WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, October 11th, I fished with first-time guests Jeff and Deb Sanderson and their 22-year-old son, Blake.

Jeff recently retired and is now working through how life is going to look without a daily commitment to career to concern himself with.  Fishing is definitely “in the cards”!

Jeff initially contacted me about doing sonar training, which we may still do in the future, but, after considering his whole family’s interests, Jeff opted for a fishing trip instead.  During the trip he sat beside me most of the time as I searched for fish so he could see just how I was using SI, DI, and 2D technologies.  Once we found fish, he was able to experience Garmin LiveScope technology first-hand.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION:  Jeff and Blake landed these two beefy Stillhouse Hollow white bass simultaneously while fishing MAL Dense Lures horizontally.  Since I try not to hold fish taken from deep water in the livewell, we took this opportunity for a father-son photo and then hustled the fish back into the water.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Blake landed the trip’s single largest fish this morning — a 3.25 pound largemouth which he reeled in as a “double” along with a sizeable white bass.  Both fish hit a Pet Spoon on a 3-armed umbrella rig run at 38′ over a deeper bottom.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 11 October 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We employed three different tactics this morning:  vertical (smoking) tactics with the MAL Dense Lure, horizontal (sawtooth) tactics with the MAL Dense Lure, and downrigging with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.

We got going shortly after sunrise, but the fishing didn’t pick up until after the sparse clouds in the eastern sky burned off.  From that point forward we enjoyed a steady catch of fish until around 11A, when the bite tapered off quite quickly.

The recent drop in water temperature with the (slow) approach of fall has moved fish a bit shallower and has then banding together in larger schools than was seen over the summer.

We fished four areas and downrigged at just one of them after the action there slowed down, using the tactic as a sort of “mop up” approach to covering ground and getting our baits in front of a lot of disinterested fish, hoping to “screen” for the few active fish amongst them.

Otherwise, the horizontal (sawtooth) tactics (see video link below) was the best overall producer this morning, and the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail was the right tool for this job.

When all was said and done, we landed 76 fish, including 74 white bass and 2 largemouth bass.

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

TALLY:  76 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:  More signs of fall … the number of coots feeding on the hydrilla beds continues to increase, and some cormorants are beginning to show up on the lake.  The cooling of the water is a sign of good things to come …

0 feet 77.4F
5 feet 77.9F
10 feet 78.1F
15 feet 78.1F
20 feet 78.1F
25 feet 78.1F
30 feet 77.9F
35 feet 77.8F
40 feet 77.4F
45 feet 76.4F
50 feet 71.2F
55 feet 66.9F
60 feet 62.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time:  Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 10.28 feet low,  0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE5-6 at trip’s start, picking up to SE12-13 w/ occasional whitecaps by trip’s end

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

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1968, SH0228G to SH0059C, vic 1425

 

 

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: Some time ago I set this past Columbus Day Monday aside to conduct SKIFF trips for soldiers’ kids since our local school districts had the day off.   I had two families take me up on the offer.  I fished with 8-year-old Keegan Hughes in the morning.

In the afternoon, I welcomed aboard Paisley (age 7) and Leighton (age 6) Schmidt.

In what is the exception and not the rule, the kids’ father, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Josh Schmidt was able to accompany his children.  CW2 Schmidt has served for 16 years.

CW2 Schmidt and his Warrant Officer Advanced Course class graduated a few days ahead of schedule from their course held at Fort Sill, OK.  Hence, he was able to join his kids unexpectedly as he returned home to Fort Hood qualified to promote to Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the Air Defense Artillery branch where he works with the Patriot Missile system.

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-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 …

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PHOTO CAPTION:   Variety was the key to holding the Schmidt kids’ interest during their 3.5 hour SKIFF trip on Lake Belton.  The kids caught white bass, short hybrid striped bass, and sunfish using a mix of four different tactics.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Columbus Day Monday, 10 October 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As Josh and the kids showed up, I told Josh the fish were ready to bite and that the challenge was going to be getting our two young anglers to consistently do what was necessary to catch them.

Fishing MAL Lures vertically and horizontally seems pretty simple taken at face value, but things like retrieve speed, retrieve length, and initiating blade spin can be tricky.

We launched and, based on lessons learned and sonar observed both during the morning trip and over the course of an additional hour I spent scouting in advance of the Schmidts’ arrival, we drove right to the fish and Spot-Locked atop them.  Sure enough, Paisley and Leighton made all the “rookie mistakes” everyone new to fishing MAL Lures does, but, Josh and I coached them through that and, before long, the kids were catching fish consistently.  Before long, they had caught enough fish in a short period of time using the MAL Original Lures with chartreuse tails in a vertical (smoking) tactic that their wrists got sore and they were questionable about continuing.

Observing this, I broke out the downriggers so we could continue catching fish while eliminating the constant reeling involved with working the MAL Lures.  This was also very productive as the mild temperatures and southerly winds really had the fish turned on.  These downrigged fish were all taken on 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons.

Eventually, the kids tired of this downrigging success (note: young kids need variety to stay interested), and I suggested we head up shallow to probe for sunfish with poles and bait.  We landed 8 sunfish during this short break from the white bass, then finished up the night with a nearly 30-fish catching streak on white bass using a combination of vertical and horizontal (sawtooth) tactics.

We ended the evening with a total of 80 fish including 8 sunfish (bluegills and greens), 5 short hybrid striped bass, 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:  80 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Much to report today! If you look at the water temperature profile posted below, you’ll see there has been a significant cooldown with the temperature of the water nearly uniform down to about the 40’ mark.  As a result, we found abundant bait and gamefish both suspended and orienting to the bottom out to that depth.  Additionally, we saw the first trickle of migrating monarch butterflies was observed today, as well as the first few small flocks of coots.  The water temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 77.1 F
5 feet 77.6 F
10 feet 77.9 F
15 feet 77.9 F
20 feet 77.9 F
25 feet 77.9 F
30 feet 77.8 F
35 feet 77.6 F
40 feet 77.3 F
45 feet 72.0 F
50 feet 66.1 F
55 feet 63.9 F
60 feet 62.4 F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:45P

End Time:  7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 84F

Elevation: 11.87 feet low,  0.13′ fall in last 24 hours, 385 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE7-8

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

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Successful pre-trip scouting at:

B0154G, B0153G, 1000, and vic B0067G

Fish caught with clients at:

Area 369 thru B0085C (21 fish smoking MAL Originals & 23 fish on downriggers)

Area B0168C – 8 sunfish

Area vic 387 – 28 fish on MAL Originals used 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)

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