CLIENTS: This morning, Saturday, Sept. 27, I was joined by long-time client Dwight Stone of Georgetown for a white bass trip on Stillhouse Hollow as part of a year-long effort to capture, weigh, measure, and release white bass from both this lake and Lake Belton in order to compare the two populations in lakes adjacent to one another.

Doing the grunt work this morning was Mervin Narito and Kaylyn Wolf from Temple College.

 

TODAY’S DATE: Saturday, 27 September 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 30 September 2025 (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Well-traveled angler and long-time client Dwight Stone came aboard and contributed to the year-long effort at studying two white bass populations — one at Stillhouse Hollow and the other at Lake Belton.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Temple College students Mervin Narito and Kaylyn Wolf weighed and measured each fish landed, and will continue to do so through the end of they study in April of 2026.

 

 

FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning started with a bang, but, that bang quickly faded.

Just before the sun rose, we pulled up on our first area as all sonar technologies (2D, DI, and SI) lit up, indicating fish beneath us and all around us.  I quickly got the trolling motor in the water, positioned us atop the “center of mass” as best I could determine it, got Garmin LiveScope dialed in, dropped MAL Heavy Lures down, and brought in fish immediately.  Dwight went five drops for five fish as I attempted to wet a line and add a few bonus fish between unhooking his fish and running them to the holding tank for Mervin and Kaylyn to process.

This went on through eleven fish landed, then, as the sun rose and the light SW wind went calm, the bite died and really never revived.

Despite the tough time getting white bass to bite, we found them routinely.  And, to add insult to injury, small “schoolie” largemouth (most under a pound) seemed to be dimpling the surface here, there, and everywhere as they stalked after pods of shad for the first three hours following sunrise.  Their eruptions were easily seen on the glassy surface.

We only picked up seven additional fish the remainder of the morning in the form of single fish landed at three separate areas, as well as a single and a triple on the downriggers trolling #12 Pet Spoons.

Our catch included 15 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 2 largemouth bass.  Given how little difference there is in temperature from the surface to over 60 feet of water, I believe we are just one more solid cold front away from excellent fall fishing on Stillhouse; Belton seems to be just a step ahead already.

 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse is 0.06′ high with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 1 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken on Stillhouse Hollow around 6:35AM, Saturday, 27 September …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:55A

End Time: 11:0%A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: Belton is 0.06′ high with a 0.03 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 43 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 80.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SW4 before sunrise, then dying and staying calm all morning

Sky Condition: Post-frontal clear, bright blue skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 29% illumination.

GT = 5

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

 

Area 1976 was the only area which produced with any consistency — 11 fish taken on smoked MAL Heavy Lures

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

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, September 26, I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip for three brothers – – Jared (11), Stone (9), and Brenek (7) Shipman and their grandfather, Joe Mallory. Joe helped me help the boys be successful, but did not fish.

ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS:  Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($195 for up to 2 kids vs. $295 for up to 2 adults; and more can be added), and typically go a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4-plus hours for standard trips.  On these trips, licensed adults who desire to do so often help me help the kids be successful by baiting hooks, untangling lines, resetting our downrigger spreads, etc. so the kids’ efforts are maximized, but, the adults do not fish.

 

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 30 September 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 22 September (AM) 

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Jared (11), Stone (9), and Brenek (7) Shipman and their grandfather, Joe Mallory with a few of the white bass the boys landed by downrigging and “smoking” MAL

 

 

FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This trip comes 48 hours following the first significant cold front of the fall 2025 season. For reasons I have touched on in detail in previous posts (mainly the very great mixing of the water from top to bottom thanks to the July 4 flooding, and the rather minor difference in temperature from top to bottom in as much as 65 feet of water), I have already seen evidence of the rapid disintegration of the thermocline. This is a very welcome event, as it has immediately opened up use of the bottom of the lake in depths greater than were oxygenated and usable by fish just a week ago.  There is now light at the end of the tunnel from the grind the past 7 weeks or so have been.

We put in about 90 minutes’ worth of downrigging followed by another 75 minutes working MAL Heavy lures vertically using a smoking tactic. The downrigging accounted for 19 fish consisting of a mix of white bass and hybrid stripers. All fish came on #12 Pet Spoons on the starboard ‘rigger and #13 Pet Spoons on the portside ‘rigger.

Another nine fish were taken by the boys smoking the MAL Lures. The boys had never been on a boat before and had no experience using the MAL Lures with a smoking tactic, so, their catch of nine in a little over an hour was actually pretty good.

The bite begin to wane noticeably once the northwesterly wind which peaked at 12 mph began to fade. The cloudless skies and decreasing winds allowed the heat from the bright sun to begin to soak in, and I knew it was time for a change.

We ended up the trip fishing up shallow for sunfish. This allowed me to end the trip on a positive note with the boys all landing a few fish and throwing some of their snacks to the ducks before we called it a good morning right at 10:30 AM with a total of 36 fish landed.

The sunfish were taken on slipfloat rigs with small weights, small hooks, and small worm segments. The boys landed three species of sunfish, including bluegill, green, and redear.

 

OBSERVATIONS: Belton is 0.06′ high with a 0.03 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 43 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:35AM, Friday, 26 September …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:55A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: Belton is 0.06′ high with a 0.03 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 43 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 81.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW12, decreasing to NW4 by 10:30A

Sky Condition: Post-frontal clear, bright blue skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 21% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

 

Area vic B0156C thru 302 – downrigging Pet Spoons – 19 fish

Area vic 302/B0159C – 8 fish smoking MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 682 – 1 fish smoking MAL Heavy Lures

Area B0289G – 34 panfish on slipfloat rig and bait

Scouted areas 2253 and 152/346 successfully following clients’ departure

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

CLIENTS: This morning, Saturday, September 20, I conducted the tenth SKIFF trip of the 2025 season.  Joining me was 16 year-old Benjamin Adams accompanied by his mom, Maria, who attended but did not fish. The Adams family is a Gold Star family – meaning they are the immediate family members of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict. Ben’s dad served for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Artillery branch.

ABOUT SKIFF:  SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009.  SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru.  S.K.I.F.F. provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish.  SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families, and kids of bona fide disabled veterans.  I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411 to make your reservation.

SKIFF YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK:  About SKIFF

 

TODAY’S DATE: Saturday, 20 September 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 22 September (AM) 

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Benjamin Adams, age 16, traveled in from Dallas with his mom, Maria, to take part in this morning’s SKIFF program trip on Lake Belton.  He wound up landing 50 fish in right at 4 hours’ time.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This early morning shot shows the thermocline still set “hard as concrete” thanks to a lack of seasonal cooling thus far.

 

 

FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

These troopers drove in all the way from Dallas departing around 4:30 AM to shoot for our 6:55 AM start time. Roadwork on Interstate 20 cost them about 15 minutes, so our short, low light, shallow water fishing window for white bass got cut even shorter, but still produced fish at the best rate of the morning as we steadily took singles and doubles on three-arm umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons worked behind twin downriggers.  That low light window yielded 10 fish.

After the sun rose and the skies stayed bright and cloudless, the white bass fishing fell off fairly quickly. We put just six additional fish in the boat by 10 AM and then decided to put a final hour into fishing for sunfish up shallow. Our fish count at this point was 16 fish.

In the final hour of effort, between 10 AM and 11 AM, Ben single-handedly landed 34 sunfish using a pole equipped with balsa float, a single hook, a split shot, and a small segment of worm. This rig accounted for three different species of sunfish, including bluegill, long ear, and green sunfish.

At exactly 10:59 AM, then 50th fish came over the side and, with the calm winds and bright sun now really making it feel uncomfortably hot, we called it a good day and sent them to Miller’s Smokehouse before the 2.5 hour drive back home.

 

OBSERVATIONS: Belton is 0.15′ high with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 43 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:35AM, Saturday, 20 September …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 0.15′ high with a 0.02 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 43 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 83.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SW0-3

Sky Condition: <5% white cloud cover on a hazy sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = n/a

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

 

Area vic B0018G – downrigging Pet Spoons – 13 fish

Area vic B0030G thru 677 – downrigging Pet Spoons/smoking MAL Heavy Lures  – 3 fish

Area B0163C – 34 panfish on slipfloat rig and bait

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

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, September 17, I fished with Mr. Bret, Jordan, his wife, Vilma, and his nephew, Houston Brown.  All three were treated to this outing by Bret‘s dad, Max Jordan, a US Army veteran from back in the 1960s, and a retired public school educator.

 

TODAY’S DATE: Wednesday, 18 September 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 22 September (AM) 

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Houston Brown, and Vilma and Bret Jordan were all treated to a morning in pursuit of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow by Bret’s dad, Max Jordan.  Fishing remains tough, but this crew landed 18 fish and missed a few more over a span of 3.5 hours.

FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The tough summertime fishing brought on by the summer heat and multiple factors driven by that heat, continues. One of the first things I shared with everyone as they hopped the board this morning was, “This is not going to be a cakewalk.“.

Indeed, everyone worked for every last one of the fish we landed this morning. We used a combination of downrigging to have baits in the water as we went through areas I felt had potential to hold fish, and then we used both horizontal and vertical tactics with the MAL Heavy to exploit what we found.

We ended up landing 18 fish including 16 white bass and two largemouth bass.

Although we fished quite a number of areas, the majority of these 18 fish came from just two stops.

It was very common to find areas where fish were present but expressed little or even no interest in our presentations whatsoever. These disinterested fish might follow the lures half-heartedly for a few feet up off the bottom, or not even acknowledge our presentations whatsoever. The fish we did catch were typically egged on by the presence of other fish. The fishes’ desire to be the first one to the bait from out of all the individuals in the school would become their undoing.

The already tough conditions were not at all aided by bright skies and nearly calm winds all morning (contrary to the forecast). There was very little topwater, action, even by “schoolie” largemouth bass, which are typically a staple this time of year. I anticipate things will simply stay tough until cooler weather arrives and brings about turnover.

 

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse is now 0.10′ high with a 0.01 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing just 1 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:35AM, Wednesday, 17 September …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:55A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 0.10′ high with a 0.01 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing just 1 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SW0-3

Sky Condition: <10% white cloud cover on a hazy sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 17% illumination.

GT = 15

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

 

Area vic 865 – downrigging Pet Spoons to find fish, then smoking/sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures to capitalize  – 8 fish

Area vic 1133 – using SI sonar to find fish, then smoking/sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures to capitalize – 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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This past Thursday evening, August 28, I fished a multi-generation trip with James Long, his son Casey Batley, and Casey’s five-year-old son, John “Bear” Batley.  James is retired from law enforcement in Southern California, and Casey has just assumed leadership for the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor’s ROTC program.

 

TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 28 August 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Friday, 05 September (AM) 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Casey Batley, John “Bear” Batley (age 5), and James Long with a few of the 43 fish they caught and released in three hours’ time on a toasty, late-August evening fishing trip on Lake Belton.

 

FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Although James does a good bit of saltwater fishing on the big boats heading out of Southern California into the Pacific, and some fly fishing out west, he was not familiar with the approach we took today for sunfish and white bass.

His main goal was to have me introduce his son and grandson to a form of fishing they could do together in this area.  Due to schedules, an evening trip turned out to be the best option for this crew.

Knowing that a five year-old was not likely to make a full four hours, especially in the August heat, we whittled this trip down to three hours, devoting the first half to “instant gratification” fishing up shallow for sunfish, then focusing on bigger game in the last half of the trip by targeting white bass with downriggers.

Our pursuit of panfish up shallow produced 15 fish on our first stop and another six on our second before the novelty of that wore off with my youngest guest. After enjoying some snacks and drinks, we retooled for the second half of the trip and got into white bass right away. We set up with twin downriggers, each equipped with three-armed umbrella rigs terminated with #12 Pet Spoons. We landed singles, doubles, and triples for a catch of 22 fish, wrapping up at sunset right around 8:10 PM. Of these 22 fish, 19 were keeper-sized white bass, with two hybrid stripers, and a single largemouth bass, all released in good condition.

I am very hopeful the series of cold fronts due in beginning tomorrow bringing rain, clouds, and lower temperatures over the next 10 days will be the trigger we need to break the back on this tough summer fishing. Only time will tell.

 

OBSERVATIONS: Belton is now 0.18′ high with a 0.06 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 337 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:15AM, Monday, 25 August …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:15P

End Time: 8:10P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 94F

Elevation: 0.18′ high with a 0.06 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 337 CFS.

Water Surface Temp: 87.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE5-7

Sky Condition: <10% white cloud cover on a hazy sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 27% illumination.

GT = 80

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

 

Area B0163C – 15 panfish on bait/floats

Area 492- 6 panfish on bait/floats

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