363 Fish Landed for Pop’s Retirement Celebration — MAL Heavy & Hazy Eye Slabs, 2 May (1 photo)

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Thursday, May 2, I fished with returning guest Ray Andrews, accompanied by his father, Raymond, and his brother-in-law, Will, both first-time guests.

 

Raymond and Will were invited down from West Texas to celebrate Raymond‘s retirement after 20 years in the trucking industry, which followed 30 years in the roofing business.

 

Today’s results were spectacular!

 

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left, Ray Andrews, Ray’s dad, Raymond Andrews, and Ray’s brother-in-law, Will with a portion of their 363 fish catch made on MAL Heavy Lures and Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

Find MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 02 May 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

We met up at 7:30 AM after hard rains passed through in the early morning hours, dropping roughly an inch of rain area wide. We sat on the boat ramp for about 30 minutes waiting for showers which had redeveloped briefly to come to an end. We launched and ran to our first fishing area with a light sprinkle still falling, then did not have another drop of rain fall on us for the following four hours through noon.

 

I was encouraged at finding fairly heavily schooled white bass on bottom in what looked like a feeding mode while the skies were still quite dark thanks to cloud cover at both high and low levels following the rain cells’ passage.

 

I Spot Locked on these fish and all three fellows got their first crack at using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in conjunction with LiveScope. They worked through all the normal learning curve issues and caught a few fish at this location before those fish lost interest fairly quickly.

 

As I cranked up to begin searching for a second group of fish to fish for, I spotted four laughing gulls off in the distance. I just kept an eye on them because they seemed reluctant to leave the area I’d spotted them in. Soon, one of them, then another, then all four begin to tighten their flight pattern over this particular area, then, another dozen birds join them, and before long it was “game on”. The entire flock was routinely diving and plucking shad off the surface.  Those shad were being driven there by white bass below them in about 30 feet of water.

 

From that time until we wrapped up at noon with the fish still biting, we were able to catch aggressive white bass continuously under birds in three distinct areas.

 

My crew landed their 100th fish at exactly 9:30, their 200th fish at 10:22, their 300th fish at 11:23, and finished up at noon with 363 fish grand total.

 

Ray, the only one of the three who had fished with me previously, had prior experience using an MAL Lure.  As soon as I saw how aggressive the fish were, I got him changed over to the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail and then, as time allowed, I got Will transitioned over, as well. Raymond was just fine continuing to fish vertically with his slab which he was enjoying consistent success on, so, for the last 3/4 of the trip we fished two anglers with the MAL Heavy and Raymond between the two of them with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

 

Arranged this way, I was able to assess how these lures fished against one another, and I am certain that the MAL drew a greater percentage of better quality white bass, which stands to reason, as its profile is almost twice that of the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.  It also has a #4 treble vs. the smaller #5 treble on the slab, so, some small fish strike and cannot get their mouths around the hook.

 

We wrapped up this trip with 363 fish landed, including four freshwater drum, one short hybrid striper, and 358 white bass.

 

TALLY: 363 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

I saw abundant open water topwater action this morning for the first time.  There has been some here and there, but this morning, it was consistent, and widespread.  Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 30th …

0 feet 73.4F
5 feet 72.0F
10 feet 71.3F
15 feet 70.7F
20 feet 70.0F
25 feet 70.0F
30 feet 69.9F
35 feet 68.6F
40 feet 67.6F
45 feet 66.8F
50 feet 64.3F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 5.74 feet low, 33 CFS flow (an 8.16″ rise overnight)

Water Surface Temp: 70.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE9 at trip’s start in the wake of passing rain cells, then slowly shifting E, then ESE11-12

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning following early morning heavy rains which cleared the area by 8A

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 39% illumination.

GT = 113

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0160G – 5 fish

Area 958 – 66 fish

Area 098 – 235 fish

Area 150 – 57 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

LIVE SHAD FISHING FOR HYBRID STRIPERS — 54 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Tuesday, April 30, I fished with returning guest David Lynn, accompanied by his friend and my first time guest, Dennis Tucker.

 

The plan was to pursue hybrid striped bass using live shad for the entirety of the trip.

 

Here’s how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:   Alternating, from left, that’s David Lynn and Dennis Tucker with a few of the 9 legal hybrid striped bass they took on live shad on the last day of April 2024.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 30 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

This morning the air temperature was right at 68°F, we had a southeasterly wind and heavy, gray cloud cover with just the lightest touch of fog right around sunrise.

 

With these warm, windy conditions, shad netting was pretty straightforward this morning.

 

David and Dennis arrived a bit early and I finished up my shad netting duties early, so I met up with them at seven and we were headed to our first fishing area by 7:15. We had our first fish in the boat by 7:54.

 

The bite this morning was pretty much as it has been on live bait for the past two weeks with a mixed bag of white bass, hybrid striped bass, blue catfish, and freshwater drum in the mix

 

By the two hour mark this morning David and Dennis had put eight legal hybrid striped bass in the boat as well as additional just-short hybrid stripers.

 

In the final two hours of live bait fishing, they landed one additional legal fish and two additional short fish for a total this morning of nine legal hybrid striped bass.

 

The time was now 11:15 and I intended to fish until about 11:45. Seeing that the hybrid bite was dying down, and because Dennis had expressed an interest in using artificial for white bass, we put our final 30 minutes of effort into using Hazy Eye Slabs to target white bass, which were heavily schooled on bottom.

 

Up to this point we had 32 fish boated and quickly added an additional 22 fish to the count bringing our final tally to 54 fish for the morning.

 

 

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Shad were thick once again at Area SHAD040 this morning.  Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 30th …

0 feet 73.4F
5 feet 72.0F
10 feet 71.3F
15 feet 70.7F
20 feet 70.0F
25 feet 70.0F
30 feet 69.9F
35 feet 68.6F
40 feet 67.6F
45 feet 66.8F
50 feet 64.3F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 12:05P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 6.64 feet low, 33 CFS flow (a 2.74′ rise over the weekend!!)

Water Surface Temp: 67.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Flat calm all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning with fog thru 10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 71% illumination.

GT = 75

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Vic 787 (22 fish incl. 5 legal hybrid), Area vic 953 (7 fish incl. 4 legal hybrid), Area B0234G (3 white bass), and Areas 1552 & 2059 for an additional 22 fish (1 short hybrid & 21 whites)

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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

WORTH IT TO SEE HIS DAUGHTER SMILE — 90 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Monday, April 29, I fished with father and daughter team, Brad and Avery Massey.

 

Brad’s dad who lives out in California got this trip for Brad for his birthday.

 

Brad is a US Army retiree, and Avery is just getting into the real estate business here in Central Texas.

 

Here’s how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:   Some daddy-daughter hybrid action was in store on Lake Belton this morning.  Despite calm, foggy conditions which often hinder a bite, Brad and Avery came up with a morning catch of 90 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 29 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

When I first met up with Brad and Avery, I tried to get a feel for their expectations and what they hoped to accomplish during the trip.

 

I discovered that Brad owns his own fishing boat and has gotten the hang of fishing for largemouth pretty well, but the tactics and locations for white bass and hybrid stripers have eluded him. Thus, he hoped to take away from this trip an approach to finding and catching white bass and hybrid striped bass.

 

I explained that although the two do use the same areas at times and do feed on the same baitfish at times, they are two fairly different animals.

 

We divided the trip up into two blocks. The first block of three hours we dedicated to hunting hybrid stripers using live bait on downlines. The final block of about 90 minutes, we dedicated to finding and catching white bass using the smoking tactic with slabs and the sawtooth method with MAL Lures.

 

Despite a lot of environmental change and unfavorable weather conditions, Brad and Avery wound up doing quite well. The lake rose more than 1.6 feet over the weekend and we had foggy and calm conditions to deal with.

 

In three hours time we put a total of eight legal hybrid in the boat as part of a 51 fish catch which included white bass, blue catfish, and freshwater drum, as well.

 

We wrapped up the trip with a total of 90 fish. The last 39 fish landed were all white bass. We found the white bass with side-imaging, Spot Locked on top of them, and worked them with Bladed Hazy Eye slabs using a smoking tactic until they lost interest.  We then came back and worked MAL Lures vertically until they lost interest, and then, on whichever side of the boat side-imaging indicated the greatest number of fish were on, we fished for them horizontally around the perimeter of the boat using the sawtooth method and MAL Lure (MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail).

 

We wound up the trip right at noon with exactly 90 fish landed.

 

I enjoyed Brad‘s parting comment which was, “I learned a lot, and it was all worth it to see Avery smile.”.

 

 

TALLY: 90 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Shad were thick at Area SHAD040 this morning.  Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 12:05P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 6.64 feet low, 33 CFS flow (a 2.74′ rise over the weekend!!)

Water Surface Temp: 67.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Flat calm all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning with fog thru 10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 71% illumination.

GT = 75

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Vic B0087C (35 fish), vic BG0026 (16 fish), Area 294 (15 fish), Area 404 (24 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

 

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Can We Tone Down the Drums, Please? — 48 Fish

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Thursday, April 25, I fished with the Oliver brothers – Joe, Jack, Jamie, and Jeff. The four have fished with me at least one time each year for most of the eighteen years I’ve been in business.

 

Today we made an intentional attempt at targeting hybrid striped bass using live shad.

 

My next open date is Wed., 29 May (AM).

 

Here’s how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Jamie and Jack Oliver with a pair of hybrid striped bass taken from the same area just a few minutes apart, both on live threadfin shad.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Jamie and Jeff Oliver with a multi-species double landed simultaneously.  Both fish were taken on live threadfin shad.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 25 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

We had a damp, cloudy morning all morning with east-southeast winds at 10 to 12 mph and light rain for the middle two hours of this four hour trip.

 

Although we found fish at all but the last two areas we fished, these areas seemed to have all but legal hybrid stripers.

 

We landed an unusually high number of freshwater drum this morning (perhaps half of our overall catch), as well as blue catfish, two largemouth bass, one smallmouth bass, a mess of white bass (all legal), two short hybrid, and two legal hybrid stripers. Both of these legal hybrid came from the same area on a fairly well-sloped bottom in about 36 feet of water. One of the two short hybrid we landed also came from this same area.

 

I’m still kinda shaking my head about the freshwater drum.  I’ve never landed that many as a bycatch on any fishing trip in 33 years fishing Belton and Stillhouse.

 

Although I am still reserving judgment on how the hybrid fishery may or may not have come back’, I certainly anticipated a better catch of legal hybrid stripers given the time of year and the conditions we had today.

 

Our final tally was 48 fish

 

TALLY: 48 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

With 2+ days of southerly winds and increasing warmth and humidity, I rather easily netted shad at Area vic SHAD039.  Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 9.07 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 67.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE9-12 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning with light rain from 8:30 to 10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 50

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Best two producers were Area vic 1209, and BG0026 (3 of our 4 hybrid came from this location)

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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

PASTORS’ DAY OUT — 75 FISH ON LIVE SHAD

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Tuesday, April 23, I fished with returning guests, Pastor PJ Condit and Pastor Scott Smith.

 

PJ serves the Community Christian Church in Round Rock, and Scott serves at Crestview Christian Church in Copperas Cove.

 

This plan came together in under 24 hours’ time as my client originally scheduled for this morning was stuck in Costa Rica and unable to make it in for this trip he had booked more than a year in advance.

 

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, PJ Condit and Scott Smith landed multiple species, including these legal hybrid striped bass, blue cat, drum, and white bass, using live shad on downlines this morning as the south wind returned, bringing increasing warmth and humidity.

PHOTO CAPTION: The full moon shone intensely this morning over the bow as it set in the southwestern sky. 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 23 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

I try not to make a habit of having to gather bait just prior to my clients’ arrival. For this reason, I keep a large live bait tank back in my garage and, if anything, just top off prior to my clients’ arrival.

 

This was not the case this morning , so I wound up throwing the cast net for spawning shad which, around 6:50 AM, began to show up in shallow water to spawn. The plan was to give hybrid striped bass fishing a try, assess where we were after two hours, then decided at that point whether we would press on after hybrid, or swap over to fishing for white bass with artificials.

 

Things started like gangbusters. Two of our first three fish were legal hybrid, but, we would not see any additional legal hybrid over the remainder of our four hour trip. A lot of white bass are now filtering back into deeper water after doing whatever they did for this year’s spawn given the low water conditions.

 

So, we often ran into situations where we got baits down and then were instantly inundated with white bass beneath the boat, which then made short work the shad we sent down, regardless of size.

 

We decided we would keep checking areas and, if any of the first five fish landed were hybrid, we would continue fishing there, otherwise, we would move on until we encountered additional hybrid.

 

At the two hour mark, PJ and Scott, who have caught hundreds of white bass with me in the past, decided they would like to continue trying for the larger hybrid, so we stuck with fishing with live shad for the remainder of the trip.

 

By 11:40 AM, Scott and PJ had put together a catch of 75 fish. Those included 2 legal hybrid striper, 1 short hybrid, 2 blue catfish, 6 freshwater drum, and 64 white bass.

 

After seeing what I observed this morning, I felt any of those locations where the white bass immediately began to form under the boat could have easily produced fish using slabs, as well.

 

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Thanks to the return of southerly winds overnight, the threadfin shad spawn continued this morning.  Netted shad at Area SHAD039.  Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 9.11 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE9 before dawn through 8:30, then shifting and increasing to SSW12-14 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Pale blue skies with 40-70% white/grey cloud mix

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 0

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic B0089C (15 fish)

Area 836 (7 fish)

Area 1209 (13 fish)

Area B0043G  (9 fish)

Area 1141 (5 fish)

Area 151 (2 fish)

Area 1269 (5 fish)

Area 355 (19 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

THE GUYS FROM SUN CITY LIT IT UP THIS MORNING – 122 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Monday, April 22, I fished with a crew of first time, guests all members of the Sun City, Rod and Gun Club. Mr. Pat Patterson (who did not participate today) organized the trip for Ivan Stubbs, Brett Mainz, David Semich, and Nick Carnes.

 

All of these men had prior fishing experience, but had no prior experience with Garmin LiveScope.

 

Next available date: 28 May (AM)

 

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, Ivan Stubbs, Nick Carnes, David Semich, and Brett Mainz with a few of the 122 fish the put over the gunwales this morning.  All fish came on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 22 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

I had some concerns about today’s winds, as the strong northerly winds we had over the weekend were to cease then shift out of the east then southeast by the end of the morning. Sometimes, as the wind shifts, it goes completely slack. Other times, it simply reduces velocity as it changes directions. This morning, we had a bit of a mix of the two, but, long story short, we did not have slack winds for more than about 20-30 minutes.

 

The northwest winds were still blowing when we hit our first area, then I used most of the time that the slack winds existed to travel to another area, and by that time, the winds were blowing just south of east, and we enjoyed increasing winds for the remainder of the trip.

 

Thanks to the blowing winds, we were able to catch fish from start to finish today. The last two hours were definitely more productive than the first two hours.

 

We fished five locations this morning and fished each of them in an identical manner.

 

We used a slow smoking tactic with white, 5/8-ounce Hazy Eye Slabs to fish for fish which were either bottom-hugging or suspended just slightly off bottom.  The goal was to get these fish to pursue these lures upwards, overtake them, and strike.

 

As the winds increased, the propensity for these fish to chase harder, venture further from bottom, and swim horizontally at a faster pace, all increased noticeably.

 

We ended the morning right at 11:30 with 122 fish landed, including 2 blue catfish, 1 channel catfish, 5 freshwater drum, and the balance of 114 white bass.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 122 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Thanks to the chilling factor of the weekend’s north winds, I observed no threadfin shad spawning activity this morning. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 9.10 feet low, 33 CFS flow (up 0.27 feet thanks to Saturday night’s rain)

Water Surface Temp: 68.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW5 for ~40 min., then slack, then starting NE4 and rising while shift slowly through ESE up to 12-13.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, pale blue skies.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at  98% illumination.

GT = 80

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area B0160G (9 fish)

Area B0236G (5 fish)

Area 1533 (24 fish)

Area vic B0194G (29 fish)

Area 1000 (55 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

FIRST HYBRID TRIP IN YEARS — 202 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Thursday, April 18, I fished with a five man crew in what would be my first intentional effort to catch hybrid striped bass in several years.

 

I welcomed aboard returning guests Joey Sapien, Danny Marriott, and Tim Long, as well as first time guests Craig Hunter, and Harris Young.

 

Next available date: Tuesday, 28 May (AM)

 

Here’s how the fishing went…

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, Danny Marriot, Joey Sapien, Tim Long, and Craig Hunter with a few of the 42 legal (18″ minimum) hybrid striped bass they caught and released as we employed live shad under ideal weather conditions.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: A few of the 42 legal hybrid went as much at 5.25 pounds.  Here, Texas’ top game warden, retired Colonel Craig Hunter, hoists one of the beefy white bass/striped bass crosses.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Although longer and leaner than Craig’s fish, this Lake Belton hybrid also went 5.25 pounds.  Large, healthy shad did the trick.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Conditions were right for a strong white bass bite, as well.  From left, Danny Marriot, Joey Sapien, Harris Young, Tim Long, and Craig Hunter.   The white bass came on Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 5/8 oz.)

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 18 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

Thanks to gray skies and breezy conditions from before sunrise through to the end of our trip at 11:30, there was both a strong shad spawn and a strong morning bite.

 

We split the trip into two 2-hour blocks with the first half dedicated to fishing live shad for hybrid striped bass, and the second half dedicated to chasing higher numbers of smaller white bass using a vertical approach with slabs.

 

In our first two hours we landed 59 fish including 2 blue catfish, 1 yellow, catfish, 1 channel catfish, 7 white bass, 2 freshwater drum, 4 short hybrid, and the balance of 42 legal hybrid with the largest right at 5.25 pounds. The timeframe from 7:30 through 8:40 was the best, with a slow taper to nil by 9:30.

 

In the final two hours from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM, we put an additional 143 fish in the boat including 4 more freshwater drum with the remaining 139 fish consisting solely of white bass.

 

Fishing vertically with three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs using a smoking tactic turned out very well with five anglers as their baits constantly racing upward and fluttering back downward did a great job of imitating a school of shad directly beneath the boat and created constant commotion.

 

I helped keep everyone’s retrieve at just the right speed by way of the use of an onboard metronome, and we churned the water to imitate the sound of schooling fish using a splasher .

 

Three of the five had never used LiveScope before, and everyone found it very engaging and entertaining to be able to see fish response to their presentations.

 

We ended the morning right at 11:30 AM with exactly 202 fish landed.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 202 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

Light shad spawning activity has reached the main basin. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 9.37 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9-11 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% thin grey clouds for 3 hours, with slow clearing to 80% white cloud cover thereafter.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 75% illumination.

GT = 240

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Areas B0089C – 59 fish (including all hybrid)

Area 2059 – 9 fish

Area B0089G – 35 fish

Area vic B0274G – 99 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

SOLDIER’S KIDS TAKE TO THE WATER — 81 FISH ON HAZY EYE SLABS

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Friday, 19 April, I conducted the 13th SKIFF trip of the 2024 season.

 

Joining me was the Landry family. Mrs. Nikki Landry brought her five kids – – Jhanna (16) Madison (13), Alayna (12), Brian (11), and Moslyn (8).

 

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew Landry is currently deployed to South Korea where he works in the signal intelligence field. CW2 Landry has been in the military for 18 years.

 

Nikki is the homefront parent currently parenting 5 kids, but, the family is in the process of adopting four additional teenagers now scheduled to arrive in the U.S. before CW2 Landry’s return, thus upping the “kid count” to nine.  Nikki was quick to give the Lord credit for the way He has moved and removed barriers and how He has been faithful in all of the adoptions she and Matt have been through.

 

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 who have lost their service member.  In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to 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.

 

My only open date prior to June is Wednesday, May 1st.

 

Here’s how the fishing went…

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, Nikki, Madison, Jhanna, Brian, Moslyn, and Alayna Landry were all smiles about their 81 fish catch made on this cool, grey, mid-April morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Alayna landed our largest white bass of the morning.  It fell for a 5/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab in 32 feet of water.

PHOTO CAPTION: Eldest daughter Jhanna landed our largest fish of the trip.  Her 2.25-pound freshwater drum also fell for a 5/8 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab from out of 37 feet of water.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 19 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

A mild cold front blew in to Central Texas around 7 PM last night bringing some thunderstorms to Mills, Lampasas, and Burnett counties. The warm, muggy air was replaced by cooler, dryer air.  Yesterday‘s high temperatures were in the high 80s, whereas we were right at 60° this morning with a stiff north breeze at 13 and gray cloud cover.  It stayed in the 60s all day.

 

Before dropping a line at our first fishing area, I took the time to cover the fundamentals of properly gripping the rod and gripping the reel’s handle, I emphasized the importance of turning the handle smoothly and continuously as we used the slow smoking method, and I introduced the kids to the concept of following the beat of my onboard metronome so they would be sure to be retrieving at just the right speed. I also made sure everyone knew to open and close their bail by hand so as to avoid wind knots

 

I keep my kid-specific trips a bit shorter than those with adults participating. Usually 3.5 hours  sees most kids reach the end of their attention spans.

 

During our 3.5 hours, we encountered three groups of interested fish, and another four groups of disinterest fish.

 

The fish all fell for a slowly smoked, white, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab in 5/8 ounce.

 

Thanks to the cold front conditions, the fish were holding tightly to bottom and were noticeably more lethargic than under more ideal conditions. Even the fish in those schools which were interested did not stay interested for all that long.

 

When all was said and done, the kids had boated a total of 81 fish including 80 white bass and one freshwater drum.

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TALLY: 81 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Light shad spawning activity has reached the main basin. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 18th …

0 feet 69.8F
 5 feet 69.6F
10 feet 69.4F
15 feet 69.1F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.5F
30 feet 67.8F
35 feet 66.6F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 63.9F
50 feet 62.4F
55 feet 61.5F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F

Elevation: 9.36 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 69.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW12-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey clouds all morning; no mist or fog

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = N/A

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 1298 (17 fish), vic B0089G (10 fish), B0149C (54 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

WHERE BETTER TO SPEND YOUR 77th BIRTHDAY?! — 41 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Wednesday, April 17, I fished with returning guests, Dr. Jim Wood and his friend, also from the medical community, Sky Sparks.

 

Jim celebrated his 77th birthday today.

Sky makes his living as a medical scribe. The two men first got to know each other when Jim was practicing and specializing in wound care, and the two have remain friends since then.

Next available dates:  Wed., 24 April (AM), Wed., 01 May (AM)

Here is how the fishing went…

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, Jim Wood and Sky Sparks with a few of the fish they REALLY had to work for today.  Not one time all morning did we have a single school of white bass become aggressive enough to consistently chase their baits.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 17 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

In a word, the fishing this morning was … tough. We had next to no wind all morning and a thin veil of fog for the first half of the morning.

 

I had hoped to get Jim and Sky on some pre-dawn fish blitzing spawning shad up in shallow water. Although we did find plenty of spawning shad, there was not much in the way of gamefish trailing them to feed upon them.

 

After we left the potential for catching shallow water fish behind around 7:20, I began looking for heavily schooled fish in deep water for us to work vertically for.

 

After finding a good school, I went to go about setting up on them and I encountered issues with my trolling motor deploying properly.  We wound up losing about an hour as my sweet wife hoisted my spare trolling motor into her vehicle and shuttled it out to us  at lakeside. With the new trolling motor installed, we set out once again to find fish. It was now 8:20 AM and the winds were still nearly calm.

 

We would go onto fish 5 areas with the fish behaving in nearly the exact same manner at each one of them.  Being heavily grouped and on the bottom, these fish would express interest in the slabs we dropped down to them just for a few minutes after we arrived, allowing a catch of just a handful of fish. After that, the fish would turn off and only halfheartedly follow lures, if at all.

 

We found that by remaining in an area awaiting the arrival of additional schools of fish to pass beneath the boat, we could catch another one or two or three fish before everything went quiet at each of these locations.

 

In this manner, we were able to put together a catch of 41 fish including 37 white bass and 4 freshwater drum.

 

I compared notes with two other regular Lake Belton anglers, and they reported identical behavior under these same, tough conditions.  Misery loves company!!

 

Find the MAL Original and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TALLY: 41 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Light shad spawning activity has reached the main basin. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 10th …

0 feet 68.1F
5 feet 68.1F
10 feet 68.1F
15 feet 66.1F
20 feet 65.6F
25 feet 65.1F
30 feet 64.9F
35 feet 64.5F
40 feet 64.1F
45 feet 63.7F
50 feet 60.9F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 12:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 9.37 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE 0-4 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey clouds all morning, with a light fog for the first 3 hours

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 66% illumination.

GT = 55

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic B0075C, vic B0280G, B0277G, vic 0005, vic B0157G

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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru

THAT GREAT SPRING FISHING IS COMING ON STRONG — 110 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH: 

This morning, Monday, April 15, I hosted a father and son crew – – Jeff and Drew Cizek.

 

Both men are U.S. military veterans, with Jeff having retired after 31 years in the Navy, and Drew having served, among other things, as a US Army air traffic controller.

 

Jeff is now retired, and Drew sells vehicles at the Garlyn Shelton dealership in Temple and also works as a volunteer fireman on his “spare time“.

 

Here is how the fishing went…

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, Jeff Cizek and his son, Drew, caught fish from start to finish this morning, catching and releasing 110 fish using a combination of Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Originals fished vertically.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 15 April 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

Thanks to a full weekend of warmth, and an overnight air temperature of 70F (more than 4 degrees warmer than the water’s surface temperature), the threadfin shad spawn has reached the main lake and with it, some pre-dawn, shallow water fishing opportunities.

 

I planned to be on the water quite early this morning in advance of meeting the Cizeks in order to get a feel for how the shad netting situation might be for forthcoming spring hybrid trips.

 

I met up with the Cizeks at 7:10 AM , and they proceeded to catch fish for a full four hours. Our first hour and our last 30 minutes were the taper up and the taper down from the morning’s peak fishing in between.

 

During the taper up and taper down, we found fish fairly sluggish, glued to bottom, and willing only to chase halfheartedly.

 

During the peak, it was as if these white bass were an entirely different animal. They moved energetically, both horizontally and vertically, came as much as 12 to 14 feet off the bottom to chase a bait, and were more than willing to strike both Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Originals vertically with a smoking tactic.  We found all of our fish during this peak in 28-32 feet of water along south-facing shorelines being impacted by the SE wind.

 

My two guests landed 14 fish during the taper up to the peak, then another 5 fish during the taper down, with a grand total of 110 fish caught over the course of the entire four hour morning, hence a catch of 91 fish during the 2.5 hour peak of activity.

 

Oddly enough, as ideal as the conditions were, and as aggressive as the fish were, I saw no open water bird activity, nor any topwater activity.

 

Of the 110 fish landed, 4 were freshwater drum, and the remaining 106 were all white bass.

 

Find the MAL Original and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at the Liberty Mart on Adams Ave. uphill from Temple Lake Park, or here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TALLY: 110 fish caught and released 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Light shad spawning activity has reached the main basin. Here is the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured before sunrise on April 10th …

0 feet 68.1F
5 feet 68.1F
10 feet 68.1F
15 feet 66.1F
20 feet 65.6F
25 feet 65.1F
30 feet 64.9F
35 feet 64.5F
40 feet 64.1F
45 feet 63.7F
50 feet 60.9F

 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 9.40 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE12-14 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey clouds all morning, with a fine mist falling until ~8:20A

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 47% illumination.

GT = 15

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Tapering up: Area 294 – 8 fish, Area 2059 – 6 fish
Peak: Areas B0280G – 52 fish, Area B0281G (2 hops) – 39 fish
Taper down: Area vic B0150C – 5 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

 

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec #austinsubaru