October | 2022 | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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A RACCOON IN THE BOAT!!! — 75 FISH

October 30th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: What a morning! I had a completely full boat today. I’m Coast Guard rated for 8 and had seven passengers plus me aboard this morning at 7:45A. Mr. Don Bousquet, owner of the Ragin’ Cajun boat/RV storage area just uphill from Temple Lake Park on West Adams Ave., ramrodded the whole deal, setting up the trip for his son-in-law (Guy Slimp), brother-in-law (Larry Miller), and the five kids which accompanied them – Hudson Slimp (13), Luke Carlson (12), Cameron Miller (10), Townes Slimp (6), and Calvin Slimp (4).

Essentially, the four older boys did the fishing, while Guy helped Calvin until Calvin discovered the livewell and focused on the captive fish in there the remainder of the trip, at which time Guy then covered down on Townes to try to help him out. Larry was the photographer/videographer and snack passer-outer.

Well, after passing out nearly all of the glazed donuts and all of the cream-filled donuts (~ 2 dozen of them in roughly the first 70 minutes), the large white donut box lay ignored on the floor of the boat. As we motored to another fishing area, said white box blew out of the boat and landed in Lake Belton. After executing a U-turn, said box was retrieved with my landing net, along with a few soggy donuts and donut remnants. Now, fast forward to around 11AM … while everyone, except 4-year-old Calvin, is engaged in the fishing in the stern of the boat, Guy (Calvin’s dad) asks, “Hey, where’s Calvin?” Guy and I look toward the bow of the boat and spot Calvin, curled up against the forward bulkhead like a little raccoon with his paws clawing through the soggy donuts for a little pre-lunch appetizer!! Guy and I looked at each other and just shook our heads

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Here’s the crew (and a few fish, too!) … from left, back row: Guy Slimp, Luke Carlson, Hudson Slimp, and Larry Miller; from left, front row: Calvin (The Raccoon) & Towne Slimp, & Cameron Miller

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 29 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We were fishing in the aftermath of a cold front’s passage which moved through the day before from about 9A to noon, so, by the time we hit the water, the fish were already getting in that post-frontal funk, but, we moved a good bit, caught the most aggressive fish from the schools we located, and then moved on and continued to do likewise in order to piece together a decent trip.

When all was said and done, we wound up fishing six distinct areas and, at most of them we wound up making a “short hop” or two from our original stop location in order to go to fish seen on side-imaging, knowing that due to the weather situation those fish were unlikely to move toward us.

We used MAL Original Lures with white tails the entire morning save for one short bout of downrigging when I spotted a few fish up shallow (20-24′) which were scattered horizontally on a fairly flat area. Everyone used the “smoking” tactic with spinning gear in combination with Garmin LiveScope to make our catch.

By the time we needed to wrap up so the crew could grab a quick lunch and head south to a flag-football game, my boatload of eager anglers had landed 75 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 3 hybrid stripers, 3 freshwater drum, and 67 white bass.

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

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Lake Belton was still rising slightly (0.06′ overnight) from rains we got on Monday and Friday. Level is 13.08′ low. Additionally, USACE has stopped all flow through the dam.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Elevation: 13.08 feet low, 0.06′ rise in last 24 hours, 0 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 70.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW15 at sunrise slowly increasing to NW17 by trip’s end. This was an atypical cold front in that after the front passed, a low pressure system moved in behind it, thus, we had a prolonged period of rain and an even longer spell of cloud cover. The winds stayed more westerly, and the temperature did not drop sharply as with a dry cold front.

Sky Condition: Light grey skies with 100% cloud coverage for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 20% illumination.

GT = 245

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 387, B0173C, vic 1945, 1012, 150/1325, vic 1482

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

THE AFTERNOON WAS EVEN BETTER – 119 FISH

October 28th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday afternoon, 27 Oct., I welcomed first-time guests Richard Schneider and his wife, Linda, aboard.

Richard had ordered some MAL Lures from me in the past, and then this past weekend I had an occasion to assist him in getting his pontoon boat launched on a particularly windy day.

He contacted me, a bit unexpectedly, around 5:30A Thursday morning asking if my afternoon trip was still available. I explained that mornings tend to produce better, but, the afternoon worked best for the couple’s schedules, so we met up at 2:45P and went fishing!

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: In addition to the target species of white bass, we always seem to pick up a few “bycatch” fish, as well. Today, we landed 2 largemouth, 3 hybrid stripers, and 4 freshwater drum, like the one Richard is holding.

PHOTO CAPTION: Prior to today’s trip, Linda had only been fishing 5 times in her life, and had only landed 2 fish. The couple boated 119 in just shy of four hours today.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 October 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The Schneiders’ two-angler total actually surpassed that of my morning trip’s total of 106 fish landed, which is more of the exception than the rule. As a rule, evenings tend to produce about 70% of the morning’s catch on days where no significant weather changes occur between AM and PM.

This afternoon’s weather was mild, and, as compared to the morning, we had stronger winds for a longer period, with winds right at SSE14 for the first 2 hours on the water.

After a brief demonstration on how to use the MAL Original Lure with a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, we were off to hunt and catch fish.

The couple’s lack of experience with use of the MAL Lure actually worked to their advantage. Instead of having to overcome bad habits (like aggressive hooksetting) before they exercised good technique, they went right into good technique and did not pay the price in missed fish as many more experienced anglers do.

The fish cooperated well all afternoon and, just as in the morning, we enjoyed a steady pick of fish from start to finish. We landed our 100^th fish right around 6:10PM with about thirty minutes left until sunset. Sunset came a bit early as the building bank of heavy grey clouds in the west obscured the sun before it actually sunk below the horizon.

By that time, Richard and Linda had landed another 19 fish for a total of 119 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 3 hybrid stripers, 4 freshwater drum, and 110 white bass.

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

TALLY: 119 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: I spotted the first flock of gulls of the fall this evening. A V-formation of gulls was headed west over the lake right at sunset. They did not lead to fish, in fact, I don’t even know if they used Lake Belton at all, but, at least it is a start!

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 2:45P

End Time: 6:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 13.07 feet low, 0.00′ fall in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow – the overnight rain from Monday simply prevented any losses, but no gains were made on water level.

Water Surface Temp: 70.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13 at trip’s start, settling back to SSE7 by sunset

Sky Condition: Mild conditions with clear skies until ~5P when grey clouds from the next rain-maker began to from in the western sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 5% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1012/155 (17 fish), 1290/1945 (29 fish), B0149C/1152 (36 fish), B0162G (37 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

STEADY WIND, STEADY WEATHER, STEADY BITE — 106 FISH

October 28th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, 27 Oct., I welcomed returning guests Bill York and Gardiner Henderson aboard for a half-day trip on Lake Belton in pursuit of white bass.

The men came out with me once before, accompanied by Gardiner’s wife, and enjoyed some fast springtime action. Both men’s spouses were to join us today, but, when the forecast low for the morning’s start time hit the high 40’s, they changed their minds.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: Gardiner Henderson hoists our largest fish of the trip, a 4.25-pound hybrid striped bass taken on the MAL Original with white tail in ~40 feet of water, as Bill York looks on.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Bill York and Gardiner Henderson put 106 fish in the boat (including 99 white bass) as the white bass fed steadily from sunrise to about four hours hence this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Today we saw the first morning with a returning southerly wind following the most recent cold front which blew in Mon. night into Tues. morning.

The SSE wind was rippling the surface before sunrise, and, with no cloud cover to obscure the brightening morning sky, the fish went right to work feeding just a few minutes after sunrise.

We caught fish steadily from start to finish, with the peak of the activity taking place from about 10:00 to 10:40AM. During this time, Garmin LiveScope showed enhanced fish activity which included 1) fish swimming faster as they moved parallel to the bottom, 2) fish suspending up higher off the bottom (as much as halfway up into the water column), and 3) a much higher catch rate as more fish from a given school would chase and overtake our presentations.

All of our fishing was vertical this morning with the MAL Original with white tail doing all the catching while Bill and Gardiner used the “smoking” tactic described in the video link below.

For our efforts, we wound up boating exactly 106 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 2 hybrid striped bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 99 white bass.

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

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird activity yet sighted. The water temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 69.6F
5 feet 70.0F
10 feet 70.3F
15 feet 70.3F
20 feet 70.3F
25 feet 70.3F
30 feet 70.3F
35 feet 70.3F
40 feet 70.3F
45 feet 70.3F
50 feet 70.3F
55 feet 69.4F
60 feet 64.4F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 13.07 feet low, 0.00′ fall in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow – the overnight rain from Monday simply prevented any losses, but no gains were made on water level.

Water Surface Temp: 69.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5 slowly and steadily increasing to SSE12

Sky Condition: Bright, clear, cool, dry conditions

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 5% illumination.

GT = 125

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0159G, B0160G, B0089C/1555, B0161G, B0059G

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

FIRST FISH ON A LURE — 34 FISH POST-FRONTAL

October 26th, 2022October 26th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday, 25 Oct., I ran an afternoon trip for Rob Gagne, a U.S. Air Force veteran and his friend, Carrie Bryan.

This trip was courtesy of Mr. Frank Dubuisson, who presented Rob with a gift certificate for the trip some time ago.

We had a pretty tough go of it this afternoon as we found ourselves on the wrong side of the cold front which blew in powerfully during the overnight hours. More about that below.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: Rob Gagne and Carrie Bryant with a few of the fish they landed on a tough, post-frontal scenario after our most recent cold front moved east more quickly than forecast.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 25 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The weather forecasters all correctly forecast that a cold front would hit Central Texas late Monday and into Tuesday. The details, however, changed by the minute, it seemed. I tried to work the day’s two scheduled trips so we’d be fishing after the violent weather passed, but before the winds died and the actual high pressure built in.

Well, I went 0 for 2 on that. I wound up having to postpone the AM trip as the straightline winds were blowing 20-25 with gusts to 45 — no can do!!

Then, as we got going in the afternoon, those hard morning winds died very quickly and left us with tough fishing as a result.

We found fish here and there and when we did, we encountered a lot of refusals. The only really solid fishing was in our final 45 minutes as the fish went on a pretty good feeding binge just before the sun sunk below the horizon.

Of the 32 fish we landed, all but seven came on the MAL Original with white tail worked vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. I often scale back to this smaller, lighter version of the MAL under tough conditions. Four came on downrigged Pet Spoons, and the remaining three came on the same MAL Original worked horizontally right before that feeding binge kicked in right under the boat.

Carrie had never before caught a fish on an artificial bait — most of her fishing was done with a cane pole using livebait back home in North Carolina. Regardless, she was willing to be coached and did very well as a result.

Of note was the fact that the USACE significantly reduced the flow of water through the dam over the weekend. We dropped from several weeks of releasing 385 cubic feet per second (which caused a ~0.12′ fall each day) to a 34 CFS flow, which drains the lake ~0.03 to 0.04 feet per day.

For our efforts, we wound up boating exactly 32 white bass.

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

TALLY: 32 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: We dropped from several weeks of releasing 385 cubic feet per second to a 24 CFS flow.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 2:50P

End Time: 6:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 13.07 feet low, 0.00′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow – the overnight rain simply prevented any losses, but no gains were made on water level

Water Surface Temp: 71.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW15 tapering down steadily to NW6

Sky Condition: Bright, clear, cool, dry conditions

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: This is a graphic representation of the cold front’s arrival Mon/Tue…

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1024 to B0174C (downrigged); B0064G – MAL work for majority of our 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

MORE RELAXING THAN TIBETAN BOWLS? — 100 FISH

October 24th, 2022October 24th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 24 Oct., I dodged (most of) the raindrops to get in a full 4-hour trip with my brother, Andy Maindelle, and his recently retired boss of many years, Tony Johnson.

The men’s work at the Blizzard Entertainment offices in Austin brought them together more than a decade ago. Blizzard is the creator of popular video games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft, and Diablo.

As I got to know Tony a bit better, we spoke of his several months-long decompression process he is now in the midst of after leaving the world of corporate leadership behind. Somewhere in there he shared about his wife providing care and therapy to others, in part relying on Tibetan bowl therapy — something I’d never heard of before.

If the meteorologists were to be believed, we’d all still be sitting indoors waiting for a deluge of rain and high winds, but, as is too often the case, they guessed wrong. We wound up encountering multiple short bouts of light rain and winds which never even resulted in whitecapping.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Andy Maindelle and Tony Johnson with a few of the 100 fish they boated in just under 4 hours’ time on a damp Monday morning in advance of a significant change of weather due in overnight.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 24 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As the days get shorter and the water gets cooler, the fishing is getting simpler and more predictable as the fish continue to bunch together in much greater numbers than we witnessed over the summer.

Fishing was very straightforward today … we simply dropped MAL Original Lures with white tails to the bottom and cranked them straight up through the fish using a “smoking” tactic which I describe in detail in the YouTube video linked below.

Fishing was actually tough in the first 90 minutes due to the dim light level brought on by thick, grey clouds. Once the fish turned on, the activity rose to a peak in the 9:45 to 10:45 timeframe, then began to taper back off. We hit the 100 fish mark at exactly 11:15, but, we put in significantly more effort in catching our final 10 fish than we did in catching the rest of the fish we landed this morning.

For our efforts, we wound up boating exactly 100 fish including 4 freshwater drum, 4 short hybrid striped bass, and 92 white bass.

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

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: We dropped from several weeks of releasing 385 cubic feet per second to a 34 CFS flow. We fished on a SSE wind in advance of a forthcoming windshift with a series of two cold fronts following it. The cold front is due in around 10P tonight.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 13.07 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 30 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 71.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 most of the morning

Sky Condition: Heavy grey cloud cover at 100% all morning w/ occasional light rain

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 1% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0157G (15 fish), 678 (8 fish) , B0158G (77 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

THAR SHE BLOWS!! — 64 FISH W/ THE KLUNAS

October 23rd, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday, 22 Oct., I fished with Mr. Shaun Kluna and his two sons, Brandon, a Chinook helicopter crewman with the U.S. Army, and Wyatt, a 10-year-old fifth-grade student.

Shaun is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who specialized in signal and communications on active duty, and now instructs others on such matters at Fort Hood as a civilian.

After a string of sonar training sessions Tues. through Fri. this week, it was good to get back out on the water with clients holding rods instead of just pushing buttons.

Although the day’s strong winds did deny us access to a few areas, we made the best of the areas we could safely access. By the time we departed, we had straight-line winds at 20-22, gusting 28+.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brandon, Wyatt, and Shaun Kluna with a few of the 64 fish they landed on this particularly windy Saturday morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Largemouth bass are becoming a routine part of our bycatch as we target white bass now that the water is cooling and the white bass are using the same patches of bottom as the black bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 22 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The wind was the headline today — we had a SSW 13 mph blow going at launch time, and it only got stiffer as the morning rolled on — up to SSW20-21 by trip’s end. This limited our access to some productive open water areas, so, we had to take lemons and make lemonade.

Although I found fish at all but one of the areas I searched, the fish at those four productive areas were far from fired up. I can typically gauge what kind of mood the fish are in right from the very first lure drop down into them — if they are holding off the bottom and rise up to meet the falling lure, things are going to be good. On the other hand, if they ignore the first few “smoking” sequences and slowly meander over to where the lures are falling and only then begin chasing (or half-heartedly chasing), then things are going to be tough. We had one instance of the former, and three instances of the latter today, with our best run of fish coming around 10:40 to 11:10.

We used MAL Dense Lures (with white bodies and chartreuse tails) for 100% of our fishing today using only a vertical (smoking) tactic. Between the wind and a youngster aboard, casting just wasn’t going to work too well today.

We noted that the fish we observed today were both tight to the bottom and were moving horizontally pretty quickly — they tended not to stick around even with the commotion of schoolmates being caught taking place around them (which usually creates interest which keeps fish beneath the boat).

For their efforts the Klunas wound up boating 64 fish including 3 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, 6 short hybrid striped bass, and 54 white bass.

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

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: High winds were the most remarkable thing today. An unusually warm, dry wind from the SW cranked up late Friday and is forecast to blow hard until dusk on Sunday.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 12.97 feet low, 0.06′ fall in last 24 hours, 384 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 71.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW13 at trip’s start steadily ramping up to straight-line winds at 20-22, gusting 28+

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 40% all morning

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 10% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 387, 2041, 2028, B0156G (2 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

CRUMMY WEATHER, CRAZY BITE — 145 FISH

October 17th, 2022October 17th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday 17 Oct., I fished with a great crew of locals including Coach Bob McQueen of Temple football fame, Larry Bartek who retired (twice) from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Tony Fritz who retired from a lifetime of social work with the Veterans’ Admin., and Steve Theodore, the Chief Operating Officer of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Coach McQueen was the “chief instigator” of this effort, consulting me on an ideal date to show his friends a good time, then coordinating all four men’s schedules.

Well, all his efforts paid off today when the fish started coming over the side of the boat soon after we got to our first location and didn’t stop coming over the side of the boat until we called it quits just after 11AM.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Coach Bob McQueen, Steve Theodore, Tony Fritz, and Larry Bartek, with a few of the 145 fish they landed as our season’s first major cold front worked its way into Central Texas.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 17 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With four men aboard and fish responding very well to vertically smoking MAL Dense Lures under similar, frontal conditions last week, I arranged everyone on the boat very intentionally this morning.

I placed my two more experienced anglers on the aft portside, sharing one Garmin LiveScope screen, and the two less experienced anglers on the aft starboard side, sharing another Garmin LiveScope screen, thus, the two pairs had their backs to one another.

In this way, I “consolidated” the commotion of all four anglers in as small of an area as possible to give the fish one area to focus on.

Long story short, we caught fish steadily from start to finish. Fish continue to bunch together in large groups on bottom and continue to push into shallower water than they’d occupied all summer. Well-tuned side imaging is the key to finding these fish.

Once we used the i-Pilot Link system to position atop these fish, we then dropped the MAL Dense Lures (white body/chartreuse tail) down to them and worked ’em over good. I never saw a need to use any other presentation nor any other bait this morning.

For their efforts the men wound up boating 145 fish including 4 freshwater drum, 4 largemouth bass, 9 short hybrid striped bass, and 128 white bass.

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

TALLY: 145 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: This was the first trip I wore long pants and boots on since the spring. The temperature and rain forecasts were “all over the map”, so, I prepped for cold/wet weather although neither actually materialized. We picked up 0.4 to 0.6 inches of rain area-wide overnight.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 12.67 feet low, 0.06′ fall in last 24 hours, 384 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 74.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW11 all morning

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% all morning

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 52% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas B0064G (65 fish), B0185C (18 fish), 2041 (38 fish), and B0014C (17 fish), B0014C/B0020C (7 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

ONE SMART LITTLE BOY, ONE BIG WHITE BASS LIMIT — 27 FISH

October 16th, 2022October 16th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, October 15th, I fished with 7-year-old Jason Hubbert, son of Jason & Kara Hubbert.

Jason runs Hubbert Roofing in the Killeen area and Kara works in accounting at Ajinomoto, a food manufacturing plant which has long been based in Lampasas, Texas.

This was a 3.5-hour “Kids Fish, Too!’ package trip wherein only Jason the fishing. He earned this trip by getting straight A’s on his report card.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: 7-year-old Jason Hubbert landed multiple 14+ inch white bass on Stillhouse using the MAL Dense Lure. His trip was a reward for an excellent report card.

PHOTO CAPTION: When it comes to our local white bass fishery, Stillhouse offers quality whereas Belton offers quantity — a bit odd for two lakes located so close together. This was another of several 14+ inch white bass Jason Hubbert landed this past Saturday, Oct. 15th.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 15 October 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED: My original plan was to take Jason fishing on Lake Belton where this week’s morning bite was especially good, however, there as both a catfish tournament and a high school bass tournament taking place there. That, plus winds forecast to gust to 20 and a lack of courtesy docks made me think twice about the wisdom of heading there on a still-warm weekend. I “audibled”, texted Kara before she left the house, and we headed to Stillhouse instead.

The fishing was pretty tough as the winds remained calm and the cloud cover remained thick through about 10AM, but right about that time the wind picked up suddenly from the southwest, the sun burned off most of the cloud cover, and the fish began biting well.

We’d landed 6 fish by downrigging early on, then picked up another 6 fish by working MAL Dense Lures vertically, so, by the time the fish turned on, Jason really had the smoking tactic nailed down.

Like a champ, he would count out his handle turns as he cranked his MAL Lure off bottom so he was sure to keep cadence with me as I fished next to him to give him that example to follow.

Although the fish have not yet turned on at Stillhouse to the extent I witnessed on Belton, the majority of the fish Jason landed were quality fish. Jason boated multiple 14+ inch long white bass this morning.

They were still patrolling in smaller schools, so, staying put and continuing to work our lures as the fish passed by routinely was a good approach.

Jason landed exactly 27 fish, including 1 freshwater drum and 26 white bass.

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

TALLY: 81 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The aggressive bite which typically accompanied incoming fall and winter cold front was definitely in play this morning – the most dramatic uptick I’ve seen so far this autumn. Once the wind levelled off and then began to slow down, the bite slowed back to average.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 10.46 feet low, 0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE3-4 until 10A, then shifting and increasing to SSW12-13

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover in the eastern sky from 80-100% until 10A, then rapidly clearing to ~30% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 70% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0227G/SH0209G – limited early downrigging success; saw many more fish than we caught

Area vic SH0133 – three short hops for the majority of our fish in 40-42′ on MAL Dense Lures after 10A’s wind shift and clearing

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

AFTER SCHOOL FISHING TRIP — 81 FISH

October 15th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday afternoon, October 13th, I fished with a great crew of young men from Belton. This trip was organized by Mr. Grant Yawn in celebration of the birthday of his son, Camden. Joining Camden was his older brother, Mason, and Camden’s buddy, Grant Kennedy.

This was a 3.5-hour “Kids Fish, Too!’ package trip wherein only the kids do the fishing, so, Mr. Yawn came as a chaperone to help me help the boys be successful and he did a great job of that, especially in the downrigging department!

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Mr. Grant Yawn, Camden and Mason Yawn, and Grant Kennedy with a few of the 81 fish they caught and released on their after-school trip on Thursday.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 13 October 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED: The hot bite we had experienced in the morning as a dry, mild cold front entered Central Texas airspace simmered down a bit this afternoon after the winds peaked around 10:30AM, plateaued in the early afternoon, and then began falling off by late afternoon.

Still, we found plenty of fish, but we had to work a good bit harder to catch them.

As we arrived at our first location, I got the boat set up atop a nice bunch of fish in right around 20 feet of water, got the boys all coached up on what to do, and then dropped baits down to the fish. As I observed fish response on Garmin LiveScope, I watched with some concern as the fish barely budged. As the boys got through the learning curve involving the right combination of retrieve speed, smoothness of retrieve, etc. we were able to put a few fish in the boat per kid, but it was clear these fish were not enthusiastic.

To spice things up a bit, I enlisted Mr. Yawn’s help, showed him how to set up the downriggers so I could concentrate on driving the boat while watching sonar, thus keeping us “in the fish”. This worked very well, as it allow us to cover a lot of water and get our baits in front of the few active fish amongst a generally inactive population.

We caught a total 53 fish by way of downrigging, with an unheard of 9 sets of triples (three fish landed on one rod at the same time).

By around 6P, these fish were beginning to fade even on the downrigging approach, so we moved on and made one final stop before sunset (when the white bass quit biting for good).

We landed a total of 22 fish by fishing MAL Dense Lures vertically at this location. Once the sun dropped below the horizon, it was over.

We landed exactly 81 fish, including 4 short hybrid striped bass and 77 white bass.

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

TALLY: 81 fish caught and released

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

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4P

End Time: 7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 83F

Elevation: 12.23 feet low, 0.13′ fall in last 24 hours, 384 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: N11 at trip’s start, tapering down to N5 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 86% illumination.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0153G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures; 53 fish via downrigging

Area vic B0155G – 22 pre-sunset fish on smoked MAL Dense Lures

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