Bob Maindelle | Fishing Report

FISHING AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE — 97 FISH @ BELTON

October 15th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, October 15th, I fished with returning guests Oscar Leal and Dwight Stone, both of Georgetown.

You may recall Oscar is on his seventh career after retiring approximately 6 times now, and currently works at AMD in Austin, and Dwight recently retired after owning a string of Sonic restaurants.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dwight Stone landed his personal best smallmouth bass today on Lake Belton. As we jigged vertically for white bass, we heard and saw some near-shore commotion. As it turned out, a mix of largemouth and smallmouth bass were feeding on shad, pinning them against the surface under abundant cloud cover.

PHOTO CAPTION: The staple of our trip was white bass, which we caught on downrigged spoons, on vertically presented tailspinners, and on slabs.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 15 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: I was excited about our prospects this morning based on the weather forecast (shown below). That forecast, however, did not materialize. Instead of a SW wind, we had a SE wind; instead of 10mph breeze, we had 5-8 mph breezes; and, instead of 75% cloud cover, we had very thick, 100% cloud cover. The fish were just noticeably sluggish this morning. I noted that not nearly as many fish came up to feed shallow this morning, only a few very active individuals rose upward in the water column to take our downrigged baits early on, and then the slabs we offered were typically refused in favor of smaller, more heavily vibrating tailspinners.

We downrigged from first light until the fish dictated we do something different, resulting in just 19 fish during the low-light period. As the wind backed off from 8 to 5 mph, getting a deep-water bite going was also a bit of a challenge. Fish would fire up, then cool off, then a few more would fire up, then the school would cool off again.

We saw a noticeable preference for tailspinners which, over the summer, have become a ‘new favorite’ for white bass in tough conditions. We worked on white bass through 10:15 AM, then left ourselves an hour plus to specifically pursue blue catfish, per Dwight’s request. We wrapped up the white bass fishing with 71 fish landed, including 2 hybrid stripers, 3 smallmouth bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 65 white bass in the 0-2 year classes. All but the largemouth and smallmouth came on gentle slopes in 28-33 feet of water.

I expressed my concerns about ‘leaving fish to find fish’ to Dwight and Oscar, giving them an illustration trying to draw a parallel between this and an ill patient leaving the hospital against medical advice. They assured me they were okay with leaving active white bass behind, so, in pursuit of blue catfish we went. This morning we caught far more catfish on bottom than we did while fishing with our baits suspended. I experimented with my new pink doughbait formula, and it worked very well. We were typically able to get at least two powerful hooksets per bait. We still relied on chum to consolidate fish that were already present, as seen on sonar. We landed 26 catfish, including 3 channel cats and 23 blue cats.

TALLY: 97 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.78 feet low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 76.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE8 at trip’s start, falling off to SE5 by 9:00A and staying there the remainder of the trip.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover for the entirety of the trip, with several brief periods of rainfall

GT = 55

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1805 – center of mass for downrigging; 19 fish

**Area 1666/1909 – sluggish white bass in 28′

**Area vic 1819 – sluggish white bass in 30′

**Area vic 1815 – white bass in 32′

**Area B0178C – catfish

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)

SKILL OR LUCK? — 128 FISH @ BELTON

October 14th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Columbus Day 2019, I fished with Mr. Chip Wells of Georgetown, accompanied by his son, 10-year-old Jake Wells, and by Thomas Jenkins and his 19-year-old son, Kyle.

Chip owns a glass business at the corner of Hwy. 195 and Hwy. 201 on the south side of Killeen, and Thomas is an employee there.

The trip got off to a humorous start when Jake volunteered that he’d previously landed a flounder. I asked him if he thought it was skill or luck that led to the catch. He said, “Well, I’d say mostly skill.” Everyone chuckled at that. But then, later, when Kyle hooked a nice white bass and brought it over the gunwale, Jake looked a little jealous, so, I asked him, “What about Kyle’s fish … skill or luck?” Jake replied, “With that guy … it’s luck!!”. More chuckles!!

Mutual friends Marty Wall and Jerry Worley referred Chip my way, and the weather cooperated well to produce high numbers for us.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Kyle Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins, Jake Wells, and Chip Wells with a healthy mess of Lake Belton white bass taken via downrigging early and via vertical tactics later in the morning. The crew landed 128 fish, including 127 white bass and 1 hybrid striper.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 14 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We began our day with downrigging. Thanks to the murky skies, no topwater occurred, and may not occur again this year thanks to the dropping water temperature. Regardless, fish did push shallow in large numbers and herded shad, moving quickly as they did so, for about 70 minutes. We caught singles, doubles, and one triple during this time on 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons selected to match the forage size. The majority of these fish were keeper-sized fish.

Once the fish began to retreat to deep water as the skies brightened, we intercepted them and vertically jigged successfully with 3/4 oz. slabs for very aggressive fish still working the lower half of the water column in ~40 feet of water. We fished these fish until they dispersed. Once again, the majority of these fish were keeper-sized fish.

After “squinting light” occurred (my name for that light level at which you squint just slightly even with polarized lenses on), the fishing became more consistent, but the size of the catch decreased, with a majority of the fish under 10-inches. We tempted these fish with tailspinners, as they seemed less interested in the slabs when I did a side-by-side comparison with the two.

We worked tailspinners for the remainder of the trip, finishing up with exactly 128 fish boated, including 127 white bass and 1 hybrid striped bass.

TALLY: 128 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: There are just a lot of small fish in the system right now, thanks to a seriously abundant spawn this past spring. I moved us 3 different times, leaving biting fish behind, in an effort to get on top of some larger fish, only to find the same scenario — more small fish with occasional larger fish mixed in. Going forward, I’m going to stay with what we’ve found and enjoy the occasional larger fish that come along. In retrospect, I feel like moving to look for larger fish really did not benefit us, and cost us a few additional small fish which we could have caught, had we not used that time to search. These fish all look the same on sonar initially, so, you’ve got to get a bait in the water to see the size for yourself. This past Saturday, the scenario was very different, in that our 11-13″ long fish slightly outnumbered the smaller 6-9 inchers by a slight margin on a 2-hour, 45 fish catch.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 1.75 feet low, 0.05′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 at trip’s start, falling off to SE4 by 8:30A and staying there the remainder of the trip.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover for the entirety of the trip, with the lightest of rain falling on our ride to our first area, then dry thereafter.

GT = 35

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 792 to 1792 – center of mass for low-light downrigging; 26 fish

**Area B0180C – first post low-light vertical jigging stop; 23 fish – fished til they quit

**Area vic 1916 – smoking tailspinners; left to look for larger fish; 20 fish

**Area bounded by 1815-B0009C-1943 – 3 short hops each producing ~20 fish, but with a lot of small fish in the mix

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)

C.A.S.T. FOR KIDS FOUNDATION EVENT – 45 FISH @ BELTON

October 13th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, October 12th, I participated in a C.A.S.T. (Catch A Special Thrill) for Kids Foundation event. C.A.S.T.’s focus is to enrich the lives of kids with special need through the sport of fishing.

This morning I had two awesome anglers aboard my boat, and an equally awesome crew of 5 to help make those two anglers successful.

My anglers were 10-year-old Abby Carnes from the Waco area, and 30-year-old Chris Barrington from the Gatesville area. Both are autistic, and both love being on the water and catching fish.

My crew consisted of Abby’s mom and dad, Sarah and James Carnes, Jason Olivar who was a chaperone for Chris, my wife, Rebecca, and my mom, Charlotte. Both Rebecca and my mom are pediatric registered nurses (I wasn’t taking any chances!!).

PHOTO CAPTION: Abby Carnes with a pair of white bass she caught all by herself!

PHOTO CAPTION: Chris Barrington overcame some fears, braved up, and held these two fish up close to himself for a photo.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 12 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: I came prepared for everything as I really didn’t know what Abby and Chris’ capabilities would be, nor what the cold front that ripped through Central Texas on Friday was going to do to the fishing. I had downrigging gear, jigging gear, catfishing gear, sunfishing gear, and more.

On Wednesday this week, the last time I fished Belton prior to this event, I compared notes with fellow guide Jason Weisberg. We enjoy “debriefing” one another, especially on days we both fish the same body of water. I let him know of the C.A.S.T. event and of my concern for quickly getting on fish in the wake of the cold front. We agreed to touch base before I launched out with my “boat buddies” so I could benefit from what Jason learned given the 2+ hour head start he’d have.

This turned out great. He had found cooperative white bass and short hybrids in about 32 feet of water and invited me over. This allowed both Abby and Chris to have lines tight nearly as soon as the boat settled in on Spot-Lock. We wound up catching 18 fish here by working tailspinners vertically including 17 white bass and 1 hybrid striped bass. When the fish began to dissipate, we downrigged in this general area for 2 more fish, and then moved on.

Our second area, which we also fished with tailspinners, gave up another 24 white bass and 1 largemouth.

By now it was around 11:40. We had to be back at BLORA by noon for lunch and an awards ceremony, so, we took some photos of Abby and Chris with their fish and took a speedy ride back to the dock.

I very much appreciate Jason’s assistance in helping me help Abby and Chris be successful.

TALLY: 45 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The cold front did not severely drop the surface temperature quickly, thanks to abundant overnight cloud cover after the front’s passage. We did not experience the negative impacts of true post-frontal conditions (clear, cold, calm) today, and enjoyed a bit of cloud cover and a manageable NE breeze, instead. Fish were quite cooperative.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 9:45A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Elevation: 1.68 feet low, 0.07′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 78.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: NE8 at trip’s start, slowly tapering to NE3 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover as we launched, clearing to 50% white clouds on a blue sky as the trip concluded

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0120C – 20 fish on tailspinners including 19 white bass and 1 hybrid striped bass

**Area 1882 – 25 fish on tailspinners including 24 white bass and 1 largemouth bass

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)

DADDY – DAUGHTER DAY — 108 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

October 9th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, October 9th, I fished with father-daughter team Howard Davis and Cassandra Matos of Killeen. Cassandra contacted me over the summer and got a fishing gift certificate for her dad for his birthday. When she asked about times of year to fish, I suggested the window from October through mid-December as a reliable time to catch high numbers of fish while enjoying light crowds and pleasant weather. Today, that became a reality.

Howard is a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran who retired both from the military where he served as a combat engineer, and from civil service where he worked another 27 years in supplies and logistics.

Cassandra works as a buyer for McLane’s in Temple.

PHOTO CAPTION: Howard Davis and his daughter, Cassandra Matos, both of Killeen, landed 108 fish as conditions came together well for a great morning of fishing. The pair landed white bass, hybrid striped bass, and blue catfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 09 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: The cooldown brought on by Monday’s first significant cold front was most welcome. The air temperature was 67F and the lake’s surface temperature dropped to 79F. We had near perfect weather conditions this morning with grey clouds, a manageable wind speed, and winds returning from the south after 2 days of north winds.

The fish were really fired up this morning. We started the day with an easy limit of 25 keeper white bass via downrigging from 7:10 to 8:05, usinig Pet Spoons on a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs. We saw just one short burst of topwater action, took one fish from that school, and went right back to downrigging when it was clear those fish were not going to stay up long.

After the low-light downrigging, we moved on and looked for bottom-hugging white bass schooled up sufficiently tightly enough to vertical jig for. We found 4 such scenarios, with each giving up about 20 fish before the fishes’ enthusiasm waned and we moved on. These fish were all in ~30-35 feet of water, and these schools contained a mixed bag of year groups, with the young-of-the-year 6-8 inchers being more prevalent by a 4:1 ratio. By 10:15 we’d landed exactly 100 fish and I offered the option of continuing with more of the same, or mixing it up a bit with bluecat.

The vote was for bluecat, so, we located a loose school of these whiskered fighters in 45 feet of water, chummed them in, and fished for them with prepared baits. We landed a total of 8 in our last hour on the water, (and, I hate to admit, missed about 4 or 5 more for every one we caught — those rascals sure strike quickly!).

TALLY: 108 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:55A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Elevation: 1.62feet low, 0.05′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 79F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 793 was center of mass for pre-sunrise downrigging; 25 keeper white bass by 8:05

**Area 2027/1819; smoking tailspinners; 20 fish

**Area 1815/327; smoking tailspinners; 23 fish

**Area 2032/968/B0112c; smoking tailspinners; 21 fish, then did a short hop a few yards away and took another 19 fish, bringing our tally to 100

**Area B0178C gave up 8 bluecat

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)

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY, TUCKER — 63 FISH @ BELTON

October 8th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, October 5th, I fished with Mr. Conard Osbourn, his father, Curtis Osbourn, and Conard’s son, Tucker, all in celebration of Tucker’s 13th birthday, as arranged for by Tucker’s mom, Hollie. Curtis, who chose just be a spectator and not fish with us, is a retired rancher, Conard makes his living as a pediatric nurse, and Tucker is working his way through school in the Liberty Hill ISD.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Curtis, Conard, and Tucker Osbourn on October 5th’s multi-species trip on Lake Belton in celebration of Tucker’s 13th birthday. Father and son landed 63 fish as grandpa just came along for the ride.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 05 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Because Stillhouse has not been fishing well and all of my efforts have been focused on Belton, I ran today’s trip on Belton despite the ~260+ boats participating in the Fishing for Freedom event.

The morning started off well as a light, southerly breeze replaced a ENE blow from the day before. However, that breeze petered out by 9 AM. That, and the lack of cloud cover, made fishing very difficult from that point on.

We began our morning successfully downrigging in under 22 feet of water and, despite the excess boat traffic, were able to sight-cast to topwater feeders for about a 25-minute window, thus giving father and son exposure to something they’d never seen or done before.

After that dried up, we hunted white bass holding tight to bottom which I felt we could use a smoking tactic for with tailspinners. We did find such fish, and we caught them well, right up until the wind died and the bite died with it around 8:50. I checked several more areas and found relaxed bait and only scattered, suspended gamefish.

Since the fellows were very excited about the prospect of catching catfish, we began our pursuit of blue cat around 9:15 and stayed on them until we concluded the trip around 11 am. The bluecat were not all that energized, and I suspect the lack of wind kept the scent of our chum from dispersing widely, but, the action was steady which was more than I suspected the bite from white bass would be.

TALLY: 63 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Although the Fishing for Freedom event made main lake access/parking a bit of an early morning challenge, there was really no issue getting on fish. Once the winds died and the sun shone brightly, everyone’s bite slowed way down and the boat traffic really picked up as everyone changed spots hoping to get back on fish.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11:05A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 1.44 feet low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE3-4 until 9:00, then going flat calm

Sky Conditions: Zero cloud cover

GT = 75

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1792 was center of mass for pre-sunrise downrigging

**Areas 1657 to 018 provided some pre-sunrise sight casting to white bass

**Area B0128C gave up smallish white bass on tailspinners worked with a smoking retrieve until the wind died

**Area B0178C give up bluecat steadily on chum and prepared 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)

GOLDEN STATE ANGLERS — 140 FISH @ BELTON

October 7th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, Oct. 4th, I fished with returning guests Brett and Kristi Short who traveled in from northern California to visit relatives in the Central Texas area. Brett works in law enforcement, and Kristi works in the human resources department of a nursing home. Last year’s trip took place on Stillhouse in July. This morning we fished Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Kristi and Brett landed 140 fish on a morning when the conditions would normally not allow for such a take — northerly winds, and bright skies.

PHOTO CAPTION: Our largest catfish taken when targeting bluecat was actually this channel cat which came in to chum and took a prepared bait.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 04 October 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: I told Brett as I communicated with him 2 days in advance of our trip that I was concerned about the weather in that the forecast called for a ENE breeze, and, although the velocity was okay, the direction always seems to diminish results.

I looked for a shallow water bite and found it, although it wasn’t where it had been, and those fish moving shallow at first light did not feed at the surface this morning. So, we ran downriggers throughout the entirety of the low-light bite period and did well, taking 32 fish as singles, doubles and triples on the trusty 3-armed umbrella rig rigged up with Pet Spoons.

After the sun began to shine brightly, we moved on and looked for fish where I’d found a nice bunch of them congregated on a breakline in about 32′ the evening before. I contacted these fish once again, only in water about 5 feet shallower this time. We took 55 fish from this energetic bunch and moved on as soon as the action began to wane.

We moved to similar action in even shallower water (thanks to the wind blowing about 9mph now), and caught another 33 fish smoking with tailspinners from a Spot-Locked position.

When the wind stopped around 9:50, so did the white bass action. We closed out the trip with another 20 catfish landed by chumming them in and catching them on prepared baits in ~44 feet of water.

TALLY: 140 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Even though the winds had a northerly component (ENE8-9), this was not frontally-related, and the bit of velocity to the wind did create conditions in which the fish followed a typical morning feeding routine, save the topwater action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.46 feet low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: ENE7-8

Sky Conditions: Zero cloud cover

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1792 to B0165c – Low light downrigging on fish which came shallow but refused to break the surface thanks to a northerly component to the wind

**Area 1815 — 55 fish @mid-morning smoking with tailspinners

**Area B0128C — 33 fish @mid-morning smoking with tailspinners

**Area B0015/B0021 – 20 bluecat late morning chummed in and taken on prepared baits

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)

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED — 146 FISH @ BELTON

October 6th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday, October 3^rd, I fished an evening trip with Baylor Scott & White hand doctor, Dr. Doug Fornfeist, and his 16-year-old son, Jacob. The two had a limited window of opportunity to make the trip happen, and between previous commitments and support of the Fishing for Freedom effort, an evening trip was all I had to offer. Although I had not fished Belton in the evening for a long while, the weather looked suitable for a good trip, so, we went for it.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jacob Fornfeist and his dad, Dr. Doug Fornfeist, with a few of the 146 fish taken on an evening trip this past Thursday on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 03 October 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: As with most afternoon trips, I anticipated a slow start and a strong ending. I intended to search for some deep bluecat in our first hour or so, especially since the winds were light and the the sun was bright. I as searched near the second locale I’d located catfish at with my morning crew, I hit shallower water and started seeing what looked like tightly congregated, bottom-hugging white bass in 32-35 feet of water. I scramble to get us Spot-Locked on these fish and to get baits down to them. That started a 69-fish run of white bass caught between 4:00p and 4:50p, all on tailspinners fish with a smoking-style retrieve. Eventually, these fish dispersed right after Doug hooked, played, and landed a 3+ pound yellow cat which evidently spooked the smaller white bass as it struggled during the fight.

We moved on and encountered similar action and interest at another similar bottom construct, only in slightly shallower water. We once again worked tailspinners and took our tally to 102 fish before departing, leaving these fish biting, in order to roll the dice on some low-light topwater action.

We surveyed this third area with sonar while using downriggers and put a number of 3-year class white bass in the boat while doing so, and while watching the upward and shoreward progression of fish that took place as sunset approached.

In that time between sunset and dark, the fish went truly shallow into less than 7 feet of water and allowed for a hookup on just about every cast with the Pet Spoon until, right at the end of “seeing-light”, the action ended. Between the downrigging and sightcasting, we added another 44 fish to the tally.

TALLY: 146 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: This was the first evening trip I’ve fished on Lake Belton since May. The evening’s activity was very much a mirror-image of the morning as far as location and activity level of fish. Here is the temperature profile down to 60 feet measured prior to my morning trip. Seeing this, I feel “turnover” will take place soon after our first few coldfronts, as there is very little difference in the temperature (and therefore density) of the warm water above and the cooler water below …

0 feet 82.5

5 feet 82.9

10 feet 82.9

15 feet 82.9

20 feet 82.9

25 feet 82.9

30 feet 82.9

35 feet 82.9

40 feet 82.9

45 feet 82.7

50 feet 81.9

55 feet 79.4

60 feet 77.6

65 feet 76.4

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:30pm

End Time: 7:38 pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 93F

Elevation: 1.42 feet low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Less than SSE7-9, tapering off to SSE3-4 around sunset

Sky Conditions: About 20% white cloud cover on a blue sky.

GT = 55

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 2027 – 69 fish by 4:50p

**Area B0171C – 33 fish by 6:00p

**Area 1804-1805 – pre-sunset downrigging

**Area 018-1641 – low-light sight casting

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)

BUENO PESCADO, AMIGO — 59 FISH W/ THE LOPEZ CLAN

October 5th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, October 3^rd, I fished with Mr. Maximo Lopez of Harker Heights, accompanied, by his 82-year-old father, Max Lopez of Miami, FL, and the elder Lopez’s brother, Zenon Lopez of Pacifica, CA. In his 82 years on earth, Mr. Lopez had never before landed a fish!

Mr. Lopez is one of eleven siblings of which Zenon is the youngest. The men’s mother lived to be 100 years and 7 months of age. Our trip was originally scheduled for early next week, but, the forecast for the arrival of the season’s first significant cold front made me suggest we bump up the timing. We were glad we did!

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Max Lopez, Zenon Lopez, and Max Lopez with the largest of our morning’s catch — a pair of legal (18″ +) hybrid striped bass taken just before sunrise as fish fed heavily by trapping threadfin shad against the slightly choppy surface. The crew of three went on to land a total of 59 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 03 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s skies were the clearest we’ve had in quite a spell at sunrise, and was just right for a topwater feed to occur. Although there was abundant, aggressive topwater action for quite a while this morning, I strictly downrigged for these fish as there was 1) a language barrier between me and two very novice would-be casters, and 2) mobility issues that convinced me a less aggressive approach would be prudent. We downrigged the perimeter of numerous schools of surface feeding fish and, by 8:35, had boated 48 fish. The fish moved gradually deeper and offshore as the sunlight pushed them down. After they hit the 25 foot contour, they shut down and we moved on, but not before boating 48 fish including 44 white bass and 4 hybrid striped bass.

After the downrigging, at the younger Max Lopez’s request, we targeted blue catfish. The light winds hindered us a bit (as I’ve noted previously) as I believe the scent of the chum is not carried as far nor as quickly downwind so as to attract and consolidate fish beneath the boat. Nonetheless, we set up for bluecat using prepared bait on trebles and my crew wound up boating 11 of that species before we decided to call it a day a bit early at around 10am so as not to have the elder Mr. Lopez out in the increasing heat (which we all felt due to the low wind speed and lack of cloud cover).

We finished out the trip with 59 fish landed.

TALLY: 59 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Lowest water temperature I’ve measured thus far since the summer warmup (81.1 pre-dawn, and down just slightly from yesterday’s temp.).

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45am

End Time: 10:00am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 1.42 feet low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Less than SSE-5 all morning

Sky Conditions: An unobscured sunrise was followed by a bright, blue sky with only 10% cloud cover

GT = 10

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1716 to 794 – downrigging where indicated by topwater action under low-light conditions

**Area vic 2062 at 42’ contour – chummed up blue cat and caught them on prepared baits – 11 blue catfish

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)

THIRD TIME’S A CHARM — 105 FISH @ BELTON

October 2nd, 2019October 2nd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, October 2nd, I fished with returning guest Dwight Stone and his friend and neighbor, Austin Donoho. This is the third trip Dwight has taken with me in as many weeks, first coming solo, then bringing a buddy, Oscar Leal, and now Austin. Dwight is really warming up to this whole retirement thing, although a few calls from the fast-food world of Sonic managed to slip in now and again. Austin runs his own framing and drywall business and grew up fishing some of the ultra-fertile east Texas lakes like Tawakoni.

Austin’s big interest was seeing sonar used in real-world scenarios and so I tried to point out as much as I could on the Garmin, Humminbird, and Lowrance units I employ for different tactics over the course of a given trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Dwight Stone and his neighbor and friend, Austin Donoho, boated 105 fish today.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 02 October 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Although we still have topwater feeding going on when the conditions are just right, we had a bit too much wind on Dwight’s first trip, and very murky, dark conditions on his second trip. The third time was indeed a charm. With winds only around 7mph and just barely enough light coming through the grey clouds in the east pre-sunrise, the fish fed long and hard this morning. We downrigged just a few minutes before they got going, then caught them on top by sightcasting for about an hour, then continued downrigging post-topwater for a few more minutes. Over this entire episode, we’d boated 49 fish during the low-light period, which was the best “first hour” fish count I’ve had clients enjoy all summer.

After the topwater was done, we moved on in an effort to demo the Garmin LiveScope for Austin. Fortunately, the fish once again cooperated. We found energetically feeding white bass holding in the lower third of the water column in about 26 feet of water. We stopped, Spot-Locked, worked tailspinners, and had barely any response from fish in 15 feet of water; then we moved 10 feet deeper, found the same look on sonar and commenced to wear ’em out. We had a lot of small fish in the mix, but the overall intent of demonstrating LiveScope was accomplished regardless of fish size. 33 fish later it was about 9:20 and Dwight was itching to go catch blue catfish and, in doing so, continue experimenting with some baits he brought and some improved versions of baits I’d created.

All went well with the bluecat, as well. We hovered in one locale over 40 feet of water and put another 23 fish in the boat with steady action the entire time. We chummed these fish in to consolidate them and then used prepared bait on trebles to close the deal.

TALLY: 105 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Lowest water temperature I’ve measured thus far since the summer warmup (81.2 pre-dawn). There is a major coldfront now forecast for Monday, Oct. 7th — the season’s first significant cooldown.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 1.39 feet low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6-9 all morning

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning completely obscuring the sun through 10am, then some breaks of blue sky seen through 80% coverage.

GT = 35

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 015 to 1657 – chased topwater white bass for about 200 yards as they fed and slowly herded shad into the wind

**Area 1802 was center of mass for post-topwater white bass downrigging – 48 white bass and 1 hybrid taken via topwater and downrigging by the time the low-light period ended

**Area B0179C – aggressive, albeit smallish white bass taken via tailspinners fished with the aid of Garmin LiveScope – 32 whites and 1 hybrid

**Area B0178C – chummed up blue cat and caught them on prepared baits – 22 blue catfish, 1 channel catfish

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)