FOGGED IN! — 68 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Saturday, January 7th, I fished with Chuck, Carol, and Carsyn Emerson of Holland, Texas.

I very much appreciate Mrs. Lisa Niemeier (Carsyn’s teacher from a few years back) referring the Emerson’s my way.

Carol contacted me about a week ago after the holidays were dying down and expressed an interest in doing some fishing with her husband and daughter.  This morning, we made that happen.

My next weekday openings are on 12  Jan. and then 13 Feb. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: The Emersons — from left: Chuck, Carol, and Carsyn with a few of the 68 fish they landed on a foggy, calm morning on Lake Belton.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This was Carsyn’s first fish of the morning — a freshwater drum (nicknamed gasper goo).  Look how thick that fog is!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 07 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

The big story this morning was fog.  As far as fishing goes, fog is just a downer.  In 17 years of guiding, I’ve never had a single trip I could “write home about” under foggy conditions.  Fog seems to get the bite off to a slow start and just depresses the fish activity as long at it persists, and this morning was no exception.

I arrived well ahead of the Emersons and got launched and prepped with only cloudy skies at first light, but as we approached our originally scheduled meeting time of 7:40, fog began to develop very quickly, and then a light drizzle started.  We actually delayed our start 20 minutes to avoid the heaviest of this precipitation.

Once we got going, everyone picked up pretty quickly on the “slow-smoking” tactic.  At first, like most kids, Carsyn struggled to turn her spinning reel’s handle smoothly and continuously, thus creating a “choppy” retrieve which is just not natural or attractive to fish.  But, after we got to our second area, she worked out those kinks and wound up catching more than her fair share of fish by the time we wrapped up.

We used the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks 100% of the time and used only a slow smoking tactic in conjunction with both Garmin LiveScope and a thumper.

As soon as the fog thinned a bit, around 9:15A or so, I began to find large, bottom-oriented schools of fish, but, despite the great number of fish in these schools, there was no frenzied activity.  In fact, very few hooked fish were followed upwards by schoolmates — a sign of very disinterested fish.

By the time 11:30 rolled around, we’d landed 60 fish, but I could see things were slowing way down.  I suggested we give it another half hour, or stop at 70 fish, whichever came first.  Well, by noon we’d worked our way up to 68 and I was very glad to hear Carsyn want an “extension” to keep on trying for 70 fish.  We went until 12:15, but she just couldn’t quite budge the needle any more.

So, everyone reeled in, we took some nice family photos, and the talk quickly turned to Whataburger!

Our tally of 68 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 4 largemouth bass, and 61 white bass.

TALLY: 68 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:  A persistent fog and calm winds took its toll on the fishery this morning, keeping the fish pretty sluggish all morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 13.57 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 54.7F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm winds all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies with lake level fog all morning; fog was heavy through 9:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0196C – 6 fish

Area 1489 – 35 fish

Area B0075C – 13 fish

Area B0171G (2 hops) – 9 fish

Area B0173G – 5 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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

FISH WERE IN SCHOOLS; KIDS WEREN’T — 51 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, January 3rd, I conducted the first Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the new 2023 season.

Accompanying me were four kids from two families, each currently impacted by the deployment of their fathers.  This would be the final day of Christmas break before the Killeen Independent School District went back in session.

From U.S. Army Sergeant John Diaz’s family I had 10-year-old Violet and 13-year-old Alexander join me.  SGT Diaz has been in the military for 11 years and serves as a wheeled vehicle mechanic.

From U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Peet’s family I had 8-year-old Rowan and 12-year-old Jack join me. SSG Peet has been in the military for 13 years and serves in the field artillery.

The homefront parents, Jonelle Diaz and Theresa Peet, are back here in the Fort Hood area essentially managing as single parents while their husbands are deployed.

ABOUT SKIFF:  S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.  SKIFF fishing trips are provided at no charge.    This program began in May of 2009, and 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: While their fathers are deployed, the Peet kids and the Diaz kids got to enjoy a fishing trip provided free of charge via the Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) program.  From left: Jack & Rowan Peet, and Alexander and Violet Diaz.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jack landed our largest fish of the trip, an 18″ hybrid striped bass which fell for his small, 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday, 03 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

Bottom line: This was a challenge.

I had four young, inexperienced anglers I truly wanted to do well, and at a time of year when (due to cold water and inconsistent weather patterns) the fishing is typically neither consistent nor overly productive.

My approach was to keep it very simple so far as the kids’ part was concerned, and do my darnedest to find abundant quantities of fish.  Whenever white bass are found grouped together in great numbers, even if they are not very “hungry”, the sheer numbers of fish present can generate competition.  A given fish may not be proactively feeding, but, I do feel it will swat at a bait just to keep another fish from grabbing it first.  This was the kind of bite I needed to get the kids into, and, it worked out!

Violet was our first lucky contestant.  Once she hooked and landed a fish, the three boys got competitive and started listening (that is, listening as well as Violet did right off the bat!!!) to what I was telling them they needed to do to be successful.  Violet’s first bit of success also “broke the ice” and showed everyone else that this thing called catching fish could really be done.

For 3.5 hours the kids worked white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks vertically using a slow-smoking tactic while watching Garmin LiveScope.  They amassed a catch of 51 fish during this time, including 1 legal hybrid striper, 1 short hybrid striper, 2 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 46 white bass, of which 3 were short.

We fished only three areas, and, counter to the recent trend I’ve experienced involving a near total lack of bird activity, birds (both gulls and terns) actually led the way to our final stop of the morning.  This activity was light and brief and only involved perhaps 15 birds, but, it was enough to get me to the right area where I could then rely on sonar to take care of the rest.

I felt very satisfied when I overheard the discussions going on as the kids ran up the concrete boat ramp to meet their moms when Jonelle and Theresa returned to pick them up.  Those discussions centered around, “When can we go again?!?”.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: After 7 consecutive trips without helpful bird activity, we had just a brief episode this morning which took place around 10:15A involving a mixture of ~15 gulls and terns — just enough to get us close enough to allow sonar to do the rest.

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time:  11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 13.32 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 54.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  W3 at sunrise, increasing to W7-8 by 9A, and maintaining thru trip’s end

Sky Condition: Light blue skies with sparse, thin cloud cover at ~40%

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 89% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 714 – 29 fish

Area 294 – 8 fish

Area B0188G – 14 fish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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

NOW THAT’S A PERSONAL BEST – 66 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Monday afternoon, Jan. 2nd, I fished with father-and-son team Oscar and 9-year-old Mateo Santiago of Salado, TX, after Oscar’s neighbor, Brandon, suggested he give me a try.

Oscar and his wife, Marla, both U.S. Army veterans, own their own custom cabinetry business called Wooden Woodworks (Woodenwoodworks.com) and operate out of the Salado Industrial Park in Salado, TX, making both fine cabinetry and furniture

My next weekday openings are on 9 and 12  Jan. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Oscar and Mateo landed more fish on this trip than during all of their previous fishing trips combined!

PHOTO CAPTION: Look at that smile!!  This 20+ inch freshwater drum was Mateo’s largest fish of the trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday, 02 January 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

We got going right around 1:15PM while the south wind was at its peak velocity.  Instead of banging around in open water, we headed for more protected haunts and used sonar (exclusively) to find our fish this afternoon as once again, we had no birds to guide us.

We found fish in most every area we searched, but the fish were not overly aggressive, so, as you’ll see from the list of areas we fished down further in this report, we did a lot of moving to catch a few fish, typically within a few minutes of arriving, only to have those fish lose interest fairly quickly.

Oscar told me as we spoke by phone before the trip, that although fishing is something both he and 9-year-old Mateo enjoy, they hadn’t fished all that much, and it had been quite some time since the last time they fished.

Given this, they relied upon the guidance I provided to present their baits properly, and to hook and fight the fish they caught.  This actually worked out well, because they did have any counter-productive habits already soaked into their “muscle memory”.

Just as was the case on this day’s morning trip, this afternoon 100% of our fish came on the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, used with a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time.

By the time the sun fell beneath the cloudbank just above the horizon to the SW around 5:30P, Oscar landed our 66th and final fish of the trip.

The pair was blown away by their results.  Oscar told me that these 66 fish represented more fish than the two of them had caught, grand total, on all of their previous trips combined.  Now that’s a personal best!!

Our tally of 66 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 short hybrid striped bass, and 60 white bass, of which 6 were short.

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1)  No helpful bird activity for 7th consecutive trip.  2) On 21 Dec. the temperature profile to 55′ was a constant 58.2F; temperature fell as low as 51.7, then rebounded late this week.  Today’s temperature profile was as follows (check the anomaly at 40-45′):

0 feet 55.6F
5 feet 55.4F
10 feet 55.4F
15 feet 55.4F
20 feet 55.4F
25 feet 55.3F
30 feet 54.9F
35 feet 54.5F
40 feet 54.2F
45 feet 52.9F
50 feet 52.8F
55 feet 52.6F
60 feet 52.6F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:15P

End Time: 5:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 13.36 feet low, 0.0′ change in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 55.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SW16 through ~2:30, and then fell off steadily to SW7 by sunset.

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all day.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 305 – 26 fish; second hop – 3 fish

Area 1940 – 8 fish

Area B0178C – 8 fish

Area 387 – 6 fish

Area 098 – 11 fish

Area 1298 – 4 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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

WHERE’D YA’LL MEET? -77 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Monday morning, Jan. 2nd, I fished my first guided trip of the new year with with the Friedman family of Cedar Park, TX.

Michael Friedman contacted me early in the holiday season and wanted to do some fishing with is wife and son while their son, Cole, was home from Texas A&M on the Christmas break.

Michael works in the banking field, Kathleen is a microbiologist, and Cole is in his junior year at TAMU, where he is a part of the Corp of Cadets.

As we were waiting for the trolling motor to get us properly positioned at one of the areas we fished, I asked Michael and Kathleen how they met.  Long story short, the answer to that question was ‘Bass Pro Shop’.  I just grinned and told them I thought you have a pretty good shot at marriage if you met your spouse at either church or Bass Pro Shops!

My next weekday openings are on 9 and 12  Jan. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michael, Cole, and Kathleen Friedman with a portion of their 77-fish catch taken under breezy, grey conditions with slowly warming water temperatures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday, 02 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

With a returning south wind as of this past Saturday and a continuing warming trend, the fishing continues to improve following the slowdown caused by the recent 22-25 Dec. arctic blast.

We enjoyed steady catching today from start to finish.   Garmin LiveScope revealed there were far more fish present at any given area than the number which perked up and paid attention to our presentations, but that low percentage which did give chase was sufficient to bring our tally to 77 fish after four hours of effort.

I kind of chuckled because Michael, after reading my report from Saturday about my clients being both willingly coached and having no bad habits to overcome, emailed me and stated, “We are all seasoned anglers with bad habits in place.”

Hey, at least he was honest!!  The “bad habits” as I often call them, are mainly the tendency to set the hook instantly upon feeling a fish on the other end of the line while working slabs with a slow-smoking tactic.  For white bass fishing with braid (a zero-stretch product) using a zero-slack technique, this kind of hooksetting is actually counterproductive.  Michael did his best to overcome that bass-anglers habit and definitely did better in the second half of the trip as he got more practice under his belt.

Once again, we had no birds to guide us, so, all of the fish-finding was done via sonar, and primarily with well-tuned side-imaging.

100% of our fish came on the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, used with a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time.

Our tally of 77 fish consisted of 5 freshwater drum and 72 white bass.

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1)  No helpful bird activity for 6th consecutive trip.  2) On 21 Dec. the temperature profile to 55′ was a constant 58.2F; temperature fell as low as 51.7, then rebounded late this week.  This morning we had 55.6 on the surface.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 13.36 feet low, 0.0′ change in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 55.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction:  S winds were already blowing at sunrise around 9mph and steadily increased to S16 by 10:30, plateaued there through ~2:30, and then fell off steadily to SW7 by sunset.

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all day.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area 971 – 4 fish

Area B0096C – 4 fish

Area 150 – 8 fish

Area vic 714 – 10 fish

Area vic 1482 – 6 fish

Area B0078C – 13 fish

Area B0187C – 20 fish

Area B0186G – 4 fish

Area B0184G – 8 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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