Bob Maindelle | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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HER FISHING CAREER BEGAN WITH A BANG!! – 28 FISH

March 11th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:

This morning, Monday, March 11th, I conducted the 11th SKIFF program trip of the 2024 season.

This morning also corresponded with the first day of our local school district’s spring break.

Joining me was 10 year old Nathalia Gensaya, daughter of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant (E 6 ) Nichole Gensaya. SSG Gensaya has been an artillerymen for 11 years. He is currently on a temporary duty assignment to recruiting school up in Pennsylvania.

Because SSG Gensaya’s wife does not drive and has a 2 year old at home, a buddy of his, Mr. John Evangelista, picked Nathalia up and dropped her off.

This young lady would go on to land a full limit of 25 white bass, as well as an 8.00 pound largemouth bass, all on the first fishing trip of her life.

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 children of military personnel separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish. SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member. In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to kids of bona fide disabled veterans. I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 Mar., 2 & 4 Apr. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: This largemouth was caught as Nathalia was working her slab vertically amongst a school of white bass. It weighed in at 8.00 pounds on a certified scale. Quite a catch on the first fishing trip of her life!

PHOTO CAPTION: … and did I mention Nathalia also landed a full 25-fish limit of white bass? No wonder she’s smiling like that!!!

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 11 Mar. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

A cold front which moved in about two hours before sunset on Friday cooled the water down over the weekend, knocking the surface temperature back about 4°F, down to 60F.

The shallow water bite was definitely impacted by that cooldown. We found a few fish, but only a few fish, at the areas which last week consistently produced dozens of fish. We went after these shallow water fish using Mal Originals with chartreuse tails fished with a sawtooth method.

We also did some flatline trolling, but, with no current in the old Lampasas River channel to draw fish upstream, there are simply very few fish using the channel.

We invested our final hour into fishing vertically in deeper, clearer water. This produced both the best quality of fish and the most consistent fishing of the morning. We fished only two locations by slow smoking with white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to pick up largemouth bass and white bass in 28 feet at our first stop and in 22 feet at our final stop.

I welcomed the company of Mr. Manuel Pena of the Austin Fly Fishers, the original sponsor of this SKIFF program, this morning.

Manuel and I both commented how pleasant of a young lady Nathalia was. She did well in interacting with two grown men she’d never met before, was well-spoken, and quickly learned to cast her spinning gear both accurately and for distance.

When all was said and done, Nathalia brought 28 fish in the boat, including 25 white bass and three largemouth bass, the largest of which was 8.00 lbs. as weighed on a certified scale.

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 28 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Sandhill cranes were heard migrating north for the first time last night, and the spring’s first bluebonnets began to appear on Friday and Saturday this past weekend.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:15A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation: 17.00 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: < 5 SSE all morning until 11:20, when it picked up to SSE10

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% gradually clearing to

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1048, SH0284G, 074

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

1 DAY, 2 LAKES, 3 GENERATIONS — 124 FISH w/ THE COBURNS

March 10th, 2024March 10th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Friday, March 8, I fished with three generations of Coburn men – – Quinn from Ohio flew in Wednesday to join his adult son, Josh, and his 10-year-old grandson, Phoenix, for some springtime white bass fishing here in Central Texas.

Quinn is Retired from business, Josh is a software developer in the Austin area, and Phoenix is a self-proclaimed weather nerd (hence, we had an immediate connection!), working his way through elementary school.

We ran a full day trip today with the morning segment on Stillhouse, and the afternoon segment on Lake Belton.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phoenix, Josh, and Quinn Coburn with a portion of their morning catch made on Stillhouse Hollow.

PHOTO CAPTION: Quinn took biggest gamefish honors for the morning segment of our day with this 4.50-pound largemouth take out of ~14 feet of water on an MAL Original worked with a sawtooth method. He also landed a 5.00 pound drum.

PHOTO CAPTION: Thanks to an incoming cold front which hit around 4:30P, we saw a real uptick in the fishing in the last two hours of the afternoon, allowing for an 82 fish catch on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Josh was the big fish winner for the afternoon with a nice 20″ hybrid taken on the MAL Original worked with a sawtooth method.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir (AM), Lake Belton (PM)

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 08 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As I awoke Friday morning, I checked weather radar and saw a band of thunderstorms moving in from the west. These hit us by 6:20 but cleared the area by 7:30. We got 0.15 inches of rainfall with a northwesterly wind in wake of the storms for about two hours, after which time the winds went calm through the end of our morning trip.

We left the boat ramp in a cold, light rain, which had stopped by the time we made our first few casts. The fishing was good through about 10 o’clock during which time my three anglers consistently took quality white bass using , the MAL Original Lure with chartreuse tail fished with a sawtooth tactic in under 15 feet of water. When the shallow water bite ended after the winds went slack about 40 minutes prior, the fishing got and remained tough from that point forward.

We hit two deep water areas, drew in some suspended white bass thanks to the thumper, and picked them off using white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, using the slow smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

Thus ended our morning effort with 42 fish landed, including a 5.00 pound freshwater drum and a 4.75 pound largemouth . The single largest white bass was right at 14.75 inches.

We reconvened on Lake Belton at 2:30 PM knowing that a dry cold front would enter into Central Texas airspace at some point in the late afternoon.

The weather was just blasé prior to the arrival of the lead edge of a dry cold front around 4:30 PM. Up until that time, the fishing was very tough. Just finding fish was difficult, then, we got nearly 0 response from the schools of fish we found.

As the north wind began to increase in velocity, it was as if someone flipped on a switch. I found fish in two areas. I positioned the boat in about 15 feet of water and had my crew of three cast out of whichever side of the boat side imaging revealed fish were on. We quickly made up for lost time with nonstop catching in the last two hours of the day.

In a stark contrast concerning frontal activity, we landed eight fish in the 2 hours prior to the north wind’s start, then landed 74 fish in the last two hours under the influence of this cold fronts entry.

Our total for the evening was 82 fish, thus yielding a total for the day of 124 fish.

TALLY: 124 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F

5 feet, 64.3F

10 feet, 63.5F

15 feet, 62.3F

20 feet, 61.2F

25 feet, 59.0F

30 feet, 57.2F

35 feet, 55.2F

40 feet, 53.9F

45 feet, 53.1F

50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A, then 2:30P

End Time: 11:40A, then 6:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F AM, 77F PM

Elevation: 16.92 feet low, 1 CFS flow (Stillhouse), 12.20 feet low, 33 CFS flow (Belton)

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface@ Stillhouse, 64.4 on the surface @ Belton

Wind Speed & Direction: AM – 13 mph NW winds at sunrise quickly died to light and variable after the storm’s passage. PM – light NW winds at 6 mph quickly ramped up as a cold front moved in around 4:30P, quickly dropping air temps.

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover for the first hour, then clearing through mid-day, then increasing to 40% thru the afternoon.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 8% illumination.

GT = 125

Wx SNAPSHOT:

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

WEATHER JUST RIGHT FOR FISHING — 64 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

March 7th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, March 7, I fished with long-time clients and friends Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen of Troy, TX.

Aside from our shared interest in fishing, we also enjoy following Christ, doing right by our spouses, raising dogs and plants, and eating good food. These things we have in common led us to grab a meal together once a month — something we’ve been doing for quite a while now.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: Sylvia Maedgen with a 4.75 pound Stillhouse Hollow largemouth bass which stopped her MAL Lure dead in its tracks as she was casting up shallow targeting white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Not to be outdone, Tommy Maedgen took this 4.75 pound largemouth as we sat in 11′ of water, casting downslope toward the river channel, again, as we were targeting white bass. This fish also fell for an MAL Lure (Original) with chartreuse tail worked with a sawtooth method.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 07 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

If I could custom-order fishing weather in the spring, this is the kind of weather I would order. We had completely greyed over skies, but with clouds thin enough to let enough sun through that you still had to squint without sunglasses on. The air temperature did not change much overnight due to cloud cover, and the starting temperature at sunrise was 64F. We had a light southeast breeze all morning, and the air was just a bit humid, so, wearing a long-sleeved shirt felt just right.

We started our morning up shallow and rode the shallow water bite as long as it lasted, then moved out to deeper water in the last 75 minutes of the trip.

We searched for topographic anomalies adjacent to the river channel in water under 22 feet in hopes of finding white bass staging for their spawning run (weather or not one actually happens this year).

I started both Sylvia and Tommy off using cut down 3 inch, white, curl tail grubs on 3/8 ounce jig heads. I noted their strike to land ratio was not what I wanted it to be on these lures, so, I experimented with an Mal original with chartreuse tail, got bit immediately, and switch them over to the same. Because this lure throws farther and sticks closer to bottom, it was ideal as long as we did not run into hydrilla.

We landed 6 fish at the first shallow water area we finished in this matter, 31 fish at the 2nd shallow water spot, and another six fish at the last shallow water stop.

After the shallow water bite tapered to nothing, I went and begin searching in over 25 feet of water looking for schooled fish on the bottom, or a collection of suspended fish.

We found a bottom oriented school of fish in right at 31 feet of water and begin using white, 5 eighth ounce bladed hazy eye slabs to catch these fish with a slow smoking tactic. The action here was slower than I felt the weather conditions would allow for, so, we left this slower than expected bite to search for more aggressive fish, and, finding none in several key areas, we returned to this area and continued to catch fish slowly until they quit right around noon.

When all was said and done, Tommy and Sylvia brought 64 fish over the gunwales.

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F

5 feet, 64.3F

10 feet, 63.5F

15 feet, 62.3F

20 feet, 61.2F

25 feet, 59.0F

30 feet, 57.2F

35 feet, 55.2F

40 feet, 53.9F

45 feet, 53.1F

50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 16.92 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-5 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE 13 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

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

ALL IN THE FAMILY – 54 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

March 6th, 2024March 7th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 6, I fished with a returning crew of three, including brothers Stiles and Miles Parker, and their mother, Trish Littlejohn.

Stiles has come out with me multiple times and is a real student of fishing. Now equipped with his own center console with useful accessories for the pursuit of white bass and hybrid, he does well in his own right.

But, no matter how experienced you are, there is always at least a little something you can pick up by fishing with other experienced anglers. This morning, that nugget was seeing how to approach suspended fish in deep water not relating to the bottom.

Here is how the fishing went this morning…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: Trish took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom. We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Miles took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom. We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles took this hybrid from a horizontal band of fish holding in 35 to 40 feet of water over a 70′ bottom. We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to imitate a slowly moving threadfin shad to fool these hybrid with the help of LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Stiles Parker, his mom, Trish Littlejohn, and Stiles’ brother, Miles Parker, with a few of the white bass they caught, primarily by slow-smoking a slab past suspended fish.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 06 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I’ve found fishing over at Stillhouse over the course of this past week had been getting progressively more difficult thanks to a very rapid warm-up bringing late March conditions to us by late February and early March this year.

I found that the fish I had been routinely and consistently catching on Stillhouse were rapidly vacating deep water, were more prone to suspend, and were breaking into smaller schools and dispersing versus homesteading in large congregations as they’d been doing all winter.

As I conducted a check of the water temperature profile on Belton, I found it was much the same as the water temperature profile on Stillhouse, with a nearly 10° difference between the surface temperature and the temperature on bottom at 50 feet deep.

A dry, mild cold front blew in yesterday, leaving a light northerly wind, and slowly increasing levels of cloud cover in its wake this morning.

We found our fish this morning in five distinct locations. The first location and the last location featured fish on bottom which chased my crew’s baits up off the bottom and overtook them.

At the middle three spots, we encountered suspended fish and had to rely on Garmin LiveScope to retrieve our baits directly in front of the fishes’ direction of travel in order to get the fish to pursue the lures upwards, overtake them, and then bite.

We relied on only one lure this morning – the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

In addition to finding suspended fish at these three locations, our attention was drawn to these areas by the presence of, and behavior of birds, including both terns and gulls. I have yet to see any Laughing Gulls thus far this season.

When all was said and done, my three-angler crew landed a total of 54 fish , including short and legal white bass, short and legal hybrid striped bass, and short and legal largemouth bass.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on Lake Belton on the morning of 06 March…

0 feet, 62.2F

5 feet, 62.3F

10 feet, 62.3F

15 feet, 62.3F

20 feet, 61.5F

25 feet, 58.9F

30 feet, 57.6F

35 feet, 57.1F

40 feet, 56.5F

45 feet, 54.7F

50 feet, 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 12.24 feet low, 33 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: W6 for the first 90 minutes, then shifting ENE 6 for another 90 minutes, then going calm for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through ~40% cloud cover at trip’s start, increasing to a thin, grey layer of clouds at 100% coverage by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

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

I FISHED WITH THE STONES!! (THE NON-ROLLING KIND) – 54 FISH

March 6th, 2024March 6th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday morning, March 5th, I fished with long-time client Mr. Dwight Stone of Georgetown. Accompanying Dwight was his brother, Duane, and Duane’s adult son, Josh.

Dwight is a retired restaurateur, Duane is an retired Alaska State Trooper, and Josh works in maintenance at a large gold mining operation in Alaska.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight, Duane, and Josh Stone with a nice collection of mature Stillhouse Hollow white bass plump and ready to spawn.

PHOTO CAPTION: Just throwing this in for fun!! No extra charge.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 05 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The unseasonably warm stretch of weather in late Feb. which now continues into early Mar. has created a scenario with a full 12 degrees difference in water temperature from the surface (64.4F) to the bottom in 50′ (52.8F), and this has definitely impacted the fish and the fishing.

I’ve noted that the fish have vacated deep water (over 40′), they are now much more likely to be found suspended, and the large schools of fish we’ve had all winter are now splintering into much smaller schools.

This morning, I searched for shallow fish in under 20′ early while the light level was still low, and we found a nice school of fish tightly grouped in about 11′. We cast white, curl-tail grubs on 1/2 oz. jigheads to them and picked up 9 whites and 1 largemouth before these fish either moved on or lost interest.

Shallow fishing is very much hindered by the presence of hydrilla, so, we really had to pick and choose where we tried this.

As this shallow bite faded, the wind began to push WSW around 6 mph, so, we moved to deeper, clearer water and spent the remainder of the trip working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically for fish which were either suspended or bottom-oriented (we did not find an area where the fish were both suspended and bottom-oriented).

The majority of the fish we took in this deeper, clearer water came as my crew of three smoothly reeled their slabs right off the tips of the noses of suspended fish just before the fish passed by as seen on Garmin LiveScope.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F

5 feet, 64.3F

10 feet, 63.5F

15 feet, 62.3F

20 feet, 61.2F

25 feet, 59.0F

30 feet, 57.2F

35 feet, 55.2F

40 feet, 53.9F

45 feet, 53.1F

50 feet, 52.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 16.84 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW6-8 for the entire trip.

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through ~40% cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

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

TEAMING UP WITH TPWD — 52 FISH

March 5th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning, March 4th, I fished a special trip with my wife, Rebecca, my friend, Ronnie Trower, and two fine fellows from the TPWD’s Dundee Hatchery in Electra, TX, Cody Talley and Wesley Ide.

Our goal today was to capture large, egg-laden white bass, retain them during the trip, transfer them into a hatchery truck, and send them to the Dundee facility where they are to be used to spawn with male stripers to produce hybrid striped bass.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 27-29 Feb. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Wes Ide, Cody Talley, and Ronnie Trower place Stillhouse Hollow female white bass into a specialized trailer for transportation back to the Dundee Hatchery near Wichita Falls to be used to produce Sunshine-strain hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Despite clear instructions to catch only mature, female white bass, Ronnie Trower, a dyed-in-the-wool bass fisherman, just couldn’t resist putting a few green fish in the boat!!

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 04 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

After a 145 fish trip on Saturday, I texted Cody over the weekend letting him know that Monday was still not going to be a ‘cake walk’. Every year about Spring Break time, the strong winter pattern which normally develops by mid-December begins to rapidly break down. I saw evidence of this on Saturday, and the high temperatures we saw over the weekend just ushered this shift in even more quickly.

In summary, the five of us worked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs intensely using a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope for a full five hours. As the bite wound down during the noon hour, we had amassed a catch of 52 fish. This included 13 of the target fish we’d hoped for, as well as numerous quality largemouth bass, freshwater drum, small whites of both genders, and quality male white bass.

The change in behavior I see this time of year involves fish vacating deep water, suspending more and using the bottom less, and seeing the large winter season schools break up into very small groups of 4-12 fish instead of 25 to 60 fish as is the case over the winter.

Cody and Wes truly take pride in what they do, are willing to go the extra mile to do it, and the fishing public directly benefits from their year-round efforts dealing with both the routine, and the many curveballs nature throws their way (like drought, sudden temperature drops, golden algae blooms, and more).

TALLY: 52 fish caught, 39 fish released, and 13 fish sent to the Dundee Hatchery.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 02 March…

0 feet, 58.3F

5 feet, 58.9F

10 feet, 58.9F

15 feet, 58.7F

20 feet, 58.4F

25 feet, 58.3F

30 feet, 57.1F

35 feet, 55.6F

40 feet, 54.3F

45 feet, 53.6F

50 feet, 52.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 1:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 16.84 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for the first hour, with winds going S9 thereafter

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through 60-85% cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 41% illumination.

GT = 20

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

BACHELOR PARTY!! — 145 FISH ON BLADED HAZY EYE SLABS

March 2nd, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, March 2, I fished with a crew of five on a bachelor party outing in advance of Jeff Rose’s wedding to be held in mid-March.

The five fellows joining me either are now, or have been in the past, affiliated with the Temple Independent School District where they help maintain the district’s bus fleet.

Although all had fished before, none had fished the way we approached the white bass fishing this morning.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 27-29 Feb. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Cooper, Lindsey Davis, George Bell, James Horton, and Jeff Rose with a few of the 145 fish they caught and released this morning, March 2nd.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 02 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

After record high temps around 90F on Monday and Tuesday, we dropped back down with highs at only 54F on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday warmed up, but the lack of cloud cover put us back at 46F on the boat ramp before sunrise this morning.

We had some light fog and (worst of all) calm winds with clear, bright skies until around 9:30. Our results up until 9:30 reflected the tough conditions with only 6 fish landed in two hours of effort. At exactly 9:34, the lightest ripple of wind approached from the SW with no calm patches remaining upwind. The fishing turned around “big time” once this wind began. From 9:30 until 12:20, my five man crew (now VERY well practiced at the tactics they needed to employ) took full advantage of the improving bite.

The fish went strong for a full hour, then slacked off as the wind slacked off for about 20 minutes — from about 10:40 to 11:00. The wind picked back up and then blew even stronger than it did earlier from 11AM until we wrapped up at 12:20.

During the entire morning we used only one tactic and only one bait. Everyone had the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab tied on and used it with a slow-smoking tactic. The fish were very choosy as to retrieve speed. I helped everyone zero in on the correct retrieve speed by using my thumper as a metronome beating faster when the wind blew and the fish swam and chased aggressively, and beating more slowly when the wind was light and the fish were more lethargic.

We closed out the trip with a grand total of 145 fish landed, including 1 largemouth bass, 2 freshwater drum, and 142 white bass.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 145 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ this morning, 02 March…

0 feet, 58.3F

5 feet, 58.9F

10 feet, 58.9F

15 feet, 58.7F

20 feet, 58.4F

25 feet, 58.3F

30 feet, 57.1F

35 feet, 55.6F

40 feet, 54.3F

45 feet, 53.6F

50 feet, 52.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 12:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 649F

Elevation: 16.84 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 57.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 2 hours, then going SW 4-11 for the rest of the morning

Sky Condition: Pale blue skies w/ no cloud cover after a light lake fog cleared by 8:10A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 61% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Vic 350, SH0044C, 2022, SH0260G, SH0268G, SH0269G (3 hops), SH0283G (2 hops), vic 980

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

Chaplain Melin’s Boys Were A Blessing to Have Aboard — 75 Fish

February 26th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, February 26, I conducted the 10th SKIFF program trip of the 2024 season. Joining me this morning were Jonah (14), Huck (12), Eli (12), and Benaiah (11) Melin, the sons of the U.S. Army Captain Danny Melin, an active duty chaplain. What great kids! It’s refreshing to see young men who are both polite and articulate these days.

Chaplain Melin’s most recent deployment was with Special Forces out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He is currently going through an intensive, 18-month Family Life Program offered only to chaplains to help the equip them for the unique mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our modern fighting force. Upon completion of this training in December, Chaplin Melin will return to a regular unit to serve as a Family Life Chaplin.

Mrs. Carly Melin homeschools their children, hence scheduling this trip on a weekday was a win-win for my schedule and theirs, now that weekends are in much higher demand as spring approaches.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 27-29 Feb. (AMs)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Benaiah, Huck, Jonah, and Eli Melin with a sampling of the white bass they took on white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs fished vertically using a slow-smoking tactic at varying speeds in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: This largemouth came out of 42 feet of water as Jonah worked his slab upwards, away from the bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: This largemouth came out of 36 feet of water at mid-morning and his Huck’s slab as he worked it toward the surface.

PHOTO CAPTION: Benaiah was our first to land a largemouth this morning. It was the second fish we boated. It came out of 25 feet of water and was our heaviest largemouth at 6.75 pounds on a certified scale.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 26 Feb. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The forecast was for an unseasonably warm run of days from Sunday through Wednesday this week, and the meteorologists hit it right on the head.

For the first time in a long time, I started the day with only two layers on my upper body, and shed one of those by mid-morning.

That same weather kept the winds light and kept some cloud cover in place, and this morning’s bite reflected those so-so conditions. The fishing started off cold, warmed to a simmer, but never truly boiled over.

Fortunately, all of the boys came aboard with prior fishing experience, and were already capable with spinning gear. I demonstrated the slow-smoking tactic for them, using a white, 5/8-ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked in conjunction with the Garmin LiveScope from a hovering position maintained by the Minn Kota trolling motor.

The first hour was our slowest under calm, cloudy conditions. The middle two hours saw average fishing, and our final hour – the only time we had steady winds over six mph – produced nearly half of our catch.

As has become nearly standard for winter fishing on Stillhouse, in addition to plenty of quality white bass, we also caught multiple largemouth bass between 4 and 7 lbs, as well as beefy freshwater drum.

We closed out the trip with a grand total of 75 fish landed, including 6 largemouth bass, two freshwater drum, and 67 white bass.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: A record high temperature of 90F is forecast for today’s date, the 26th of February. Birds are still present in good numbers and still helpful in solving the location puzzle.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 16.81 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 57.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW 0-6 all morning

Sky Condition: Pale blue skies w/ up to 40% white-grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Vic SH0235G (13 fish), vic SH0240G (8 fish), vic SH0241G (6 fish), vic SH0268G (6 fish), vic SH0280G (27 fish), vic 970 (15 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

FISHING WITH U.S. ARMY SSG NARIMANOV’S KIDS — 74 FISH

February 24th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, February 24th, I conducted the 9th SKIFF trip of the 2024 season.

I welcomed aboard 13 year old Milan Narimanov and his sister, 9 year old Roxana Narimanov. The children’s mom, Tetyana Zeyda coordinated the trip for them, but declined to join them over her concern about motion sickness.

The children’s father, US Army Staff Sergeant Ramai Narimanov, has served for 12 years as a Russian language interpreter. He is currently in the midst of a months-long deployment to Southwest Asia.

Next available dates are 27-29 Feb. (AMs)

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Milan and Roxana Narimanov proudly display a portion of their 74-fish late-February catch taken on white, 5/8-oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

PHOTO CAPTION: This nice freshwater drum struck Milan Narimanov’s slab right on bottom in around 42 feet of water.

PHOTO CAPTION: With fingerless gloves and rosy cheeks Miss Roxana Narimanov battled this largemouth bass into the boat early on in the trip with an air temp. around 43F.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 24 Feb. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Although both kids had been on a boat previously, neither had ever gone fishing before. Sometimes, that is not a bad thing, as instead of having to undo bad habits, i can jump right into teaching good ones.

I explained the importance of a smooth, steady retrieve, and demonstrated how to grip the spinning reels handle lightly so the kids kept their rod tip nearly motionless as they retrieved their baits.

We would fish five areas this morning with the fishing getting increasingly better add each one as the skies grew brighter and the wind, although light, became steady and continuously rippled the surface.

We relied on one lure and one tactic this morning. The white, 5 eighth ounce bladed hazy eye slab worked with a slow smoking tactic drew strikes all morning from fish which were both bottom oriented, especially in the 1st 70 minutes, and from fish which were suspended, including fish from as much as 35 to 42 feet deep over a deeper bottom.

As has been the case all week, fish eating birds, namely ring build goals, were helpful in getting to the general locations fish were using in the first 90 minutes or so. Well tuned side imaging then helped find the spot on the spot. After the birds dissipated, fish had to be found solely with sonar.

In 3.5 hours’ time, my young rookies landed exactly 74 fish, including 71 white bass, two large mouth bass, and one freshwater drum.

Here is a tutorial on the snap-jigging method … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGtrnAQ_T94&t=55s

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 74 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Although the cold front which came in on Thursday afternoon was mild, it did cause bright, cold, low wind conditions, and definitely hindered the bite in the first hour or so of this morning’s trip.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation: 16.81 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 54.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW 3-7 all morning

Sky Condition: Cloudless, pale blue skies

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Vic 100 (4 fish), vic 338 (13 fish), vic 1536 (20 fish), vic 074 (13 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