14 | February | 2024 | Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Wednesday morning, Feb. 14th, I fished with long-time Lake Belton angler Bill Pasko and his friend, Mike Adams. This was an “away game” for the two fishing buddies, as I guided them this morning on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

Bill is a detail-oriented fellow who actually dives into the details I include in my fishing reports. He has been helpful to me through the 18 years I’ve run my guide service, and routinely makes constructive posts on the Texas Fishing Forum.

A few of the things we set out to accomplish came about from such details. One of the things Bill most expressed interest in was closely studying well-tuned side-imaging on my Humminbird Apex 16 so as to recognize the difference between bottom-oriented white bass and other species showing on sonar.

Neither of the fellows had a great amount of experience with Garmin LiveScope, so, getting to use that technology in a real-world scenario for 4+ hours was also beneficial.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are Feb. 26-29 (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Mike Adams and Bill Pasko hoist a nice take of white bass. Four of the 59 fish they landed were white bass exceeding 15 inches, with the largest going 16.50 inches.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mike and Bill landed a “bycatch” of largemouth and drum over the course of the morning in addition to the target species of white bass.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 14 Feb. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

You’ve heard the saying “No good deed goes unpunished.”. Well, I experienced a bit of that today. Yesterday I had two excellent, well-travelled anglers aboard specifically in pursuit of a freshwater drum for each man.

We put in over 8.5 hours of effort and did not land a single freshwater drum despite routinely catching these (and quality largemouth) as bycatch all winter on most every trip.

This morning, within the first 40 minutes on the water, three of our first eleven fish were freshwater drum which exceeded 4 pounds!!! Unbelievable!

As we got going this morning, loose bird activity pointed the way to our first area to search for fish. We made multiple short hops in this 1/8th mile diameter area, picking up white bass, drum, and largemouth bass by working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically using both an easing tactic and a slow-smoking tactic. While Bill and Mike worked hard at this, I got in an occasional cast horizontally using a jighead and white curltail grub.

The bird action lasted about 90 minutes, after which we were left to search for fish relying solely on sonar.

We fished 6 areas and boated a total of 59 fish, of which four exceeded 15″, with the largest going 16.50 inches.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method we used … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 59 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: Thanks to recent rains and a slow, net warming trend over the last three weeks, the surface temperature has returned to just over 50F and the lake has risen to 16.89 feet below full pool. Fish and bait are beginning to move shallower. All of our fish came from between 23 and 34 feet this morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 12:05P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation: 16.89 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 50.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SW winds varying from 3-9 all day

Sky Condition: Pale blue, cloudless sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 27% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

101 (1 short hop), SH0044C (1 short hop), 268, 94, vic SH0016G, and 104.

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday morning, Feb. 13th, I fished with first-time guests Jerry Burch and Nathan Rollins.

Jerry had an unusual request. He and eight friends are in a friendly competition to see who can be the first to capture 100 fish/game species by way of hunting and fishing.

Jerry had seen some of my posts indicating a routine bycatch of freshwater drum as I guide clients to catch white bass. He reached out to me to see if we might be able to help add that species to his list, and to Nathan’s.

If that went well, I had a contingency plan to pursue channel catfish and smallmouth bass, as well.

Along the way we drew a humorous correlation between “serious” anglers fishing for drum, and “serious” waterfowl hunters hunting for coot.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are Feb. 26-29 (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jerry Burch and Nathan Rollins with a nice pair of white bass they took as we made a day-long effort to capture a freshwater drum for both men.

PHOTO CAPTION: All winter long as I guide for white bass, I see largemouth bass and freshwater drum caught as bycatch. Today, this largemouth cooperated, but our highly sought after drum were in short supply.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 13 Feb. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Although I routinely catch drum without doing anything special beyond what is necessary to lure white bass, since we desired to catch drum this morning, I did changeup a few things. First, instead of the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, I used a slab with a bead-filled glass vial encapsulated within it so as to make extra noise which I have seen drum respond to positively in the past. Additionally, instead of slow-smoking or easing, we stuck with snap-jigging so as to keep the lures on or near bottom 100% of the time.

It was tough watching so many opportunities to catch white bass go by, but Jerry and Nathan stuck with it. By the time 1PM had rolled around, they’d landed 27 fish, including 26 white bass and 1 largemouth bass, but no drum.

We took an off-the-water lunch break and reconvened at 2:25 and fished until 5:20PM. We added another 39 fish to the tally, every single one of which was a white bass.

So, after 8.5 hours of intelligent effort, we did not come up with a single drum. Regardless, Jerry and Nathan enjoyed their outing, learned much, and were particularly enthused about using Garmin LiveScope.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method we used … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 5:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 32F

Elevation: 16.89 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 50.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SW winds varying from 4-9 all day

Sky Condition: Pale blue, cloudless sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 47% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Vic. SH0239G, 0095, SH0134C, SH0247G, vic 1950, SH0279G, and SH0094C

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

Fishing Report

Holding The Line Guide Service

Day: February 14, 2024

IT WAS AN AWAY GAME FOR THIS TEAM — 59 FISH

ONE MAN’S COOT IS ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE — 66 FISH