July | 2023 | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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LOOK OUT, FISH! HER HAT’S ON BACKWARDS! — 55 FISH

July 27th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 27th, I fished the third and final trip of the summer 2023 season with the Brewer clan of Georgetown, TX.

Two Thursdays ago, Mr. Larry Brewer brought out, among others, his grandson, Eymon McCormick; last Thursday, Larry brought his granddaughter, Adi Zwern, and today, it was Miss Finley Zwern’s turn to fish.

Finley will turn 12 next week just before starting the sixth grade where she resides near Houston.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Mr. Larry Brewer (left) and his long-time friend, Blake Hoekstra, chaperoned Miss Finley Zwern, but left all the catching to her. She landed 55 fish this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: When Finley turned that hat around it’s like she transformed into a superhero with special fishing powers!!! That’s a Texas smallmouth bass she’s displaying.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With both Adi and Finley, I made a request of Larry that he spend just a little time familiarizing both girls with how to cast with spinning gear prior to their arrival so we could have as many options for catching fish open to us as possible.

This small investment of time paid big dividends today, as all but three of the 55 fish Finley landed came on other than downrigging gear.

As we got going this morning, I put twin downriggers down so we could have lines in the water if/when we encountered fish on the surface, right at first light. Unfortunately, there was no strong, sustained topwater feed prior to the sun directly striking the water’s surface, and we settled for three white bass on the downriggers before having to press on. These fish hit 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with a mix of #12 and #13 Pet Spoons.

As the sun rose, but while it was still low in the sky, we began to see “popcorn“ schools of white bass briefly bursting to the surface and feeding on all sizes of shad, but mainly young of the year shad. I put Finley on the front casting deck with me and ran the trolling motor from school to school while she turned her ballcap backwards like she meant business, and put her newly polished casting skills to work. She threw an MAL Mini to imitate the young-of-the-year shad.

By the time this activity settled down, we had added another 11 fish to our count, including nine white bass and two beautifully colored smallmouth bass.

We then opened a new chapter by seeking out more heavily congregated fish in the lower half of the water column and working them over using a sawtooth method with MAL Heavy Lures with white tails. Once again, this required that Finley cast – – this time, long and accurately. She did remarkably well at that, and we added a total of 33 additional white bass to our count before 9:15 AM rolled around.

At 9:15, we put all the white bass gear aside and retooled to go up shallow and pursue sunfish at Finley‘s request. We now had 47 fish in the boat. In the 45 minutes or so we invested in sunfishing, Finley was able to tempt quite a number to pull her float under, and she wound up actually boating eight of those sunfish, including bluegill, longears, and greens.

We wrapped up at 9:50 on this 3.5 hour “Kids Fish, Too!” package trip, by which time Finley had landed 55 fish.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: No low-light topwater this morning in the 9mph SE chop.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.05 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at SSE9-12

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover, but hazy with Saharan dust

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 66% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0039G – downrigging for sparse low-light action

Area BDH0013 – popcorn topwater

Area BG0022CH – sawtoothing for whites

Area B0226G – sunfishing

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

BASS: WHITE, BLACK, & BUGLE-MOUTH — 50 FISH

July 26th, 2023July 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, July 26th, I fished with first-time guests Jason McNutt and his two teenage boys, Alex and Andrew.

Mrs. Mandi McNutt coordinated everything, including an overnight stay prior to the trip at one of the hotels in Belton.

Jason is the senior pastor at Hill Country Bible Church in Dripping Springs near Austin, and is also a U.S Air Force veteran who spent about 10 years flying B-52s.

The trio had made a few stabs at fishing previously, including ice fishing, but had very limited prior experience in pursuing fish from a boat.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught white bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught black bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: … and the McNutts caught bugle-mouth bass!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 26 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a very difficult first two hours this morning, during which time I found it tough to even find fish to fish for, much less get them to bite. Halfway through the trip, we had only landed four fish.

Around 8:50 or so, things began to turn around when I spotted the first occurrence of largemouth bass hitting on the surface. This was not widespread, nor very frequent, but at least it told me gamefish had begun to move. From this first real contact with an abundance of fish and until we wrapped up at around 11:20, we had consistent action.

We alternated routinely between fishing MAL Heavy Lures with white tails using a smoking tactic and a sawtooth tactic. Whenever LiveScope revealed a large school of white bass moving in from the bow or the stern, everyone got their presentations down to bottom and awaited an opportunity to reel their lures up just prior to having the fish pass by. Otherwise, we worked off the starboard side of the boat with everyone abreast of one another using the sawtooth method.

We wound up with a grand total of 50 fish (as I told everyone at 11 AM with our count then at 47, that we’d extend until 11:30 or 50 fish which ever came first). It took father and sons just 19 minutes to put those final three fish in the boat.

Our take of 50 fish included 3 freshwater drum, 1 common carp, 1 largemouth bass, and 45 legal white bass, with several exceeding 14 inches.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: This was the latest I’ve seen the bite kick off on Stillhouse all summer.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 15.60 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at S8-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 850, SH0232G/1423, SH0059G, & SH0065G (2 hops) — all fish @ all areas came via alternating between smoking and sawtoothing MAL Heavies with white tails.

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

Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) – 75 FISH

July 25th, 2023July 25th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, July 25th, I fished the season’s fifth SKIFF trip of the 2023 season for a family separated from their loved one by his military duty. Joining me this morning were Mrs. Melinda Whitacre, and her three kids, Natalie, age 13, Lily, age 9, and Evan, age 6.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Whitaker has served in the US Army for 11 years. He is currently deployed to southwest Asia with his Patriot Missile unit.

ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip, like all SKIFF trips, was provided to this military family at no charge. 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 to 4 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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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From the left, that’s Natalie and her mom, Melinda Whitacre, in the back row, and Melinda’s two youngest, Evan and Lilly in front, each with one of the white bass they landed in the first part of the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple for Lilly right off the bat this morning!

PHOTO CAPTION: … And a triple for Evan right about the time we switched from downrigging to sightcasting at mid-morning!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 25 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With zero cloud cover and calm winds, the fairly light surface activity which presented itself this morning was very easy to spot. I glanced at the clock on my chartplotter as soon as I saw the first evidence of white bass on the surface; it was 6:38 AM. This morning’s feed was less aggressive, and of a shorter duration than yesterday’ss feed, despite nearly identical wind and weather conditions.

None of the kids were already familiar with casting spinning gear, so, despite topwater action which would have lent itself to sightcasting, I opted to keep downriggers in for as long as the fish showed themselves on the surface. By around 7:20, these fish left the surface and did not linger in the area and continue feeding heavily beneath the surface as they did yesterday. We put 21 fish in the boat during this first round of activity.

We made a move and probed a new location we had moved to with downriggers as I kept an eye on sonar as well as the lake’s surface. Seeing consistent action along a roughly 60 yard stretch of shoreline about a half-mile away, I brought in the downrigging gear, Spot-Locked a long cast’s distance from these fish, and sightcast to them whenever they showed themselves, as well as blind cast to this general area when the fish sounded.

I did the casting and handed off the rod for the kids to do the reeling and the catching. Given these fish were eating young of the year shad and were in under 7 feet of water, I opted for using the MAL Mini, and it worked like a charm.

We moved routinely, but only yards at a time in order to keep up with the fish as they continued to pin shad against both the surface and the bank. We took our tally from 21 up to 48 before the kids interest began to wane, and the consistency of the fishing began to slide. Although Lilly would likely have hung with me all day, that was not the case for young Evan.

As I see younger kids begin to grow disinterested, I try to insert a transition. In this case, I came prepared to pursue sunfish in shallow water using red worms and slip floats. We beached the boat in one spot, and put a final 27 fish in the boat from within a 20 foot radius of the point we had beached at. This included a mixture of bluegill sunfish, long-eared sunfish, and green sunfish.

Our final count today was 75 fish, all caught and released. This included 48 white bass, and a mixed bag of 27 sunfish. We wrapped up right at the 3.5 hour mark.

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile taken on Monday, 24 July, was as follows:

0 feet, 87.5F
5 feet, 87.9F
10 feet, 88.1F
15 feet, 87.0F
20 feet, 86.4F
25 feet, 85.5F
30 feet, 82.1F
35 feet, 73.0F
40 feet, 68.6F
45 feet, 66.0F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 63.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 14.93 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S5-7 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 46% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 080 – low-light downrigging for 21 fish

Area 1760 thru 1041, and 689 – sightcasting near shore for 27 fish

Area 1583 -27 sunfish

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

CATCHING WHILE LEARNING — 79 FISH @ BELTON

July 24th, 2023July 24th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, July 24th, I fished with first time guests, Mr. Dustin Marsh, and his nine-year-old son, Lucas.

The two fellows rose early to make the drive from College Station to Lake Belton for our 6:20 AM start.

Dustin runs a large animal veterinary practice just outside of town, and also raises his own cattle, chickens, and kids!

Although father and son normally chase largemouth bass, they recently “discovered“ white bass, and have been trying to get smart on finding and catching this species.

Dustin, let me know when he made the reservation for the trip that he would like to ask lots of questions, and I told him that was just fine with me. A guided trip ought to be a learning experience, not just a time to catch fish.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This father-and-son trip was both for catching and for learning. I tried to find scenarios where I could demonstrate sight-casting, downrigging, smoking, and sawtoothing to Dustin and Lucas, and, fortunately, the fish cooperated.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Lucas actually landed two sets of triples today as we used downrigging as a tool to locate larger groups of fish which could be fished even more effectively with other tactics. This trio fell for a set of #13 Pet Spoons with silver prismatic tape and yellow feathertails.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 24 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As we got going, I explained the approach I planned to take this morning. I wanted to first look for topwater action under low-light conditions and fish for whatever we found as long as we could. Before and after that top water action, we would be using downriggers, both as we waited on the fish to get going, and has the fish moved deeper in the water column and further offshore after the topwater ended.

We took a handful of fish while downrigging and, as the eastern sky brightened, some topwater action did develop. I equipped both fellows with MAL Mini Lures on long, St. Croix Panfish Series spinning rods, coupled with large arbor reels to maximize casting distance on these small lures which do an excellent job of imitating young of the year shad.

After the topwater action ended as the bright, direct sun struck the water, we immediately got back to downrigging and continued catching fish from the very same schools that had just been on topwater, but which had now pushed down 12 to 17 feet beneath the surface.

We downrigged until I found a sufficiently large quantity of fish out to either our port or starboard side, at which time we brought in the downrigging gear, Spot-Locked, and began working MAL Heavies with white tails, using a sawtooth method to take fish very efficiently and very consistently.

It was during this time that Dustin asked the best question of the morning, when he inquired about comparing and contrasting white bass behavior versus that of largemouth bass, which he already had a pretty good grip on.

I told him the biggest mindset change you have to make when going from fishing for largemouth to fishing for white bass is getting away from a “spot“ mentality. Largemouth bass, crappie, and other cover-loving, ambush-feeding fish will often hang out on “spots” which you can return to time and time again and expect to catch fish. White bass are nomadic, constantly roaming after threadfin shad. Although they will use general areas frequently, you really have to scrub a much larger patch of bottom as you look for white bass given this tendency they have to roam constantly.

Eventually, the fish we were casting MAL Heavies to dispersed, and we once again set out downriggers, picked up a few more fish, and then things got very quiet for most of the remainder of our trip. It was now around 9:10 and we had planned to fish until around 1020 or 1030.

I looked over a number of areas, and did not see anything that I could get excited about. After seeing about five “popcorn“ schools of whites in one fairly large patch of open water, we put downriggers down, and picked up five more fish before deciding to wrap up.

On our way back in, I decided to give one area, which we were going to pass by anyway, a look. We found a few fish in about 22 feet of water, and these fish gave me the opportunity to demonstrate the one tactic we have not had success with yet, and that was a “smoking tactic. Dustin and Lucas picked up four more fish there via smoking, bringing our grand total to 79 fish boated.

So, over a 4-hour span, the two got a successful introduction to topwater sight-fishing, downrigging, fishing the MAL horizontally using the sawtooth method, and fishing the MAL vertically using the smoking method.

Our count of 79 included 2 freshwater drum, 8 short hybrid, and 69 white bass, all of which were legal.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile taken this morning, 24 July, was as follows:

0 feet, 87.5F
5 feet, 87.9F
10 feet, 88.1F
15 feet, 87.0F
20 feet, 86.4F
25 feet, 85.5F
30 feet, 82.1F
35 feet, 73.0F
40 feet, 68.6F
45 feet, 66.0F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 63.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 14.87 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW6 thru 9A, then going calm until ~10:05, then picking up SE5 thereafter.

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 36% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 929 – downrigging, followed by topwater, followed by sawtoothing, followed by more downrigging — 70 fish by 9:10A

Area vic 1334 – 5 fish downrigging

Area vic B0031G – 4 fish smoking

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

ADI, AGE 10, DID IT ALL BY HERSELF — 25 FISH

July 20th, 2023July 20th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 20th, I fished with 10-year-old Miss Adi Zwern from just west of Houston. Adi was accompanied by her grandpa, Larry Brewer, and by a friend of the family, Blake Hoekstra.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip where Adi did all the catching. These trips are a bit shorter and a good bit less expensive than my standard 4+ hour adult trips.

Each year Adi’s grandparents in Georgetown, Texas, have her in for a visit, and, for the past several years, that visit has included a fishing trip just for her.

Adi did it all today, and all by herself. She rigged the downriggers, landed all the fish, held and returned the fish to the water, cast her MAL Lures horizontally, and smoked her MAL Lures vertically.

Despite pretty tough conditions, she came away with a 25-fish, multi-species catch.

Here’s how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Adi Zwern, age 10, front and center. Behind her is her grandpa, Larry Brewer, and behind Larry is his long-time friend, Blake Hoekstra. Adi landed 25 fish on Stillhouse today using a variety of tactics.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 20 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing continued to be pretty tough on Stillhouse. We witnessed next to no topwater action and found very few large schools of white bass. Those schools we found were moving very quickly and, despite catching fish from these schools and drawing them in with the commotion created by the splasher, these fish did not tend to stick around very long.

We alternated between downrigging and working MAL Heavy Lures with white tails vertically (primarily) in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

We found fish in a number of locations and, most of those locations gave up fish, but only a handful at best. As Larry put it, “Sometimes you get the chicken, and sometimes you just get feathers.” Today was a “featherful” kind of day.

Adi landed a total of 25 fish, including 23 white bass (with 2 small young-of-the-year fish in that count), 1 freshwater drum (which “croaked” at her!!), and 1 largemouth bass.

TALLY: 25 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) We landed two “young-of-the-year” white bass this morning. This was the first of the new crop of fish I’ve witnessed year-to-date. 2) This was the temperature profile on Stillhouse taken before sunrise on 19 July…

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 87.2F
10 feet, 87.3F
15 feet, 87.3F
20 feet, 87.3F
25 feet, 87.0F
30 feet, 84.2F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 69.6F
45 feet, 67.4F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 62.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:38A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.23 feet low, 1 CFS flow, 0.06′ drop over the last 24-hours

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW11-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 7% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

No one area really produced strongly this morning.

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

AN OUTDOOR, FAMILY-ORIENTED TRADITION – 44 FISH

July 19th, 2023July 19th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, July 19th, I fished with three of the eight grandchildren of Joe (and Dicque) Oliver. Joining their grandfather this morning were Ben, Beau, and Addie Pugh, as well as the kids’ mom (Joe’s daughter), Amber Pugh, and Joe’s son, Thomas Oliver, the kids’ uncle.

Each summer for many years now Joe has hosted these two sets of three grandkids, treating them to an outdoor, family-oriented experience before the new school year begins.

As everyone boarded the boat, talk immediately turned toward competing with the results of the kids’ cousins (Cullen, Presley, & Harper Oliver and their dad, Corey) after their 93-fish haul last week.

Here’s how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Joe Oliver, Ben Pugh, Thomas Oliver, Addie, Amber, and Beau Pugh (in 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: …and here’s that same crew of kiddos 5 years ago (in 2018) — that’s Addie, Ben, and Beau in the front row with their mom and Uncle Thomas behind! They haven’t missed a year in between.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 19 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

In a word, the fishing this morning was just “flat”. We found fish in multiple locations, but, with the exception of a short, 25-minute window at mid-morning during which both the gamefish and bait got “frisky”, and during which we enjoyed our best catch rate, the fishing was just pretty tough.

When white bass are starting to feed, in the midst of feeding, and coming off of a feed, they will typically be suspended at least slightly up off the bottom, thus allowing them to be detected with sonar much more readily than when they are in “sulk mode” with bellies-to-bottom before and after feeding.

This morning, there were just far fewer fish to detect than in recent days. When I did see fish and got set up over them, we caught a few, typically right off the bat, but really didn’t see a bite strengthen by drawing in fish from the surrounding area by creating commotion as we caught fish and used the splasher.

Regardless, everyone did catch fish today using both the downrigging tactic and by way of “smoking” MAL Lures (MAL Heavies with white tails) vertically, and all enjoyed one another’s company while doing it.

Amber and Beau both learned to cast spinning gear today, and Joe and Thomas have officially become semi-pro downrigger operators!

This crew landed 44 fish this morning, including 43 white bass (all legal), and 1 freshwater drum in the five pound range.

TALLY: 44 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: This was the temperature profile on Stillhouse taken before sunrise on 19 July…

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 87.2F
10 feet, 87.3F
15 feet, 87.3F
20 feet, 87.3F
25 feet, 87.0F
30 feet, 84.2F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 69.6F
45 feet, 67.4F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 62.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 15.17 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW11-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 3% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0032G – early downrigging only

Area vic SH0227G – smoking MALs

Area vic SH0213G – smoking MALs

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

M.A.L. LURES WEREN’T THE ONLY THINGS “SMOKING” — 79 FISH

July 18th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, July 18th, I fished with two of the sixteen grandchildren of Mr. Charles Simmons of Salado. Joining me this morning were Caden (age 8) and Chloe Kimpel (age 11).

Chloe and Caden live in Brunei, nestled between the northwest coast of Australia and the southeast coast of Vietnam, where their father works in the oil industry.

Fishing was on the short list of special events the kids planned to take in while back in America for a few weeks.

Here’s how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Charles Simmons with two of his sixteen grandkids — Chloe & Caden Kimpel, each with a solid Stillhouse Hollow white bass taken from deep, open water.

PHOTO CAPTION: Caden managed a coveted “Triple Triple” today, catching three sets of three fish as we downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs and Pets Spoons.

PHOTO CAPTION: Chloe landed the largest of the two largemouth bass which occasionally mix in with large schools of white bass to feast on the abundant threadfin shad in the lower third of the water column.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 18 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As I left the house this morning about 70 minutes before I was due to meet Charles and the kids, all was well. I fueled up and continued on toward our meeting point on Stillhouse Hollow. I noticed a car some distance behind me in my drivers’ side mirror. As I glanced at that car’s headlights, something wasn’t right. I looked a bit more closely and saw what, at first, looked like a spray of water coming out of the boat. A few seconds later, it became clear that was actually smoke coming from a failed bearing on the driver’s side wheel of my trailer. Long story short, I did a hasty hub change on the side of a dark country road using the spare hub I’ve learned to carry along for just such “occasions”.

We got going about 20 minutes later than I’d planned, but, by pushing the casting lessons I’d planned to do until later in the trip when they were actually needed, we got lines in the water at the time I’d hoped to.

I’d planned to kick off the trip with downriggers and then transition to other tactics as the fish allowed and as the kids interest level dictated.

No sooner did we set the second of the two downriggers to depth than Caden’s ‘rigger went off. He hauled in the first of three sets of triples he (and only he) would land on this morning.

The kids enjoyed the downrigging, and Charles was a very capable first mate, assisting Chloe in rigging her downrigger after each catch as Caden took pride in rigging his own gear. This allowed me to focus on sonar and steering the boat.

By the time I saw enough aggressive fish activity (and the kids’ interest in downrigging was beginning to wane), we’d landed 31 white bass and 1 largemouth bass.

With fish chasing bait all through the lower half of the water column, I placed the trolling motor on Spot-Lock, fired up the Garmin LiveScope, explained to everyone how to interpret what they were seeing, and then got them catching fish using a “smoking” tactic with MAL Heavy Lures (white tails) wherein the kids let the lure fall to bottom, then raced it toward the surface.

Eventually, the fish directly under the boat and in the general vicinity grew accustomed to this presentation and lost interest. At that time, I explained to the kids, one at a time, how to cast their MAL Lures horizontally and work them back to the boat using a sawtooth method. The fish were really drawn to this presentation today and thus we had very few casts go ignored.

When the sawtooth method began to no longer produce, I downrigged for another spell, located a second group of aggressively feeding fish, and, with Chloe now in early retirement, watched Charles and Caden duke it out with the fish in what would be our final round of catching before even Caden had enough.

When all was said and done, my crew landed 79 fish, including 2 legal largemouth bass and 77 white bass, with not a single short fish in the bunch.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: This morning’s bite increase with the wind right up until the bite began to shut down just after 10AM.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 15.10 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW9-19 thru 9:20, then slowing tapering up to SSW13

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 0% illumination (new moon was yesterday).

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0032G – early downrigging only

Area vic 880/931 – downrigging leading to smoking/sawtoothing MALs

Area vic 878 – downrigging leading to smoking/sawtoothing MALs

Area vic SH0033G – downrigging leading to smoking/sawtoothing MALs

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

AN EXTREME CASE OF BEGINNER’S LUCK — 44 FISH @ BELTON

July 17th, 2023July 17th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, July 17, I fished with mother-daughter team Julee and Claire Manley .

This trip was a Mother’s Day gift from Claire to her mom.

Both ladies are local folks, having grown up here in Central Texas. Claire recently began working in the medical field as a certified physician’s assistant after graduation from Texas A&M, and Julee, a University of Mary Hardin-Baylor grad, has been an educator for many years now, now serving as a public school principal

Neither lady had ever fished before nor had any prior experience with baitcasting gear nor spinning gear, so job number one was to get them trained up.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Julee Manley and her daughter, Claire Manley, cashing in Julee’s most recent Mother’s Day present — a fishing trip with her daughter the day before Julee heads back to work as a public school principal.

PHOTO CAPTION: Claire experienced an extreme case of beginner’s luck this morning landing three sets of triples — three fish at the same time on a single 3-armed umbrella rig!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 17 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Overall, the fishing this morning was a good bit tougher than that which I experienced on Belton last week. There was no lowlight/sunrise topwater action, and very little such action at any other point in the morning.

The topwater action, although inconsistent, sure does make things easier, as you know both exactly where the fish are, and that they are aggressively feeding.

Lacking that, we had to more slowly comb over areas using sonar. When I found fish, we either downrigged for them if they appeared scattered, or Spot-Locked and began using a sawtooth method with white-tailed MAL Heavy Lures if they were more tightly grouped and on or near bottom.

We managed to put together a fair catch by constantly alternating between the downrigging technique and the sawtooth method. By the time the fish began to shut down around 10:10, the ladies had landed a total of 44 fish, including 3 hybrid striped bass (all short), 2 freshwater drum, and 39 white bass, all of which were of legal size.

TALLY: 44 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Much reduced topwater activity this morning, with next to no activity right at first light/sunrise, all in stark comparison with the first half of last week.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 14.45 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8-9 thru 9A, then bumping up to SSW11-13

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: That brown, flat line at 0% in the third segment down in the graph below is our chance of precipitation; unfortunately, it stays flat until midday Sunday.

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 814 – downrigging for scattered, small schools of white bass in low-light conditions with fish at 16′ deep and balls set at 10-13.

Area vic B0030G – downrigging w/5′ bottom tracking in 20-30′ leading to use of sawtooth method to capitalize on what we’d found

Area vic B0031G – downrigging w/5′ bottom tracking in 20-30′ leading to use of sawtooth method to capitalize on what we’d found

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

TROPHY WHITE BASS!!! – 93 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

July 14th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: I had three generations of the Oliver clan aboard this morning. Papa Joe Oliver was accompanied by his two adult sons, Corey and Thomas, and Corey had his three kids along — Cullen & Presley (13-year-old twins), and 11-year-old Harper.

Joe resides in Belton and is a retired public school educator, coach, and administrator, Corey lives in Utah and is employed by Cricut which makes smart cutting machines that work with an app to help design and personalize items with text and artwork, and Thomas is a special education teacher, working with developmentally delayed high-school aged kids on functional academics.

Here’s how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 2 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Thomas Oliver with his trophy white bass — a 16 3/8″ monster; this is the white bass equivalent of a 10-pound largemouth bass — a fish of a lifetime.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Oliver Clan – from the left: Thomas, Presley, Joe, Harper, Corey, and Cullen

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 14 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With three consecutive 100-fish days coming off of Lake Belton this week, it was a tough decision for me to move this crew over to Stillhouse, but when I considered all of the factors, the choice was clear.

We were, once again, due to have stiff, 14-15 mph SSW winds which would make casting tough. A lot of the white bass we took and Tuesday and Wednesday came on topwater, which requires 1) that the fish be spotted, and 2) that everyone can cast long and accurately. With a full boat of 6 anglers and the 3 kids being pretty inexperienced casters, I felt going to Stillhouse where we could make a morning of downrigging and fishing MAL Lures vertically would be our best bet.

As we started out, there was a persistent bank of grey clouds in the east which hindered the normal morning brightening process, as well as the fishing.

We managed 15 white bass coming as singles, doubles, and one triple under these grey skies, then headed back in briefly for a nature break. As we got back out on the water, the sun was just beginning to burn off that bank of clouds and the fishing began to improve.

The majority of our fish came from an area perhaps 200 yards in diameter as white bass chased hard after threadfin shad in the lower third of the water column in around 40 feet of water.

Once I saw these fish on sonar, we Spot-Locked on them and had all six rods working MAL Heavy Lures with white tails vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope using a “smoking method”. For a good 20-25 minutes there was not a time when at least one person did not have a fish on; at times we had 3 or 4 rods bent simultaneously.

Once these fish cooled off a bit, they were still present, but no longer in the mood to chase very hard or very far vertically. I worked with each of the kids, one-by-one, to explain how to cast and execute the “sawtooth method”. I spread everyone out with as much elbow room my 22′ gunwale would allow, always with everyone either on the port or starboard side for safety during their backcast.

The fish just fell over themselves to track down these MAL Lures, and we took our tally up to 83 fish landed by the time the feed began to wane. It was now right around 10A, and, with the kids’ hands all pretty sore and cramping by this time, downrigging seemed to me to be our best option to close out the trip.

We put the ‘riggers down — one equipped with #12 Pet Spoons and the other with #13 Pet Spoons. We took additional singles, doubles, and one more triple for a total of 10 more fish to bring our morning’s final count to 93 fish.

It was during this final round of downrigging when Thomas’ trophy fish fell for a #13 Pet Spoon with silver prismatic body and a yellow feather-tail. That fish came in with another, smaller white bass as a double. That fish measured 16 3/8″ and appeared in great shape (a football shape!!).

TALLY: 93 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The start of activity was delayed somewhat this morning due to a persistent bank of grey clouds in the eastern sky; once they thinned out and then burned off, the fish began feeding hard.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 14.84 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8-9 thru 9:20, then slowing tapering up to SSW13

Sky Condition: 60% grey cloud cover at trip’s start, clearing to <20% white cover by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 10% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0228G through 872 – early downrigging for scattered, disinterested fish under darkened skies; 15 fish

Area SH0063G to Area 911 – best action of the morning after skies brightened; 68 fish on MAL Heavies, then mopping up with downrigged Pet Spoons for 10 additional fish at trip’s end as the action began to fade

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