Author: Bob Maindelle

DAD, I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!! — 126 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, I fished with Brian Linford of El Paso, TX, and his “homeless” father, Larry Linford, who is weighing his options after selling his home in Idaho Falls, ID, and is considering becoming at least a winter-Texas given that his adult kids all live down this way.

The two were visiting relatives in the Belton area and decided to give Lake Belton a try.  Larry hadn’t done much white bass fishing before, and Brian was eager to see how I put sonar, in particular the GARMIN LiveScope, into practice in a “real-world” fish-finding scenario.

After seeing what he saw, but knowing his wife would not be wild about the possibility of another sonar purchase, Brian considered his alternatives and informed Larry, “Dad, I know what I want for Christmas.”   Larry just laughed.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From right: Larry and Brian Linford with a few of the 3-year class fish from our haul of 126 fish taken from Lake Belton on MAL Lures this morning in advance of a dry cold front which came in around 1PM.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 02 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

It was a pretty crazy weather day today which resulting in me having to postpone my afternoon outing due to forecast high winds.

We had a mild, dry cold front approaching from the NW, but this morning’s trip did not coincide with the pre-frontal wind shift in advance of that front, so, we had enjoyable conditions, but pretty average fishing.  We were aided by light, grey cloud cover, but hindered by a lack of wind.

When the wind blew, the activity level of the fish rose noticeably, but, the opposite was also true.

We put our 100th fish in the boat today right at 11:20, the, because I had already made a call to postpone the afternoon trip and was under no time constraints, we hit an area I haven’t fished in a while to scout it out a bit.  I found fish in about 35′ on bottom, and we fished them until they quit, putting a “bonus” 26 fish in the boat and taking our final tally to 126 fish.

In that mix was 1 freshwater drum, 2 smallmouth bass, 8 largemouth bass, and 115 white bass.  No hybrid striped bass in the mix this morning.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 126 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No gull activity today after a 4-day run of solid bird action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation:  0.87 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 60.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light SE breeze at trip’s start, then just short stints of light breezes from the SW thereafter in the hours immediately preceding the arrival of yet another mild, dry cold front which started with a northerly wind around 1P, and which led to the postponement of this afternoon’s trip due to high forecast winds (18, gusting 25)

Sky Condition: Grey skies all morning with occasional mist, as well as occasional, brief breaks of sun through the clouds.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 96% illumination

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1483; 15 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1489; 21 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 354; 34 on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic B0051G; 31 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 579; 25 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

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

IT’S A CRIME TO PAY MORE THAN A DIME – 100 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: If you’ve ever heard the phrase “It’s a crime to pay more than a dime.” — you were most likely listening to a McLeod Auto Sales radio commercial.

This morning, Tuesday, December 1st, I fished with returning guest Travis McLeod, co-owner, along with his wife, Diane, of McLeod Auto Sales at 1601 E. Rancier Ave. in Killeen.

The McLeods have been in business for over 20 years selling used cars.  To take a break from that from time to time, Travis likes to get out and do some hunting and fishing.  Today, he braved some pretty tough weather to pursue white bass and sharpen up his own game on this abundant gamefish species on Lake Belton so as to be able to treat his own family, namely his grandkids, to some similar fishing.

Although we both enjoyed the catching, Travis also came to pick my brain a bit about tactics and sonar use.  He came away with a few valuable lessons, namely, that he’s likely been looking too shallow in his autumn fishing, and too dependent on the down-looking technologies of down-imaging and colored sonar, while not making full use of his side imaging on his own Humminbird Helix unit.

Travis is a well-traveled hunter and in that arena I picked up a tip or two from him, namely that I need to set aside time to go to the Dallas Safari Club’s Convention and Sporting Expo held annually in Dallas.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Travis McLeod with one of several hybrid striped bass we took from about 40 feet of water as we focused on white bass using a combination of MAL Lures and Garmin LiveScope.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 01 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

After a sweet run of fishing for very aggressive fish spurred on by frontal activity this past Saturday and again yesterday, things settled back down to more normal conditions today as a southerly wind returned overnight after a very short post-frontal calm just at and after sunset last night.

Under these conditions, fish feed, but not for extended periods.  Fish chase, but not for extra long distances, and the energy they exhibit is generally less than when a rapid change of atmospheric pressure is taking place.

Today we wound up fishing 4 general locations, short-hopping a bit at the first three to keep up with the fish (under birds), to put together our catch of exactly 100 fish.  By 10:30, the winds, which were forecast to max out a 13 mph straight-line, actually rose to 16-17, with higher gusts.  It was such that we vacated open water for our last hour and fished more protected (but still wind-impacted) water.

Until we hit our last area, our ratio of young of the year fish to legal fish was very low, but, of the last 20 we landed, approx. 17 were shorts.  Regardless of size, it sure is fun to work individual fish while peering into the depths below with the LiveScope technology.

We ended up with exactly 100 fish caught this morning, including 3 hybrid stripers, 4 largemouth, and 93 white bass, with one big drum missed right at boatside which did not go on the “clicker” to be counted.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   2.5 hours worth of solid gull activity in the middle part of this morning’s trip.  First “killing” frost of the year occurred overnight.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.86 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 60.9F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S12 at trip’s start, ramping up to S16 with higher gusts to 20+ by 10:30A

Sky Condition: High, thin white cloud cover at ~20% on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0098C; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 086 to 1551; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1391; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 844; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

‘TWAS NAUTICAL — 152 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 30th, I fished with returning guest Shawn DeJournett and his father-in-law, Darryl Kaczmarczyk.

Shawn serves in law enforcement and is a U.S. Army veteran.  Darryl works as a nurse at one of our local hospitals and is also a veteran of the U.S. Army.

I actually texted Shawn at the close of my trip on Saturday to let him know the extended forecast did not look good for today.  Aside from the cold, which can be twarted by dressing well, we were due to have straight-line winds in excess of 18 mph with higher gusts.  Fortunately, as the next 36 hours unfolded, the wind speed forecast reduced and the overnight low temperature increased.

As we met at the ramp this morning, it was 37F with a pretty good wind chill factor generated by a NNW wind at 16 mph   — uncomfortable, but fishable, so, off we went!  The conditions were “nautical” — high winds, cold temps, big waves and spray, but, life is short so we fished on!

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Shawn DeJournett with one of six hybrid striped bass we landed as we targeted abundant, aggressive white bass feeding heavily in open water this morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Darryl Kaczmarczyk with another open water hybrid.  This fish was already dripping milt.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 30 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing stayed strong today as the cold-front induced northwest winds reached a peak, plateaued, and then began to taper during our time on the water this morning.  The fish were so active, in fact, that they were hard to pin down until late morning when they stopped moving as quickly as they did in the first 2.5 hours of the morning.

We were blessed to have helpful gull activity all morning, with the first terns showing up in the fish-eating bird mix for the first time this fall.

We found high numbers of mature white bass in three distinct areas this morning, each covering perhaps a football-field-sized area (about 1 1/3 acres), with each group moving generally into the wind at a slow pace.

Although I did bring some magnum Sassy Shad baits just for hybrid, the strong winds made me keep them idle and opt for the vertical presentation made with my MAL Lure rods, which accounted for 100% of our fish this morning.

We used Garmin LiveScope in conjunction with the MAL Lures to capitalize on both bottom-hugging and suspended fish using a smoking tactic.  No adjustment to the standard tactic was called for due to the minor water surface temperature drop experienced since Saturday.

Our tally of 152 fish included 6 hybrid striped bass, 3 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 142 white bass.  Very few white bass (under 12 total), were below the legal length of 10″.  This represented the greatest percentage of legal white bass as a percentage of the whole white bass catch I’ve seen thus far since turnover.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 152 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Once again, the gulls fed hard for 4 solid hours, pointing the way to fish all morning.  The fish were moving actively and rapidly, necessitating “spot-hopping” routinely in the first 2.5 hours.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.83 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 62.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW16 at trip’s start, slowly tapering to NNW13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies as cold front was passing through

Moon Phase: Full moon

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area triangulated by B0042G/B0098C/B0026C; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1205 through 152; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0040G thru BG0026; ; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

HE’S MAKING A LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE — 254 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, Nov. 28th, I fished with the Madden family of Lewisville, TX — the same family which came out with me this past Wednesday afternoon.

During that trip on Wednesday, Jeff Madden, his wife, Sue, and their twin 12-year-old sons, Cooper and Cash, landed 277 fish in a 4-hour trip which began around 1:30pm.

During that trip a cancellation request came in for the forthcoming Saturday.  Jeff overheard the conversation and offered to fill that slot on the spot.

Although showing up on time Saturday meant a 3AM wakeup to begin a drive south at 4AM from Lewisville, Jeff, the boys, and their grandfather, Chuck Madden, arrived a few minutes early and ready to roll, complete with waterproof footwear and raingear head-to-toe, for our 7:30AM launch.

Cash was the first one to the boat as he about ran from the parking lot to get on board.  He told me he really hoped he could catch a hybrid striped bass so he could check it off his ‘species caught’ list.  I asked him to tell me about this list.  A picture is worth a thousand words …

PHOTO CAPTION #1: This is but one of several pages from 12-year-old Cash Madden’s “List” of the fish species he’s landed.  At long last, we were able to put a check mark next to Hybrid Striped Bass.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Cash (left) and Cooper with the hybrid that got another species checked off of Cash’s list.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3:  Grand-daddy with the grand-daddy!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #4: Three generations of Maddens — from left: Jeff, Cash, Cooper, and Jeff’s dad, Chuck.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #5:  By 8:15AM, this is what Garmin sonar showed under the boat, all the time.  It never slacked off until about 10:50, and even then there were plenty of aggressive fish both on the bottom and suspended at mid-depth, ready to chase the MAL Lures we presented.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 28 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As we began making plans for this trip upon the conclusion of our trip on Wednesday evening, it looked to be a pretty uncomfortable proposition.  Near 100% chance of rain, with an accumulation of a quarter-inch in the first few hours following sunrise, topped off with a 49F north wind at 13-14 mph meant it was going to be pretty nasty, especially where kids were concerned.

Jeff and I compared notes through the Thanksgiving holiday and, as it turned out, we actually experienced just the lightest sprinkle in our final hour on the water, with an air temperature of 55 at launch time, which slowly rose to 59F, and a north wind that never exceeded 10-11 miles per hour.  Add to that not another boat in sight the entire morning, and we were in seventh heaven!

The gulls worked in a helpful manner for the entirety of the trip, so the fish-finding, which up until this time this autumn has been near 100% sonar-dependent, was made much simpler.  The fish were moving quite rapidly chasing bait in the first hour or so, and during that time the fishing was hit-or-miss, requiring that we jump around a lot to stay with the fish.  By 8:15AM, they began slowing down and staying put for longer whiles, allowing us to catch more fish with each “Spot-Lock” episode.

The MAL Lures worked their magic all morning long, producing exactly 254 fish by the time 11:30 rolled around.  The fish were still hitting as we departed, but the bite was definitely well past peak by then.  Chuck had already taken a seat because his back was getting sore, and, NOAA weather radar indicated we were to see some stiff rain within the hour (which did materialize).

Of the 254 fish landed, less than 10-15% were this year’s crop, thus, the majority of our fish were 1.5 and 2.5 year-old fish.  Our catch consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 4 largemouth bass, 9 legal hybrid striped bass, and 238 white bass.

With much risk (of having a trip cancelled on the spot due to the elements, or putting up with miserable conditons), went much reward!!   The 277 fish from Wednesday’s trip, added to this morning’s tally of 254, means the Madden’s caught and released 531 fish in their 8 hours spent on Lake Belton this Thanksgiving week.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 254 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Gulls fed hard for 4 solid hours, pointing the way to fish all morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation:  0.80 low with a 0.02’ 24-hour rise and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 63.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNE10-11

Sky Condition: 100% grey with light rain during last hour of the trip.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 97% illumination

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1391 to 970 with numerous “short hops” as dictated by bird action over this linear stretch of open water; 254 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

GAME WARDEN IN TRAINING — 127 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, Nov. 27th, I fished with 17-year-old TJ Watson of Belton.

TJ’s mom, Jennifer, contacted me about 3 weeks ago hoping, despite my full calendar, that she could get her son out on the water with me during his Thanksgiving break from Belton’s “New Tech” high school.

I initially had nothing to offer her, but, when a sonar training session fell through due to a scarcity of repair parts needed by my would-be-client, I texted Jennifer back and today’s successful outing was the result.

TJ’s plans are to graduate from high school, spend 2 years at a junior college, then transfer to a 4-year school to pursue a degree in law enforcement in preparation for a career as a game warden.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: TJ Watson of Belton landed white bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum using vertical tactics in deep water, putting together a total catch of 127 fish in right at 4 hours on the water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 27 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As northerly winds continued blowing and grey cloud cover, to the point of light rain persisted, we enjoyed light traffic and outstanding fishing on Lake Belton.

We fished 5 areas this morning and saw what has become a very predictable pattern of fish behavior during the first 4 hours of light following sunrise — a slow ramp up of feeding activity in the first hour, peak feeding activity in the middle two hours, followed by a fairly quick shutdown of feeding activity in the last half of the fourth hour following sunrise.  This feeding end time flexes with sky brightness.

I fished side-by-side with TJ this morning as we shared the view on a single Garmin LiveScope monitor to precisely present baits to specific fish we sighted using that technology.

We worked chartreuse MAL Lures both up off the bottom for bottom-oriented fish as well as past suspended fish to tempt both.

With the late November water temperatures still at around 64F, this fast-paced, very productive fishing should continue on for the foreseeable future.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 127 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Two episodes of light gull activity led us to some of the fish we boated this morning toward our trip’s end.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.82 low with a 0.0’ 24-hour change and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW6-11

Sky Condition: 100% grey with light rain during last half of the trip, turning to steady rain right at trip’s close

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 92% illumination

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0012C, 35 fish on MAL Lures; mostly small (SP)

**Area 1389, 39 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0075C, 26 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 305, 15 fish on MAL Lures with bird assist (SP)

**Area 081, 12 fish on MAL Lures  with bird assist (SP)

 

 

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

FISH HARD, GIVE THANKS, EAT WELL — 151 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thanksgiving Day 2020, I fished with Dr. Paul Bednarz and Chad Connally, both of Crawford, TX.  The two became friends as their sons participated on the same school sports teams through the years.

Originally, Paul was to be accompanied by his son, but the demands of high school football changed those plans earlier this week.

Paul is an orthopedic surgeon focused on adult foot and ankle maladies, and Chad works with heavy equipment doing pipeline and disaster recovery work.

Since we all had family gatherings to get to around midday, we kept this morning’s trip to right at 4 hours in length.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Chad Connally (left) and Paul Bednarz with a few of the white bass we landed on the first day of returning south winds following a short, mild cold front’s passage.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 26 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning we encountered southerly winds which blew all day following a northerly blow the day before, and in advance of an incoming wet, mild cold front which slowly crept in overnight following this trip.

The fish fed today with average intensity right up to around 10:50, after which we saw a slowdown in the action.

We hit five areas this morning as we put together a catch of 151 fish.  Our first area produced small fish almost exclusively, so, when the skies brightened a bit and the winds came up, I did not hesitate to move us after boating 30 fish, knowing we’d find cooperative populations of fish elsewhere.

At the second area we hit, I got the fellows trained up on Garmin LiveScope, and their results immediately improved as they were able to customize their retrieves to fish to individual fish sighted on the screen.

After boating 30 fish at our first stop, we took another 11 fish at our second stop, 31 fish at our third stop, 29 fish at our fourth stop, and 50 fish at our fifth and final stop.  Every last fish was taken on the MAL Lure; today we went with all rods rigged with chartreuse lures.

After getting a little “assist” from gulls on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, the birds were a no-show today, so, all the fish we caught first had to be found via sonar while searching as slowly as my outboard will idle down to.

Thanks to fairly bright skies, the fish stayed on bottom and upwards only 3-4 feet from it and did not suspend heavily even as we created commotion atop them by working our lures, catching fish, etc.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 151 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed this morning. Multiple flocks of sand hill cranes could be heard and seen migrating slowly south as they rode the thermals.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation:  0.82 low with a 0.05’ 24-hour drop and 34CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 63.9F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were SSE4-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Bright and clear due to the end of a cold front cycle playing out as night fell yesterday

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 87% illumination

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 473, 30 fish on MAL Lures; mostly small (SP)

**Area 2038, 11 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0150C, 31 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1489, 29 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0190C, 50 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

 

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

COULDN’T GET ENOUGH — 277 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, November 25th, I fished with first-time guests Jeff and Sue Madden and their twin 12-year-old sons, Cash and Cooper.  The Maddens came down from Lewisville, TX, to gather in Salado for Thanksgiving with family and planned about a month ahead to do some fishing with me on Lake Belton the day before.

Because Jeff was pretty certain Sue would only come along if the weather cooperated, I suggested booking an afternoon trip, which they did.

All four of the Maddens really worked at catching fish the entire four hours on the water, and, thanks to weather conducive to a strong catch, they wound up boating 277 fish.

Toward the end of the trip, a request came in from a client to release their date with me on Saturday morning due to forecast damp, cool conditions.  Jeff thought all of about 2 seconds and told me he’d take that slot!!  So, I’ll be seeing at least him and the twins again on Saturday, rain or shine!

PHOTO CAPTION #1: The Madden family, from left, Jeff, Cooper, Cash, and Sue, with but a few of the 277 fish they landed during their 4-hour afternoon trip on Wednesday, Nov. 25th.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Mom (Sue Madden) landed our largest fish of the trip — a nice Lake Belton hybrid striped bass  — on a correctly worked MAL Lure.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: White bass and hybrid stripers weren’t the only species feeding on the MAL Lure, as Cash discovered when this Lake Belton largemouth bass went for his.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 25 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Thankfully, the north wind which treated us well this morning continued blowing this afternoon, thus we did not encounter difficult, post-frontal, calm conditions.

This family of four put 277 fish in the boat in just under 4 hours thanks to a few factors.  First, was the wind I’ve already mentioned. Second, everyone got the hang of using the MAL Lures early and executed the retrieve correctly and consistently.  Third, because no one minded catching smaller fish and, instead, enjoyed the non-stop action they provided, we did not engage in time-consuming fish-hunting hoping to find areas holding larger fish (thus, we did not leave fish to find fish).

We fished only four areas, and the Maddens put their 100th fish in the boat by 2:32PM, just over an hour into our trip.

Jeff and the boys were very enthused with the “video game-like qualities” of the Garmin LiveScope, and it kept their attention, helped them focus, and helped them be efficient with their retrieves.

Everything really came together well this afternoon and it was very gratifying to be able to give a family the experience which the Maddens got this day on Lake Belton.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 277 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Although I feared the north winds would go calm during our time on the water, they kept right on blowing, and the fish kept right on biting well, right up to sunset, when they quit abruptly.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  1:30P

End Time: 5:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F

Elevation:  0.82 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise, and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 63.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NW8 at trip’s start, tapering down to NW4 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue skies in the wake of last night’s cold front passage

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 80% illumination

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1000, 66  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 409, 64 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0070C, 132 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 694/968, 15 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

 

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

LIKE “BLUE FORCE TRACKER” FOR FISH – 183 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle
WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 25th, I fished with returning guests Jerry Saikley, Mike Giganti, and Jeff Burns.  Joining me for the first time was a co-worker of Jeff and Jerry’s, Justin Brown.

These fellows all know one another through the work Jeff, Jerry, and Justin do on West Fort Hood.

As I introduced everyone to Garmin LiveScope, Mike observed that, “This is just like Blue Force Tracker for fish!”.

He was referring to a GPS-based military system called “Blue Force Tracker” which allows commanders to track the location of friendly (and enemy) forces on a monitor, the appearance of which looks much like the Garmin monitors strapped to the starboard gunwale of my boat.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Jerry Saikley coordinated this morning’s trip for three of his buddies, Justin Brown, Mike Giganti, and Jeff Burns.  He took our largest fish of the trip — a nice 3.75 pound hybrid striped bass.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Mike Giganti took this nice hybrid which rocketed off bottom to overtake his MAL Lure as it rose through the water column toward the surface.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Mike Giganti, Jeff Burns, Jerry Saikley, and Justin Brown each with a pair of some of the larger white bass we landed this morning.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 25 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was pretty cut-and-dried this morning.  The fish were very active through 9:35AM, then geared down a notch, then knocked off at 11:10AM.

Thanks to the passage of a cold front overnight, the fish were very aggressive and were willing to rise into the water column up off the bottom a greater distance that they have been under non-frontal weather conditions.

We fished two areas before some light bird action got going, then spot-hopped as indicated by gulls for a full 90 minutes thereafter.  In both areas we fished before getting up under the birds, we encountered an unusually high number of small fish (this year’s crop).

The fish we caught under the birds and at two locations without birds after the birds stopped working at 9:17AM, were of a better size mix.

The MAL Lure really shone today — it was super effective on both bottom-hugging and suspended fish, minimal tangling, high hook to land ratio, and easy to work.  We caught 100% of our fish on MAL Lures this morning,.  The fellows were so impressed with the lures (after experiencing average fishing on slabs they’ve been using in their own fishing efforts), that they purchased lures from me “off the tailgate” from a ziplock bag I keep just for such occasions.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 183 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   For the second day in a row, and during the mid-morning period, a flock of gulls, numbering ~2 dozen, pointed the way to active white bass over open water.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation:  0.82 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour rise, and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 63.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NW13 at trip’s start, tapering down to NW8-9 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 80% grey cloud cover at trip’s start, quickly clearing to cloudless in the wake of last night’s cold front passage

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 80% illumination

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0196C, 5 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 354, 48 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Areas 1390/1866, 2038/953, then 2038 – 80  fish on MAL Lures with “short hops” in and around these 3 areas as indicated by gulls (SP)

**Area B0150G,  16 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 097,  a final 34 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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

MOMS & SONS DAY — 175 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, November 24th, I fished with contingents from the Van Riper clan and the Howley clan.

The patriarch of the family, George Van Riper, a U.S. Army veteran who resides in Harker Heights, loves fishing, owns his own boat, fishes our local reservoirs routinely, and has fished with me on numerous occasions.

Nearly two months ago, knowing the Thanksgiving timeframe is a busy week for me, George set this trip up for his daughter, Nancy Howley, his daughter-in-law, Kim Van Riper, Nancy’s boys, Kaden and Jacob, and Kim’s son, Gregory.

Nancy is a public school teacher, and Kim is into real estate.  The boys are doing the best they can with a COVID-impacted school year.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   This was Tuesday morning’s (slightly damp) crew — from left, Kim & Gregory Van Riper, and Kaden, Jacob, and Nancy Howley.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Kim gives Gregory a hand hoisting this 8-pound blue catfish which consumed Gregory’s MAL Lure near bottom in about 46 feet of water, no doubt attracted by the falling bits of shad regurgitated by the white bass we were catching.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3:  This young man, Kaden Howley, is a fishing machine.  He did not snack, he did not banter, he did not take a leak … he just stood in one spot in the middle of the starboard gunwale all morning and flat caught fish after fish after fish.  He was as excited about his last fish as he was about his first fish (after 4 hours of catching!!) This is our 100th fish of the morning, caught by Kaden, at exactly 9:28AM.

PHOTO CAPTION #4: Jacob Howley with our one and only hybrid striped bass of the morning.  This 3.75-pounder came out of 43 feet of water and was among the first fish to strike as we arrived at a new location.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 24 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

For the second day in a row, we were blessed with grey skies and wind — and, unlike yesterday’s NE breeze, this morning’s wind blew from the SSE.  Overnight we experienced warming and increased humidity in the atmosphere as the overnight temperature rose from 59 at sunset to 61 at sunrise.

Anytime we have wind and cloud cover, I get pretty giddy about having folks – especially kids – on the boat.

Before we left the dock I gave my MAL Lure demo, then had each person demo it right back to me to be very sure everyone knew what to do when we found fish.  This pays off when, instead of having to coach out bad technique as we are fishing, that coaching can be done before risking the loss of fish.

With everyone “MAL-qualified”, we set out to find fish.  It did not take long, in fact, I was surprised at how quickly I found fish given that the skies were pretty “murky” with dark cloud cover and a light drizzle falling at the time.

We fished 3 general areas this morning with the first and last stops seeing moderate action, and our middle stops (accounting for the middle two hours of the trip) producing the lion’s share of the fish.

At long last we were aided by gulls this morning.  A small flock of ring-billed gulls began to circle and pluck shad from the surface over top of actively feeding white bass in over 40 feet of water.

We “short-hopped” in an area perhaps 2-3 acres in size to stay on these fish, all the time working 5 MAL Lures with a smoking retrieve to keep fish coming over the side and keep the commotion generated near bottom going so as to feed the “chain reaction”.

Between 11AM and 11:15AM, the action died hard, the winds picked up to over 14mph, and it looked like a good dose of rain was going to fall once again.  At this point only the moms and Kaden were fishing, when Kim gave me the “let’s call it a good morning” sign and we headed in with exactly 175 fish landed.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 175 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   During the mid-morning period a small flock of ~8 gulls helped us find very active white bass feeding on bottom as they picked off dead and crippled shad driven to the surface by the most active feeders in these white bass schools.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation:  0.83 low with a 0.04’ 24-hour fall, and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were SE11-14 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover with sporadic light rain throughout the morning

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 72% illumination

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0012C, 18 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Areas B0052G, BG0026, 1392, and B0058G, 141  fish on MAL Lures with “short hops” in and around these 4 areas as indicated by gulls (SP)

**Area B0059G, a final 16 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

 

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

50F IS SHORTS-WEATHER, RIGHT? – 155 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning, November 23rd, I fished with returning guest Rick Snelgrooes of Liberty Hill, TX, his son Sean, Sean’s buddy from Orange Co., CA, Grant King, and Rick’s nephew-in-law, Tim Webster, from Ft. Collins, CO.

As I watched my crew make their way from the parking lot to the courtesy dock, my first comment was (only half-jokingly), “It looks like someone didn’t get the email.”

It was 50F and cloudy with a northeasterly breeze blowing, and Tim was wearing shorts and a hoodie.  I had on 5 layers on my torso.  I expressed my concerns but, Tim insisted he’d be okay, sharing that he occasionally golfs with snow falling up in Colorado.

With that, we headed out to hunt for fish.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   This was Monday morning’s crew, from left: Rick & Sean Snelgrooes, Grant King, and Tim “The Man in Shorts” Webster.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Tim took this nice 8-pound bluecat in ~47 feet of water.  Most of Tim’s prior experience has been fishing in saltwater on the Texas coast, or pursuing trout in Colorado and Wyoming streams.  He was a quick-study and picked up on the MAL Lure tactics easily.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Sean came up with a deep-water smallmouth from the same area where we picked up the bluecat.  An abundance of shad had all sorts of fish pulled into this area.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 23 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite having fished my entire life, I still get excited when we get a combination of grey cloud cover and wind, just knowing that feeding fish are out there to be found.  This morning, although the winds had an easterly component, it was still moving the water, and the grey cloud cover stuck around all morning.

Since I’ve fished nearly every day but Sundays and Thursdays since returning from Alaska in mid-September, I was able to compare/contrast today’s fishing which was influenced by an easterly wind, with the fishing on days with wind from other directions.  I found that although the fish were willing to bite, they would “flare up” soon after we got our presentations down to them, go strong for a short while, then cool off more quickly than with a southerly or westerly wind.  Thus, in today’s 4-hour trip, we moved a bit more (6 stops in all), whereas I’ve been able to put together a solid 4-hour trip with just 3-5 stops under more favorable wind conditions.

I also noted that we had more fish “pass” on our lures as they cruised by, thus having to “work” harder to catch a given number of fish.

Once again, 100% of our catch was taken on the MAL Lure this morning, in fact, I didn’t even bring any other rods as I was very certain that without a major change in weather and with the water temperature remaining stable, the fishes’ interest in the MAL Lure would continue.

In all, we landed 155 fish by using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.  Once everyone got the fundamentals of the MAL Lure retrieve down, I then introduced LiveScope to make them more efficient by seeing/knowing when to retrieve short and when to retrieve long, based on fish reactions to their presentations.

It was a good day and, to my surprise, Tim’s lips did not have a notably blue tint to them by the time he was ready to wrap them around some Miller’s Smokehouse fare following the trip.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 155 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation:  0.80 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour fall, and 30 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NE5-6 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 63% illumination

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0103C, 55  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 717, 14 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0053G, 24  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0057G, 12  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 606,19  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1945, 31  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

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