WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 8th, I fished with John Reed and Chad Makosky.

John retired as a senior non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, then went to work for Walmart, opening the Harker Heights main store (Sporting Goods Dept., of course), where he then stayed on for 13 years before retiring for good at age 62.

Chad is John’s neighbor and works for Frito-Lay doing truck deliveries in Coryell and Lampasas counties.

Being the frugal sort of fellow I am, I asked Chad if he got a good employee discount on chips, etc.  He said no, but, that employees do occasionally get to dine on expired goods.  I don’t know if you’d call that a silver lining kind of deal, or not!

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: John Reed and Chad Makosky with a few of the stubborn white bass we boated today on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 08 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was pretty one-dimensional and tedious today.  Although fish were not all that tough to find, only a single school we located ever really fired up and bit consistently, and even that school did so for just a short while.

We encountered very few suspended fish today.  Rather, LiveScope revealed fish traveling very tight to the bottom.  It was kind of funny because these fish were definitely moving, but only horizontally.  Generally speaking, they were reluctant to cant skyward and chase a bait any distance.

We tried snap-jigging, snap-jigging with a slow lift added in, and slow-smoking.  The slow-smoking is what caught the fish today, but we had to watch 40 or 50 other disinterested fish go by to get that one over-achiever to fire up and come after us.

We had post-frontal, calm, bright conditions yesterday, with radiational cooling due to clear skies overnight, and, although this was the first day of returning southerly winds, those calm, clear skies and cool temperatures are what started this day off.

At the one area where we did have fish fire up briefly, we also had fish moving horizontally in the lower third of the water column and up off the bottom.  I tried using an MAL Lure, and, although we caught a few on it, the results were no better or worse than the slab produced, so, we stuck with the 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab since it could be moved more slowly than the MAL.

We put together a catch of 43 fish today, including 39 white bass and 4 drum.  Hybrid, even undersized ones, have been curiously absent from the catch for quite some time now.

By 11AM we’d landed the last fish we would catch, although we searched a while longer at various depths and locations.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 43 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   All of the areas we fished produced best in the first few minutes following our arrival, and then fell of sharply thereafter.

Temperature profile:

0 feet 52.9F

5 feet 52.9F

10 feet 52.6F

15 feet 52.2F

20 feet 51.9F

25 feet 51.7F

30 feet 51.1F

35 feet 50.2F

40 feet 49.5F

45 feet 49F

50 feet 48.7F

55 feet 48.4F

60 feet 47.9F

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:40A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation:  0.72′ low with a 0.00’ 24-hour change and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 51.5 F 

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm at trip’s start, and then started SSE around 8:15A, tapering up to SSE6-7 for about 90 minutes, then settling back to SSE5 for remainder of trip.

Sky Condition: Cloudless sunrise, slowing increasing to 40% light white cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 24% illum.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**vic 1738/B0013G, B0151C, 1859, B0145C (best producer with 3 short hops), B0050G

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, March 6th, I fished with Michael Hoyson, his son, Jack Hoyson (age 11), and Jack’s cousin, Layton Macha, age 13 (the son of Michael’s sister).

Michael is the owner of Hoyson Auto Care LLC off of Business 190 in Killeen, right near Tightlines Premium Fishing Tackle.  This is where I take my guide service tow vehicle and my wife’s vehicle for preventive maintenance.

It was during one of my recent visits to Michael’s business that he and I discussed the possibility of getting Jack out on the water under conditions where he could really catch a bunch of fish.

Today was the day!  The boys stayed very focused and did very well even though we had to grind it out with but a single technique all morning.

Around 9:40, Layton decided to take a break, shake out his wrist, and have a seat.  Since I now had only two anglers to assist, I decided to sneak in a quick snack — a granola bar and a piece of string cheese.  Well, you’d think I’d violated Layton’s constitutional rights when I bit that string cheese crossways.  He half yelled, “What are you doing that for?”   I asked him what he was referring to and he pointed to my sting cheese.  He told me I am supposed to peel it length-wise AND that it tastes better that way!

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Layton Macha, Michael Hoyson, and Jack Hoyson each with a pair of white bass taken from over 50 feet of water on a still-chilly Lake Belton with surface temperatures around 50F.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 06 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I was excited as far back as Tuesday of this week to see this morning’s weather shape up as it did — with the passage of a mild, dry cold front, complete with us finishing our trip before the winds fell from peak velocity.

The fishing followed a bell-shaped curve this morning, with a tapering up beginning at sunrise, to a peak around 8:40 which extended to around 10:40, then sharply tapered back to nil by 11:00AM.

As has been the case on my previous two morning trips on Lake Belton, we caught our first fish of the morning shallow, and they were a good bit smaller than the deeper fish we would catch the remainder of the trip.

Regardless of time or depth, we took 100% of our catch on my 3/8 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook.  We had numerous fish regurgitate whole or partially digested shad at boatside this morning, and these slabs were a dead-on match size-wise for the bait these fish were eating.

We used a very straight-forward slow-smoking tactic.

Yes, it takes a bit of patience to wait on a 3/8 oz. slab to fall through 50 or 60 feet of water, but “it’s worth the wait”!

Because the boys caught so many fish this morning, they had the opportunity to learn a lot via repetition.  Some of the “rookie” mistakes they made at the start of the trip (poor hooksetting, retrieving too fast/too slow, reeling hooked fish up too far toward the rod tip, etc.) were things of the past by trip’s end.  These will be lasting lessons learned for them going forward.

Come on spring time!!

We ended our morning with 128 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 4 freshwater drum, and 123 white bass.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 128 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  1) As a mild, dry cold front which arrived mid-afternoon yesterday continued to blow in, the fish were energized and stayed fairly aggressive (given the ~50F water temperature) through around 10:20AM. 2) Suspended fish showed up routinely this morning.  Almost all were moving faster than the bottom-huggers, chasing shad, and were willing to bite.  They were far fewer in number than those on bottom, however. 3) No helpful bird activity.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation:  0.71′ low with a 0.03’ 24-hour rise and 26 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 49.9 F 

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNW11 at sunrise, peaking at NNW14 between 8-10AM, then settling back to NNW12 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Cloudless all trip

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 45% illum.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** vic B0096C, 472, 1945

 

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, March 5th, I fished with returning guest George Van Riper of Harker Heights, and his 12-year-old grandson, Kaden Howley.

George is a retired U.S. Army helicopter pilot who was drafted during the Vietnam War from his childhood home in northern New Jersey.  He made a career of flying Cobra attack helicopters.

Kaden is a student in the Killeen Independent School District and is a promising young soccer player.

Kaden’s grandmother contacted me back in early January with a very specific request which led us to choose this date for Kaden’s trip.  Because of Kaden’s growing interest in fishing, and the fact that Kaden’s previous trips with me had not included casting (we jigged vertically and/or downrigged), she asked that I take Kaden at a time when he could have some exposure to that horizontal casting discipline.

As we began this morning’s trip, I did a quick intro to casting spinning gear, and explained how releasing the line too early results in a “pop fly”, and how releasing the line too last results in a short “line drive”.  George volunteered that his wife calls those pop fly casts “moonshots”.  Kaden did a great job today minimizing moonshots!

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Fat and sassy was the name of the game this morning!  What a quality catch of white bass we enjoyed today.  Only 1 short fish in a take of 46, and many big, wide, plump egg-laden females included in the catch for George Van Riper and his grandson, Kaden Howley.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 05 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Having chosen this date back in early January to attempt to get Kaden out on the water under conditions when he could catch fish by casting horizontally, we focused on fish which could be taken in that manner, ignoring other opportunities.

Casting to white bass at this time of year requires that they not be in deep water, and that they be quite active so as to be willing to chase down a horizontally moving lure.

Fortunately, things came together for us, as we were able to find shallow, willing fish up through around 10:15AM.  It made me a bit nervous driving right past at least three flocks of gulls which I knew full well were gorging on shad and sunfish killed by white bass below them in deep water in order to find fish which, in a “normal” year should be in under 30 feet by this time (and knowing this has been far from normal with the recent winter storm dropping water temps lower than they’ve ever been on these reservoirs).

The shallower the water, the more handy side-imaging is to keep from having to drive directly over fish which we might spook if only relying upon 2D and/or down imaging sonar.

We fished at four distinct locations, each one having multiple schools of 20-30 white bass patrolling in the area, as seen on side-imaging before we Spot-Locked out away from them and cast to them.

We started and ended with the smaller, 1/2 oz. Cicada while the bite was ramping up and as it was tapering off, and used the larger 3/4 oz. Binsky blade bait while the action was at peak condition.

Although we saw a mild, dry cold front come in later in the day, we really did not enjoy a benefit from it this morning as the winds were calm, then began SW increasing to 12-13, and swung WSW but decreased slightly in the final hour.

Fishing was moderately paced thanks to the still-cold water, but consistent.  We never had any lulls in the action more than a few minutes in length until the fish began to shut down around 10:15.  After this time, the mid-depth bite on blades was over and we spent  our remaining time using LiveScope to present small, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs vertically to increasingly stubbborn, bottom-hugging white bass.

We fished an hour beyond this slow down and landed only 5 more fish during this time, all of which came in the first 25 minutes of that hour.  Our last 35 minutes proved fruitless as I looked but found only scant bait and even more scant gamefish action.

We ended our morning with 46 white bass.

 

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 46 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  5th day of a warming trend with a gentle wind shift bringing in a mild cool front at late morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation:  0.52′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour fall and 1 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 53.4 F 

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm at trip’s start, then began SW around 8A, increasing to 12-13, and swung WSW but decreased slightly in the final hour.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, fair skies thru 9:30, then increasing to 40% thin, white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illum.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** vic 713, Area 731, vic SH0068C, vic 374

 

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, March 4th, I fished with returning guest Dave Ross of Salado.  Dave’s face may look familiar.  He’s one of the pharmacists at the HEB in Harker Heights.

Dave is a well-traveled outdoorsman and recently returned from the tropics where he and a few buddies got into multiple sailfish on trolled livebaits.

Dave recently fished Belton with me to get an overview of what it takes to catch fish on that lake this time of year.  I consider Belton a “quantity” lake (by Hill Country standards), whereas Stillhouse is a quality lake. Dave sampled Stillhouse with me this morning.

Today, we boated two trophy-class white bass exceeding TPWD’s threshold of 15″ for that species, as specified in their Elite Angler table for Big Fish.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: David Ross of Salado with two trophy class white bass taken on bladebaits on Stillhouse Hollow this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 04 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We began at 6:45AM this morning under cloudless skies.  There were two groups of gulls working open water, with more flying than feeding going on.  We saw small, well-dispersed groups of whites on deep flats during this time.  The few we interested really swam quickly after our baits, then many gave up before closing the deal.  We only landed 4 fish in this manner.

The remainder of our trip was spent fishing with bladebaits horizontally adjacent to the river channel.  As the bite got underway, we used the smaller profile, 1/2 oz. Cicada.  Once the bite ramped up, we covered more water more quickly with the 3/4 oz. Binsky.  We pulled fish steadily up until ~11AM when the fish ramped down fairly quickly.  We used a “sawtooth” retrieve on the blades and scored consistently for a total of 46 landed.  Toward the end of the bite, with fish slowing down and suspending, we also managed a few fish on the MAL Lure although the water is still just a bit too cool for really knocking it out of the park on this bait.

Two of the white bass we landed this morning measured 15.00 and 15.50 inches.  For white bass, this is what TPWD considers a freshwater trophy, hence, we completed the required paperwork to get Dave a Big Fish award, which is one step toward Elite Angler status.

Here is the species list with minimum lengths under the Elite Angler Program …

Bass, Guadalupe 14″

Bass, Hybrid Striped 25″

Bass, Largemouth 21″

Bass, Smallmouth 18″

Bass, Spotted 16″

Bass, Striped 35″

Bass, White 15″

Bluegill 10″

Buffalo, Bigmouth 30″

Buffalo, Black 30″

Buffalo, Smallmouth 32″

Carp, Common 30″

Catfish, Blue 36″

Catfish, Channel 30″

Catfish, Flathead (Yellow) 45″

Cichlid, Rio Grande 9″

Crappie, Black 15″

Crappie, White 15″

Drum, Freshwater 25″

Gar, Alligator 72″

Gar, Longnose 50″

Gar, Spotted 42″

Sunfish 10″

Trout, Rainbow 15″

Walleye 25″

 

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 46 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  4th day of a warming trend with a wind shift and mild, dry cold front due in tomorrow.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation:  0.52′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour fall and 1 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 50.9F 

Wind Speed & Direction:  Calm thru 8:25, then a steadily building SW breeze peaking at 12 began to build quickly

Sky Condition: Cloudless, fair skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 68% illum.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** vic 1538 – deep flat fishing under birds for scant fish – 4 landed on 3/8 oz. slabs

** SH0102C – side of channel for sluggish bottom cruising fish

** SH0106C – best action of the morning on blades for schooled, active white bass with some bird assistance

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, February 27th, I fished with U.S. Army Chaplain Bill Martin, his wife, Lisa, and their two boys, Gabe (12), and Nate (14).  This trip was coordinated nearly two months in advance by Lisa in celebration of Gabe’s birthday.

Bill is originally from near Clemson, SC, and Lisa is originally from Helena, MT.  The two met at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in their college years in South Carolina.

This is the family’s second tour to Ft. Hood.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Lisa, Gabe, Nate, and Bill Martin on Lake Belton in celebration of Gabe’s 12th birthday.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 27 February 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I initially had us down to meet at 6:50A, but bumped that back to 7:15A when I saw the NOAA revised forecast as I came off the water last night, which called for nearly 100% cloud cover this morning.

When I woke around 5A, I immediately noted the temperature had barely changed overnight, indicating thick cloud cover had retained yesterday’s daytime heating.  I also noted it was humid, and that there was a wisp of fog beginning to form over Stillhouse.  As I drove to Belton, the fog steadily got thicker.  By the time I launched, around 6:35A, I could not see the courtesy dock from the no-wake buoys.  By the time I greeted the Martins the fog was even thicker, and stayed that way through around 10:15AM.

I am not a fan of fishing in the fog because 1) it is typically accompanied by windless conditions, and 2) it denies me the ability to see bird action which, in February, can often lead to fish.

At one point in the trip, as we fished open water, well away from any shoreline, we had a flock of about a dozen sparrows circle us over and over again.  I really think they were disoriented in the fog and were sizing up the boat as a landing strip on which to take a little rest!!

Knowing I’d have to find our fish with sonar this morning, and that the conditions were tough, I stopped on more marginal areas than I would under better conditions.

The first area we stopped at revealed only four individual fish holding just inches off the bottom on both 2D sonar and down-imaging in 28 feet of water.  We Spot-Locked on these fish and got baits down to them (we used my 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook for 100% of our catch this morning).  Even though there was a lot of “working out the kinks” at this first stop as everyone went through the learning curve of using the tactics we employed today (slow smoking), and interpreting Garmin LiveScope, we still put 13 fish in the boat before we’d been on the water 45 minutes.

Our next stop came in about 52 feet of water.  We added another 26 fish to the tally here in about another hour’s time, again via a slow smoking tactic with the small, white slabs.

As the fish at this second area began to get disinterested, we moved a third time around 10:15 as the fog just began to thin a tad, and found scant action from sparse bottom-oriented fish in 40 feet of water at two different stops about 80 yards apart.  We “picked” at these fish, adding yet another 7 fish to the tally, which now stood at 46 total.

It was now around 11A and a few significant things began to happen all at once.  First, the fog began to clear because a warm breeze moved in from the SE and raised the air temperature.  We also began to experience a bit of rain.    A quick look at weather radar revealed it was going to be light, short-lived rainfall.

I told everyone that I thought this change in the weather was going to improve our situation, and asked if everyone was okay sticking it out for a bit longer.   My Army family were all troopers and decided to push through.  We could hear a number of other boats scrambling to get back to the dock as we hunkered down for one final stop of the day.

This wrinkle in the weather really set the fish off.  We spent the next 35 minutes landing fish at the fastest rate of the entire trip, catching our final 21 fish during this time span, and allowing everyone to go home on a positive note.

We wound up with a total of 67 fish landed, including 1 hybrid striper (short), 7 freshwater drum, and 59 white bass.

Unlike yesterday where we caught 100% of our fish from suspended schools in deep water, 90% of this morning’s fish originated on the bottom.  Thanks to the fog, no bird action took place.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 67 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Temperature profile from surface to 60 feet:

0 feet 53.2F

5 feet 52.2F

10 feet 51.1F

15 feet 50.8F

20 feet 50F

25 feet 48.7F

30 feet 48.1F

35 feet 47.7F

40 feet 47.1F

45 feet 45.2F

50 feet 44.2F

55 feet 44F

60 feet 44F

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation:  0.74′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 53.2F 

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable from the E through 9:45A, then picking up quickly to SSW14 thereafter

Sky Condition: 100% grey, clouded skies

Moon Phase: Full moon

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**1579/1604 – early, low-light fish in 28′

**vic 1945 – 52′ with fish tight to bottom

**vic 1336 – scant fishing in 40′

**vic 717 – final stop in conjunction with weather change, 50′

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Friday, Feb. 26th, I fished a “Happy Birthday” trip for twin 14-year-old sisters Diane and Desirae Manguerra of Copperas Cove.  Accompanying the young ladies were their father, Dex, their brother, Darius (age 11), and the girls’ friend, Kylie Green (age 13).

Dex is a licensed realtor working with the Salas Team here in Central Texas’ “hot” real estate market.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dex, Diana, and Desirae Manguerra, Kylie Green, and Darius Manguerra pose with a catch of white bass taken this past Friday on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (PM), 26 February 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a fruitless first 50 minutes under cloudy but calm skies.  Last week’s cold spell has definitely moved fish off the lake’s bottom.  As I compared notes recently with fellow guide Jason Weisberg, he is seeing on Richland-Chambers what I am seeing on Belton and Stillhouse — suspended fish which are channel-oriented.  I suspect that despite the cold water, the increasing daylength is moving these fish toward spawning areas.

Around 3:15, I noted a few gulls and terns looking “fishy”, so, despite them being in an area I would not normally have searched for fish, I went to them because it was clear their behavior was not driven by loons or cormorants.  As I came off plane, I saw in all of 5 seconds more fish on sonar than I’d seen in the previous hour (actually, more fish than I’ve seen all week!).

These fish were in 62 feet of water, they were moving slowly, and the majority of them were suspended in the middle third of the water column.

Anticipating tough fishing today, I’d placed finesse 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs on all the rods, but very quickly changed everyone over to 3/4 oz. to help them get to bottom quickly and because I knew that with as tightly bunched as these fish were, they weren’t going to be hard to fool.

The kids, already accustomed to video screens, immediately grasped what Garmin LiveScope was telling them, and took full advantage of it for the next 1.75 hours to come.  The fish weren’t going gangbusters, but the kids were landing fish steadily, and perhaps one in 5 or 6 seen on sonar would give chase.

By about 5PM, the gulls had moved, then settled down on the water and I knew this bite was over.  We searched elsewhere, but found no more catchable fish.

We wrapped up at 6:15 with exactly 66 white bass and 1 largemouth bass landed.  All but one of these fish came from a 150 yard stretch of open water which we fished with three “short hops” to keep up with the general direction the birds seemed to be moving in.

 

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 67 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  2:15p

End Time: 6:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation:  0.72′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 53.2F 

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable from the E through 9:45A, then picking up quickly to SSW14 thereafter

Sky Condition: 100% grey, clouded skies

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination (full moon tomorrow)

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**B0070G thru B0071G – helpful bird action led to 1.75 hours of solid fishing for suspended white bass.

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, February 23rd, I fished with father and son pair Michael and Joey English who drove in from Leander, TX.

Michael is retired from the City of Austin where he worked in several of the city’s drinking water plants, and Joey is in high school.

I presented the option several days in advance to pursue either quantities of fish at Belton or quality fish at Stillhouse, and, since Michael indicated the two had done their fair share of fishing previously, they opted for quality fish at Stillhouse.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Deep water and slow presentations were the key to getting bit once again this morning.  100% of our fish came on a slowly moved 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook.  Over 50% of the catch was made on the stinger.  P.S. – I promise you Joey was fully awake — he just had the sun in his eyes!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 23 February 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Today’s fishing played out much the same as yesterday’s.  Cold water is definitely dragging on the fishing and will for a while to come.

We enjoyed the assistance of some birds (mainly gulls) in helping to generally locate active fish in the first 70 minutes following sunrise.  The fish these birds led us to stayed biting until around 9:30A.  The fish we caught were all out of small packs of 12-30 fish each.  For every 4 or 5 of these “packs” we had move slowly under the boat, we encountered one pack from which we could raise 4 or 5 fish and get 1 or perhaps 2 of them to actually bite.  This made the fishing slow, but steady.

Side imaging was crucial to finding these “packs” of fish spread over the large areas of bottom signaled by the birds.

Because aggressive fish were in such short supply due to the still-cold water, I tried to coordinate working together to double or triple up after a single hookup briefly excited other nearby fish, and we had some success at this.

The go-to tactic was S-L-O-W-L-Y smoking my smallest slab — the 3/8 oz. version of the Hazy Eye Slab — upward and away from pursuing fish to give the appearance of forage escaping.  Fish, although moving slowly, were not densely populating areas sufficiently to make snap jigging profitable.

Once we passed 9:30, the wind was still very light and the fishing took a dive for about an hour.  Around 10:30, a sudden WSW breeze started blowing at 14 and, about 20 minutes thereafter, the fish turned on for a while longer.  This was certainly not an aggressive feed, but, a return to the slow but steady catch rate we’d enjoyed earlier in the morning.

For our efforts, we boated 22 fish this morning, and missed another 8 as Michael and Joey worked to get the timing down on hooksetting on these slow-biting fish.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 22 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Working together to double or triple up after a single hookup briefly excites other nearby fish is something that can be exploited by experienced anglers.  We did this to a limited extent today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7 A

End Time: 11:40 A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation:  0.53′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 1 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 47.3F 

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable from the E through 9:45A, then picking up quickly to SSW14 thereafter

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue skies

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Productive Areas:

1536 thru 0098 – moderate action on slabs by chunky white bass in first 2.5 hours of the morning with bird assistance.

SH0102C to SH0092C – over channel

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, February 22nd, I fished with retired Austin policeman Jim Cottingham, who primarily focuses on competitive bass fishing.

Jim’s primary focus was seeing Garmin LiveScope used in a real-world scenario to catch fish and to understand the settings needed to dial the unit in, thus allowing it to be used to its fullest potential.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Stillhouse continues to produce beefy white bass despite the chilled water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 22 February 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This was my first guided trip since last Monday.  The recent winter storms cost me a full week off the water.  I went out briefly Sunday night to sample the water temperature, see if a shad kill of any sort had taken place, and exercise all the systems on the boat before welcoming Jim aboard this morning.

Fortunately, with the coldest water I detected (down to 65 feet) being 43.6F, and the threshold temperature for threadfin shad thought to be 42F, it appears we dodged a bullet and did not lose our forage base.  Sonar readings this morning verified an abundance of living shad suspended between 20-24 feet, and than again below 55 feet.

This morning’s bite had its good points and its bad points.  Good: I was pleased to see the speed at which the white bass we caught this morning pursued the vertical presentations we offered.  I bypassed the icejigs and jighead/soft plastics I thought we’d have to use, and had success right off the bat on a VERY slowly smoked 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.  The only reason we smoked these is because the fish were following farther than we could routinely lift without interrupting the rate of rise.

We put 17 fish in the boat in the first 2 hours on a pretty steady bite with fish that definitely responded to the thumper, the, at the same time the wind went slack, the birds quit, and the fish stopped feeding.  We only caught 2 more fish from that point on.

As I anticipated, I found fish very deep in the belly of the old Lampasas River channel, but these fish were exceptionally lethargic.

 

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 19 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:    Temperature profile taken around 6pm, Sunday 21 Feb.:

0 feet 46.4

5 feet 46.4

10 feet 46.2

15 feet 45.8

20 feet 45.8

25 feet 45.6

35 feet 45.6

35 feet 45.5

40 feet 45

45 feet 45

50 feet 45

55 feet 44.4

60 feet 43.7

65 feet 43.6

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:50A

End Time: 12:15 A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.53′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 1 CFS flow thru the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 46.4F 

Wind Speed & Direction:  W7 through 9A, then dying to light and variable

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue skies

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 75% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas: 350 thru 089 – moderate action on slabs by chunky white bass in first 2 hours of the morning with bird assistance.

 

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

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec