September | 2022 | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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COOLING WEATHER- THE EXCEPTION OR THE RULE? – 111 FISH

September 26th, 2022July 6th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, September 26th, I fished with long-time client Stiles Parker, accompanied by his mom, Trish Littlejohn, and his cousin, Zach Wilkins.

Our first significant autumn cold front blew in overnight and significantly impacted this morning’s fishing in a positive way.

The big question: Is this the start of our fall cooldown leading to turnover, or just another ‘flash in the pan’?

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Zach Wilkins, Trish Littlejohn, and Stiles Parker with a few of the fish we took while downrigging. Downrigging gave up triples, doubles, and singles today on Pet Spoons.

PHOTO CAPTION: Trish displays one of two 15+ inch white bass we took while working MAL Dense Lures horizontally in over 40 feet of water using the sawtooth method. Stiles took the other jumbo in our first hour of fishing using the same lure and tactic.

Find the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 26 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

As I launched before sunrise this morning, the winds were out of the north around 10mph and the atmosphere was dry and cool-feeling for the 73F air temperature.

North winds can be a toss-up, but, generally speaking, the fishing will be solid as a cold front blows in, and as the wind velocity is increasing, which it was today through about 2pm.

As I welcomed everyone aboard and gave a demo of the tactics we’d be using during the trip, we actually attracted fish with the small amount of commotion we created as we did so — that was a good sign.

We got going just past sunrise and found fish fairly quickly. For the first two hours we fished three areas, catching well at two of them. At all three areas we used a vertical “smoking” tactic with MAL Dense Lures until the fish lost interest, and then worked horizontally with a “sawtooth” tactic with those same MAL Dense Lures (with chartreuse tails) until they lost interest in that … then it was time to move and find more fish.

Around 9:30, as we were sitting on Spot-Lock, I could see bait moving beneath us swimming at a panicked pace and white bass in hot pursuit right behind them. We moved our lures up through them but were typically ignored as these white bass stayed locked onto those shad.

Having seen this before, I knew a downrigging approach was the cure for this ill. We got downriggers down and instantly the fished warmed to that fast, horizontal approach in which we were covering lots of ground, just as the fish were doing.

On one occasion, the fish were so thick I stopped downrigging to work MAL Lures vertically through them until they quit biting (after a quick 8 or 10 fish), then we went right back to downrigging and right back to catching them in that way. All downrigging was done with twin ‘riggers, each with a 3-armed umbrella rig to which #12 Pet Spoons were affixed.

As the fish began to taper off their feed in our final 75 minutes on the water (~11:15 to noon), we settled back and reverted to the sawtooth method using MAL Dense Lures to fish more slowly and methodically for fish which were now settling down on bottom and moving less.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 111 fish consisted of 6 short white bass, 2 short largemouth bass and 103 legal white bass with two fish eclipsing 15 inches.

TALLY: 111 fish caught and released

Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: This is the first significant cold front of the autumn. It is forecast to push overnight lows into the high 50’s for the next four nights.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 12:00 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 9.46 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: N10 at sunrise, increasing to N15 with higher gusts by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: <5% white clouds on a blue sky

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area SH0223G – 17 fish (MAL Dense via smoking & sawtooth)

Area 872 thru 933 – 45 fish (Downrigging & MAL Dense via smoking & sawtooth)

Area SH0231G – 28 fish (MAL Dense via smoking & sawtooth)

Area vic SH0202G – 21 fish (MAL Dense via smoking & sawtooth)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

A LIMIT WAS THE LIMIT – 28 FISH

September 22nd, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, September 22nd, I fished with first time guest Jim Parker of Temple, TX.

Jim and I actually worked together for a few years back in my corporate days at Wilsonart International in Temple. He was an adhesives expert and I worked to ensure our products met applicable environmental standards. He’s now 81 and getting around pretty good.

When Jim’s son read my Facebook post about having an unexpected opening at a discount today, he signed his dad up for it, despite being in the Far East at the time.

Jim and I had much in common and got to catch up on how a number of folks we both knew were doing these days.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Jim Parker, age 81, toughed it out in record heat for this first day of “autumn” until we’d put a limit of 25 legal white bass in the boat. Fishing was pretty darn tough today.

Find them here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 22 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

As I got the boat prepped for Jim’s arrival, I noted a rare summer westerly wind blowing. Normally westerly winds blow from early fall to late spring in advance of an arriving cold front, but, such was not the case today.

Regardless, whatever was going on in the weather put the fish in a pretty foul mood today. Last week and earlier this week “schoolie” largemouth bass had been feeding aggressively on shad they’d driven to the surface. We saw none of that today. Over the past ten days at least a few terns have been out feeding on shad. We saw none of that today. Over the past ten days there has, under calmer conditions, been large schools of shad near the surface causing “nervous” water as they fed on algae there. We saw none of that today.

I surely did not want to wrap up our trip today without at least catching a 1-man limit for Jim, so we persisted until we accomplished that, but we had to put in an extra hour to do so.

We never took more than 4 fish in a given area. What fish we caught we took mainly on the MAL Dense Lure worked with the sawtooth method; 7 were taken by downrigging.

It wasn’t that we found fish and couldn’t get them to bite, rather, just finding any fish at all was a real chore.

When we found fish, we could get a few to perk up and bite, but that was about it.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 28 fish catch consisted of 2 short white bass, 1 short largemouth bass and 25 legal white bass.

TALLY: 28 fish caught and released

Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile I measured this morning:

0 feet 84.2F
5 feet 84.3F
10 feet 84.3F
15 feet 83.7F
20 feet 83.6F
25 feet 83.4F
30 feet 83.3F
35 feet 83.3F
40 feet 83.1F
45 feet 77.4F
50 feet 70.5F
55 feet 67.8F
60 feet 63.1F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 9.27 feet low, 0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: W6 for first 3 hours then slowly dying to calm

Sky Condition: <10% white clouds on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area SH0030G

Area SH0065G/SH0222G

Area Vic SHYD02

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

BUDDIES SINCE THEY WERE BABIES – 40 FISH

September 20th, 2022September 20th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, September 20th, I fished with first time guests Brent Makovy and BJ Brown of Robinson, Texas. The two have been buddies since they were six years old (in Robinson, TX).

BJ retired early, and Brent works for Oncor energy company. The two booked with me on short notice early Monday morning when I had an unexpected opening.

In addition to the fishing, the men were very keen on observing the use of marine electronics (sonar and trolling motor) in the fish-finding process. Rumor has it that following the trip, BJ went out and got him a self-deploying Minn Kota Ulterra trolling motor!!!

We pursued white bass on a shortened morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brent Makovy and BJ Brown with two of the forty fish they took prior to our early wrap up at 10A. We took 31 fish on MAL Dense Lures, and the balance on downrigged Pet Spoons.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense Lure is tough to beat for this deep water fishing. The only other thing I even have tied on right now are Pet Spoons on a pair of downrigger rods. This lure used with the sawtooth method (see video link below) put most of our fish in the boat today. Find them here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 20 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

With high pressure weather causing a second summer, today’s conditions were clear, fairly calm, and hot. Although it is a bit uncomfortable to fish in such conditions, these conditions make the fishing very predictable as the fish do the same things at the same times and in the same places so long as the weather holds.

We fished a shortened trip this morning as BJ had limited heat tolerance (and it was plenty hot!). We met at 7:30, got lines in the water by around 7:50, fished until 10A, and still caught 40 fish as they were quite cooperative today.

We fished only one area of perhaps 150 yards in diameter this morning. We started out Spot-Locked on a school of fish, fished them vertically with the MAL Dense Lures until they lost interest and then began casting horizontally using the sawtooth method. We did that until it got uncomfortably hot with about 31 fish landed, and then, to create our own breeze, we wrapped up the trip with a final 25 minutes of downrigging. The downrigging yielded one triple, two doubles, and two singles — 9 fish in all on the ‘riggers.

The ‘riggers were equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs and #12 Pet Spoons.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 40 fish catch consisted of 1 short white, and 39 legal white bass.

TALLY: 40 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: High pressure is firmly in control of the weather and is forecast to be until at least Sunday (4 more days).

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 9.18 feet low, 0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 82.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light SE ripple all morning

Sky Condition: <10% white clouds on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 26% illumination.

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1134 – all 40 fish taken w/in ~150 yard diameter area

Area 1425 – scouting after clients’ departure also produced well here

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

PERSONAL BESTS OF ALL SORTS — 55 FISH

September 19th, 2022October 25th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, September 19th, I fished with first time guests Mike and Meghan M.

Although Mike has followed me on Facebook for a long time and has wanted to fish with me, booking a trip for himself was just not something he would do. So, for his birthday, Meghan booked this trip for him.

To say Mike was like a kid in a candy store would be an understatement. When the couple parked he literally half-walked and half-ran (leaving Meghan some distance behind!) in his enthusiasm to get to the boat and get going.

We pursued white bass on a half-day morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Mike and Meghan M. with a few of the 55 fish they took using MAL Dense Lures in deep water this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense Lure is tough to beat for this deep water fishing. The only other thing I even have tied on right now are Pet Spoons on a pair of downrigger rods. This lure used with the sawtooth method (see video link below) was the cat’s meow today. Find them here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 19 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s trip was definitely “back-loaded” in that we did most of the catching in the latter half of the morning.

As we began the morning, a light SE breeze at 4-5 rippled the surface, but stopped about the time the sun, which rose through a bank of clouds in the east, cleared that bank of clouds. We endured light winds for about 75 minutes before a building SSW breeze at 8-9 kicked in and began to cure our ills.

During that slack wind period we downrigged to get our baits in front of the low percentage of the fish population willing to chase and feed. Eight of our 55 fish came on the downriggers.

After the wind kicked in, fish rose up off the bottom and began feeding better and were therefore also easier to spot on sonar. We went back to using the MAL Dense Lures we were using at the trip’s start, and caught the majority of our fish on a horizontal sawtooth method.

Meghan confessed ahead of time that she was not much of a caster, but, after watching her and diagnosing a few issues with her form, we got her squared away and, by trip’s end, she was casting like a champ both accurately and at distance.

The 55 fish this couple landed represented a few personal bests for them. First, the 55 fish catch exceeded the grand total of fish the two had landed during their entire stay in Texas thus far. Additionally, Mike landed his largest largemouth to date — a 2.75-pound fish which came out of ~43 feet of water.

As our morning came to a close, the two walked away much more confident in how to approach fishing in general, and with a better idea of how to use the equipment they have on their G3 center console boat equipped with Humminbird sonar and a Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 55 fish catch consisted of 1 largemouth bass, 2 short whites, and 52 legal white bass.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The last half of this 4+ hour trip was much more productive than the first half, thanks to light winds the first 2 hours.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 9.14 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 82.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE4 for ~30 minutes, then slack for ~75 minutes, then SSW8-9 for remainder

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise then decreasing to 10% as the morning moved on

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 35% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

SH0124C/1157/SH0213G

SH0059G/SH0059C

SH0222G/SH0063G

vic SH0216G

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

SO, THIS TEXAN & THIS NEW YORKER GET ON A BOAT … 87 FISH

September 15th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, September 15th, I fished with first time guests Dave Hegedusich and Randy Ross. Dave resides in the San Antonio area where he is employed by USAA, and Randy retired from the U.S. Army after over 30 years as a non-commissioned officer. He resides in Malta, NY. The men are brothers-in-law.

Dave was referred to me by a friend of his, Steve Soukup, who, along with his wife, fished with me back in April of 2021. Thanks, Steve!!

We pursued white bass on a half-day morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Randy Ross (left) and his brother-in-law, Dave Hegedusich, with four fish they landed as a “double-double” — two fish at a time on each of the two downriggers we had working during a period of slack wind.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense (above), which is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lure family, took 56 of our 87 fish today (64%). The balance came on downrigged #12 Pet Spoons. The MAL Dense is easily distinguished from all other MAL Lures, as it is the only one with a painted body (the white portion).

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 15 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s trip was very similar to yesterday’s — and no surprise there, as the weather was nearly identical with a light E. wind for the first third, a slack wind in the middle, and a building SE wind for the final third of the trip.

During the slack wind, which negatively impacted us yesterday, I chose to downrig instead of working distinct schools of fish vertically and horizontally. This enabled us to cover ground and “weed” out the few active fish amongst a generally inactive population during that slack wind period.

That decision worked well, as we took 31 fish via downrigging during that time.

The other 66 fish we took we took by working MAL Dense Lures (with chartreuse tails) vertically (at first) and then horizontally (after the vertical bite soured).

The vertical fishing was enhanced by use of Garmin LiveScope which allowed us to see individual fish chase our baits, thus, we knew when to keep reeling and when to allow our lures to drop back to bottom and reset.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 87 fish catch consisted of 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 85 white bass, of which 81 were of legal size.

TALLY: 87 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: According to the weatherman, this was to be the last day of cooler, drier morning temps as warmer, more humid weather moves in for the weekend. No mayfly hatch observed. The white bass bite generally corresponded with the timing of the schooling largemouth bass which was easy to observe on the fairly calm surface.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 8.98 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: E5 through 8:45, then slack for ~1 hour, then light SE at <5 mph

Sky Condition: ~30% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise then decreasing to 10% as the morning moved on

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 73% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 889 – 5 fish (MAL Dense worked vertically)

Area SH0208G thru 1437 – 31 fish via downrigging

Area vic 933 – 23 fish (MAL Dense worked vert. and horiz.)

Area SH0060G/SH0225G – 28 fish (MAL Dense worked vert. and horiz.)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

THIS ACCOUNTANT WORKED HIS ASSETS OFF — 52 FISH

September 14th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, September 14th, I fished with first time guest Mostafa Kassem of Round Rock, TX.

Mostafa is an accountant and graduate of Texas State in San Marcos. He recently left an accounting position and is heading to greener pastures up in Dallas come Monday, also in the field of accounting.

While in the transition, he’s been trying to get in as much fishing as he can, knowing that life is going to get real busy, real quick.

In the past few weeks Mostafa has fished for trout in Arkansas, gone offshore out of Port Aransas, and has fished inshore out of Rockport. His day with me on Stillhouse in pursuit of white bass was his final stop before the new job begins.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Mostafa Kassem show one of three sets of triples he landed as we downrigged in open water for suspended white bass holding about 36 feet off bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense, which is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lure family, took 37 of our 52 fish today. The balance came on downrigged Pet Spoons. The MAL Dense is easily distinguished from all other MAL Lures, as it is the only one with a painted body and tail. All other have a silver body.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 14 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Mostafa and I corresponded by text a good bit in the three days preceding this trip. He expressed a desire to learn as many techniques as he could. I explained that I could assure him of using at least three of the four tactics I typically rely upon in the summer months: smoking vertically, using the sawtooth method horizontally, downrigging, and, if the fish cooperated, topwater sight-casting.

As it turned out, there was very little topwater action today as the winds shifted from the E to S, so, we wound up doing all but the topwater.

We started well and ended well this morning, with the 9:15 to 10:15 timeframe (during which the wind went slack as it shifted from E to S) being pretty quiet.

The first group of fish we found were actually suspended in a horizontal band, but responded well as I Spot-Locked atop of them and created commotion with our presentations which drew them in and got them competing with one another.

We worked MAL Dense Lures (chartreuse tails) vertically using a smoking tactic aided by Garmin LiveScope as we fished for these suspended fish.

After the fishes’ interest waned on that one location, we expanded our coverage by putting twin downriggers out and working in the same general area, with that former Spot-Lock position remaining the center of our bullseye. We worked #12 Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs on two downriggers (6 baits in the water).

The downriggers actually exceeded my expectation, producing three sets of triples, two doubles, and two singles — 15 fish in all — before the fish dissipated.

We then worked through a bit of a lull and then wrapped up with a great final 75 minutes primarily working MAL Dense Lures (with chartreuse tails) horizontally using a sawtooth tactic over ~47 feet of water.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 52 fish catch consisted of 100% legal white bass with numerous fish exceeding 14 inches.

TALLY: 52 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The white bass were atypically prone to suspending in horizontal bands early in the trip today. Temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 84.0F
5 feet 84.0F
10 feet 83.8F
15 feet 83.6F
20 feet 83.4F
25 feet 83.4F
30 feet 83.1F
35 feet 82.6F
40 feet 82.1F
45 feet 75.7F
50 feet 68.5F
55 feet 64.9F
60 feet 62.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 12:05P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 8.93 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: E5 through 9:15, then slack for ~ 1 hour, then shifting to S7-8

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise then gaining a white haze over the rest of the AM

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 81% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 258 – first 90 minutes of action starting off with schooled fish responding to smoking, then transitioning to downrigging and expanding our coverage

Area 1433/SH0210G – final 75 minutes of excellent sawtooth action

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

MR. SOFTWARE & MR. HARDWARE – 88 FISH

September 12th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, September 12th, I fished with first time guests Xuan Qi and his friend, Jacob Liu.

The two Austinites first met while fishing near the dam on Inks Lake years ago and have been fishing together ever since.

Both are employed in the Austin tech industry where Xuan focuses on software engineering and Jacob focuses on hardware engineering.

Both men are originally from China — Xuan from near Beijing, and Jacob from near Wuhan.

Fortunately, their English was better than my Chinese!

My next open date will be on the morning of September 14th followed by the evening of September 15th.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Xuan Qi and Jacob Liu fished their way to an 88-fish morning. The vast majority of our fish came fishing MAL Dense Lures vertically through schools of bottom-oriented white bass in 40-50 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 12 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

After a week-long getaway with my wife to the Florida Gulf coast, I returned to Stillhouse this morning and the fishing picked up right where it left off. With no major weather events in the past week, nor any forecast for the week to come, fishing should remain consistent.

We stayed in the action from start to finish this morning, finding 6 distinct groups of white bass, catching fish from 4 of them, and doing quite well while Spot-Locked atop 2 of them. Most of the fish came from 40-50′.

The fish seemed more likely to tightly bunch together this morning, hence, we took most of our fish vertically. Fewer than 5 of the 88 fish came while working a horizontal sawtooth method.

The lion’s share of our fish came on the MAL Dense Lure with chartreuse tail. Using Garmin LiveScope, Xuan and Jacob timed the rise of their lures so as to slightly “lead” schools of fish swimming parallel to the bottom. Once the fish took chase, a fast, steady retrieve imitating the flight of a panicked shad was all it took to seal the deal.

Our single best “run” of fish came at the end, as the N wind died and began to blow easterly. During this ~40 minute span we landed our final 40 fish of the trip.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 88 fish consisted of 86 legal white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 1 channel catfish.

TALLY: 88 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The largest brown mayfly hatch I’ve observed this summer took place overnight. Schooling largemouth action has returned (small fish).

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 8.82 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE6-7 all morning

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise, slowly increasing to ~40% coverage by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 95% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0065G – 24 fish primarily fishing vertically

Area SH0214G – 19 fish primarily fishing vertically

Area vic 889 – 5 fish fishing vertically only

Area vic SH0216G – 40 fish fishing vertically only

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

FEDEX DELIVERS A 2-MAN LIMIT – 58 FISH

September 5th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, September 5th (Labor Day), I fished with first time guests Dennis Donohoe and Lance Lundquist. The men first got acquainted through their employer, Fedex, where they both work as delivery drivers out of the Belton/Temple location.

Dennis received the trip as a gift from a relative, and, after rescheduling twice, we finally got cooperative weather and calendar “windows” and made it happen today.

My next open date will be on the morning of September 14th.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Lance Lundquist and Dennis Donohoe with a pair of white bass caught simultaneously. We release 100% of our catch, and since these fish taken from cooler, deep water will perish very quickly if not released immediately, we do not hold them in the livewell until we get a bunch of large fish to take photos of … we show it like it is for conservation’s sake!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 05 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

I once again chose Stillhouse for today’s trip because lately the only thing producing well for white bass on Lake Belton has been topwater action, and it is unreliable at best, and so much more so when the weather is turbulent. I felt it would be a bit of an “all or nothing” proposition if I’d chosen to go there. Then, since it was a holiday weekend, if the topwater did develop, the potential for that to turn into a ‘boat show’ was there, so I went with the sure bet over at Stillhouse.

We caught quality fish in relative solitude.

The fishing was moderately paced and consistent this morning. We found fish at two distinct locations. The bite at the first location lasted a full 2 hours and produced 38 fish. We then experienced a lull as the sun shone intensely and the wind ceased. Once the wind picked back up out of the west, the bite resumed, and we fished our final area, doing 2 short “hops” in the same area, and picked up a final 20 fish at that location.

At both areas, we took our fish vertically upon arrival, and then “mopped up” using a sawtooth method after the vertical interest died off. 100% of our catch today came on the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail. This is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lures, and is useful for these fish coming out of ~40-45 feet of water.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 58 fish consisted of all legal-sized white bass.

TALLY: 58 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The largemouth schooling action seems to have subsided. I am now consistently spotting small flocks of teal beginning to migrate south.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 8.50 feet low, 0.02′ rise in last 24 hours, 2 CFS flow (0.40′ rise overall due to Tuesday flooding)

Water Surface Temp: 81.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light SE breeze under 4 thru 9:15, then about an hour of calm, followed by a breeze at W6.

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 70% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0227G/SH0209G – 38 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz.

Area SH0228G – 20 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz. (2 short hops)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

TWO BIG EVENTS, BOTH INVOLVING WATER! – 78 FISH

September 1st, 2022September 1st, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, September 1st, I fished with first time guests spanning three generations. Eight-year-old Grace Floyd was joined by her father, Trevor, her paternal grandfather, Randall, and her maternal grandfather, Paul Mackley, for a special fishing trip on Stillhouse Hollow.

Randall flew in from northern California last night and, catch this, Paul took an Uber from San Antonio!

Grace’s grandfathers (and other family), converged on Temple, TX, to celebrate Grace’s forthcoming baptism, preceded by today’s holiday from school and a morning in the outdoors with the ‘men in her life’!

After two days off the water doing sonar training and thus avoiding the brunt of the environmental change brought on by Tuesday’s local, minor flooding, I chose Stillhouse for this trip for a number of reasons.

My next open date will be on the morning of September 14th.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Randall Floyd, Grace Floyd, Paul Mackley, and Trevor Floyd.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 01 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

I chose Stillhouse for today’s trip because lately the only thing producing well for white bass on Lake Belton has been topwater action, and it is unreliable at best, and so much more so when the weather is turbulent. I felt it would be a bit of an “all or nothing” proposition if I’d chosen to go there. Then, add to that the necessity to cast somewhat accurately to do well on topwater fish, along with Grace’s limit casting experience, and I just wasn’t comfortable taking this crew there.

So, knowing Stillhouse’s bite would be technical but consistent and would offer the options to fish vertically, horizontally, and with downriggers (so as to offer Grace some variety, if need be), I made the call to go there.

Over the course of the morning, we found solid concentrations of fish in four distinct areas. At all four, we caught our fish early on by using a vertical “smoking” tactic with MAL Dense Lures in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

At two of those four areas we followed up the smoking with horizontal work using the sawtooth method. The presence of timber prevented this at the third location, and there were no fish showing out to our sides at the fourth.

The fishing was moderately paced but consistent throughout the morning — actually a bit better than I anticipated given the near lack of wind and what wind there was still drifting in from the NE, with abundant grey cloud cover preventing a brightening of the sky at the start of the trip.

As you can see from the “Areas Fished with Success” segment below, our most productive stop was our last, which coincided both with the greatest amount of wind we would experience all morning, along with some direct sunlight.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 78 fish consisted of 77 legal white bass and 1 legal largemouth bass.

TALLY: 78 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: In all, the 0.40′ rise due to locally heavy rains and minor flooding did not significantly impact the fishery on Stillhouse.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 8.50 feet low, 0.02′ rise in last 24 hours, 2 CFS flow (0.40′ rise overall due to Tuesday flooding)

Water Surface Temp: 82.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light NE breeze under 3mph through 10:45, then NE5+

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies until 10:45A

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 26% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area SH0227G/SH0209G – 21 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz.

Area SH0229G – 16 fish working MAL Dense vert. only due to timber

Area SH0228G – 16 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz.

Area 1569/SH0062G – 25 fish MAL Dense vert. only (no fish seen to port or starboard)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com