Bob Maindelle | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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STRONG START, STRONG FINISH, BUT THAT MIDDLE WAS TOUGH — 101 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 8th, 2023May 8th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, May 8, I fished with returning guests – – the father and son team of Frank and Marcos Sumner.

Frank, a US Army veteran who worked in the military healthcare field, now continues in that same field as a civilian. Marcos and his family reside south of Austin where Marcos works in the banking industry.

Here is how the fishing went…
—————————————————————————————————–

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

Next available dates are June 21, 22, 27, & 28 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Marcos Sumner and his dad, Frank, with a few of the 101 fish we caught. Fishing was strong at both the start of the trip and again at the end, with two tough hours in between.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple! Frank landed both of our two sets of triples as we downrigged for disinterested fish. We used #13 Pet Spoons behind umbrella rigs.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 08 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I encouraged Frank and Marcos to be punctual for our 6:40 AM start time suspecting that we would have an opportunity to sight-cast to white bass and hybrid striper feeding in shallow water on spawning shad.

That shallow action did materialize, and thanks to thin, but complete, gray cloud cover, that early morning feed lasted for a full 70 minutes and allowed us a take of 51 fish all on MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails, counted down to either a four-, six-, or eight-count depending on the light level and what I was seeing on sonar.

As this fairly easy and productive fishing tapered off sharply as the sun began to burn through the clouds, I told Frank and Marcos that it was now time to go to work. Thing was … I didn’t know just how much work it was going to be this morning. Over the next 2 1/4 hours we were only able to put six more fish in the boat as I found it difficult to locate large groups of fish, and also found that those fish I did find were quite reluctant to chase and strike our presentations.

Last week, when the fishing got tough, downrigging was the cure, but, that was when there were ample fish present and after those abundant fish had turned off after feeding pretty well prior to.

This morning, those large groups of fish I’d hoped to downrigger over were in short supply. I hit one open water area which the wind was impacting pretty substantially, and we were able to pick up seven fish on the downriggers.

Seeing the effectiveness of this approach, I backtracked to one of the areas where we found fish earlier in the morning, but could not get them to fire up.

Fortunately, the fish were still there and this time, they went for the horizontal movement of the downriggers. We spent the remaining 75 minutes of the trip at that location, catching singles, doubles, and two sets of triples as the wind reached peak speed, and the skies began to clear.

To best imitate spawning shad, I chose a number 13 Pet Spoon with silver prismatic tape, and a yellow feather for the tail. I placed three of these behind the three-armed umbrella rig on 22-inch leaders and that combination was simply deadly. I tried to keep the downrigger balls about 4 feet off the bottom so these lazy fish did not have to travel very far if they were interested. We landed 37 more white bass in this area.

We wrapped up this morning’s trip with exactly 101 fish, including 43 hybrid, all of which were short, and all of which were taken while we were sight-casting during the first 70 minutes of the trip

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The migration of Franklin’s gulls looks like it is all but over now with but a handful of these very helpful birds witnessed this morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 13.72 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.02′ rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 70.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE11 at trip’s start, building slowly to an end-of-trip peak of SSE13

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover with brief spurts of direct sun breaking thru in the final 90 minutes

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 91% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1562 – 51 fish on sight-cast MAL Heavies counted down to 4, 6, or 8

Area 098 – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area vic B0023C thru 1556 – 7 fish on downrigged Pet Spoons

Area vic B0041G – 37 fish on downrigged Pet Spoons

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

THEY GOT “BUS”TED — 131 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 5th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, May 5, I fished with returning guests — the father and son team of Kelvin Gladden, and one of his sons, Tevin.

I Kelvin is a US Army veteran and Tevin works in the computer industry over in Temple.

Here is how the fishing went.…

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

Next available dates are June 21, 22, 27, & 28 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kelvin and Tevin Gladden with some mature Lake Belton white bass which came on MAL Heavy Lures worked vertically and on downrigged Pet Spoons when the fish were less aggressive.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple! Tevin landed five sets of triples as we downrigged for increasingly disinterested fish after the winds reached a peak and then began falling off. We used #13 Pet Spoons behind twin umbrella rigs behind two downriggers.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 05 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Due to high wind speeds forecast toward the end of our trip, I had to launch at a more distant ramp this morning than usual, and although I got there with no problem before 6:15A, the Gladdens got stuck behind a school bus and arrived a bit late, which cost us an opportunity at sight-casting to white bass forcing shad to the surface in shallow water under low light conditions.

Although this action was still going on as we got underway, we only managed three fish in the few minutes which remained of that action before the skies brightened, the shad moved out, the birds quit, and the white bass crept downward and outwards away from the shoreline.

We moved away from the shoreline out to the first breakline and were able to catch abundant, active white bass, just as we did under similar weather conditions yesterday. We took these fish with a vertical tactic using MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails. After nearly an hour on these fish, found on two distinct areas along this first breakline, the bite began to wane.

Next, I spotted about three dozen Franklins gulls working over open water, got to them, saw abundant, but very scattered fish, and after making a quick attempt to see if we could draw fish to us with the splasher, I instead changed over to downrigging. This allowed us to cover water quickly, spot fish on side-imaging, then turn to port or starboard, and troll directly over top of them. This accounted for six fish very quickly before the birds quit flying and resumed resting on the water, and the fish dispersed.

With the southerly wind now picking up to right at 13 mph, I felt that some of the deeper topographies might begin producing, and this suspicion turned out to be right. We made three stops in about 32 feet of water and continued using the smoking tactic.

As the wind velocity built to a peak, the fish feeding activity also built to a peak. We were able to take our fish count up to 102 while the wind remained strong by fishing these three fairly similar areas. The first gave up 13 fish, the second gave up 9 fish, and the third gave up 30 fish.

The NOAA forecast called for the winds to peak late morning, and then begin falling off toward noon, and that is exactly what happened this morning. As soon as the winds slacked off, the bite begin to decline, as well.

With 102 fish in the boat at this point, I asked Kelvin and Tevom if they would prefer to move to a number of spots in rapid succession and try to pull a few fish at each, or would prefer to put the downriggers back down. They asked me which I thought would produce more fish. I told them I thought the downrigging would put a few more fish in the boat, so they went for that option. We wound up with 29 additional fish landed, including 5 sets of triples all landed by Tevin, over the final 40 minutes of our trip. We concluded with 131 fish all of which were white bass, except for a single short hybrid.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 131 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 13.80 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.02′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 67.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7 at trip’s start, peaking around 10A at SSE13, then dropping back to SSE6-7

Sky Condition: 90% moderate grey cloud cover with brief spurts of direct sun breaking thru

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196C – 44 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0171G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 0008 – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0023C thru 1556 – 20 fish on downrigged Pet Spoons

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’LL BET YOU A MATCHBOX YOU CAN’T … — 80 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 4th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, May 4, I fished with two of Wayne Winekauf’s grandkids — cousins Jude Masoner and Noah Thomas.

Wayne, originally from Iowa and now residing in Morgan’s Point, fished with me for the first time earlier this spring, while entertaining a friend of his who had come in for a visit from Iowa for a few days.

This morning’s trip was specifically for the boys, so, Wayne came in the role of helping me help the boys be successful, but didn’t fish.

Jude is 11 and Noah is 8, so my “Kids Fish, Too!“ package was a very good fit for these young men. These kid–specific packages last a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4+ hours for adult trips, and they cost about $100 less than a comparable trip for adults.

Although the kids did a great job and their results showed it, one thing we never could get ironed out was their tendency to reel a fish up so far that the swivel on the leader hit the tip of the rod. At one point Wayne told them he’d take them to Walmart and let each one pick out a Matchbox car if they could avoid slamming the swivel into the rod tip any longer. Suffice it to say that Walmart is still well stocked with Matchboxes.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 6 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jude Masoner, Wayne Winekauf, and Noah Thomas with a portion of the boys’ 80 fish catch taken on a combination of vertical tactics using MAL Lures and horizontal tactics using downrigged Pet Spoons.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 03 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Weather conditions were much improved today fishing–wise, as we had light gray, but complete cloud cover and enough wind to ripple the surface prior to sunrise. That wind would continue all morning and be of a great help.

We fished three areas this morning using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope for which I rigged the boys up with light spinning rods terminated with MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails. The boys landed 44 fish at our first stop, 6 fish at our second stop, and 10 fish at our third stop.

By 9:15 AM the boys had landed 60 fish, but the bite was beginning to wane. I could see it by gauging the swimming speed and reaction of the fish we found, as well as by observing multiple small flocks of Franklin’s gulls, which, at this time, were beginning to settle on the water, no longer scouting for, finding, nor eating shad.

After seeing how well a downrigging approach worked while the fish were uncooperative yesterday, and for variety sake, we retooled with twin downriggers each equipped with a three arm umbrella rig terminated with number 13 Pet Spoons. I fished a windward, underwater ledge which side-imaging revealed white bass were using.

We kept the downrigger balls ~3′ off bottom and our rigs about 20′ behind the ball.

In our final 90 minutes, the boys landed an additional 20 fish, including singles, doubles, and a pair of triples.

We wrapped up right at 11 AM with 80 fish landed, including 2 freshwater drum, 4 short hybrid striped bass, and 74 white bass.

Going back to my first sentence in this section, “Weather conditions were much improved today fishing–wise…”, consider this … this morning, with grey skies and wind, two inexperienced boys landed 80 fish in 3.5 hours, whereas yesterday, under calm, bright skies, and while fishing the same areas, two very experienced men struggled mightily to land 74 fish in over 5 hours. Weather matters!!

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 13.78 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.02′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 67.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7-9 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196C – 44 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0171G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 0008 – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0023C thru 1556 – 20 fish on downrigged Pet Spoons

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

YOU NEED MORE TEETH IN YOUR SAW — 74 FISH @ BELTON

May 3rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, May 3, I fished with first time guests Bill Bebee and John Pickens. The men were offered this trip when a friend, Mr. Reid Funderburk, as unable to attend following recent knee surgery.

Both men work in real estate, thus making their schedules flexible and allowing for a weekday fishing trip.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 6 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Pickens and Bill Bebee with a few of the 74 fish we REALLY had to work for today when the skies went clear and the winds went slack.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 03 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We faced what is, in my opinion, the toughest of fishing conditions this morning with bright skies and calm winds for 3 1/2 of our planned four hours on the water. When the conditions are like this, the fish just turn off and become very lethargic.

Our only saving grace today was that the temperature of the water is still climbing, thus increasing the fishes’ metabolism, goading them into feeding at least a bit. Right at around 7 AM, just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, a few dozen Franklins gulls begin to dive on shad being forced to the surface by white bass beneath. What, on a normal day, would produce 30 to 40 fish or so, this morning only rendered 16 as the fish flared up, ate for just a few moments, and then settled right back down. The popped up briefly here and there over about an eighth of a mile of shoreline for about 40 minutes until, finally, the brightening sky drove them down and out away from shore.

When that ended, the hard work of convincing disinterested fish in biting began.

We spent most of our time working MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails vertically, using a smoking tactic for bottom-hugging fish found on side-imaging and down-imaging. At one of these locations, a solid group of fish appeared out to the starboard side of the boat and allowed for some horizontal work using the MAL Dense Lures with a sawtooth tactic.

I observed that Bill was casting a good bit further than John, and was catching fish with regularity on the sawtooth tactic, whereas John’s shorter casts we’re landing shy of where the fish were. I suggested to John that he lengthen his cast so he could get in more diagonal retrieve iterations and bring his lure past the fish more consistently. Bill chimed in, “You need more teeth in your saw!“.

As soon as John increased his cast length, he joined in on the fish-catching, as well.

So it went, catching just a few fish here in there at each of the stops we made until finally, around 10:20, a southeast wind began to kick in and began to blow at around 12 mph. I asked the fellows if they would be able to stay longer as I suspected that the fishing would pick up substantially once the wind had a chance to work on the water. It was now about 10:50. We stayed until 12:10 and during that final hour and 20 minutes, we added 30 fish to our then current count of 44 fish. After seeing the fish getting more active, I went after them with downriggers so we could cover as much bottom as possible to strain out the active fish amongst a still relatively inactive population.

We pulled a single rod with a single, three-armed umbrella rig equipped with number 13 Pet Spoons through increasingly aggressive schools of fish for this result. In the catch were three sets of triples (one fish on each of the three Pet Spoons landed simultaneously).

When all was said and done, Bill and John landed 74 fish, including 1 freshwater drum, 6 short, hybrid striped bass, and 67 white bass.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 74 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 12:10P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 13.76 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.00′ rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 67.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm thru 10:20, the ramping up quickly to SE12

Sky Condition: A thin white haze on a cloudless blue sky is the only cover we had today thru 10:20, then white cloud cover begin to build to ~30% by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 94% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 008 thru 562 – 16 fish on smoked MAL Heavies sightcast under Franklins gulls

Area B0201G – 9 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 098 – 13 fish on smoked MAL Heavies and sawtoothed MAL Dense Lures

Area B0173G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area vic 2059 – 30 fish on downrigged Pet Spoons

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

MAKING MOUNTAINS OUT OF MOLEHILLS — 89 FISH @ BELTON

May 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, May 1, I fished with brothers Corbin and Matt Seliga. Corbin is a pharmaceutical salesman in the Georgetown area, and Matt is a physical therapist working in the Fort Worth area. The brothers were offered this trip when a friend of Corbin‘s from church, Mr. Reid Funderburk, as unable to attend following recent knee surgery.

Both Matt and Corbin had prior fishing experience and arrived with the ability to handle a spinning outfit already under their belt.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 6 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Corbin and Matt Seliga each with a pair of the white bass we teased up from between 30-35 feet this morning using a “smoking tactic” with MAL Heavy Lures in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 01 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

About five minutes before the Seliga‘s arrival, a flock of terns begin to work a distance away on a wind blown shoreline, and I assumed they were on shad being driven to the surface and the shoreline by hungry white bass.

By the time Matt and Corbin arrived and we hustled over to the scene of the crime, whatever was there had dissipated, so we spent a few more minutes on this cloudless morning looking for shoreline action, but found none.

This left us fishing the entire trip in deeper, open water primarily using sonar to find the fish we caught.

The water was a little turbid, there was small flotsam everywhere, and, according to the USACE, the lake rose over a half-foot thanks to Friday night’s hard rains, which dropped 1.5 to 2.5 inches area wide.

The fishing was just average this morning. We had no problem finding fish, but the fish never really got fired up at any of the locations we caught them at. Although we did give the sawtooth method a try here and there, we only landed two fish with that method. The other 87 fish put in the boat this morning came using the MAL Heavy Lure with chartreuse tail worked vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

We had birds get fidgety twice this morning, but both times they worked for just a few minutes and over a large span of water. I ran to both episodes and still had to use side-imaging extensively to find a nearby concentration of fish worth stopping for. I believe (mainly) small hybrid are very aggressively chasing shad to the surface in small pods. Anything that breaks the surface will immediately draw a “dogpile” response from dozens of these hungry Franklin’s gulls, thus sort of making a mountain out of a molehill.

Although by the end of the trip, we were able to laugh about it, Matt had a very reflexive, hard hookset built into his “muscle memory”, which he found hard to overcome. This cost him quite a few fish this morning. The reason why hooksetting is undesirable using the smoking tactic is because that tactic is a zero-slack tactic using braided line, which is a zero-stretch product. When you couple these things together, and understand the white bass’ habit of swiping at a bait then turning away, you begin to understand why hooksetting is not only a necessary, but counterproductive.

Additionally, the white bass (and any other object moving through the water) push a pressure wave ahead of themselves as they swim toward and overtake the bait. This causes an interruption in the spinner blade’s action, and this happens a split second before the fish actually closes its mouth over the hook. Setting the hook the instant this sensation is felt results in a premature hookset and missed or lightly hooked (and then lost) fish.

I know there are a lot of MAL Lure users out there who struggle with this, so I mention it in hope you can understand not just the “what”, but the “why” behind it.

Our catch of 89 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 3 short, hybrid striper, 1 blue catfish, and 82 white bass

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 89 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 12:10P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 13.77 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.50′ rise over the last 72 hrs. thanks to heavy rains Fri. night

Water Surface Temp: 66.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: E4-5, building to E13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: A thin white haze on a cloudless blue sky is the only cover we had today.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 82% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1749 – 28 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 083 – 17 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0063G – 11 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0169G – 2 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area vic B0173G – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 1402 -21 fish on smoked 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

A MUCH BETTER SECOND HALF — 102 FISH @ BELTON

April 30th, 2023April 30th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, April 28, I fished with Josh Welch and brothers Preston and Mason Ellis.

Josh runs a land development company, Weltex Investments, LLC., here in Central Texas, and the Ellis brothers run Ellis Air, an HVAC company also based here in Central Texas.

Josh had originally scheduled with me back in February, but one of his party members took ill. We rescheduled for June, but this morning when a sonar training student had to postpone due to illness, Josh was able to move his schedule around and enjoy the more productive fishing of April versus that which I would anticipate will be slower in June. Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 6 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Preston and Mason Ellis and Josh Welch with a sampling of their 102 fish catch on Lake Belton just hours before a major weather event would move through Central Texas dumping 2+ inches of much needed rain.

PHOTO CAPTION: Preston Ellis, a regular weekly participant in the 3X9 Series bass tournaments held on Stillhouse, landed this magnum white bass which taped 15.25 inches. It came on a sight-cast MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail under birds.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

HOW WE FISHED:

I had the fellows meet me at 6:45A hoping we would find white bass & hybrids pushing spawning shad onto the shoreline and enjoy some fast-paced fishing before the sun got too bright, however, due to the lack of wind impacting the shoreline from any given direction, there was a very weak spawn this morning. We had one smallmouth jump off at the boat, and another small white bass swipe at a lure at the end of a retrieve, and that was all we could garner in the shallows during the first part of the morning under low light conditions.

From that point forward we fished for heavily congregated fish in deep, open water, which we found primarily using side imaging, and we also enjoyed two episodes of fishing beneath Franklin’s gulls, which pointed the way to additional open water, active fish.

The first gull activity we got into was a bit misleading, as there were only small groups of fish, well dispersed, and scattered about on a fairly featureless bottom. The gulls reflected this in that, although they were flying and feeding, they were here, there, and everywhere over about a half mile of lake.

We caught about two dozen fish in this scenario, putting in a lot of effort to do it both vertically using a smoking tactic and horizontally using the sawtooth method. It is tough to leave bird activity and head out to try to find fish when you know there are at least a few fish around, but, this morning that decision made the difference between a 50-60 fish trip and a 100+ fish trip. Indeed, at the 3-hour mark on a 4 hour trip we had only 47 fish in the boat, but ended up with a total of 102 thanks to a strong 75-minute run as fog dimmed the light level and the winds ramped up.

After leaving those birds, we found two large, active groups of heavily congregated and bottom-oriented fish which perked up nicely once we got atop them and started working MAL Lures through them. As the second group was tailing out on us, we spotted our second helpful bit of bird activity.

Although this only lasted about 25 minutes, there were far more fish present beneath these birds, and we were able to take our fish count from 47 up to 71 in a matter of minutes.

Our final 31 fish of the day came at our last stop and over another short, 20 minute span. As the wind ratcheted up several miles per hour in a matter of minutes, the fish just came alive and began to suspend as much as 5 to 6 feet up off the bottom. The higher up in the water column the fish were, the more aggressive they tended to be. LiveScope helped everyone work their lures right past the noses of these shallowest fish, and we racked up our final 31 fish to put our trip total right at 102 before we called it a good morning and headed for lunch.

Our catch consisted of 1 largemouth bass, 2 freshwater drum, 14 short hybrid striped bass, with the balance being white bass of multiple age groups. Our white bass catch included one fish landed by Preston which went 15 1/4 inches. It’s body condition was not great, but it is good to see Belton Lake fish reaching that sort of length.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Lack of wind overnight led to a very weak threadfin shad spawn this morning; we caught no fish up shallow via sight-casting during this low-light window. Our 2nd half of the trip was more productive than the 1st, as a thin, low fog layer moved in and dimmed the light a bit, and as the wind speed increased throughout the four hour trip.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 14.24 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.16′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to heavy rains Wed. night

Water Surface Temp: 68.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6 building to SSE14 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 50% white clouds on a blue sky with a white haze through 9:30, then an unusual mid-morning light fog moved in from the SE and kept it dim the remainder of the trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 205

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 2049 – 27 fish on smoked and sawtoothed MAL Heavies; 2 short hops

Area 717- 20 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 1055 – 71 fish on MAL Heavies sight-cast or counted down to fish under Franklin’s gulls

Area 404 – 31 fish on smoked 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

YEAH, BABY! — NO BABIES!! — 117 FISH @ BELTON

April 27th, 2023April 27th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, April 27, I fished with returning guests Stiles and Sarah Parker from Liberty Hill, Texas. The Parkers have been clients for many years and have brought parents, relatives, and business clients out with them on my boat through the many seasons they’ve been with me.

Now the parents of two kiddos not yet in school, a day without babies was pretty appealing, and Lake Belton was the place Stiles and Sarah chose to spend it.

I enjoy fishing with all my clients, but, when I have clients who are already knowledgeable anglers, it makes the day less demanding and more enjoyable.

Couple with that the ideal weather scenario we happened into today, and the stage was set for a wonderful result.

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 6 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles and Sarah Parker on a parents’ day out fishing trip on Lake Belton. Good skills and good weather equaled a 117 fish catch.

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles picked up this pretty bit of bycatch as more than white bass cashed in on the threadfin shad buffet in shallow water right as the sun was coming up.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

HOW WE FISHED:

We got going at 7:05 this morning just as the last gray cloud cover from last night’s violent cold front was about to clear from west to east. As the clouds moved on, the skies brightened and the wind slowly but steadily increased. This all made for a very cool, dry, pleasant spring morning.

I was uncertain as to what the overnight cold front was going to do in regards to this morning‘s threadfin shad spawn, so I planned for most of our trip to involve vertical work.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted a flock of Franklin’s gulls accompanied by blue herons and white herons all gorging themselves on the strongest batch of threadfin shad I’ve seen spawning thus far this spring. These shad were in at least a 6 foot band from the shoreline outward, and the entire cove we found them in had the shoreline covered in this manner – – about an eighth of a mile worth of millions of bait fish.

Long story short, we sight-cast to these fish for an incredible 2.5 hours. After the sun brightened the sky and the fish left the bank, the white bass continued to herd them toward the surface in open water just yards offshore from where the spawning had occurred. Stiles and Sarah cast MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails directly into the visible commotion, let the lure fall a few seconds by counting to between four and six, and then began a moderate to fast plain-Jane retrieve.

In addition to white bass of all sizes and a few small hybrid stripers, they also landed a largemouth bass and a smallmouth bass during this time.

This action ended right at 9:30.

From that point until we wrapped up at 11:15 AM, we hopped to five different open water areas where side imaging revealed large concentrations of white bass. We fished the same lure vertically using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. We watched as the fish got increasingly reluctant in terms of their willingness to chase a lure any distance off the bottom. We wrapped up with 117 fish landed, including 103 white bass, 12 hybrid, striped bass (all short), one largemouth, bass, and one smallmouth bass.

As we departed, the straight line winds were pushing 16 to 17 mph with gusts over 20.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 117 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: I observed the strongest threadfin shad spawning activity of the spring to date this morning. The temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet, 68.4F
5 feet, 68.2F
10 feet, 68.1F
15 feet, 67.2F
20 feet, 66.6F
25 feet, 66.3F
30 feet, 66.0F
35 feet, 65.3F
40 feet, 63.2F
45 feet, 61.9F
50 feet, 60.8F
55 feet, 59.8F
60 feet, 58.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 14.40 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.06′ rise over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 68.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW6 at trip’s start, ramping up to NW16-17 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Bright blue skies all morning.

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 46% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 389 to 1021 – 81 fish on MAL Heavies counted down both near spawning shad and under birds (2.5 hours)

Area vic 1482 – 13 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0075C – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0043G – 4 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0069G – 13 fish on smoked 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

THREE GENERATIONS ABOARD — 86 FISH @ BELTON

April 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, April 26, I fished with returning guest Ronnie Everett, this time accompanied by four first time guests — Ronnie’s son, Nick, and Nick’s son, Landon, as well as Ronnie‘s son-in-law, Allen Frei, and his son, Everett, made up this three generation trip.

Landon and Everett are nine and seven years of age, respectively, and were real troopers. Neither one whined about the cool, drizzly conditions we faced all four hours, and, when I offered to extend the trip after a pretty slow start, they were ready for more!

Here is how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 7 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Allen Frei, Ronnie, Nick, and Landon Everett, and Everett Frei with a few of the white bass they worked for this drizzly spring morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

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

HOW WE FISHED:

The weather was pretty snotty this morning — a good bit snottier than forecast. The temperature hung right at 66F all morning, with a fine mist falling the entire time. Visibility varied, and the fishing rose and fell as the ambient light level rose and fell.

As was the case yesterday, fish were not all that difficult to find, but, once found, there was no guarantee that they were going to be able to be worked up into a frenzy. In most cases, the fish expressed an initial interest in our baits, and then settled down very quickly. Thus, we had to move frequently to keep fish coming over the side.

We relied on the MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail worked vertically with a smoking tactic to catch the vast majority of our fish this morning. Birds assisted us on two occasions, albeit briefly. These Franklin’s gulls would rest in large flocks out in open water with a few scouts out flying. Once those scouts spotted white bass, and/or hybrid striper hitting shad on the surface, the scout gulls would call to the rest and a brief flurry would take place until the fish settled back down.

After the first round of bird action, we still had plenty of fish around, but they did not show interest in chasing lures, so I actually ran the downriggers for about 20 minutes allowing us two sets of doubles and a handful of singles on #13 Pet Spoons run behind three-armed umbrella rigs. This also allowed for a little variety for my younger two guests.

Our best run of fishing came between 11 and noon, which also coincided with the brightest conditions of the morning. During this time, the two boys and their dads continued working MAL Heavies vertically, while Ronnie and I cast horizontally, working the same bait back to the boat with a sawtooth method . Any fish I hooked I immediately handed off to little Everett.

When all was said and done, we landed 86 fish including two largemouth bass, 12 short hybrid striped bass, and 72 white bass.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 86 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: Pretty tough fishing on a second day of heavy overcast and easterly winds. Franklin’s gulls showed the way to the best fishing.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 14.40 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.03′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 65.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE11 all morning.

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning with a nuisance drizzle the entire time

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 37% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1292 – 11 fish on smoked MAL Heavies (2 hops)

Area 487 – 13 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 845 – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies & w/ ‘riggers and Pet Spoons under tentative gulls

Area 2029 – 4 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 187 – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0004C – 20 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0031C – 7 fish on smoked MAL Heavies & sawtooth MAL Dense Lures under gulls

Area 714 – 15 fish on smoked MAL Heavies & sawtooth MAL Dense Lures under gulls

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

WORD OF THE DAY: SUBDUED – 83 FISH @ BELTON

April 25th, 2023April 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, April 25, I fished the third trip of the spring of 2023 with a contingent of the Oliver family. Joining me this morning were brothers Joe, Jack, Jamie, and Jeff.

Joe originally scheduled this trip almost a year ago, hoping his dad who was in his 90s, might make this trip in celebration of his birthday. “Pa“ went to be with the Lord just a few weeks ago, but the brothers decided to use the opportunity for a mini-reunion and a chance to see their mom.

Here’s how the fishing went…

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

Next available dates are June 7 and 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Jeff Oliver from Sugarland, TX, took our largest fish of the trip. This 5.50-pound hybrid striper took his MAL Heavy Lure worked vertically with a “smoking tactic” under gulls in the 10 o’clock hour.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Oliver brothers: Jack, Joe, Jamie, and Jeff, with a shot of some of the better whites they took both vertically and horizontally before all were released to spawn and bite again.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 25 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Today stood in pretty stark contrast with the morning-long, very aggressive bite I experienced with my foursome from yesterday. Everything seemed more subdued this morning. The wind was lighter, the air temperature was balmier, the shad spawn was weaker, the bird activity was more scant, and the fish were largely reluctant all morning.

We had no problem finding fish, and most all of the schools of fish we found included individual fish which responded, but they did not respond aggressively, they did not respond in strong numbers, nor for very long spans of time.

The best run of the morning came from about 9:45 through 10:30 when a large flock of Franklin’s gulls began to feed on shad being driven to the surface in about 28 feet of water. Even so, the fish pushing them were individual fish or fish in small pods of two or three. During this run, although we did get results fishing vertically using the “smoking” method, our most productive presentation was with the MAL Dense Lure with white body and chartreuse tail fished with the sawtooth tactic for fish observed out to the side of the boat via side-imaging using the sawtooth method.

After this activity died down and the birds began to rest on the water, the fishing got very tough right up through our 11:30 quitting time. We went back to vertical presentations for fish which were tightly grouped, and bottom-oriented. We hopped around to three or four different areas, each producing just four or five fish in the first few drops of the lures, then they grew quickly disinterested.

Our final count was 83 fish which included two legal hybrid stripers, 10 short hybrid, and 71 white bass up to 13.75 inches.

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

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 83 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The word for the day was “subdued”. Everything in nature just seemed to be functioning at about half of the energy level one would expect in late April, especially given that the weather was at least cooperative.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 14.36 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.03′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6 all morning.

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 28% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 0363 and 358 20 fish on MAL Heavies counted down over whites on spawning shad in shallow water

Area 1482 – 7 fish on smoked MAL Heavies (all small)

Area 355 – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies under tentative gulls

Area 952 (multiple hops) – 36 fish on smoked MAL Heavies & sawtooth MAL Dense Lures under gulls

Area 1489 ( 2 hops) – 7 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 1552 – 6 fish on smoked 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