran, and his 7-year-old son, Trace, just came back from a visit with family in Illinois where Trace got to do some fishing and learn a bit about how to use both spinning gear and closed-faced (push-button or Zebco) style reels.  This helped greatly, as that was one less hurdle to clear before he could do what it takes to fish vertically in deep, clear water for summertime white bass.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on August 11th and 23rd.  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: Trace and Troy Hensley landed a mix of white bass and sunfish during their morning outing in the midst of an early July Texas heat advisory which extends until 9PM on July 10th (another 3 full days).

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 07 July 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

I chose to fish Stillhouse for this trip, as I suspected Trace’s age would dictate more action, variety, and transitions than Lake Belton has been producing of late.  I wanted to “stack the deck” in terms of having abundant sunfish activity to offer when the white bass fishing lost its appeal.  Stillhouse, with its hundreds of acres of hydrilla, has a burgeoning sunfish population.

As we met just before sunrise, there was a hatch of small, flying insects which had the sunfish popping on topwater and revealing their lairs, so, we took advantage of that, landing 15 sunfish pretty handily before setting out in pursuit of white bass.

The first bunch of white bass I found was holding along the bottom in over 40 feet of water and they were stacked up pretty tightly.  We worked MAL Dense Lures (white body/chartreuse tail) vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to catch these aggressive fish, taking 35 fish (all legal size) in just over an hour’s time until the “crowd” dispersed and the action died down.

We headed up shallow for a shorter “Round 2” of sunfishing, then back out to deeper, open water for Round 2 of white bass fishing, this time with downriggers trailing Pet Spoons to change it up a bit.  We landed 5 more sunfish and 5 more white bass and had plans to go one more round, but, Troy’s phone rang …

It was Troy’s wife, Lori, and she said they were taking on water back at home.  She reported a bulge in their ceiling and water dripping into a light fixture at their house about 30 minutes away.  We quickly brought the gear in and wrapped up a bit early as Troy made some calls to some trusted workmen. He and I suspected a clogged attic A/C unit condensate line.

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

Our 64 fish catch included exactly 44 white bass and 20 sunfish.

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

TALLY:  64 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Some light topwater action could be seen here and there as small “schoolie” largemouth chased small packs of shad to the surface and fed upon them there.

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time:  10:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 6.12 feet low,  0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S12 all morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, dry skies

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 54% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 239 and 1416 for sunfish

Areas Sh0150G and 873 for white bass

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, July 6th, I fished with father-and-son team Rick and Cody Vincent of Salado, TX.

Rick, a fellow U.S. Army veteran, and I have known one another, having first gotten acquainted through church, for many years.  Despite the common interest in fishing, we’d never fished together.

So, when Rick reached out to me to schedule an 18th birthday fishing trip for his son, Cody, who is headed into his senior year in high school, I was really looking forward to the date.

Cody informed me during our trip that he is headed into the U.S. Navy after he graduates from high school.  Perhaps that’ll ensure he’ll always be near fishable waters as he serves the nation.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 12th – 14th.  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:  Rick and Cody Vincent with a take of hefty white bass from Lake Belton.  Although we caught fish using three tactics today, the most productive was using the MAL Dense with a horizontal sawtooth retrieve.

PHOTO CAPTION: Cody laid the groundwork today toward earning TPWD Elite Angler status with the capture of this 16 1/8″ white bass.  This fish fell for a MAL Dense with white body and chartreuse tail worked with a sawtooth retrieve in ~33 feet of water.  After taking the required photos, we released it in excellent condition.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense turned out to be a good match for the ~3″-long threadfin shad which the larger white bass we encountered were feeding on this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 06 July 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

I told Rick and Cody right off the bat this morning that I love having experienced anglers aboard when the fishing is tough (as it always is in June and July) because good anglers can help reach the full potential the fishery has to offer.  With less experienced anglers aboard, I becomes necessary to teach and coach before those anglers get the hang of things, and, going through that learning curve typically equates to a least a few fish not landed which otherwise could have been.

We began our day looking over a traditionally productive area with sonar while at the same time downrigging.  Within minutes, both Rick and Cody landed a single on downrigged Pet Spoons trailing behind a 3-armed umbrella rig.  Although this was a nice start, I did not see the volume of fish present in this area to make me want to stay, so, we moved on.

Our next stop came out in open water after I spotted the “nervous water” created by white bass feeding on the surface.  Because the bait was very small, the commotion on the surface was minimal, and, the ~11mph wind made a chop on the surface which made this nervous water even tougher to spot.

I put one man on the port and starboard pedestal seats on my front casting deck I as operated the trolling motor from the center pedestal to keep Rick and Cody within casting distance.  They landed 12 fish before the sun brightened sufficiently to push them down.

We moved on in search of suspended fish roaming and feeding on shad and found what we were after, but, the fish were definitely not feeding aggressively.  Over the timespan from 7:30 to 9:00, we added only 12 additional fish to our count as we moved repeatedly, only to find fish pretty disinterested.

As the wind increased and the morning moved on, the fish finally worked up into a feed and fed well from around 9A to around 10:15A, followed by a rapid tapering off of interest.  We Spot-Locked on, and stayed on, just one patch of bottom during this entire episode.  We began catching fish vertically, but, as I let the side-imaging play and frequently glanced at it, it began to reveal fish consistently located out to our starboard side.  I had Rick and Cody begin using a sawtooth method (which we’d practiced earlier for just such an occasion) and they began taking fish after fish in rapid succession.  By the time the feed was over, they’d landed an additional 49 fish for a final total of 73 fish landed on the morning.

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

Our 73 fish catch included exactly 72 white bass and 1 small largemouth bass.

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

TALLY:  73 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The best feeding time ran from ~9 to 10:15A this morning, with a short spurt of topwater action right at sunrise which lasted only ~15-20 minutes.

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 5.89 feet low,  0.06’ fall in last 24 hours, 75 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW11-13 all morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, dry skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 44% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1411 and B0203G for the majority of our catch working MAL Dense Lures vertically and horizontally

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, July 5th, I conducted the fifth Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2022 season.

Joining me was Mrs. Rochelle Masteller and her three kids, Lillie (age 13), Grace (age 9), and Harrison (age 6).

Mrs. Masteller’s husband, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Bruce Masteller, is currently deployed. He has served for 19 years. Rochelle is a U.S. Army veteran who did four years in an administrative role.

ABOUT SKIFF:  This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge.  S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.  This program began in May of 2009.  It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with.  S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing.  SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty.  In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans.  I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 12th – 14th.  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:  Harrison, Rochelle, “Flat Daddy” Bruce in yellow shirt, Grace, and Lillie Masteller with a few of the mature white bass we took on Lake Belton during the 2022 season’s 5th SKIFF program trip just for military kids separated from their parents.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Did you catch this in the photo above?!?

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday,  31 May 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

What a neat family I got to fish with today!  Yes, SFC Bruce Masteller is deployed, but, a miniaturized “flat” version of him still gets to participate in family activities while he’s gone.  Mom (Rochelle) is from near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border where she grew up fishing from the bank for walleye and perch in Lake Erie.  As we got to talking about this, she fondly recalled the Walleye and Wine Festival and the Perch and Pilsner Festival celebrated each year in her hometown of Ashtabula.

She and Bruce had taken the kids fishing before, but never from a boat, and never with spinning gear, so, we had some fundamentals about boat safety and gear we had to go over before the fishing started.

Whenever there is such a gap in ages with the kids I have onboard, the fishing becomes a bit challenging.  Lillie (age 13) was a very capable assistant who aided me greatly in helping to make her siblings successful.  The challenge lie in finding sufficient action, and over a 3.5 hour time span, to keep my youngest member of the crew (Harrison, at age 6) engaged in the summer season when fishing is typically tough.

We switched back and forth between downrigging (to find and catch fish), to working MAL Dense lures vertically (to capitalize on what we’d found), and “going fast” (Grace’s favorite) from one fishing area to another, all to keep it interesting for the kids.  That, plus a few well-timed snacks, a visit to the waterfall, and the assignment of kid-specific tasks (placing fish in livewell, culling fish for photos, releasing fish, rigging up downriggers, stowing gear for travel, etc.) kept everyone in the game.  And, thanks to mom-wisdom, we had a learn-to-read video game onboard for Harrison, just in case.

As is often the case in the summer, the white bass are widely dispersed, with many small schools spread all over the lake hunting the easily-fed-upon young-of-the-year shad.  Still, there are concentrations of fish to be found in areas where an abundance of these small schools work independently of one another — typically where a lot of bait is seen on sonar.  Such was the case today, hence, all of our fish caught came from but two areas, each spanning just 1-3 acres in size.

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

Our 34 fish catch included exactly 31 white bass, 1 short hybrid striper, 1 sunfish, and 1 blue catfish.

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

TALLY:  34 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: This post-holiday Tuesday saw lighter than average weekday boat traffic on the lake — very enjoyable.  Here was the water temperature profile:

0 feet 85.1F
5 feet 85.1F
10 feet 85.1F
15 feet 85.1F
20 feet 85.0F
25 feet 83.4F
30 feet 81.2F
35 feet 78.2F
40 feet 74.2F
45 feet 69.9F
50 feet 65.6F
55 feet 63.2F
60 feet 62.0F

 

 WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time:  10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 5.83 feet low,  0.02’ fall in last 24 hours, 32 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE9-13 all morning.

Sky Condition: 50-60% white cloud cover on a blue sky all afternoon.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 34% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0205G & B0031G

 

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