March | 2023 | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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BEST TRIP YTD – 200 FISH @ BELTON

March 16th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Today, Thursday, March 16, I fished with returning guests Doug Streater and his grandkids, Colby Anthony, age 14, and Camryn Anthony, age “almost 11”.

If one were to believe the weatherman, this trip should not have happened, however, with Frog Toggs already donned, my trio joined me just prior to 8 AM for a morning spent in pursuit of white bass.

Here is how the fishing went…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 23 March & 4, 24 (PM), and 21 April.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Doug Streater, Colby Anthony, and Camryn Anthony landed exactly 200 fish before heading to What-A-Burger under dreary, pre-frontal conditions.

PHOTO CAPTION: This 6.00-pound largemouth bass was a personal best for Camryn Anthony. She hooked, fought, and brought the fish to net entirely on her own. This fish fell for a 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 16 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The air temperature this morning was 64F and we had very heavy cloud cover with very fine precipitation falling the entire time we were on the water. This was a classic “pre-frontal warming” meteorological setting.

The fishing followed a normal, bell-shaped curve this morning, ramping up from zero in the first hour, climbing to a plateau and peaking in the middle two hours, then falling off in the final 75 minutes or so. By 12:25, the fish were back to having lockjaw.

We fished one area during that first hour up shallow in 20 feet of water and found mostly small fish behaving very sluggishly, despite being suspended as much as 6 to 8 feet off bottom. We fished those until they quit, then went looking once again.

It was then that encountered some inexplicable trolling motor issues which cost us a few minutes of downtime, but we got right back in the saddle and found a school of, literally, hundreds of white bass, most of which were tied to the bottom, with additional small schools moving just off bottom while chasing shad.

Long story short, we caught a total of 200 fish this morning, of which 184 were caught within a 75 yard radius of one another. As we sat on Spot-Lock catching fish, I observed side-imaging. When the fishing waned, I would just “jog” to the location of a larger group of nearby fish using the i-Pilot Link Spot-Locking function.

100% of our fish were taken using a slow-smoking tactic with white, 5/8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs tied on to our lightweight spinning outfits.

Our final tally was exactly 200 fish, of which 11 were short hybrid stripers, 1 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, and 186 white bass.

TALLY: 200 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Fewer and fewer fish are lingering in deep water (over 30′) as the water warms and daylength increases. Many caught fish were oozing eggs or milt once again today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:50A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 14.13 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .02′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE16 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover with a fine mist falling nearly 100% of the time

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 34% illumination.

GT = 130

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 387/2041 – 16 fish

Area B0185C – 184 fish (3 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

A MESS O’ WHITES WITH A MESS ‘O WHITES — 128 FISH @ BELTON

March 15th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Wednesday, March 15, I fished with Mr. Ronnie White and his three grandsons, Reid (age 15), Braxton (age 12), and Brayton (age 10).

Ronnie is retired and routinely makes use of the Lake Belton RV camping areas. This week he was based at Live Oak Ridge Park, and was enjoying spending spring break with the boys, all of whom attend school in Academy, Texas.

Here’s how the fishing went…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 23, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Reid, Ronnie, Braxton, and Brayton — a mess ‘o Whites with a mess o’ white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Reid White landed this 8.00 pound blue cat at the final bell.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 15 March 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

After a pretty tough morning, the fishing remained challenging into the first 90 minutes of this afternoon’s trip. I explained to my crew of four that it would take persistence, diligence, and attention to detail when it came to technique in order to do well this afternoon.

I could tell by their eagerness that the boys were up for the challenge. We worked white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs 100% of the time this afternoon, using a slow-smoking tactic.

Until approximately 6 PM, all of our fish came from small schools from off the bottom. From 6 PM to 7:30PM, a very definite uptick began to take place as the light began to fail, enhanced by thickening, gray cloud cover.

As this dimming of the light began, the fish began to suspend as much as 7 feet up off the bottom, and they became much more aggressive simultaneously. We fished quite a number of areas prior to 6 PM, but then only moved twice thereafter.

Our catch of 128 fish consisted of one 8-pound blue cat, 10 short hybrid, and 117 white bass.

TALLY: 128 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Fewer and fewer fish are lingering in deep water (over 30′) as the water warms and daylength increases. Many caught fish were oozing eggs or milt today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:20P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 14.1 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .05′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.4F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE16-17 all afternoon

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 45% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1544 – 6 fish

Area 1562 – 16 fish

Area B01786 – 11 fish

Area 1909 – 6 fish

Area B0187G – 4 fish

Area 0147 – 32 fish

Area 295 – 18 fish

Area B0011C to B0155G – 35 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

WINDY WEATHER ROLLERCOASTER – 57 FISH @ BELTON

March 15th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 15, I fished with returning guest, Dave Knutson, accompanied by two grandsons, J.D., age 14, and his cousin, Anthony, age 11.

Dave, an Austin Police Department retiree, and Anthony reside in the north Austin area, and J.D. came in the day before from San Antonio.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 23, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dave Knutson and his grandsons, Anthony and J.D. with a few of the white bass they caught together during Spring Break 2023.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 15 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The fish are really trying to get in gear for the spring warm-up, but unstable weather has hindered a bit of late. We just went through two days of hard north winds only to have the winds shift 180° and come hard out of the south today.

We experienced a moderate bite over the course of our first three hours on the water during which time my crew of three landed 45 fish. We went nearly fishless for a fourth hour between 11 and noon.

Not wanting to end on a slow note, we pressed on and found one more group of fish, which helped add a final dozen to our count. We concluded at 12:25 PM with 57 fish landed.

During the fishless hour, we found fish consistently, but had them outright refuse our presentations. The fish would either not react at all, or would half-heartedly chase 1 to 3 feet off the bottom and then turn back as our slowly-smoked slabs continued on upwards.

The fish we caught today were all caught on the white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, and all of our fish were taken using the slow-smoking tactic. I did not observe other scenarios where I felt a different presentation could have been used.

Of the 57 fish we landed, 4 were short hybrid striper, and the remaining 53 were white bass.

TALLY: 57 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Fewer and fewer fish are lingering in deep water (over 30′) as the water warms and daylength increases. Many caught fish were oozing eggs or milt today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:00A

End Time: 12:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 14.1 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .05′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.4F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE11 at trip’s start, steadily increasing to ESE15-16 by noon.

Sky Condition: 80% white cloud cover on a blue sky this morning.

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 45% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196C – 4 fish

Area 1552 – 30 fish; 2 hops

Area B0005C – 16 fish

Area B0173G – 11 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

CHICK-FIL-A vs. FISH FILLET – 53 FISH @ BELTON

March 14th, 2023March 14th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Tuesday, March 14, I fished with Steve Niemeier, his grandson, Caleb Fowler, and Caleb‘s girlfriend, Abbi Corder.

Although Steve and Caleb have fished with me since Caleb was just starting elementary school (he’s now an 18-year-old high school senior), this was Abbi‘s first time out with me, and her first time fishing for white bass.

Caleb and Abby first got to know one another through participation in high school band.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 21, 22, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Caleb Fowler, Abbi Corder, and Steve Niemeier with handfuls of Lake Belton white bass taken over Spring Break 2023.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 14 March 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

This afternoon’s fishing was the toughest of the week thus far, as the north winds from the cold front which came in early Sunday morning, finally began to subside. Additionally, the temperatures stayed in the 50s today making it a little bit tougher on hands and feet for folks not used to being out in the elements.

We fished for right at 3.25 hours before the thought of a Chick-Fil-A took priority over the thought of a fish fillet.

The fish were definitely harder to find and more finicky this evening. Although we found fish all afternoon, they tended to be in small schools, and those schools only stayed interested in our offerings for a few minutes after we first began fishing for them.

Interest in our presentations waned very quickly all afternoon. Regardless, we landed 53 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, 2 short hybrid, striper, and 48 white bass.

100% of our fish came on the white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, and all of those fish were taken with a slow-smoking tactic. In all but one instance, we caught our fish from off the bottom. In one instance, we found suspended, mobile fish, which we used LiveScope to reel our slabs past the fish, so as to place the lure to the front of the fish, and just above high-level to try to provoke a following strike.

TALLY: 93 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile taken mid-day, Monday, 13 March:

0 feet 62.9F
5 feet 62.9F
10 feet 62.8F
15 feet 62.3F
20 feet 62.2F
25 feet 61.9F
30 feet 60F
35 feet 58.2F
40 feet 57.5F
45feet 55.9F
50 feet 54.7F
55 feet 54.3F
60 feet 54.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:30P

End Time: 6:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 14.05 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .04′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE11 at trip’s start through ~4:30pm, then backing off to NE6-7

Sky Condition: Moderately grey clouds at 100% coverage all day.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0013C – 9 fish (2 hops)

Area 2038 – 20 fish

Area vic B0202G – 4 fish

Area 1934 – 10 fish

Area 0403 – 10 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

HOG WILD FISHING! — 93 FISH WITH THE BYRD BOYS @ BELTON

March 14th, 2023March 14th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, March 14, I fished with three young men from Gause, Texas. Mrs. Brittany Byrd brought her three sons, Tucker, Tuff, and River, out for some spring break white bass fishing on Lake Belton in celebration of River’s birthday.

I meet people from all walks of life in this fishing business, but I’ve never met anyone before who does what Brittany does. She supplies live, wild hogs to game ranches. She buys these animals from trappers, then turns around and sells them (boars only). I’m a fan of win-win solutions, so, I thought this was pretty neat.

I was a little concerned when everyone showed up this morning as the boys were dressed a little lightly for the chilly conditions our most recent cold front brought to Central Texas. For a second day in a row, the air temperature was 48F, and the winds were northerly at around 12 mph. Unlike yesterday, we had thick cloud cover, which endured all day, and which prevented any significant warm-up. River (age 7) actually stayed wrapped up in a blanket during our first stop or two, while his older brothers braved the elements and began fishing and catching.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 21, 22, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tucker, Tuff, River, and Brittany Byrd with a few of the plump, egg- and milt-filled, pre-spawn white bass they caught on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs during Spring Break 2023.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 14 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing followed a bell-shaped curve today ramping up, peaking, plateauing, then dropping off. At our first two areas fished we found fish on bottom in moderately sized schools of a few dozen fish each. These fish were generally disinterested and so it took a good bit of work to put our first 14 fish in the boat. I decided to head elsewhere both to escape the biting wind and to find larger concentrations of fish.

Fortunately, we found two groups of mobile, suspended fish under birds, about an eighth of a mile apart from one another, and spent the remainder of the trip catching these fish on white, 5/8 ounce bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

By using the thumper as both an attractor and as a metronome, I helped the boys keep their retrieve speed exactly right, which was key for these fish in 60° water.

We used a slow-smoking tactic the entire morning. By the time four hours had passed, the boys landed a total of 93 fish, including, 1 hybrid striped bass (short), 4 largemouth bass, 1 white crappie, 2 freshwater drum, and 85 white bass, of which 11 were short.

TALLY: 93 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile taken mid-day, Monday, 13 March:

0 feet 62.9F
5 feet 62.9F
10 feet 62.8F
15 feet 62.3F
20 feet 62.2F
25 feet 61.9F
30 feet 60F
35 feet 58.2F
40 feet 57.5F
45feet 55.9F
50 feet 54.7F
55 feet 54.3F
60 feet 54.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:15A

End Time: 12:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 14.05 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .05′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE11 at trip’s start through ~4:30pm, then backing off to NE6-7

Sky Condition: Moderately grey clouds at 100% coverage all day.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0005C – 13 fish

Area 2062 – 40 fish

Area B0203G (2 hops) – 40 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

PRETTY ROWDY — 113 FISH @ BELTON (PM TRIP)

March 13th, 2023March 13th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This evening, Monday, March 13, I fished with Steve Niemeier, his granddaughter, Macy Fowler (age 14), and Macy’s friend, Noah Lanham (age 14).

Macy and Noah have been friends since they first had class together back in the third grade.

Steve, a CPA, was fortunate to swing a few hours off just days before the 15 March corporate tax filing deadline.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 22, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Noah Lanham, Steve Niemeier, and Macy Fowler with a nice mess of white bass taken from a mobile, suspended school at our first stop of the afternoon using Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 13 March 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to a dry cold front, which began moving in in the early morning hours Sunday, we had cool, clearing skies and a stiff northwest breeze, which maintained a steady velocity from about noon until about a hour before sunset and then tapered down from NNW11 to NNW6.

We caught fish from start to finish tonight with our first success coming by parking atop a large, migrating school of suspended white bass, the location of which was indicated to us by the presence of gulls feeding over top of them. As we eased over top of these fish, the thumper really drew them in and, thanks to previous experience fishing in this manner with me, everyone was able to capitalize on the abundant number of white bass present, as seen on Garmin LiveScope.

The trick was to bring the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs we were using (white, 5/8 oz.) into the path of these moving fish, giving them a chance to see the bait just slightly forward of and above their “nose level”. This did the trick for 55 fish, all of which were quality white bass, most exceeding 13 inches, with nice, plump proportions.

Next, we spotted birds working a shallow flat. I moved the boat into about 6-8 feet of water, just upwind of these fish and had everyone cast directly downwind, toward the bank, using MAL Heavy Lures with the lures landing in under 2 feet of water. The white bass were chasing mature threadfin shad all over the place and were pretty rowdy doing it. We took 31 more fish doing this, not including a 28-pound longnose gar which Steve snagged in the back.

Finally, with less than 40 minutes before the sun set (and before the white bass shut down), we hit two more areas, the first produced 14 short fish under a handful of gulls. These fish were all suspended and were taken by picking them off one at a time as they swam beneath the boat, as observed on Garmin Live-Scope. We took our tally to 100 fish here, then moved to try to find one more school of large fish before concluding our evening. We found one last school in ~22 feet of water and they were right on bottom. We picked up a final 13 fish here and took a chilly ride back in to the boat ramp.

TALLY: 113 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The dry cold front really got the fish turned on today as the winds stayed up all day.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:15P

End Time: 7:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 14.00 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW11 at trip’s start, then tapering back to NNW6-7 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Clear, bluebird skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 67% illumination.

GT = P

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0202G – 55 fish

Area 1662 – 20 fish

Area 1673 – 11 fish

Area B0065C – 14 fish

Area B0185C- 13 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

LIKE BROCCOLI ON A STRING – 128 FISH @ BELTON

March 13th, 2023March 13th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 13, I fished with Craig, Emalyn (age 11), and Annabelle (age 8) Lilie, and Dillon, Jack (age 10), and Hunter (age 8) Dewald — two dads and their kids.

Craig and Dillon first got to know one another at a family camp held at Pine Cove.

This was the first day of spring break for most of our local school districts. The Lilie family is from Salado, and the Dewald family lives in North Texas, but has roots in Lampasas.

At one point in the trip as one of the girls was watching Garmin LiveScope, she watched her bait go right past a fish with no response. She asked her dad, “Why didn’t that fish bite on my bait?” Craig told her, “Well, to that fish the lure may have looked like broccoli on a string.” That response more than satisfied her curiosity.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 22, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: From left to right that’s Craig Lilie and Dillon Dewald in the back row and, in the front row, Emalyn and Annabelle Lilie and Jack and Hunter Dewald.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 13 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to a dry cold front, which began moving in in the early morning hours Sunday, we had cool, clearing skies and a stiff northwest breeze, which was still ramping up by the time we began fishing this morning.

We enjoyed three solid hours of fishing with a slower final hour as both birds and fish begin to wind down from their morning feed.

Although bird activity indicated large, mobile groups of migrating white bass in deep, open water in multiple locations this morning, the technical nature of fishing for these was more than my young crew was capable of handling.

Instead, I searched out bottom-oriented schools of white bass in shallower water and targeted these with a vertical approach, using slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 5/8 oz.).

Everyone improved their technique throughout the morning and the results showed that.

By the time noon rolled around, we had boated 128 fish including one largemouth bass, 12 hybrid, striped bass (all short), and 115 white bass.

TALLY: 128 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The dry cold front really got the fish turned on today as the winds stayed up all day.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 14.00 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW11 at trip’s start, peaking at NNW 14 by mid-morning, then tapering back to NNW 11 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Clear, bluebird skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 67% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196C – 20 fish

Area 1552 – 25 fish

Area B0042C – 68 fish

Area 355 – 12 fish

Area 1482 – 3 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

A DADDY-DAUGHTER DAY — 45 FISH @ BELTON

March 11th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 11 March, I fished with guests Dave Knutson and his daughter, Christina Henkel, both from the North Austin area.

Christina is an office manager for a small business in the area. Dave is now retired, but active as a volunteer with the “Forty and Eight Society” called, in French, “La Societe des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux”.

During WWI, French boxcars carried American “Doughboy” soldiers to battle. These boxcars held either 40 men or 8 horses and had distinctive “40/8” markings on them. Dave serves as the organization’s publicist.

Here’s how the fishing went …

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 22, 29 & 31 March

PHOTO CAPTION: Dave Knutson and his daughter, Christina Henkel, landed 45 fish on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dave Knutson took our largest fish of the trip, a just-legal 18″ hybrid striper.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 11 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We experienced a moderately-paced, steady bite throughout the morning.

As the weather warms, there seems to be fewer and fewer birds (gulls and terns) present to help point the way to fish; we experienced no helpful bird activity this morning.

The day started off cool and foggy, but quickly cleared, warmed, and got pretty windy.

With nothing drawing me up shallow, we stayed out deep this morning and targeted bottom-oriented fish which were holding together in large schools — perhaps 100-200 fish in each of the several schools we located.

As has been the case most of the winter and now into the spring, the most consistent presentation for me on these fish has been a slow-smoked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. The retrieve speed must vary with fish mood.

Although Christina had never used a spinning rod before, she got the hang of the retrieve (the most important part) early, and then got the hang of hooksetting a bit later on with practice.

Father and daughter landed 45 fish this morning. We wrapped up a bit early so Dave and Christina could make a birthday party commitment, but, by the time we left, the fishing was definitely tapering down.

Our 45 fish tally included 1 largemouth bass, 1 short hybrid striped bass, 1 legal hybrid, and 42 white bass, of which 35 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 45 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: We surpassed that critical 60F mark on the surface temperature on Thursday, 09 March, so, I anticipate a generally more aggressive bite to turn on and stay turned on this week.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 13.99 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10 at trip’s start, ramping up to SSE15-17 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Light fog at trip’s start, then clearing to 40% white cloud cover on a blue sky thereafter

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 85% illumination.

GT = P

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1079 – 13 fish

Area B0165G – 18 fish

Area B0198G – 14 fish (two 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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

IT’S MAL LURE TIME!!! – 104 FISH @ BELTON

March 10th, 2023March 10th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, 09 March, I fished with first-time guests Wayne Winekauf and Duane Marvin.

Wayne retired from industry and now resides in Morgan’s Point, and Duane is a farmer from Iowa, where he routinely fishes for walleye on one of the segments of the Mississippi River.

Both were very comfortable with the spinning gear we employed and both quickly got the hang of both the vertical tactics we employed early, as well as the horizontal tactic we employed at trip’s end.

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Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 22, 28, and 29 March

Here is how the fishing went …

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Duane Marvin and Wayne Winekauf with a few of the aggressive white bass they took in shallow water as these fish gorged on shad. The MAL Heavy worked like a charm to cast long and imitate mature shad well.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 09 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The impacts of the previous day’s mild cold front passage still lingered this morning. As we launched, there was a thin blanket of fog over the lake, the air temperature was in the high 50s (the lowest air temperature all week), there was not a breath of wind, and between the fog down low and the thick clouds up higher, it was also very dim. Dark and windless are not good for white bass fishing!

We endured such conditions for 2.75 hours, catching just a few fish at each of the many stops we made as we had no problems finding fish, but found the fish very lethargic. Typically, we’d get a bit of a rise out of the fish as soon as we dropped our slabs to them, but they’d lose interest very soon after. By 10A, we’d managed only 24 fish. This made it the slowest start of the last 2 weeks.

Around 10A, the fog had lifted, and, for the first time, enough sun was coming through the grey cloud cover that required you to squint without sunglasses on. I felt we should move shallower at this point to take advantage of that bit of brightness illuminating the bottom in depths shallower than those we’d been probing. Just as I cranked up to head up shallow, the lightest of ripples began. By the time we got to the area I wished to try, the breeze was blowing ENE and fully rippling the surface. Things were about to get good.

As the weather changed, so did the mood of the white bass we’d been after all morning. The action ramped up very quickly and soon there were fish popping shad on the surface all around us. This drew bird activity. As the birds had their “bird’s-eye view” of what was taking place from above, they moved with the most aggressively feeding fish and helped up stay where the fish were.

I changed everyone over to MAL Heavy Lures fished on long, 7’6″ spinning rods loaded with 15-pound Coastal Camo braid (Sufix 832) and fluorocarbon leaders so they could fling these baits a country mile.

For the next 2 hours Wayne and Duane landed fish after fish, adding exactly 80 more fish to their 24-fish count using the sawtooth method to imitate these adult shad being fed upon by the white bass.

Here is a tutorial video on how to execute the sawtooth method with MAL Lures:

Our 104 fish tally included 1 largemouth bass, 5 short hybrid striped bass, and 98 white bass, of which 89 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: We surpassed that critical 60F mark on the surface temperature today; this corresponded with the first aggressive, horizontal bite on the MAL Lure.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 12:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 13.97 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 2.75 hours, then ENE 5-7

Sky Condition: Light fog at trip’s start, then clearing to 100% heavy grey cloud through the 2.75 hour mark, then thinning to 100% thin grey cloud cover thereafter

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 29

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196G – 6 fish
Area vic 294 – 3 fish

Area vic B0041G – 7 fish

Area B1555, two hops – 8 fish

Area B0051G to shoreline – 69 fish

Area B0145C – 11 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