CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 11, I fished a short, two-hour, Kids Fish, Too! trip with three- and six year-old brothers accompanied by both their father and grandfather. Joining me were Bary Gould, and his son-in-law, Shawn Lee, and Lee‘s two boys, Atlas (6), and Oso (3).

The men both operate one of the Central Texas teams of Birdcreek Roofing.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 11 July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 30 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 02 August (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left rear: Bary “Bobby” Gould and his son-in-law, Shawn Lee, with Shawn’s sons, Oso (age 3), left, and Atlas (age 6).  The men helped the boys land 57 fish in a short, 2-hour “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for the kids.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Some light, pre-sunrise topwater action broke out as I was preparing the boat for my guests’ arrival. Fortunately, a low bank of gray clouds developed in the east and kept the sun from shining directly on the water for a little while. Once Barry, Shawn, and the kids arrived, we really hustled to get the kids in lifejackets, everyone aboard, and get out to the topwater action we had sighted. This action continued for about 40 minutes in two different locations, allowing us a catch of 28 white bass and one smallmouth bass before the sun finally cleared the clouds and put the fish down for good.

We picked right up where the fish left off by downrigging out in slightly deeper water where we picked up another 13 fish, including four sets of triples and a single. With about 40 minutes left before the men had to depart, the kids showed signs of waning interest in the downrigging, so, we changed things up one last time and went up shallow in search of sunfish. The crew landed a total of 15 bluegill sunfish with bait under slip floats. It was now about 8:35, so we brought lines in, took a few good photos, and delivered this crew back to dry land for an on-time departure.

Our total count today was 57 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.  If no topwater is encountered, the trip is going to be a tough one so far as white bass are concerned.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 8:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 4.59′ high with a 0.30′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3009 CFS. This was the first day Belton saw falling water since the July 4 flooding.

Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4 increasing to S7

Sky Condition: A low, grey cloud bank kept the direct sun from striking the water until ~40 minutes after sunrise, afterwhich there was <10% clouds on a hazy sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area vic 2107 – 7 white bass on Cork Rigs at obscured sunrise

Area B0014G to shoreline – 21 white bass, 1 smallmouth on Cork Rigs w/ sun obscured by grey clouds

Area B0293G thru B0171C – 13 white bass on downrigged Pet Spoons

Area 1753 – 15 bluegill on bait under slipfloats

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, July 9, I conducted the seventh SKIFF trip of the 2025 season. Joining me this morning was the family of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Norman Bretz — Mrs. Natalie Bretz and her three children, Jayden (16), Adyson (14), and Logan (13).  The Bretz family resides in Copperas Cove and await SFC Bretz’s return from southwest Asia, after which he will retire after 20 years of service, primarily in the Cavalry.

TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 10 July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 30 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 02 August (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Adyson, Logan, and Jayden Bretz with some hard-earned white bass caught on a day with a lot working against us, including rising flood water, a high flow of water through the dam, a full moon, and cloudless skies.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

It was a tough, tough morning.  With very little cloud cover at sunrise, a few pods of surface feeding fish could be seen spread far and wide, but, they only stayed up for seconds at a time.  After about an hour after sunrise, even the little bit of cover we did have burned off and it was bright from that point forward, just about guaranteeing no more topwater would materialize.

We had some other environmental factors working against us, as well, including another 0.20 feet of flood water coming in, an increased flow (3013 CFS) through the dam, and a full moon.   I would not be encouraged by any one of those, but, to have them all occur on one morning was pretty tough.

I covered A LOT of water looking for schooled, aggressive fish.  Bait is everywhere, thus making it easy for gamefish to feed at will on these small, slow young-of-the-year shad.  Essentially, if you don’t find them on topwater this time of year, its is likely going to be a grind, and that’s just what it was today.

Fortunately, around 9:15, side-imaging showed a nice pod of fish holding on bottom in about 30 feet of water.  We already had the downriggers working, so, I marked them, had the kids adjust the depth of the ‘riggers’ balls, and we went to those fish.  We got a very positive response from the fish, then continued to take advantage of what side-imaging had uncovered.  Up to that point, we’d only landed 6 fish, but took our count very quickly up to 25 as the kids landed singles, doubles, and triples on the 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.

Once the fish showed a reluctance to chase any longer, I pinpointed two additional schools of fish and the kids worked MAL Heavy Lures vertically through them aided by Garmin LiveScope.  They added another six fish to our count before we wrapped up for good around 10:30 as the winds pushed 14mph and the bite died.

I really appreciated Natalie’s help — she got a license so she could be “hands-on”, and she pitched right in there working the downriggers, taking off fish when things got a bit crazy, and untangling lines when need be.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.  If no topwater is encountered, the trip is going to be a tough one so far as white bass are concerned.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:55A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 4.89′ high with a 0.18 rise in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 3013 CFS. Belton should begin falling slowly later today.

Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7 increasing to S13

Sky Condition: 30% white cloud cover on a hazy sky at sunrise, decreasing to 10% coverage with Saharan dust filtering some light out

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Areas 178 thru B0109G – downrigging transitioning to smoking with MAL Heavy Lures accounted for 25 of our 31 fish in this location.

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, July 8, I conducted the  sixth SKIFF trip of the 2025 season. Joining me this morning was U.S. Army veteran Troy Hensley Junior, a disabled combat veteran of the War in Iraq, and two of his sons, Trace (age 10), and Joshua (age 5).

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 08 July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 28 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 02 August (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  U.S. Army Iraqi War veteran Troy Hensley Jr. brought his sons, Trace (10 and Joshua (5) aboard for a morning of fishing on this, the sixth SKIFF trip of the 2025 season.

PHOTO CAPTION: 10-year-old Trace Hensley landed our largest fish of the morning when this hybrid striped bass came up from the depths and slammed the bait behind his cork while fishing a Cork Rig for white bass schooling on the surface.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to flooding on both Cowhouse Creek and in the Leon River due to heavy rains the morning of 07 July, Lake Belton, rose rapidly (2.30 feet) in the last 24 hours, thus prohibiting access to the floating courtesy docks. Regardless, the water on the lower end of the lake remains clear and free of debris, at least for the time being.

The heavy cloud cover at sunrise delayed the start of this morning‘s feed, but, around 7:15 AM, things begin to happen with white bass forcing shad to the surface in great numbers and on a widespread basis. This went very strong through about 8:30. After that, pods of fish could still be seen here and there, but nothing to the extent that the prior hour and a quarter presented.

During this feeding spree, Troy and I cast Cork Rigs to the fish. Trace retrieved his own Cork Rig whereas Troy worked the Cork Rig until a fish was hooked then handed it off to Joshua. In this manner, the boys reeled in exactly 60 fish. As the top water action was dying down around 8:30, the boys were also getting a bit disinterested, so, we change tactics, moved up shallow, and pursued sunfish in the newly flooded terrestrial vegetation, using slip floats with bait beneath. This accounted for an additional 25 sunfish. We wrapped up at about 10:10 AM with a total of 85 fish landed and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.  If no topwater is encountered, the trip is going to be a tough one so far as white bass are concerned.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 4.34′ high with a 2.30 rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4-9

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover at sunrise, gradually clearing to 40% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 95% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Areas B0163G thru 2116 – 60 fish on Cork Rigs on topwater from 7:22 to 8:35AM

Area B0289G – 10 sunfish

Area B0163C – 15 sunfish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, Monday, July 7, after a bit of a hiatus as my wife and I headed to Colorado to celebrate our 30th anniversary, I was back on Lake Belton in pursuit of fish. This morning, I welcomed aboard Greg and Lisa Pope from just outside of Salado, and their two grandsons, brothers Jackson (age12) and Jordan (age 10) Pope, from Bryan, Texas.

Although both Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow have risen as a result of the widespread flooding in the Texas Hill Country, neither lake had dirty water or debris in their lower segments, hence, we were able to fish this morning in ways identical to how I would normally be fishing this time of year.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips, and typically go a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4-plus hours for standard trips.  On these trips licensed adults who desire to do so often help me help the kids be successful by baiting hooks, untangling lines, resetting our downrigger spreads, etc. so the kids’ efforts are maximized.  So it was this morning as Greg helped with all of those tasks.

TODAY’S DATE: Monday, 07 July 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Friday, 11 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   Mr. Greg Pope and his wife, Lisa, took their grandsons, Jackson and Jordan Pope on a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip tailored just for kids this morning on Lake Belton.  The boys landed 170 fish.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After a 30 minute rain delay, we got out looking for white bass on top water, but, the turbid weather had them locked down pretty good. After catching just one white bass and one hybrid in three attempts at three normally productive areas, I decided to change over to shallow water sunfishing for the mid part of our trip, then go back to white bass fishing if/when the weather settled.

We hit three shallow water areas, each with rock and vegetation present as cover, and wound up with a catch of 48 sunfish on bait fished under slip floats. With our fish count now at 50 and with about 45 minutes remaining in what I had planned for a 3.5 hour trip, I once again went looking for white bass now that the wind had settled, the skies had brightened, and while the skies were still fully greyed over. I spotted some flashes in the distance, brought out my spotting scope to verify my suspicions, and saw that about an acre of white bass were working over open water. I got to them as quickly as I could, but was sure not to throw a wake over any of these fish. I had my guests help rearrange all the tackle on the boat as I ran to the fish in order to clear the front deck and the area behind it to allow the boys to cast spinning rods rigged with Cork Rigs into the frenzy before us.

In summary, the boys enjoyed an uninterrupted, hour and 15 minutes of top water action as white bass forced shad of all sizes to the surface and fed on them.  Talk about “goal oriented” — they saw in my recent reports that the highest catch of late was 159 fish — a catch made under similar conditions with most fish coming on topwater.  Well, they wanted to top that and requested multiple “extensions” to work to that end.

During this span of time, the two of them landed an additional 120 fish, including 119 white bass and one hybrid striper.  This action finally died by around 11:15 AM.

Our final total was 170 fish.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.  If no topwater is encountered, the trip is going to be a tough one so far as white bass are concerned.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Not measured today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 2.19′ high with a 0.97 rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 81.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S9 at (obscured) sunrise, then dying to S2-3 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover with very light rain falling for ~40% of the time on the water (but not enough for raingear)

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 90% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Areas B0158C, B0029G, B0291G – 48 sunfish on bait under slipfloats

Area B0163G – late morning topwater for 119 white bass and 1 hybrid on Cork 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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, June 27, I fished with three coworkers, all part of a commercial construction company – Hill-Wilkinson Company. Joining me were Matt Shem, Seth Rabal, and Gramm Oberman — all avid anglers.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 27 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Seth Rabal, Matt Shem, and Gramm Oberman with a few of the Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir white bass they took under tough summertime conditions using MAL Heavy Lures smoked vertically.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The typically tough Texas summertime fishing is definitely upon us. Lots of young of the year shad and suspended gamefish are fast becoming the rule.

Before we got started, I let everyone know the fishing would be tough and that we would need to take full advantage of every opportunity we got as schools of patrolling white bass showed themselves beneath the boat via Garmin LiveScope.

With such abundant forage, it is tough to compete with small, slow-moving threadfin shad by the millions while using artificial lures, none of which can practically be as small as these tiny forage fish which the gamefish are feeding on.

My approach this morning was to find fish either on bottom with side imaging, or, more likely, suspended up off bottom using 2-D sonar. When either or both showed any concentration of fish, I use the i-Pilot Link system of my trolling motor to Spot Lock on top of these fish and we worked MAL Heavy lures vertically to try to tempt them.

As is typically the case, and especially in the summer, the more fish present in a given school, the more likely the fish were to aggressively compete with schoolmates and race to the bait.

We moved frequently, whenever the bite waned at a given area. In this manner, we put together a catch of 37 fish including 35 white bass and two largemouth bass.

Knowing that I also fish Lake Belton, Matt asked what my though process was that Lead to us fishing Stillhouse on this trip. I shared that Belton‘s fishing is typically even tougher that on Stillhouse, except when topwater action materializes. That action is far from guaranteed, and, on a Friday with some topwater action having occurred recently, I could only imagine it would be a zoo of boats, chasing whatever topwater schools presented themselves, hence, I opted for the relatively greater peace and quiet over on Stillhouse. Matt, who does not care for fishing in crowds, certainly appreciated that.

After checking with some friends over on Lake Belton, I found the topwater was spotty there this morning.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:30AM on Tuesday, 17 June…

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 1.60′ low’ high with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S6-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 40% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 861 thru 1971 produced best, although no area was just loaded up with 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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, Thursday, June 26, I fished with Mr. Ken Deweese and his nine-year-old grandson, Dane Deweese, who is visiting for a few weeks from Colorado, along with his two older sisters.

Ken now resides in the Salado area after retiring from 51 years of coaching basketball.  Dane calls him Pappadeaux.

TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 26 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   Ken and 9-year-old Dane Deweese teamed up for a multi-species fishing trip which resulted in the catch of white bass, largemouth bass, and bluegill sunfish.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Dane captured our largest fish of the trip.  This largemouth bass was 17″ long and right at 3.00 pounds.  It was caught on a MAL Heavy Lure worked vertically with a “smoking” retrieve.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The summer heat and young of the year shad are heavily and negatively influencing the fishing now. I have begun to see this play out on both Belton and now on Stillhouse. The millions of young of the year shad ranging now in size from 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/4 inches in length are suspended just about everywhere. These little fish are slow and abundant and are so easily fed upon, game fish really need not be interested in anything else.

We put in our first 3 1/2 hours in pursuit of white bass this morning. We started off smoking MAL Lures, but, given the scenario I’ve just described, the fishing is quite technical with no guarantee even a well-placed, well-worked bait is going to get bit. Ken caught a few fish this way before I decided to switch us over to downrigging. The downrigged #12 Pet Spoons caught fish slowly but consistently, and provided us with good quality fish, as well.

After the area we were downrigging in failed to produce any longer, the next fish I found were in timber, so downrigging was not an option. We re-doubled our efforts at getting Dane working his MAL Lure very well when fished vertically, and both he and Ken added fish to our count, taking us to a total of 23 fish landed with about 30 minutes left in the trip. I wanted to leave Dane with some skills he would be able to use if he was not able to be in a boat, so we headed up shallow and closed out the fishing trip catching 8 bluegill sunfish on telescoping rods under floats using live bait. We wound up the trip with 31 fish boated.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:30AM on Tuesday, 17 June…

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 1.56′ low’ high with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 81.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Under S6-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 40% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 484 – 3 white bass smoking MAL Heavy Lures

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS:  On Tuesday, June 24, I fished with a father and son team, first time guests Aaron Thompson, and his nine year old son, Captain. These fellows found themselves in bachelor status this week as Captain’s mom and sister headed to the Texas coast for Sea Camp focused on marine biology. Not to be outdone by the womenfolk, Aaron and Captain loaded up on beef jerky and decided to do a little adventuring out on the water of their own and went to their own “Fish Camp”.

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 24 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  Downrigging with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs behind twin downriggers was the key to our success today after what has been very reliable topwater action failed to materialize this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: In addition to white bass, we found both largemouth bass and hybrid striped bass, like this one, schooled up and suspended in and around the abundant young-of-the-year shad by using well-tuned 2D sonar.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Honestly, today was a bit of a letdown after the tremendous top water bite that has been taking place recently.  I anticipated using the trolling motor to get and keep Aaron and Captain within casting distance of frenzied white bass churning the lake’s surface as they fed on young of the year shad.  A few fish showed on the slick, calm water just as the sun was rising, but, after that … nothing.

Although the day’s weather forecast looked similar to previous day’s on paper, what actually transpired was far from it.  At sunrise, we had clear skies and calm winds versus grayed-over skies and a southeasterly breeze around that same time the previous day when the fish fed so ravenously. The winds stayed low and the skies stayed clear until around 9 AM, and by that time, it became obvious that no topwater action was going to materialize this morning.

Without the top water, Lake Belton’s summertime fishing is typically a pretty tough proposition, and that’s what we were left facing this morning. We wound up putting a total of 38 fish in the boat, including four hybrid striped bass, two largemouth bass, and 32 white bass. Every one of these fish was taken on a number 12 Pet Spoon fished behind a three-armed umbrella rig with a pair of downriggers working at all times, for a total of six baits in the water.

We caught these fish by keeping a very close eye on especially 2D sonar and the distinct arches it produces when sensing suspended fish.  Where concentrations of bait and gamefish showed, we plied that water over and over until it no longer produced, then moved on and did the same elsewhere.

I tried to keep an eagle eye out for top water action after experiencing a 9 AM to 10 AM bite one day last week, but the few schools that came up for just seconds at a time quit doing even that by about 8:50 AM.

Just a pretty tough morning all around.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Low winds and bright skies killed the great topwater bite this morning.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Lake Belton measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10:20AM on Wednesday, 18 June.  Also shown is dissolved oxygen down to ~65′.  This shows the thermocline developing around 30-35′, and demonstrates how oxygen-poor the water becomes below the thermocline in the summer….

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 2.05′ high with a 0.21′ fall in the last 24 hours w/ a release rate of ~1,610 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Under S5 all morning

Sky Condition: Hazy, cloudless skies until 9:40, when white clouds started

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: On Monday morning, 23 June, I fished with first time guest, Torres Carr. Torres is a veteran, having retired from the U.S. Army as a non-commissioned officer and having spent most of his time as a combat engineer. Torres continued on after retirement to work as a contractor, most recently returning from Croatia. He told me he had almost given up on fishing until this morning because, after around 10 attempts from May this year to present, he just hasn’t been able to really find or catch fish with consistency.

TODAY’S DATE: Monday, 23 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  U.S. Army veteran Torres Carr, originally from south Georgia, wore them out on topwater this morning, taking a total of 159 fish, 150 of which came on a Cork Rig fished aggressively on the surface for white bass which fed from ~6:35 to 9:10AM.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Today was one of those days which made it look easy to be a fishing guide. The fish were where I anticipated they would be, at the time I thought they’d be there, and eating what I thought they’d eat. We took a really hard look for top water action starting just a few minutes before sunrise. We spotted “nervous water“ soon thereafter, around 6:35 AM, and we’re able to stay on fish until about 9:10 AM when the white bass finally stopped feeding on mainly young of the year shad.

Over this span of time, we covered quite a bit of distance, keeping up with the white bass as they moved quickly across the surface. I ran the trolling motor as Torres sight cast to the nearest school of fish. I rigged Torres up with one of my custom-made Cork Rigs.  It casts long, stays tangle free, allows quick bait changeout when matching bait size, and features a single hook to make for quick releases so my clients can get casting again while the action lasts.

Up until the time the fish finally left the surface, he landed exactly 149 white bass and one largemouth bass. Although there were still a few fish on the surface here and there, I wanted to show Torres additional, effective summertime tactics.

We broke away from the white bass top water action, and I demonstrated downrigging, adding five more fish to our total.

After that, I demonstrated the smoking and sawtooth tactics using the MAL Heavy Lure. After Torres had the retrieves nailed down, we put the smoking retrieve to use in combination with the splasher and Garmin LiveScope to put a final three fish in the boat. By now we’ve been on the water four hours, and the fish were just about done.

Torres shared how his enthusiasm for fishing had been completely renewed based on what he saw and learned this morning. Our final tally was 159 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Uninterrupted 2 hours and 35 minutes of topwater frenzy with light (<7 mph) SE breeze and full, but thin, grey cloud cover.  Most YOY shad being fed upon, but several classes of adult shad were present, as well.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Lake Belton measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10:20AM on Wednesday, 18 June.  Also shown is dissolved oxygen down to ~65′.  This shows the thermocline developing around 30-35′, and demonstrates how oxygen-poor the water becomes below the thermocline in the summer….

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.26′ high with a 0.10′ fall in the last 24 hours w/ a release rate of ~1,600 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between SE5-10 all morning

Sky Condition: Full, but thin, grey cloud cover, clearing beginning around 9:40A.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 4% illumination.

GT = 0

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AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning I welcomed aboard the wife and children of U.S. Army Major Nicholas Spicocchi, an Infantry officer currently assigned to Fort Hood, but on deployment and therefore separated from his family.  Joining me were Mrs. Kiley Spicocchi and her kids, Brooke (age 5), Isabella (age 9), Kiley, and John (age 11).  This was the fifth Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2025 season.

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

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 20 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  From left: Brooke (age 5), Isabella (age 9), Kiley, and John (age 11) Spicocchi took part in the most recent Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip this past Friday on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir while their father, U.S. Army Major Nicholas Spicocchi, is deployed.  The kids landed ninety fish in just under three and a half hours.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Figuring out how to approach fishing with a 5, 9, and 11 year old in the crew was a bit tricky.  I considered the bite, the weather, and the kids and came up with a plan which worked today.

First, we downrigged, although it was not the kind of downrigging I’ve been doing for “mop up” later in the morning after a vertical bite begins to wane.  Rather, this morning, I ran the downrigger balls close to the bottom to tempt those same fish we’d otherwise be using a smoking tactic for vertically.  This was done so everyone would get to share in the action while keeping it age-appropriate.

The kids did great!  John helped greatly by setting the lines back out the proper distance after a fish was landed, and Brooke made sure the balls were brought up after a fish struck, so as to clear the water of any obstacles the hooked fish could get tangled on.  Kiley assisted little Isabella in reeling in her fish while Brooke and John worked independently on theirs.  In this way, the kids landed exactly 44 white bass and a largemouth bass as singles, doubles, and triples before the early morning bite died and it was time to move on.  All of these fish were taken on 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.

We totally changed it up at this point by moving into shallow cover and targeting sunfish with bait under slipfloats.  Again, John and Brooke got the hang of this immediately and Isabella landed a few of the 33 sunfish which came aboard with the help of her mom.

By the time the cover we were targeting ran out of willing sunfish, we had about 45 minutes remaining in this trip I’d planned to span 3.5 hours. Isabella was worn out to the point of being drowsy by this time, but Brooke and John were still ready for more.  We changed things up once again, and I searched windblown areas for suspended white bass using 2D sonar in hopes that we could consolidate them beneath us with the splasher in numbers great enough to create some competition and work MAL Heavy Lures through them with success.  This worked out well.  Although the morning feed was well on its way to ending, John and Brooke were persistent and wound up putting another 12 fish in the boat in this manner, taking our morning total to 90 fish.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. As the water warms, the fishing gets a bit tougher day by day.  Fewer fish are making use of the bottom, and the abundance of young-of-the-year shad is tough to compete with.
2. No bird activity witnessed.
3. No largemouth bass topwater activity wintessed.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.36′ low with a 0.01′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between S6-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 29% illumination.

GT = 20

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AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning was a continuation of the 13-month-long study comparing sizes and weights of white bass taken from Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir and Lake Belton.  Joining me to help collect fish by catching them with rod and reel were a foursome of returning guests: Stiles and Sarah Parker, and their teenaged niece and nephew, Cassie (13) and Derek (16) Chasteen.  The researchers aboard this morning included Professor Jason Locklin and Caleb Fry from Temple College.

ABOUT THE WHITE BASS STUDY:
Through April of 2026, researchers will be measuring and weighing the white bass captured by my clients to consider establish a baseline of fish quality on both lakes.  If you come out fishing with me to help collect these fish, you will get $50 deducted from your fee in exchange for allowing researchers to accompany your party on my boat.  We have designated one sampling day per lake, per month through April of 2026. We will still be catching and releasing all fish.

REMAINING OPEN DATES:

There is at least one date remaining open from Aug. to Nov. 2025, and from Jan. to April 2026

DATE: Thursday, 19 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Sarah and Stiles Parker, and their niece and nephew, Cassie and Derek Chasteen, took 101 fish during their 4-hour morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow, further assisting with data collection for the comparative study being conducted on white bass populations at Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow by Temple College researchers.

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles is all smiles!!  That’s a 16.75″ white bass.  It fell for an MAL Heavy worked with a sawtooth method in just over 30 feet of water.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The high winds we’ve experienced since midday Tuesday finally relented overnight and we had winds S8-13 this morning which was just enough to keep the water rippled and keep everyone cool enough to enjoy this outing.

We saw the most aggressive feed over the course of our first hour on the water, but caught fish steadily for the entire four hour trip.

As we first got going, smoking MAL Heavy Lures vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope aided by a splasher got the job done well as we saw the fish moving rapidly along and parallel to the bottom.  Slowly this eased up and, as everyone else continued working vertically, I suggested to Stiles that he begin experimenting with a horizontal, sawtooth retrieve based on how I saw the fish beneath us behaving, and what I was observing on side-imaging.  He began to connect more routinely than the others, so, I then had everyone else join in fishing MAL Lures with the sawtooth method until the fishing at this area slowed further.  We then “mopped up” with downriggers by running 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons over isolated pods of fish until even that halted.

We moved on and essentially repeated this process at a similar area, only the overall duration of the bite here was shorter.  By the time these fish quit, we had about an hour left in our trip.

The final batch of fish I found was in some timber, so downrigging and the sawtooth method were off the table.  We exercised some patience, waiting for solid groups of fish to pass by so the competition factor amongst the individuals in those groups would kick in and provide opportunities to connect vertically with the smoking method.

This approach accounted for 101 fish this morning, including 98 white bass, 2 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum for a grand total of 101 fish landed.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. As the water warms, the fishing gets a bit tougher day by day.  Fewer fish are making use of the bottom, and the abundance of young-of-the-year shad is tough to compete with.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.34′ low with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between S8-13 all morning

Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 40% illumination.

GT = 115

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle