November | 2023 | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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SOLDIER’S SON SAMPLES BELTON’S BOUNTY — 171 FISH

November 10th, 2023November 10th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, November 10, I conducted the season’s eighth SKIFF trip for Duke Myers, the son of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Maddison Myers, a U.S. Army Air Defense Artilleryman.

Duke’s mom, Kristie, tried to coordinate a trip for her son previously, but weather and schedules prevented back during Duke‘s recent fall break from public school, so, we rescheduled for this Veterans’ Day break by which time Duke‘s dad had returned from his most recent military obligation. Hence, CW2 Myers was able to join his son this morning.

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, namely The McBride Foundation and Subaru. 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 Cavazos in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Maddison Myers and his son, Duke, age 9, put up with some raw weather to land 171 fish as this most recent cold front sent the fish into overdrive this morning on Lake Belton.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 10 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

As is often the case when an incoming cold front shifts winds from the north, and while that wind velocity is still on the rise, white bass this morning fed long and hard.

Aside from sustained, late summer topwater fishing, this tends to be the most aggressive feeding scenario white bass display. Indeed, these two fellows with no prior white bass fishing experience, put together a 171 fish catch in just 3.5 hours, and took all of these fish off of just two areas, both in right around 30 feet of water.

Surprisingly, there was no bird action accompanying this aggressive feed.

These fish, just like the hundreds of other fish caught from Lake Belton this week alone, all responded very favorably to a white, 5/8-ounce Hazy Eye Slab fished using a smoking tactic. That tactic is explained in this tutorial video…

SMOKING TUTORIAL

Duke was a real trooper. Our morning started off at 53° and, never rose above 54F thanks to a thick blanket of clouds and a stiff north wind. I know Duke got chilly because his hands were quite red when he took his gloves off to take a final father-and-son photo as we closed out the trip. Despite all that, this nine-year-old young man’s enthusiasm never waned.

Our 171 fish catch consisted of exactly 170 white bass and 1 largemouth bass. I was quite surprised that we had no drum or hybrid stripers in the mix this morning.

TALLY: 171 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: No bird action this morning for the third morning in a row, despite the presence of ~150 birds roosted along the shoreline at sunrise. Here was the water temperature profile down to 60′ taken Tuesday, 07 Nov.:

0 feet, 67.4F
5 feet, 67.4F
10 feet, 67.4F
15 feet, 67.4F
20 feet, 67.4F
25 feet, 67.4F
30 feet, 67.1F
35 feet, 66.8F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.9F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 62.9F
60 feet, 62.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 53F

Elevation: 15.09 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW9 at trip’s start increasing to NW15 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover all morning with a fine mist falling all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 8% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

Area vic 150 – 150 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0042C – 21 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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

NAUTICAL BY 9:35AM! — 63 FISH @ BELTON

November 9th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, November 9, I fished a rain-shortened trip with first time guests Billy and Betsy Meyerdirk. These long-time Austin residents recently bought property in Morgan’s Point adjacent to Lake Belton, and Billy wanted to get a bit of an introduction to the lake as well as catch fish.

He originally intended to bring a buddy who has treated him to a number of guided trips, but that buddy was not yet sufficiently recovered from some recent surgery, so we got to enjoy the company of Mrs. Betsy, instead.

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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: Billy and Betsy Meyerdirk came to both catch and learn. Their rain-shortened trip produced 63 fish before a November cold front came and made it feel pretty nautical out there.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 09 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

As I drove to the boat ramp this morning, there was just the finest bit of mist falling here and there. The air had a heavy, humid, warm feel to it at 71°. A cold front was forecast by everyone, but no one could agree on the arrival time, the rain quantity, nor the wind velocity, so, knowing full well that the fishing is going gangbusters right now, we pressed on.

We got going right at 7 AM with leaden grey skies dimming the already low early morning light level more than usual. We got on fish and got them to perk up and bite by around 7:30 AM and caught well at two locations right up until 9:35 AM when the raindrops got larger and colder, and the wind started to blow increasingly harder from the north.

The fish we found responded well to a smoking tactic as Billy and Betsy used white, 5/8 ounce, Hazy Eye Slabs fished vertically using the smoking tactic detailed here…

SMOKING TUTORIAL

Since one of Billy‘s desires was to understand other tactics used throughout the year, I also spent a short time demonstrating downrigging, demonstrating the sawtooth method, and demonstrating the easing tactic.

As I drove us from our first area to the second and final area we fished, I pointed out a few features about the lake, and the kind of fishing which could be expected through the seasons of the year.

Billy and Betsy stepped off the boat around 9:45 AM. I remained behind and scouted two other areas with sonar, knowing that the fish often get very aggressive on an incoming cold front, despite the uncomfortable conditions. I was able to locate one additional group of fish to keep in the back of my mind for the future.

On this weather-shortened morning, the Meyerdirks managed 63 fish, including 2 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 60 white bass. As is typical for this time of year, we had about 50% short fish.

TALLY: 63 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: No bird action this morning for the second morning in a row, despite the presence of ~200 birds roosted along the shoreline at sunrise. Here was the water temperature profile down to 60′ taken Tuesday, 07 Nov.:

0 feet, 67.4F
5 feet, 67.4F
10 feet, 67.4F
15 feet, 67.4F
20 feet, 67.4F
25 feet, 67.4F
30 feet, 67.1F
35 feet, 66.8F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.9F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 62.9F
60 feet, 62.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 9:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 15.14 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW3 at trip’s start; NW12 by trip’s end with incoming cold front

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all morning with drizzle turning to light rain as the front arrived at 9:35A

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 150

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

Area vic 1552 – 35 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0187C – 28 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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=UIPopSLUYoQ

TROUBLE FROM TERRELL!!! — 184 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 8th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 8, I fished with a crew of three very fine ladies – – Mrs. Kitty Brin, and her two friends, Darlene Kelly, and Michelle Holstrom, all from the Terrell, TX, area.

Kitty and her husband Danny fished with me on Stillhouse about a year and a half ago. After that, Danny got a gift certificate from me which Kitty redeemed with her two friends today. Kitty and Michelle are long-time employees at Nucor Steel, and Darlene is retired from the banking business. Fortunately, all three ladies had prior experience using spinning tackle, so things went quite well today.

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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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michele Holstrom, Kitty Brin, and Darlene Kelley with a portion of their 184-fish catch taken in right at four hours’ time this morning on Lake Belton.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 08 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

Although I came prepared to fish for fast-moving hybrid striped bass under birds this morning after such activity showed up on both Monday and Tuesday, such did not materialize this morning.

So, we opted for finding and fishing for heavily congregated, bottom-oriented, white bass using a smoking tactic from start to finish this morning.

The ladies put together their 184 fish catch on just three stops.

At each location I found fish, hovered a top them using the Spot-Lock feature of my Minn Kota Ulterra, then had the ladies drop their white, 5/8-ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down to these fish and retrieve them upward using the smoking tactic. That tactic is described in this tutorial video…

Thanks to the wind and cloud cover caused by pre-frontal warming in advance of a mild cold front’s arrival tomorrow, the bite was strong this morning from about 7:50 through 10:35. The fish let up significantly at that time, and by 11 AM they had just about completely shut down.

The ladies’ 184 fish catch consisted of 2 largemouth bass, 1 short hybrid striped bass, and 181 white bass. As has been the case since turnover, and as will be the case through the winter, there were a lot of small fish to wade through in this high-numbers, cool-water fishery.

TALLY: 184 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: No bird action this morning. Here was the water temperature profile down to 60′ taken Tuesday, 07 Nov.:

0 feet, 67.4F
5 feet, 67.4F
10 feet, 67.4F
15 feet, 67.4F
20 feet, 67.4F
25 feet, 67.4F
30 feet, 67.1F
35 feet, 66.8F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.9F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 62.9F
60 feet, 62.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 15.17 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW9 at trip’s start, building to SSW14 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 22% illumination.

GT = 165

Wx SNAPSHOT:

N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

Area 1552 – 11 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0005C – 72 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0015C – 101 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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

PYROMANIA MEETS PISCOMANIA — 241 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 7th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, November 7, I’ve fished with a crew assembled by Horizon bank officer Jonathan Briscoe from over at the Horizon Bank branch on Highway 317 north of Belton.

Jonathan brought with him David Clark, Ben Fulcher, and Phillip Jennings. David makes his living as a physician specializing in ear, nose, and throat maladies, Ben works in construction finance, and Phillip works in the tech industry at a data center.

Ben and Phillip share an interest in high-end pyrotechnics and even put on their own legitimate fireworks displays to share with others. Having been a combat engineer myself, trained in the surgical use of C-4, when it comes to things that go “BOOM!”, I’m in!! So, I listened intently to their stories about thermite, ignitors, mortar tubes, and more.

Perhaps the most gratifying thing about this trip was that all four men are Christ followers, and that their language, their demeanors, and the topics they chose to discuss, all reflected that well. Sometimes I wonder about the next generation; today’s trip allayed some of those concerns.

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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: David Clark, Jonathan Briscoe, Phillip Jennings, and Ben Fulcher with a few of the 2-year class fish they landed over the course of our 4.5 hour morning trip which yielded 241 fish.

PHOTO CAPTION: Just as Ben (left) asked how to go about telling the difference between a white bass and a hybrid striper, he and David landed one of each simultaneously allowing me to point out the single tooth patch on the back of the white bass’ tongue, and the pair of tooth patches on the tongue of the hybrid (right).

PHOTO CAPTION: For the 2nd day in a row I had a “double” pulled up – two fish striking the same lure at the same time — one on the treble and one on the single stinger. Nice way to finish the trip, Phillip!

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 07 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

We are squarely in the midst of the fantastic fall bite which takes place annually between turnover and the time at which the water temperature falls below 58 to 60°.

Today, we even caught fish during the demo I provide prior to leaving the boat ramp area to search for our first fish of the day!

Once again, there was some light, scattered bird activity in two separate areas, each involving about a dozen gulls, but the fish beneath these birds were suspended and fast-moving. After taking one shot at them, I decided to hunt down more well-grouped and less mobile fish.

We fished five locations, with that span of time between 9 and 10 AM providing the best action of the morning.

Although we had a few sub-legal fish, most of the fish were just over the legal limit of 10 inches. I use the lightest tackle I employ over the course of the entire year at this time of year, knowing that the winter months often produce a lot of smaller fish in this high-numbers fishing scenario.

We had a few remarkable things happen today. The first was spotting the season’s first mature bald eagle. The second was having a “double“ caught, where in Phillip landed two fish on his slab at the same time with one hooked on the treble, and the other hooked on the single stinger hook.

The fishing was very straightforward. I went with my go-to default slab – – the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in the white color and in the 5/8 ounce size. We used a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, as described here:

Smoking Tutorial

We used that lure from start to finish today and boated a total of 241 fish. This included 4 hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, and 232 white bass.

TALLY: 241 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: This was the 2nd consecutive morning of helpful bird activity I’ve spotted thus far this fall occurred this morning. Here was the water temperature profile down to 60′ taken Tuesday, 07 Nov.:

0 feet, 67.4F
5 feet, 67.4F
10 feet, 67.4F
15 feet, 67.4F
20 feet, 67.4F
25 feet, 67.4F
30 feet, 67.1F
35 feet, 66.8F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.9F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 62.9F
60 feet, 62.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 15.18 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW9 at trip’s start, building to SSW13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 40% white cloud cover on a blue sky most of the morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

Area B0105G – 17 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area 717 – 35 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0021C – 101 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0016C – 13 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0066G 73 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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

STABLE WEATHER, STABLE FISHING — 150 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 6th, 2023November 6th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 6, I fished with first time guests Dennis Graham, and his neighbor and friend, Vicky Clark.

Dennis is a U.S. Air Force veteran/retiree, and Vicky retired from the U.S. Postal Service where she enjoyed being a rural route letter carrier.

I first got to know Dennis when I presented a sonar seminar at Marine Outlet in Temple, TX, then reconnected more recently through the very well run Texas Fishing Forum, and specifically through the sub-forum dedicated to white bass, hybrid stripers, and striped bass.

Here’s how our morning 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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: Vicky Clark and Dennis Graham caught and released 150 fish on 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs on Lake Belton this morning using the smoking tactic described in the link below.

PHOTO CAPTION: Vicky just about held her own as far as the $1 bet on who could catch the most was concerned, but when it came to who caught the biggest, it was an open-and-shut case!

PHOTO CAPTION: Dennis closed the trip out in style. We agreed we’d stay until we hit 150 fish. With 148 in the boat, Dennis landed this double, with one white bass hooked on the treble and another on the stinger hook of the same slab!

PHOTO CAPTION: From left to right are the 3/4 oz, 5/8 oz., and 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. These combine the fish-attracting spinning blade feature of the MAL Lure with the cool-water effectiveness of a slab. All 150 fish were taken on these slabs today.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 06 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

With the time change taking place over the weekend, we began right at 7 AM today and fished through around 11:30.

I found a few fish up shallow, in about 23 feet of water, just as the sun was rising, but these fish were less than enthusiastic, so we left them behind.

As I was getting the boat prepared to motor to our next area, I did a little glassing and found the season’s first active group of gulls feeding over top of gamefish pushing bait to the surface. I got pretty excited as we ran to them, but enthusiasm waned when I saw how fast these birds were moving.

As it turned out, there was a small, but very aggressive, school of hybrid chasing subsurface bait at very high speed, headed down wind. We simply could not stop and fish for these fish because they were moving so fast. Because it was fairly windy, and because Vicky expressed that she might need to brush up on her casting a bit before we did any casting, I left these fish behind and went to find more heavily congregated, and more sedentary, bottom-oriented, white bass.

This turned out to be a good choice both because we found plenty of fish to catch, and because that bird activity dissipated rather quickly. Still, it was good to see that bird activity begin.

After we found schooled fish on bottom, we stuck with fishing that pattern from that point until our wrap-up around 11:30. We put the entire trip together on just three stops. The second of these three yielded the lion’s share of our fish (111 of 150 fish).

We fished each of these three distinct groups of fish the same way. I Spot-Locked on top of them after finding them with down-imaging and/or side-imaging, we then dropped white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down to them, and smoked the slabs in a manner described in the video link below…

Smoking Tutorial

Although the fishing followed a bell-shaped curve with low energy at low light, a peak bite between 9 and 10AM, and then a slow decay from 10:00 to 11:30, the fish never quit biting during this entire run.

One bit of an improvement today was in the area of legal sized fish versus shorts. Although we did not catch any 14 or 15 inch jumbos, the number of two and three year old fish roughly matched the number of yearlings we landed.

I anticipate this fishing will stay solid right on through the next cold front’s arrival on Thursday (9 Nov.), then, because Thursday’s front is forecast to be mild, the fishing should continue to be just as sound thereafter. If history is any teacher, this wonderfully productive autumn bite will continue right on through about mid-December.

Our tally today was exactly 150 fish including 1 keeper hybrid striped bass, 1 short hybrid striper, 9 freshwater drum, and 139 white bass.

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: The first helpful bird activity I’ve spotted thus far this fall occurred this morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 15.14 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at trip’s start, building to S13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% light grey skies through mid-morning, then clearing and brightening to 80% white cloud cover on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 39% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

Area B0005C – 20 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area 446 – 111 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0155G – 19 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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

SCOUTING PAYS OFF BIG-TIME — 116 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 4th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, November 5, I fished with first time guests Taylor Valentin, and her boyfriend, Andy Havranek.

Taylor is a speech pathologist working in the private sector, and Andy is a manager for a large telecommunications company.

As I often do whenever I have couples join me on the boat, I asked this couple how they first met, and the answer was through their common interest in playing the Elder Scrolls video game.

As a common thread through most trips which go well, both Taylor and Andy were very willing to listen to guidance and to be coached.

A special thanks to Taylor’s folks, Paco and Angie Valentin for setting this trip up for them.

Here is how our morning 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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: Andy Havranek and Taylor Valentin with the largest fish of the morning, a just-legal hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Our target species was white bass. 108 of the 116 fish landed were white bass; the vast majority of our catch came on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 04 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

A light, marine layer of fog stayed over the surface of the lake right up until 11 AM.

Yesterday’s ~5 hour scouting trip paid big dividends today as two of the five areas we fish (and the two which produced the most fish) were among the areas I identified during those morning scouting efforts.

Although this made for a slow start, it also kept fish biting well right up to about 11:15. Once the skies began to clear, they cleared rapidly, and the bite began to fall off sharply.

We fished a total of five areas this morning. Due to low light conditions, we downrigged briefly at the first area for a total of three white bass and one just-legal hybrid striper taken on a Pet Spoons fished behind three-armed umbrella rigs.

After that brief bout of downrigging, we switched over to smoking with slabs and never looked back. At the remaining four areas we fished, it was pretty much a cookie-cutter scenario. I found abundant, bottom-oriented, heavily congregated fish in 25 to 32 feet of water, hovered atop them using Spot-Lock, dropped white, 5/8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs down to them and cranked these slabs upwards using a smoking tactic.

Here is a link to a video I created on how to execute this technique: Smoking Slabs

The fish would pursue, strike, get hooked, and the rest was history. We put a total of 116 fish in the boat. Four came on downriggers, two came on MAL Lures when I found a large group of fish holding on bottom, but out away from the boat as seen on side-imaging, and the balance of 110 fish came on the 5/8-ounce, white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

Of the 116 fish landed, 1 was a hybrid striper, 7 were freshwater drum, and 108 were white bass.

TALLY: 116 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Far fewer gulls spotted today than yesterday; I suspect those I spotted were just passing through. 2) Water temperature profile measured 7:40AM, Friday, 03 November. At long last, the thermocline has disappeared…

0 feet, 64.9F
5 feet, 66.1F
10 feet, 66.4F
15 feet, 66.4F
20 feet, 66.4F
25 feet, 66.4F
30 feet, 66.4F
35 feet, 66.4F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 66.4F
50 feet, 66.3F
55 feet, 66.3F
60 feet, 65.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 15.16feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6 at trip’s start, building to SSE12 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies and light, marine layer fog through 11A, then clearing rapidly to 50% white clouds on blue sky

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 49% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

vic B0173G – 4 fish downrigging

B0149C – 29 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0171G (3 short hops) – 11 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0009C (2 short hops) – 67 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs; 2 on MAL Heavies

Area B0157G/472 – 3 fish fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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

STRICTLY SCOUTING — 106 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 3rd, 2023November 3rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, November 3, I invited longtime friend, Jerry Worley of Harker Heights aboard, along with his son-in-law, Nolan Beede, to accompany me on a scouting trip on a Lake Belton.

Thanks to a great amount of environmental change in a very short period of time, the fishes’ locations changed substantially versus where I last made contact with them last Wednesday afternoon.

I have found through the years that a little time invested in scouting will pay great dividends over the following span of time during which we enjoy more stable weather.

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 Nov. 14, 15

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Nolan Beede and Jerry Worley joined me for a successful scouting trip to locate fish once again after recent heavy rains and a cold snap moved them from their previous locations.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 03 November 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

The plan today was to do a lot of looking in the Cowhouse Creek arm, the main basin, and the Leon River arm of Lake Belton to figure out where the fish relocated to following the addition of almost 4 feet of water in a very short span of time, accompanied by a 7° water temperature drop during that same span of time.

By the time we wrapped up, I had determined that the fish have now moved shallower, that birds are now present, and that the thermocline has completely disappeared thus leading to fish holding exclusively on bottom.

In my last trip prior to all of this change, I was locating fish between 35 and 40 feet deep. Today, all of the fish we caught came between 25 and 32 feet of water. Our approach was to use sonar to find fish, then limit our catch to about 10-15 fish per area, leave those fish while still biting, and go find additional fish while the morning’s feeding window remained open.

In all, we were able to find fish at 13 locations, and 9 of these produced fish. Again, due to the rapid cool down, I defaulted to the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, andcontinued using that as the fish we caught regurgitated shad of that same size as well as shad both larger and smaller.

At each of the locations where we found fish, a smoking retrieve with a default of seven handle turns upwards off the bottom did the trick to draw the fish we initially found, and, once those fish got excited, they began to draw in additional fish. Despite seeing roughly 100 birds on the main lake right around sunrise this morning, we did not follow any bird action to fish, nor did we see any to follow, although I am sure that time is not very far off.

Our tally for the morning was 106 fish which included three hybrid striped bass, one largemouth, bass, six freshwater drum, and 96 white bass.

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: 1) ~120 birds present in open water, but no fish found as a result yet. 2) Water temperature profile measured 7:40AM, Friday, 03 November. At long last, the thermocline has disappeared…

0 feet, 64.9F
5 feet, 66.1F
10 feet, 66.4F
15 feet, 66.4F
20 feet, 66.4F
25 feet, 66.4F
30 feet, 66.4F
35 feet, 66.4F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 66.4F
50 feet, 66.3F
55 feet, 66.3F
60 feet, 65.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation: 15.44 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6 at trip’s start, building to SSE12 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 20% white cloud cover on a blue sky, building to 30% by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 68% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

B0171G – 3 fish

150 – 11 fish

B0009C – 17 fish

B0011C – 12 fish

B0016C – 10 fish

B0242G – 11 fish

1555 – 7 fish

1151/301 – 13 fish

B0196C/B0196G – 22 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