Bob Maindelle | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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Dad Battles OPFOR; Daughters Battle Fish — 78 Fish w/ Aliyah & Kensleigh

August 9th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 9th, I conducted the 2023 season’s 5th S.K.I.F.F. program trip for military kids separated from their military parents.

Joining me were Aliyah and Kensleigh Womble. Their stepdad, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Bart Palmieri, is currently battling the heat and the OPFOR (opposing forces) in California’s Death Valley on a rotation through the National Training Center there at Fort Irwin. Upon his return, a multi-month deployment is likely.

SFC Palmieri has been in the military for 14 years and manages logistics like water, fuel, and ammunition.

The girls’ mom, Courtney Palmieri, found out about the SKIFF program through Mrs. Denise Igo‘s Fort Hood Area Events Facebook page.

ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip, like all SKIFF trips, was provided to this military family at no charge. This program began in May of 2009. It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans. I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are 21-24 Aug. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Aliyah and me with her first legal hybrid. She made a long, cross-wind cast, counted her MAL Mini down to a 4-count, and retrieved smooth and fast. Thanks to Manuel Pena for the camera work.

PHOTO CAPTION: It was my turn to take photos at the end of the trip. That’s 6-year-old Kensleigh standing in front of Manuel, and 11-year-old Aliyah “gripping & grinning”.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was Aliyah’s final fish of the morning, caught just as her mom returned to pick her and her sister back up after good morning of catching.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 09 August 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With an infant at home, Mrs. Palmieri decided it best to leave her older girls in my care and keep the baby out of the heat and wind. For that reason, I very much welcomed the assistance of Austin Fly Fishers’ member Manuel Pena, who joined me this morning to assist.

We started off the trip dropping some bait in an area I’d hoped to catch catfish from later. Once that chore was out of the way, we began hunting for white bass. The white bass were, thankfully, quite cooperative today. At exactly 6:44 AM they begin to feed on the surface under low light conditions and stayed up for around 40 minutes. Manuel and I assisted the girls in landing 38 white bass as we downrigged on the perimeter of these schooling fish using a Pet Spoons behind three armed umbrella rigs.

Once this action died, we were able to do some sight-casting as fish began to “popcorn” feed over open water. By “popcorn“ I mean they would churn the surface briefly, then disappear, then crop up a few yards away, and continue this process. Today the frequency at which these fish appeared was quite high, thus we did not have to move far nor wait long between seeing schools show themselves on the surface.

During this time, Manuel did the casting for Kensleigh and had her reel in hooked fish while I showed Aliyah how to cast and retrieve in order to catch her own fish. This action lasted until approximately 8:45 by which time we had landed 74 fish including one largemouth bass, two hybrid striper, and 71 white bass, all of which were legal. All sightcasting fish were taken on the MAL Mini.

We moved on and gave our baited area a try for catfish. Unfortunately, we had whitecaps and swells by this time, which really jerked our slip floats around far more than I would desire. We did land two channel cat and missed several other strikes before changing our game plan and wrapping up the trip with a final round of downrigging. Aliyah landed a final legal hybrid, and Kensleigh landed one last white bass when we noted mom pulled up in the parking lot and wrapped it up right at 10 AM with 78 fish in the boat.

TALLY: 78 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′ (taken on Lake Belton, Monday, 07 Aug. 2023):

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 86.5F
10 feet, 86.7F
15 feet, 86.7F
20 feet, 86.7F
25 feet, 84.7f
30 feet, 77.9F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 15.87 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW 7-8 thru 8:30, then ramping up to SSW14-16

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover on slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 39% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1937 – downrigging around topwater schools at low light

Areas B0230G to B0027G & 491 – sight casting

Area 1506 – catfish

Area B0082C – downrigging

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Fishin’ from a Boat with Her Papa – 55 Fish for Owen

August 8th, 2023August 8th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, August 8th, I fished with first time guests Mr. Stephen Simank and his 7 1/2 year-old granddaughter, Owen. When Stephen first reached out to me, he let me know that Owen had landed a few sunfish under his tutelage, but she was now asking to catch “big fish“, and he was coming to me to help accomplish that before this young lady headed back to school.

I first got to know the Simank family through Mr. Dwight Stone of Georgetown, another one of my fishing clients. He introduced me to Stephen‘s son Kyle, who runs Guns Plus, a well-stocked, family-owned gun store with an on-site gunsmith located just east of the interstate in Georgetown.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s 7 1/2-year-old Owen doin’ it all by herself! Owen landed 55 fish on her 3.5 hour “Kids Fish, Too!” trip accompanied by her Papa Stephen.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 08 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!“ Trip, so, Stephen was there to help me help Owen be successful and not so much to catch fish on his own.

Whenever I have kids aboard under the age of nine or so, I understand attention spans are likely going to be short, so I come prepared to offer a variety of techniques for a variety of species.

This morning I came ready for white bass, catfish, and sunfish. Fortunately, all three species cooperated.

We began our morning looking for the telltale signs of white bass feeding on shad on the surface. When white bass feed on young-of-the year shad, as they are doing now, this task is difficult enough. Couple that with any kind of chop created by the wind, and you really need a trained eye to see this activity.

We were fortunate to spot such activity right at 6:42 AM. We took advantage of what we found by running downriggers in and around the activity, and only casting when the action was literally at the boat. In this way, I was able to keep Owen engaged for the duration of the topwater bite. She landed singles, doubles, and an unheard of four sets of triples. All of these fish were taken on three armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons on one rig, and #13 Pet Spoons on the other.

With 30 fish in the boat and the sustained, low-light topwater action now ended, we continued looking on the surface for “popcorn“ activity, which we could sight-cast to. In this situation, Stephen and I would do the casting, and have Owen do the reeling and catch what she could, while Stephen and I also cast and handed hooked fish off to her. We found action, but it was well-dispersed, so we left that behind fairly quickly and turned our attention tp catfish.

Before my crew’s arrival, I baited an area on bottom and just above the thermocline in order to attract catfish and get them to linger in the area for when we returned. I threw out a buoy to precisely mark the area and set a waypoint as a back up.

When we returned to the baited area, I set out three rods equipped with slip floats with a prepared bait mashed onto a treble hook equipped with a spring. We fished about 16 inches off the bottom.

The action was pretty solid and we wound up catching another seven catfish, including six channels, and one blue, and missing about the same number before Owen got antsy once again.

I relocated us to a new area, put downriggers down, found a school of fish fairly active in about 24 feet of water, and picked up one fish on the downrigger as we move through. I Spot-Locked and we worked this area over with MAL Heavies with white tails and picked up another five white bass before moving on to close out the morning with a round of shallow water sunfishing.

We ended the trip with Owen taking 55 fish and getting an introduction to multiple techniques and multiple species of fish on her first fishing trip by boat.

Our 55 fish catch consisted of 41 white bass, 6 channel catfish, 1 blue catfish, 1 longear sunfish, 5 bluegill sunfish, and 1 black-tailed shiner.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′ (Lake Belton, Monday, 07 Aug. 2023):

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 86.5F
10 feet, 86.7F
15 feet, 86.7F
20 feet, 86.7F
25 feet, 84.7f
30 feet, 77.9F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 15.79 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-13 at trip’s start, then sustained at S13-14

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 49% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 347- downrigged in and around topwater for 30 fish

Area vic B0227G – 5 whites sightcasting to topwater action on MAL Minis

Area 1506 – 7 cats on prepared baits after chumming (6 channel, 1 blue)

Area B0042C – Found active whites by downrigging, the worked MAL Heavies – 6 fish on slipfloats

Area 1583 – 7 panfish on float rigs

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

WORKING OUT THE KINKS — 80 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

August 7th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 7th, I fished with Mr. Gary Jones of Temple, Texas.

I first got to know Gary when I took him and a group of his buddies out fishing after he had bid on a gift certificate I had donated to a fundraiser for the Ralph Wilson Youth Club in Temple.

Gary really enjoyed my electronics-intensive approach to the pursuit of white bass, and booked a number of trips with me thereafter. He also took me to lunch at one point, letting me know the purpose of that lunch was to nail down all of the customized features of my boat so he could put together such a boat for himself.

One thing led to another, and, about a year ago, he purchased a well-appointed Boston Whaler Montauk 19-foot center console rigged nearly identically to my own boat. Ongoing COVID-related supply chain issues kept the boat from being completed in a timely manner.

This morning, I guided Gary, but did it aboard his own boat so I could show him some of the tricks of the trade to catching fish in the summer months. Along the way, we also kept checklist of things that needed to be tweaked on the boat to make it more efficient.

Here is how the fishing went …
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Gary holds the Pflueger Arbor reel with its distinctive large diameter spool and low gear ratio. The large diameter spool allowed for long casts with the lightweight MAL Mini. Of course, any spinning reel must be fully filled with line to provide maximum casting distance. This reel was matched to a St. Croix 8-foot, PFS80LMF2 spinning rod to further enhance casting distance.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was the first set of two sets of triples Gary landed as we downrigged through areas where topwater feeding recently occurred but then ended. We used 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons for this task.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 07 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite a 12-13 mph wind and the accompanying chop it produced, I still wanted to keep an eye out for low-light topwater action before sunrise this morning. If topwater action is going to be sustained in the summer months, it will typically be just before sunrise, and just after sunset on Lake Belton.

Despite the chop and occasional white capping on the water, we were able to spot a large group of fish which had pinned shad to the surface in open water, and which was staying put. We motored to within about 80 yards, then closed the final distance with the trolling motor so as not to spook these fish. We then began throwing MAL Heavies with white tails to start the catching.

Although there were mature shad being chased, we noted that the size of the shad the fish we caught were regurgitating were generally smaller shad. We switched over to the MAL Mini, and our catch rate improved significantly.

I knew that if conditions allowed for the MAL Mini to be used this morning, that we would try to stick with it based on this observation.

After these fish pushed down from the surface as the sun rose, we were able to keep right on catching them as we downrigged in a roughly 1500‘ x 1500‘ area in the vicinity where these first cropped up. As the downrigging was beginning to play out, I noticed the glint of water droplets being thrown into the air by white bass feeding over a mile away. We quickly brought in the downrigging gear and made a beeline to this action. While still about an eighth of a mile away, we slowed down to an idle and begin to observe to try to appreciate the big picture.

We recognized three district schools of white bass all forcing shad to the surface and feeding briefly then disappearing before emerging again on the surface, typically just yards away. This action was consistent enough for us to make a go of it by sight-casting.

As the wind and distance to the fish allowed, we stuck with long, 8-foot, St. Croix Panfish Series rods, coupled with Pflueger Arbor spinning reels and light, 10-pound, Suffix 832 braid to launch the MAL Minis as far as possible.

If the fish were churning on the surface as we made our casts, we began to retrieve immediately. If the fish were not visible as we cast, we would count the MAL Minis down to an 8 or 10 count before beginning our retrieve. We continued in this manner right up until about 9:45 AM when the last of the surface action died. We picked right back up downrigging at the scene of the last topwater action and put a final seven fish in the boat including one triple and four singles.

Along the way as we used Gary’s boat in a real-world scenario, we found we needed to correct a number of things which I summarized and sent to him as a checklist to use following our trip.

In right at four hours’ time, we landed a total of 80 fish, including 79 white bass, all of which were of legal size, and a single largemouth bass, which was approximately 15 inches in length.

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′ (Lake Belton, Monday, 07 Aug. 2023):

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 86.5F
10 feet, 86.7F
15 feet, 86.7F
20 feet, 86.7F
25 feet, 84.7f
30 feet, 77.9F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 16.08 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-13 at trip’s start, slowly scaling back to S7 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 60% illumination.

GT = 225

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0181G – topwater, transitioning to downrigging after fish left the surface

Area B0227G – topwater on MAL Minis

Area 1191 to B0029G – topwater on MAL Minis, transitioning to downrigging as fish finished feeding for the morning

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

AS THEY SAY IN THE INFANTRY: THIS WAS A “MOVEMENT TO CONTACT” — 101 FISH

August 3rd, 2023August 3rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, August 3rd, I fished with returning guest Russel Martin. Last summer Russel came out with a buddy and help me help that friend’s two young daughters catch white bass on Stillhouse.

Today, Russel brought his wife, Shauna, and their two college-aged sons, Cole and Ryder, aboard.

I tried to shoot everyone straight about the fishing being tough this time of year; I made them all aware of the “game plan” I intended to follow, and the things they could do to help their own results.

Here is how the fishing went….

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

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The Martin clan, from right: Cole, Ryder, Russel, and Shauna. This was one of two “quads” they landed when all four anglers brought a fish in within a few seconds of one another. Because these fish are being taken from deep, cool water, they will very quickly perish in a warm livewell at much lower surface pressure, hence, I don’t keep such fish for photos in the summer.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was our single largest white bass. It was landed by Russel on the same MAL Heavy with white tail everyone was using this morning. It just eclipsed the 14″ mark.

PHOTO CAPTION: All 101 fish came on the MAL Heavy with white tail worked vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 03 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

After multiple days with sub-par results in our first hour from 6:20 to 7:20, I bumped our start time back to 7:15 today.

The plan was to find fish with sonar, then, with four rods going simultaneously (plus the added commotion of the splasher), attempt to draw fish in beneath the boat and catch them using a vertical smoking tactic with MAL Heavy Lures in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

If we stopped and failed to draw fish within a few minutes’ time, we moved until we made contact. Once we found fish, I gauged their responsiveness and made a call on sticking or moving.

We checked 5 areas with the first 3 being unproductive. The fourth kept my crew busy for the majority of the trip which was an unusually long time for fish to remain active in one area in the summer months.

By 10:50 the Martins had landed 91 fish. I’d figured the fish would be shutting down in the fourth hour, let everyone know this, and gauged their interest in staying where we were and likely picking up a few more fish, albeit at a much slower pace than that we enjoyed as the bite peaked at mid morning, or, rolling the dice and leaving fish to find fish.

We left a declining situation, found a few more fish in a very similar scenario, and by 11:30 had taken our tally to 98. If you know me, you know I just can’t stop fishing that close to 100, so, I suggested we fish until 11:40 or 100 fish, whichever came first. The Martins were up for this, so, we fished on.

At exactly 11:37, a nice, slow moving school of white bass came cruising by just 2-3 feet off bottom with enough individuals to fully populate the Garmin 12′ monitors from far left to far right. Three of the four rods connected, and, just like that, we were at 101 fish, and the end of a busy morning.

Of these 101 fish, 1 was a just-legal largemouth bass, and the other 100 were all legal white bass with just one, the 59th fish landed (by Russel), exceeding 14″.

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Young of the year bait is just about everywhere in the 28-37′ range. Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′, and the reason why the bait is where it is:

0 feet, 87.2F
5 feet, 88.2F
10 feet, 88.6F
15 feet, 88.6F
20 feet, 88.6F
25 feet, 87.3F
30 feet, 83.1F
35 feet, 77.4F
40 feet, 72.2F
45 feet, 68.1F
50 feet, 63.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 16.08 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S6 at trip’s start, peaking at S13 with gusts at mid-trip, then scaling back to S10-11 for the remainder.

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 95% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas vic 871 and SH0033G gave up all of our fish today

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Another Garmin LiveScope Convert — 29 Fish @ Stillhouse

August 2nd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 2nd, I fished with returning guest Ken Powell. Ken has fished with me three times previously with his last time out in 2019. None of these prior trips have been in the heart of the summer, and none of these prior trips included the use of MAL Lures, nor Garmin LiveScope.

Ken is a retired high school educator and football coach now living near Lake Buchanan. Fortunately, he is a coachable coach!

More than catching fish, Ken expressed a desire to see and experience Garmin LiveScope and both “smoking” and “sawtoothing” with MAL Lures firsthand.

Here is how the fishing went….

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

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: I took this photo and chose to illustrate this summary with it because it captured an unusual event. Ken landed three sets of “doubles” today (two fish landed simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig); this double included a white bass and a channel catfish. Catching a cat on a moving bait is rare enough, but to do it in open water targeting fish suspended at 28′ over a much deeper bottom is beyond rare.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 02 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

In a word, it was … tough. We had zero wind for our first 2.5 hours, which never helps the already pretty tough summertime fishing.

We covered a lot of ground today studying 2D, DI, and SI sonar while downrigging with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons on one and #13 Pet Spoons on the other.

When sonar revealed concentrations of fish present, we observed for action on the downriggers to let us know that the fish were not just present, but also feeding.

When we found what we were after, Ken brought in the fish (singles and doubles), and we then set up atop the same fish and began working vertically (first) by smoking MAL Lures while watching Garmin LiveScope, and then working horizontally by sawtoothing MAL Lures after the initial fish we encountered began to lose interest.

We also did something today I can only do with smaller numbers of experienced anglers aboard … whenever we cast horizontally to use a sawtooth tactic, we left a rod in a nearby rodholder with the MAL Lure resting on bottom so it was pre-positioned for the next school of white bass which came by. On such a tough day, this added a few fish to the count.

Ken made a comment which stuck with me. Referring to a December 2018 trip during which we landed 117 fish by snap-jigging in advance of an incoming cold front, Ken said, “I know we’ve caught a hundred fish before, but this was 100% more interesting to me using this LiveScope.”

That is something which, as a guide, I really need to heed. LiveScope certainly does keep folks more engaged and for longer periods of time than tactics which do not involve that technology, especially when fishing featureless open water as I so often do in pursuit of white bass. I hear this from parents of 7 & 8 year olds, from guys like Ken (in his mid-70’s), and everyone in between.

This morning’s catch of 29 fish included 27 legal white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 channel catfish.

TALLY: 29 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Young of the year bait is just about everywhere in the 28-37′ range.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 16.02 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 8:50, then starting S6 and building quickly to S12

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 933 and SH0032G/SH0031G produced the majority of our fish this morning

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

PLACEHOLDER FOR 39 FISH

August 1st, 2023August 8th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

On 1 Aug. I fished with David, Savannah, Cole, and Caden K.

They did not want last names or images posted.

39 fish @ Belton

IT WAS A BLAST TO CAST WITH THE McLEANS — 72 FISH

July 29th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, July 28th, I fished with Chad McLean and his two kids, Hunter, age 14, and Victoria, age 11.

Chad is the founder of Sendero Shooting Sports, the most complete indoor shooting facility in Central Texas, where I’ve personally been a member since they first opened in 2020. This venue is super-clean and super-safe and I enjoy going there to practice my small caliber prairie dog skills on the 105-yard indoor rifle range.

Chad approached me recently about offering a fishing trip as a prize for a forthcoming Cast & Blast event being held at Sendero Shooting Sports on July 30th, and decided to book a trip so he could experience for himself exactly what a prize winner would experience.

Here is how the fishing went….

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

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Victoria, Chad, and Hunter McLean cleaned up on Lake Belton this past Friday, boating 72 fish during their 4-hour morning trip using a variety of tactics including sight-casting, downrigging, and sawtoothing.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 28 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We met up at 6:20 and covered the tactics we would employ this morning. We had lines in the water by 6:34 AM, but struck out as we down rigged atop the first area I took us to. With the sun still not yet having broken above the horizon, there was still ample opportunity for topwater action, and we were fortunate enough to find some at the second area we checked out.

The surface feeding white bass kept us busy for about an hour during which time I had all three anglers abreast on either the port or starboard side, with everyone casting MAL Minis on long, light action, St. Croix Panfish series rods with 10-pound braid to enhance casting distance.

Both of the kids were fairly new to casting with spinning gear, so I aided them as needed, and/or as they requested, while still trying to let them do the majority of what was required to land fish independently.

By the time the topwater action wrapped up, we had 22 fish in the boat, which included the last fish caught in that vicinity, which was a 5+ foot long, 18-pound longnose gar which struck Chad‘s MAL Mini spinner with all of about 4 feet of line out as he was concluding a retrieve.

After the sustained topwater action ended as the sun struck the water, we then searched for “popcorn“ action, and counted on those fish at least getting us into the right vicinity so we could loiter and catch additional fish as they appeared.

Most of the fish we took as we keyed off of these popcorn schools of white bass we took by sight casting. At this point, it was not as critical to use small baits only, so, we switched over to MAL Heavies to gain distance and sink rate, when needed. We added another 27 fish to our count before this chapter closed around 8:50.

Next, we change locations, and did some downrigging, again, keying off of popcorn schools of white bass to let us know we were in the right vicinity. We took 10 more white bass and 1 bluecat on the downriggers with one ‘rigger equipped with #12 Pet Spoons and the other with #13 Pet Spoons. I suspected the smaller #12’s might outperform the larger spoons, but, they both caught equally well.

Around 9:50 things were definitely slowing down, so I suggested we start heading back to our start point and keep our eyes and ears open as we went. My plan was to run sonar over a few areas and quickly check them for an abundance of fish. As we made our way, I spotted a great disturbance about a half-mile ahead on the nearly flat surface. It was the single largest school of white bass we would spot all day, and, miraculously, they stayed up long enough for us to get to them and for everyone to make multiple casts before they disappeared for good. We took another 12 fish out of this school, including one “demo” fish I used LiveScope to spot and tempt as Chad looked on. We waited for other schools to pass beneath the boat so he could do likewise, but, the fish were done by then.

We wound up with a total of 72 fish including 70 legal-sized white bass, 1 longnose gar, and 1 blue catfish.

TALLY: 72 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: After zero low-light topwater on Thursday, there was abundant, sustained topwater action on the much more calm surface this morning under low-light conditions.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.12 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at SSE4-6 at sunrise, falling of to variable S0-3 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover, but hazy with Saharan dust

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1549 out to the channel – 22 fish via sightcasting

Area B0210G- sightcasting after keying on popcorn whites – 27 fish

Area B0009C through B0185C – downrigging – 11 fish

Area B0013G – late morning, open-water sightcasting – 12 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

LOOK OUT, FISH! HER HAT’S ON BACKWARDS! — 55 FISH

July 27th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 27th, I fished the third and final trip of the summer 2023 season with the Brewer clan of Georgetown, TX.

Two Thursdays ago, Mr. Larry Brewer brought out, among others, his grandson, Eymon McCormick; last Thursday, Larry brought his granddaughter, Adi Zwern, and today, it was Miss Finley Zwern’s turn to fish.

Finley will turn 12 next week just before starting the sixth grade where she resides near Houston.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Mr. Larry Brewer (left) and his long-time friend, Blake Hoekstra, chaperoned Miss Finley Zwern, but left all the catching to her. She landed 55 fish this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: When Finley turned that hat around it’s like she transformed into a superhero with special fishing powers!!! That’s a Texas smallmouth bass she’s displaying.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With both Adi and Finley, I made a request of Larry that he spend just a little time familiarizing both girls with how to cast with spinning gear prior to their arrival so we could have as many options for catching fish open to us as possible.

This small investment of time paid big dividends today, as all but three of the 55 fish Finley landed came on other than downrigging gear.

As we got going this morning, I put twin downriggers down so we could have lines in the water if/when we encountered fish on the surface, right at first light. Unfortunately, there was no strong, sustained topwater feed prior to the sun directly striking the water’s surface, and we settled for three white bass on the downriggers before having to press on. These fish hit 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with a mix of #12 and #13 Pet Spoons.

As the sun rose, but while it was still low in the sky, we began to see “popcorn“ schools of white bass briefly bursting to the surface and feeding on all sizes of shad, but mainly young of the year shad. I put Finley on the front casting deck with me and ran the trolling motor from school to school while she turned her ballcap backwards like she meant business, and put her newly polished casting skills to work. She threw an MAL Mini to imitate the young-of-the-year shad.

By the time this activity settled down, we had added another 11 fish to our count, including nine white bass and two beautifully colored smallmouth bass.

We then opened a new chapter by seeking out more heavily congregated fish in the lower half of the water column and working them over using a sawtooth method with MAL Heavy Lures with white tails. Once again, this required that Finley cast – – this time, long and accurately. She did remarkably well at that, and we added a total of 33 additional white bass to our count before 9:15 AM rolled around.

At 9:15, we put all the white bass gear aside and retooled to go up shallow and pursue sunfish at Finley‘s request. We now had 47 fish in the boat. In the 45 minutes or so we invested in sunfishing, Finley was able to tempt quite a number to pull her float under, and she wound up actually boating eight of those sunfish, including bluegill, longears, and greens.

We wrapped up at 9:50 on this 3.5 hour “Kids Fish, Too!” package trip, by which time Finley had landed 55 fish.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: No low-light topwater this morning in the 9mph SE chop.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.05 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at SSE9-12

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover, but hazy with Saharan dust

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 66% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0039G – downrigging for sparse low-light action

Area BDH0013 – popcorn topwater

Area BG0022CH – sawtoothing for whites

Area B0226G – sunfishing

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

BASS: WHITE, BLACK, & BUGLE-MOUTH — 50 FISH

July 26th, 2023July 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, July 26th, I fished with first-time guests Jason McNutt and his two teenage boys, Alex and Andrew.

Mrs. Mandi McNutt coordinated everything, including an overnight stay prior to the trip at one of the hotels in Belton.

Jason is the senior pastor at Hill Country Bible Church in Dripping Springs near Austin, and is also a U.S Air Force veteran who spent about 10 years flying B-52s.

The trio had made a few stabs at fishing previously, including ice fishing, but had very limited prior experience in pursuing fish from a boat.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught white bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught black bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: … and the McNutts caught bugle-mouth bass!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 26 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a very difficult first two hours this morning, during which time I found it tough to even find fish to fish for, much less get them to bite. Halfway through the trip, we had only landed four fish.

Around 8:50 or so, things began to turn around when I spotted the first occurrence of largemouth bass hitting on the surface. This was not widespread, nor very frequent, but at least it told me gamefish had begun to move. From this first real contact with an abundance of fish and until we wrapped up at around 11:20, we had consistent action.

We alternated routinely between fishing MAL Heavy Lures with white tails using a smoking tactic and a sawtooth tactic. Whenever LiveScope revealed a large school of white bass moving in from the bow or the stern, everyone got their presentations down to bottom and awaited an opportunity to reel their lures up just prior to having the fish pass by. Otherwise, we worked off the starboard side of the boat with everyone abreast of one another using the sawtooth method.

We wound up with a grand total of 50 fish (as I told everyone at 11 AM with our count then at 47, that we’d extend until 11:30 or 50 fish which ever came first). It took father and sons just 19 minutes to put those final three fish in the boat.

Our take of 50 fish included 3 freshwater drum, 1 common carp, 1 largemouth bass, and 45 legal white bass, with several exceeding 14 inches.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: This was the latest I’ve seen the bite kick off on Stillhouse all summer.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 15.60 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at S8-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 850, SH0232G/1423, SH0059G, & SH0065G (2 hops) — all fish @ all areas came via alternating between smoking and sawtoothing MAL Heavies with white tails.

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com