Bob Maindelle | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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BINGE FEEDING ON ITTY-BITTY SHAD — 101 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 12th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, June 12, I finished with three generations of Niemeiers. Steve Niemeier served as first mate today helping me help his grandsons, Henry, age 13, and Oliver, age 11, be successful. That left Steve’s son, Andrew (the boys’ father), up on the bow to fend for himself until the downrigging kicked at which time he served as second mate, and helped me help the kids, as well.

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 5, 10, 11 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Andrew, Henry, Oliver, and Steve Niemeier with part of their 101-fish take this morning on MAL Minis and Pet Spoons.

PHOTO CAPTION: Henry … triple!

PHOTO CAPTION: Oliver … triple!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 12 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Anticipating a limited amount of cloud cover at first light, we met up early at 6:05 and searched for topwater action generated by schools of white bass pursuing young of the year shad to the surface, then pursuing them across the surface.

This really got going in high gear around 6:40 and went for just shy of an hour. Thanks to a call from a buddy who had spotted an abundance of such action, we enjoyed nonstop fishing using MAL Minis sight-cast to these white bass as standalone lures (thus, not rigged with a weight and leader) on long, 8-foot St. Croix Panfish Series spinning rods and Pflueger large arbor reels well-filled with light braid.

Over the weekend I had suggested to Steve that he work with the boys on casting spinning gear, so they would be prepared to take full advantage of this topwater opportunity if it materialized. That time invested paid real dividends this morning. The boys and their dad put 60 fish in the boat during that first feeding spree. Many of these fish were on the small size, but the action was just right for two boys who don’t get to fish very often.

After this topwater action ended at this location, we shot back over where I was before I got my buddy’s phone call. There were a few fish still on the surface here, but, almost as soon as we got there, two other boats got uncomfortably close, so, with the action dying on top and another 20 fish already landed, I switched us over to downrigging, and we added 6 more fish to our count before departing.

My attention was drawn to five white herons which were acting like they were on fish. I drove about a mile to get to them only to find that they were paying attention to a single feeding cormorant. Having been fooled by these birds, we now had to go looking for fish.

I looked over a slow tapering flat, which had produced well last week, and found nothing, but then spotted two blue herons staked out over yet another area that had produce for me well last week. I combed this over with sonar, saw there were fish present, albeit scattered, so, with 86 fish in the boat at this point we put down ‘riggers down and came up with a final 15 fish including two triples to put us up over 100 fish for the morning.

Henry had shared with us that he was not feeling all that well about the time we got to this area. With 101 fish caught, and the heat and humidity increasing, Andrew felt it would be a good time to close out our trip a bit early. We wrapped up at 8:46 AM with 101 fish landed. Our catch included 99 white bass and two blue catfish.

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile this morning:

0 feet, 82.3F
5 feet, 82.6F
10 feet, 82.7F
15 feet, 82.1F
20 feet, 78.9F
25 feet, 74.7F
30 feet, 72.8F
35 feet, 70.5F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.5F
50 feet, 63.9F
55 feet, 62.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:05A

End Time: 8:46A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 12.71 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.04′ drop over the past 72 hours

Water Surface Temp: 82.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: A steady 8-9mph SE breeze all morning

Sky Condition: 20% white cloud cover transitioned to 100% light grey cloud cover between 6 and 9 AM

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 32% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0026G – 60 fish on MAL Mini (non-rigged)

Area B0202G – 20 on MAL Mini (non-rigged); 6 on downriggers

Area vic B0002C – 15 fish on downriggers

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

WIND & CLOUDS ENHANCED THE BITE – 131 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 9th, 2023June 9th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, June 8, I fished with first time guests, Keith Hogwood and his friend, David Cluck. The two are long-time friends and coworkers at one of the ACER locations in Temple, Texas.

David introduced Keith to deer hunting with firearms a few years ago, and, when the opportunity to return the favor by taking David fishing arose, Keith seized up on it.

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 5, 10, 11 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: David Cluck (left) and Keith Hogwood with a few of the 131 fish they landed as this morning’s favorable weather conditions offered both wind and cloud cover right up to around 10AM.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 08 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Wow, what a blessing today’s wind and cloud cover were! I welcome Keith and David aboard, reviewed the safety equipment, set up the gear for them, prayed, and within minutes we were into what would be about an hour’s worth of very aggressive, low-light top water, action.

David handled a spinning rod very well, so I put an 8-foot St. Croix panfish rod in his hands, mated to a Pflueger large diameter Arbor spinning reel filled with 10 pound braid, and he was off to the races.

Keith was not as accomplished a caster, so the MAL Mini rig with a three-quarter ounce weight ahead of it served him better, whereas David had the lure only tied on to his outfit. I simply hunkered down between the two of these fellows on the front casting deck of my boat and ran the trolling motor so as to keep them both within a casting distance of the multiple schools of fish that were working young of the year shad on the surface.

By the time this action died as the wind slacked off, and the skies brightened a bit, we had boated 47 fish. As we went searching for where we might find our next catchable fish, I spotted four blue herons working over a well-defined patch of water, which told me there were whites pushing bait to the surface.

We made a beeline there, spotted the gamefish, assessed what size of bait the fish were feeding on, and used MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails to imitate the adult shad in this location. We put another 30 fish in the boat here before the wind knocked off even more, and the bite died.

I attempted a “mop up“ with downriggers. This resulted in the catch of one white bass, and a largemouth/blue cat double. With 80 fish now in the boat, it looked like our weather conditions were going to worsen, as the wind just about quit and the first direct sun of the morning begin to shine through the clouds. Despite this, I spotted four schools of whites, all close by one another out in open water about a half mile away, using my spotting scope.

We made a beeline to them and were able to add another 23 fish to our count, again using the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail, before these fish disappeared beneath the surface. About this time, the sun begin to shine, and then get covered back over by clouds repeatedly, and a sustained westerly breeze began to blow. This reignited the white bass topwater bite.

At the same time I got a call from a buddy, who had found an abundance of surface-feeding, white bass, as well. At this last location we fished was in a bit shallowerr water, and, as was the case with the first fish we encountered this morning, this last group consisted mainly of yearling fish, some of which eclipsed 10 inches, and some of which did not.

By 10:10 AM, the bite looked to be winding down as the sun stayed out more than it was obscured by clouds. David and Keith needed to be back at the ramp promptly by 10:30 to make a high school championship baseball game which one of David’s grandsons was in, so we called it a good day right here with 131 fish landed including 128 white bass, one blue catfish, one largemouth bass, and one smallmouth bass.

TALLY: 131 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: “Popcorn” schooling continued, as did the white bass population’s focus on young-of-the-year shad.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.69 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.03′ drop over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~79.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: A steady 12mph SE breeze came up just prior to sunrise, then scaled back to SE6 by mid-morning. A calm ensued for about 20 minutes, then a wind at W7-8 blew for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Condition: 80% white cloud cover on a blue sky at trip’s start, decreasing to ~40% by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0022C and w/in a 200 yard radius at first light — 47 fish on MAL Mini

Area B0202G – 30 fish on MAL Heavy; 3 on mop-up downrigging

Area vic B0093G – 23 fish on MAL Heavy

Area vic B0058G – final 28 fish on MAL Mini/MAL Mini Rig

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

FORT HOOD WAS HONKING AT US! — 50 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 7th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, June 7, I fished with first-time guests Brandon and Wendy Hunt from Hutto, Texas.

Brandon and Wendy are both very capable anglers. They own their own small, aluminum boat, and typically fish for catfish and panfish on Decker Lake and Granger Lake.

Both have a background in medicine and work in the paramedic field.

We all had a good laugh when, as we came off plane, we heard a sort of muted, musical, electronic sort of sound. Wendy looked at a boat passing us by about 200 yards to the starboard and said, “That was kind of rude,” thinking the boat was blowing its horn at us. I smiled and told here that was actually the distant sound of Reveille being played as the U.S. flag was being raised on Fort Hood.

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 5, 10, 11 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon Hunt took our biggest fish of the trip, a 7-pound blue catfish which slammed a downrigged #12 Pet Spoon as it slurped up tiny shad just as every other predator fish in Lake Belton is doing right now.

PHOTO CAPTION: Wendy Hunt took the first of two “triples” this morning by catching one fish on each of the three lures on the 3-armed umbrella rig we were downrigging with. Brandon landed the second triple in our final hour on the water.

PHOTO CAPTION: Brandon and Wendy show 4 of the 5 three-year class white bass they landed this morning. The other 41 white bass were all 1 and 2 year class fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 07 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The nearly calm predawn surface on Lake Belton was eerily quiet this morning. There was nearly zero activity from bait, fish, gamefish, or even from rough fish like catfish and buffalo which normally dimple the surface under low light conditions.

I carefully patrolled five distinct areas, scrutinizing the water’s surface for topwater action before finding our first bit of success around 7:10, almost an hour after we got going this morning.

The fish we found were smaller white bass pushing young of the year shad to the surface and feeding on the small, slow baitfish. This allowed for both sight-casting with MAL Mini Rigs, as well as counting these baits down to a four-count.

We picked up our first 27 fish by 8:10 when this action ended just as the light northwest breeze which had developed just after sunrise also ended. From this point on the surface remained glassy with the cloud cover slowly increasing from 10 to 40% by trip’s end.

Although small “popcorn“ schools of white bass could be seen busting the surface in just about any direction you looked, they were not concentrated in any given area, and were very difficult to pursue.

Although we got a handful of fish fishing MAL Heavies vertically, the majority of the remainder of our cash came on downriggers as we used a pair of three armed umbrella rigs to fish six #12 Pet Spoons in three distinct locations.

By 11 AM, the heat was pouring on and so, after landing our 50th fish of the morning, we decided to call it a good trip.

Our 50 fish catch consisted of one 7-pound blue catfish, one short hybrid, one legal hybrid, and one freshwater drum with the remaining 46 fish being white bass. Of these 46 white bass, five were in the three-year class, with the rest being a roughly 50-50 split between one-year-old and two-year-old fish.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: “Popcorn” white bass — blowing up here and there for just seconds at a time — were the rule today. Being ready to imitate the young-of-the-year shad put fish in the boat this morning under tough (clear/calm/bright) conditions.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.72 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.03′ drop over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~79.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Light NW4 from just after sunrise until ~8:15, then glassy calm the rest of the morning.

Sky Condition: 10% white cloud cover on a blue sky at trip’s start, decreasing to ~40% by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 85% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 356 to 132 — best action of the morning with smallish white bass on tiny shad pushing them to and then across the surface for about an hour; 27 fish

Area vic 1733 – so-so fishing by sight-casting, smoking MAL Heavies, and downrigging

Area vic B0138C – so-so fishing by sight-casting and downrigging

Area B0077G – 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

SWEATIN’ BY ELEVEN — 50 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 6th, 2023June 6th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, June 6, I fished with first-time guests Reid Funderburk and Jim Wilson.

The two have known each other for decades and first met when Jim (now retired) sold Xerox office equipment to Reid. The two are now neighbors and fishing buddies, to boot. Reid runs his own small business focused on parking lot surface maintenance and paint striping, called Straight Arrow Striping (see https://straightarrowstriping.com/)

Fishing was tough today under bright skies with calm winds.

Here’s 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 5, 10, 11 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Reid Funderburk and Jim Wilson with a few of the white bass we really had to work for as the bright, calm conditions we faced made fishing pretty tough today.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 06 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

When you get right down to the brass tacks, the fishing today was not much different than it has been in the very productive days of late however, there were just fewer fish interested in feeding and, when they did feed, they did it for shorter periods of time then under the better, breezier, cloudier conditions we have enjoyed up until this morning.

We started out looking for persistent topwater action with white bass pushing young of the year shad to the surface and then driving them long distances across the surface as has been the case for the past few days. Instead, this morning, in the same areas, and at the same times, we found fish, but they only popped up for a few seconds at a time, fed lightly and briefly, and then sounded.

This scenario played out all morning up until around 9:30 when even that light action disappeared for good as the winds went completely calm. Our best window this morning was from 8:30 to around 9:20. This coincided with the only steady breeze we would have all morning. That breeze, which was around 5 mph, came out of the northwest with enough strength to ripple the lake’s entire surface.

During this time, the fish came up and stayed up and aggressively drove and pursued shad as they fed heavily upon them. As soon as the wind began to falter, the fish activity followed suit.

By the time this peak activity ended, we had boated 38 fish. Over the next hour and 10 minutes, we would add just another dozen fish, which came as singles and one double on downriggers equipped with #12 silver Pet Spoons with white feather tails.

We finished up the morning with exactly 50 fish landed, including four largemouth bass, one crappie, two short hybrid, and the balance white bass, most of which were on the smallish side.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Being prepared (i.e. with lures already selected and tied on) to imitate both juvenile shad and adult shad was key once again today. ~70% of our fish came on the smaller MAL Mini, imitating young-of-the-year shad. This was the first day this season where I really noticed/felt the heat at trip’s end thanks to the brilliant sun and limited cloud cover.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.69 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.06′ drop over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable all morning, save for a short NW5 breeze from 8:30 to 9:20.

Sky Condition: 70% white cloud cover on a blue sky at trip’s start, decreasing to ~10% by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 92% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0230G – a handful of whites at low-light as they rippled the surface after YOY shad

Area vic 483 – – a handful of whites at low-light as they rippled the surface after YOY shad

B0079G to B0080G to B0051G – pest action this AM from 8:30 to 9:20 as NW wind kicked in

Areas 1404 and 1411 – downrigging for a final 12 fish under bright, calm conditions

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

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE FORAGE — 204 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 5th, 2023June 5th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, June 5, I fished with a crew of four from the Fellowship of Christian Sportsmen. This trip was coordinated by that organization’s president, Mr. Randy Rowley. Joining Randy were Bill Atkinson, Jim Magee, and Dusty Hunt, all club members.

Bill is a retired veterinarian, Jim is a retired Campus Crusade for Christ missionary, Randy is with Texas’ Health and Human Services, and Dusty works in the concrete cutting business.

I really appreciated Randy, as he is a detail-oriented person. He asked good questions and really laid the groundwork for his group to have a good outing as result of his pre-trip research and “due diligence”.

Here’s 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 10, 12, & 13 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Fellowship of Christian Sportsmen members (from left) Dusty Hunt, Randy Rowley, Bill Atkinson, and Jim McGee. This crew landed 204 fish on MAL Mini Rigs early and MAL Heavies late.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 05 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s fishing broke down into two distinct parts. The first part involved gamefish pushing bait, most of which was young-of-the-year shad, to the surface in water under 20 feet deep while the light level was low and the cloud cover was 100% gray.

During this time we used MAL Mini rigs, and either sight-cast or counted these rigs down to no more than a four-count, and caught white bass consuming these small shad, the largest of which were perhaps 1.25 inches in length and about as large in diameter as a pipe cleaner.

The first group of fish we found included a majority of undersized fish, but after that, the mix was roughly 7 to 1 on legal versus under sized fish.

We found such fishing at two distinct areas, then, as the sun began to climb higher in the sky and burn off the gray cloud cover, this bite ended right at 8:04 AM.

The second chapter involved a distinctly different population of fish feeding on adult shad out in open water. These fish were holding at 16 to 20 feet down over a 32-foot bottom.

Occasionally, these fish would push bait all the way to the surface and expose their location, which allowed us to swoop in, catch fish by sight-casting, then, when they disappeared, by counting our lures down.

Once they sounded, we also found we could consolidate them by creating commotion with the splasher and our presentations, and by hooking and playing fish. As this happened, we were able to fish vertically using a smoking tactic both with and without the aid of Garmin LiveScope.

None of my crew had experience using LiveScope the way we used it this morning and that really seemed to be a treat for them. As was the case all week last week, the fishing began to taper between 9:40 and 9:50 and was over by 10:20.

This Fellowship of Christian Sportsmen’s crew landed exactly 204 fish this morning every last one of which was a white bass.

Bottom line: it was critical to watch and see what size shad the fish were feeding on, and then imitate that forage size via good lure selection.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

TALLY: 112 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Being prepared (i.e. with lures already selected and tied on) to imitate both juvenile shad and adult shad was key today. The wind shift to the north did not seem to impact the fishery versus the SSE to due S winds we had last week. Here is the water temperature profile I detected prior to sunrise:

0 feet, 78.6F
5 feet, 79.6F
10 feet, 79.9F
15 feet, 80.1F
20 feet, 80.1F
25 feet, 76.7F
30 feet, 71.2F
35 feet, 68.4F
40 feet 66.9F
45 feet, 65.5F
50 feet, 64.1F
55 feet, 63.2F
60 feet, 62.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.63 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.01′ drop over the past 72 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW5-6 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover until ~8:00, then rapidly dissipating to blue skies and 30% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 92% illumination.

GT = 80

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0123C – 27 fish on MAL Mini rigs via sight-casting to surface feeders

Area vic 15576 thru 1411 – 37 fish on MAL Mini rigs via sight-casting to surface feeders & counting down to suspended fish

Area vic B02020G – 78 fish on a combination of smoking, sight-casting, and counting down MAL Heavies

Area vic B0129G – 89 fish on a combination of smoking, sight-casting, and counting down MAL

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

IMITATING ALL SIZES OF SHAD WAS KEY — 112 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 4th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, June 2nd, I fished with first-time guests Mr. Joseph Schmidt from the Austin area, and his friend Patti Powell who lives in Belton.

Joseph practices general dentistry and has his own boat and a strong background in saltwater fishing; Patti is stepping back into real estate and arrived this morning already handling spinning gear well, which was a big help.

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 5, 10, & 11 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Joseph Schmidt and Patti Powell with a few of the 112 fish they caught and released using a variety of methods to imitate both the juvenile and adult shad which the gamefish were feeding on this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple! Joseph landed two sets of triples as we covered water using downriggers while keeping an eye on sonar to find large concentrations of fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 02 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: We began at 6:15 AM in order to take advantage of any early topwater action which might materialize. There wasn’t much going on until just after the sun rose. Once it did, I spotted several pockets of topwater action. After observing yesterday’s substantial topwater feed, I came prepared this morning not only with small MAL Mini Rigs, but also with even smaller Cork rigs with small streamers to imitate the smallest of the newly hatched shad which so many of the white bass are now focused on.

We spotted our first school of open water white bass around 6:40, and they were definitely pursuing young-of-the-year shad. Both Joseph and Patti cast to the schools accurately as I kept the boat in range. They picked up their first 10 fish this way before this action died quickly.

I spotted a second group of fish, but there were already boats nearby, so we just bypassed that “boat show” and continued on to find our own fish.

The topwater action got quiet for a while, so, through 8:20, we used a combination of downrigging to cover ground and find fish (most of which were suspended around 16-22′) and, once we found an area which a greater than average density of fish, we’d stop, let the splasher work to draw the fish in, and work MAL Heavies vertically through them using a smoking tactic. We added 18 more fish to our tally in this manner.

Around 8:20, with partly cloudy skies and a gentle S. wind, open water surface feeding began with great numbers of white bass pursuing adult threadfin shad to the surface. We swapped back and forth between sight-casting when the fish were plentiful and nearby, showing themselves on the surface, using a vertical smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope when the screens lit up indicating fish moving beneath us, and a count-down tactic when we saw the majority of the fish out to the port or starboard side of the boat courtesy of side-imaging.

The action began to taper around 9:40, and by 10:15 things had throttled way back to the level they were at prior to 8:20.

We wrapped up right at the 4-hour mark with 112 fish landed, including 2 short hybrid stripers, 1 blue catfish, 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 107 white bass, of which ~8 were short.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

TALLY: 112 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Being prepared (i.e. with lures already selected and tied on) to imitate both juvenile shad and adult shad was key today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.64 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.00′ change over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE3-5 at trip’s start, very slowly swinging to due S while maintaining the same velocity

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover until ~8:20, then rapidly dissipating to blue skies and 30% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0057G – 10 fish on Cork Rigs with fry imitator streamers

Area vic B0092G – 14 fish via downrigging to find & smoking MAL Heavies to catch

Area vic B0228G – 88 fish on a combination of smoking, sight-casting, and counting down MAL Heavies

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

GO SMALL OR GO HOME – 169 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 2nd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday, June 1, I fished with first-time guests Bret, Grayson, and Bryson Necessary.

Brett is a civil engineer working for MW Builders, and the boys, ages 17 and 15 respectively, are working their way through high school.

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 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Grayson, Bret, and Bryson Necessary with a sampling of the white bass they caught and released from Lake Belton. Imitating young-of-the-year shad was critical as the fish are very focused on those small baitfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 01 June 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: We got going at 6:15 AM this morning, anticipating a low-light top water feed.

Note that this is not the same sort of topwater as we had just a short week ago. That topwater at that time consisted of gamefish pushing adult shad, which were spawning, toward the shore and toward the surface to trap and eat them.

A rapid transition is now taking place with gamefish focused on the very small young of the year shad. These shad are generally located away from the bank and the fish feeding on them are much harder to visually detect, because the shad are so easily slurped in that they require very little effort on the gamefishes’ part to overtake and ingest. Thus, no, splashing, typically accompanies this sort of feeding.

I checked several areas before finding enough topwater action to keep us in business. Once located, I used a combination of drifting with the wind, repositioning with Spot-Lock, and the jogging function on my trolling motor to keep my three anglers within a reasonable casting distance of the schooling fish. Our 100th fish came over the side at 8:20 AM. These fish all came from a roughly 300 yard area.

These fish were all taken on the new MAL Mini Rig. This consists of a substantially downsized MAL Lure designed to imitate small, young-of-the-year baitfish. Ahead of the small MAL is a 3/4 oz. weight to provide enough heft to cast the rig out and beyond the feeding fish so the retrieve can be made through the entire school.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Mini, designed to imitate young-of-the-year shad, shown below three (of 8) shad regurgitated by a single white bass during this morning’s trip.

Once the gray, low cloud cover began to burn off, this feed ended fairly quickly. I looked around for remnant schools, found one area which gave up six more fish, then that chapter closed for good around 8:40.

As the sky brightened, but still with fully clouded skies, adult threadfin shad began to get forced to the surface out in open water. The fish chasing these we’re doing so more aggressively and throwing some spray up into the air which could be seen with a trained eye.

Additionally, occasional visits out over open water by blue herons gave the general location of this sort of action away. I hustled to the scene of the crime, and we were able to finish out the remainder of our trip at first racing MAL Lures vertically through fish suspended around 20 to 25 feet deep, then, after sonar revealed these fish were pulling up even higher in the water column, we began to cast MAL Heavies, and let them sink to a four count before retrieving.

Once the winds calmed a bit, and the skies brightened as the clouds thinned, we begin counting down further to six, then eight, then once the fish got back down as low as the 20 foot mark, the feed came to an end.

The action had just about cooled by 9:50 AM, and by 10:10 AM we decided to give downrigging a try as a “mop up“ effort. The fish were shut down hard enough by this time that the downrigging did not even produce. We called it a day right at 10:20 with 169 fish landed including two blue catfish, one largemouth bass, and the remainder of white bass.

TALLY: 169 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Generally speaking, fish are heavily focused now on young-of-the-year shad, thus, downsized baits are a must.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 12.64 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.01′ fall over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover until ~8:20, then rapidly dissipating to blue skies and 30% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 91% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0202C thru 1796 — 100 fish by 8:20AM on MAL Mini Rigs

Area 1795 – 6 fish on MAL Mini Rigs

Area vic B0092G – 63 fish on a combination of smoking and counting down MAL Heavies

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

SHAD NETTING FUNDAMENTALS – 106 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Wednesday, May 31, I fished with returning guests, Dr. Jason Locklin and his two oldest kids, Ava, age 17, and Morgan, age 15.

Jason is a professor at Temple College, and the two of us have not only fished together previously, but also had the opportunity to work together on a study comparing zebra mussel populations in Stillhouse Hollow and Lake Belton.

For sometime now, Jason has wanted to understand what it takes to both capture live shad, and then use them as bait for hybrid striped bass. This season, I chose not to pursue hybrid, both due to low numbers of legal size fish present as our Lake Belton hybrid program is rebuilding, and because I injured my left rotator cuff, thus making throwing a cast net impossible during the early part of the season.

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 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Ava and Morgan Locklin with a few of the white bass they landed by sight-casting to surface feeding white bass with MAL Heavies, and by tightlining live shad off bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ava Locklin with our best fish of the trip. This bluecat fell for a piece of cut live shad we fished amongst a spread of 5 other rods with live gizzards and threadfins.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 31 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Regardless of the whole shoulder thing, I told Jason I would try to figure out a way to at least show him the ropes this season. Unfortunately we had to wait for the kids to be done with school and, as a result, our shad spawn has since ended, so that meant capturing shad the hard way. We met up at 4:45 AM with both a traditional net and a tape net, and proceeded to collect enough bait before sunrise to see us through that portion of our trip dedicated to the pursuit of hybrid.

I covered topics I felt were critical for catching and keeping shad:

Cast net styles
Shad tank fundamentals (aeration, filtration, circulation, and insulation)
Water treatments
Sorting/transfer bucket use
Throwing methods
Deep water throwing vs. shallow water throwing
Bait net use
Filter material and cleaning

With a mix of threadfin and gizzard shad now in the bait tank, we got lines in the water just after first light around 6:25 AM.

We hit three areas getting set up and then allowing the baits and splasher to work their magic for about 25 minutes at each location. Although we drew strikes and landed two white bass, neither the strikes, nor the sonar signatures I saw led me to believe we were dealing with hybrid.

The night before this trip, suspecting that the shad and/or the hybrid might be difficult to come by at this point in the season, I asked Jason what he would like to do if we struggled in either regard, and he was open to pursuing other species in other ways.

As we headed to a fourth area to search for hybrid, I spotted some widespread surface activity and was pleased to see that the white bass were feeding on adult threadfin shad. I say “pleased”, because when these fish are feeding on young of the year shad, they are much more difficult to fool, as it is hard to find a lure small enough to imitate these tiny fish.

For about 45 minutes, Morgan, Ava, and Jason sight-cast on one side of the boat or the other, as I maneuvered the boat to keep them with in casting range of the surface feeding fish.

This trio put 68 fish in the boat and made quick work of it. The time was now 9:20 AM, and we had planned to wrap up around 10:20 AM, so we agreed to put in our final hour in pursuit of hybrid once again.

I surveyed a windblown point with sonar, saw activity, and got baits down quickly as everyone was now very familiar with the routine. We fished this area until the bait ran out and wound up with 36 additional fish, including 33 white bass, two blue catfish, and one largemouth bass .

Our grand total for the morning was 106 fish with 68 taken on the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail sight-cast and/or counted down, and an additional 38 fish taken on live threadfin and gizzard shad using essentially a Carolina rig, suspended vertically off the bottom terminated with a Kahle style hook.

We did not land a single hybrid, but still got to cover the approach to fishing live shad including:

Shad size
Shad location
Shad species
Hook choice
Hook positioning
Hook mono tags
Tightline setups
Rod holder positions
Bite detection
Bait clicker functions
Chumming

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: With two consecutive days without spawning shad activity despite ideal conditions, I believe “Shad Spawn 2023” is now complete; and, by the looks of the numbers of juvenile shad now showing up, it looks as if it was quite successful.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:45A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.63 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.04′ fall over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-8 until ~9:20, then dropping to SE4-5

Sky Condition: Blue skies with under 10% cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 85% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1556 – 2 whites on live shad

Area vic 1519 – 68 white sight-casting to fish feeding on adult shad with MAL Heavies (all legal)

Area 297 – 38 fish on live shad (2 blue catfish, 1 largemouth bass, 35 white bass (all legal)

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

A VERY SHORT WINDOW — 64 FISH @ LAKE BELTON (PM)

June 1st, 2023June 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday evening, May 30, I fished with the 10-year-old grandson of Dr. Bill Johnston, a retired Scott and White anesthesiologist.

Webb Johnston had a very short window to fish with me during his visit with his grandparents and all I had available during that window was an evening trip, which I normally do not offer this time of year.

Summertime evening bites tend to be very short (but intense), taking place in the last 75 minutes or so of light. It is difficult to have (kids, especially) out in high heat for 2.75 hours catching very little before the good fishing kicks in. Fortunately, a nice breeze helped tame the heat.

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 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Webb Johnston with a nice 4.75 pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken on an MAL Heavy raced from the bottom toward the surface while observing LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Bill Johnston treated his grandson, Webb, to an evening fishing trip on Lake Belton. Webb landed a total of 64 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 30 May 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The plan was for Webb to do all the fishing today as Bill took photos, videos, and helped me help Webb be successful. I explain to Webb that on most evenings on Lake Belton, the vast majority of the fish activity takes place in the last hour or so before dark.

This evening was no exception.

Since this was a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip, it was scheduled for 3.5 hours. After about two hours, we had managed 17 fish, primarily by downrigging for suspended white bass which were locked in on young of the year shad.

Around 7:35, as the winds, which came up very suddenly around 4:45 PM as a thunderstorm to the northeast fell apart, died down we began to see many schools of white bass churning the surface chasing primarily after young of the year shad.

Using the new MAL Mini Rig to more closely imitate these small shad than the standard MAL Lure does, Webb proceeded to wear out the white bass, taking our final count up to 64 fish landed as the final fish came in the boat at 8:58 PM.

We got into a good rhythm where Webb stood next to me on my boat’s front casting deck; he would cast to a pod of fish, retrieve quickly to keep his lure up high in the water column, hook and land a fish, then hand that rod — with fish still attached — to me as I handed him an identical rod with the bail already centered and the bait hanging an appropriate distance below the rod tip, absolutely ready for casting.

I would unhook the fish, prepare the second rod, and wait on Webb to hook and land another, and so it went as the two of us worked very efficiently to keep him hooking and landing fish. As fun as this action was, and as appropriate as it was for a young man his age, most of these fish were yearling fish, many of which have already surpassed the 10″ minimum legal size. Perhaps 1 in every 8 or so was 12″ or better.

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:45P

End Time: 9P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 85F

Elevation: 12.59 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.30′ increase over the long Memorial Day weekend

Water Surface Temp: ~79F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE16 at trip’s start thanks to collapsing thunderstorms to the NE; then tapering back to SE6 by dark

Sky Condition: Blue skies with under 10% cloud cover all evening.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0019G – downrigging

Area 1766 to 1641 – topwater sightcasting

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