11 APRIL 2008 (PM)






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Central Texas Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished both a morning and an evening trip today. The results are listed in separate posts.


Evening Trip – fished with Richard T. of Salado this evening … a great fellow …a musician, computer whiz, small business owner, a quick wit … even did a stint with the Cousteau Society in years past. It had been some time since Richard had been fishing, and past attempts were never all that fruitful, so we worked on two sure-fire techniques for this time of year and did very well.

We launched at 3:00p and fished until 8:15p. At the start of the trip, the skies were as bright as could be with a dry NW breeze varying from 5-12. We actually began a bit early, as we searched with sonar and fished over several areas which held fish, but the fish were just not quite turned on at the time. In the first hour plus, we landed only 3 fish after searching Areas 128, 142, 122 and 124 .

By 4:30, the sun was getting a bit lower, and the wind was now steady from the NNW at 12-13. I chose an underwater feature with a linear layout to it which the wind was striking perpendicularly; we fished the windward edge of the feature at Area 88 and immediately got into fish. By 6:45p we had boated 109 additional fish including white bass of mixed sizes up to 13.5 inches, as well as drum which were consistently sized right at 12 inches and right at the 1 pound mark.

With the day slipping away, we agreed to leave these fish still biting, albeit much less aggressively than at the peak of the activity, and head to some shallower haunts to try casting to some fish. We headed to between and south of Areas 116 and 110 and did a quick flatline troll over the area as we searched with sonar. We picked up a small white as we motored around. Happy with what I saw, I set us up in 14 feet of water casting up into shallower water and into the wind. With very little coaching Richard quickly dusted off his spinning reel cobwebs and was soon firing casts out where they needed to be. We worked bladebaits along the bottom for the remainder of the trip and boated another 23 fish here including 21 white bass of mixed sizes, a 2 pound largemouth, and a 13 inch drum.

As the sun set and the light began to fade on this beautiful day we agreed to call it a very good trip and headed back to the ramp.

133 FISH, all caught and released with the exception of 2 drum which did not revive after capture from deep water.

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








11 APRIL 2008 (AM)






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Central Texas Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished both a morning and an evening trip today. The results are listed in separate posts.

Morning Trip – fished a Kids Fish, Too! trip with James (dad) and Hunter V. (son) and Steve (dad) and Samuel B. (son) in celebration of Hunter’s 9th birthday. I had a good feeling about this Friday trip as it was the first full day of clearing weather after a turbulent mid-week with rain, high winds, high humidity, tornadic activity, and thunderstorms. This weather cleared by noon the previous day, and, no doubt, there was a strong evening bite that evening.

Our trip began at 6:45a and concluded at 11:45a. The morning air temp was 55F and the water surface temp was 69.5. Suspecting that fish could be found shallow at least during the low light portion of the morning, and given that the pre-dawn/dawn conditions were still too calm for slabbing the humps, we began flatline trolling in the vicinity of Areas 110 and 116. Less than 3 minutes into the trip, Hunter was hooked up with a largemouth, and from then until around 10:15, the boys brought in fish after fish with a mixed bag of white bass, white crappie, black crappie, and largemouth bass, totaling 34 fish in all.

Hoping to introduce the boys to another technique and given that the wind was now steady at 8-10 out of the NNW, we put a hold on trolling and headed out to slab over a few humps. We searched 3 typically solid areas (54, 108, and 103) and didn’t see much on sonar … I was now concerned that the previous evening feed had been so good that this morning’s feed was going to be light. We ran sonar over Area 131 and did see some bottom hugging fish in ~32 feet, so we let the slabs down and managed 12 fish here including 8 white bass and 4 drum, however, the fish were sluggish and there weren’t a whole bunch of them.

I gave the boys the option of looking for fish elsewhere and slabbing for them, or going back to trolling. They chose trolling, so we hit Area 999 with only one missed fish to show for the effort, and we hit Area 144 with only a small largemouth resulting. Around 11:00, we returned to Area 110/116 and found some larger fish had moved in. Our last four fish were the largest of the day and included a solid 11 inch black crappie, two 13 inch white bass, and a nice 2.75 pound largemouth.

The boys were very well behaved, and their dads were real encouragers and were willing to step back from the rods and let the kids do things themselves which really made for a great trip.

TALLY = 50 FISH, all caught and released except 2 drum with did not survive after being caught from 30+ feet.

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








08 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished a quick scouting trip this morning from 7:15 am to 9:45 am. The weather conditions were just right for some first-of-the-year topwater action with heavy, humid, grey, and fairly calm conditions. The air temperature was 66F and the water surface temp was 69-70F.

I first sampled Area 999, but, despite the conditions and the presence of shad, did not come up with a single white. I did manage one drum here up shallow on a blade bait.

Headed to Area 116 and found abundant white bass action with the first sizeable catch I’ve made thus far on other than a slab. Managed 24 white bass, all 10.5 to 11.5 inches on a blade bait in 11-18 feet of water. There was some very tentative topwater action here with 1, 2, or 3 white bass in small pods pursuing individual shad of ~2 inches in length to the surface and repeatedly popping at them.

With my topwater curiosity satisfied, I began to pack up when I noticed an osprey making repeated feeding dives down to the water. I quickly headed over to the commotion at Area 144 over 11 to 13 feet of water, and saw scattered small pods of white feeding on ~2 inch shad here as well.

Used a blade bait, fly rod, and jigging spoon to see what the fish would or would not respond to. I caught fish on all three. Added 10 fish to the count here and headed in.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








07 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Lake Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished an evening scouting trip tonight just to stay in touch with fish movement prior to my next bookings. At launch time the air temp was 79 F and the water surface temp was 68.5F. The skies were fair and the wind was pushing 14-16 from the SSE putting a nice chop on the water.

I planned to make a run of areas that typically produce in a north wind as that is what is being called for on Friday when I have both AM and PM trips booked.

I stopped at Area 120 first in 22-26 feet of water. Things looked very good on sonar with plenty of fish on bottom and suspended both near bottom and in schools well off the bottom. As soon as I got a slab down among them they tore it up. Put 10 fish in the boat in less than 6 minutes and then left this group of fish alone. The ten fish included 8 barely keeper whites, a short black, and a healthy, spawned out largemouth going 6.00 pounds even on the certified Boga Grip (photo appears in Adult Gallery).

Moved to the NW and into 25-27 feet of water and worked over Area 142 after seeing nearly identical sonar reading there. Again, as soon as the slab went down, the fish just got all over it. 10 more fish were added in no time flat. I left these fish biting and went elsewhere looking for active fish.

Moved to Area 88 in a little deeper water (34-36 feet) and again found solid sonar reading with fish spread over a fair radius from the actual waypoint plotted here, all the way over to Area 129. All of these fish were tight to the bottom, and no bait was seen. Again, no problem at all quickly catching and releasing 10 more fish and moving on to check yet another area.

Moved to Area 87 in 27-28 feet of water and had to jig here a little while to coax the fish into a feed after seeing fewer fish on sonar here to start with. As soon as the fish fish was hooked, up came numerous schoolmates showing on sonar, and that little bit of action was enough to provoke the school into a feed. Again, in 15-20 minutes here I added another 10 fish to the count and moved on, this time uplake.

Gave Area 78 a try with nothing but single suspended fish showing on sonar. Didn’t expect much and didn’t catch anything here.

Got to Area 142 and slowly motored into the wind to really be able to watch sonar well. There was definitely bottom-hugging fish here, so down went the slab and up came two white bass. After the second one was played in, the rest of the fish became harder to tempt (I suspect the feeding window was closing – and the wind had begun to swing further east which never helps). I put on a smaller slab and was able to jig up 8 more fish for a total of 10 fish here, too.

That was where the winning streak ended. I tried two more locations further uplake (Areas 100 and 888) and zero’ed at both of them.

Finally, after sunset, I found a small school of whites in a shallow area near Area 116, and worked them over with a blade bait for 3 more whites and a redear sunfish.

TALLY = 54 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








05 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished a Kids Fish, Too! trip this morning with father and son Randy and Andrew J. of Killeen, and Andrew’s buddy, Xavier W. of Killeen. We fished a half day morning trip from 7:15am to 12:15pm. At launch time the air temp. was 50F following the passage of a wet cold front on the morning of the previous day. This morning was clear and cool with light and variable winds. The water surface temp. was 67-68F.

We had very tough conditions to deal with today – bright and windless. Nonetheless, the fact that the water temperature has increased fairly rapidly has the fishes’ metabolism on the go, and we were able to consistently stay on the fish for the entirety of the trip.

We began our trip up shallow in 10-16 feet in the vicinity of Areas 110 and 116 and used a slabbing approach to put a mixed bag of white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, and drum in the boat. We landed 30 fish this way in about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

We then mixed it up a little bit and let the kids stretch and snack while trolling in this same general are. We took our tally up to 39 fish in this manner, including a new TPWD Jr. Angler lake record white bass, measuring 15.50″ in length and weighing in at 1.75 pounds (certified).

By 10:30 we were looking at sonar and scouting out some deeper fish on 24-30 foot humps. We found one solid school of whites mixed with drum NW of Area 54 after making 3 separate stops at other areas nearby after seeing fish on sonar, but not seeing real concentrations of them until getting to this area. All three guests stayed hooked up consistently here over about a 45 minute span. When the slabbing action died here we’d boated a total of 62 fish.

Around 11:30, the already tough fishing was beginning to tail off. We returned to Area 110/116 and trolled up another trio of fish including 2 white bass and a short largemouth, and then called it a day.

TALLY = 65 FISH; all but 2 drum were caught and released in good condition.

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








03 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Lake Fishing Report by Stillhouse Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today from 7:00am to 11:30am. Skies were heavily overcast the entire time with a wet, SW wind blowing from before obscured dawn at 8-12 mph.

The launch time air temp. was 69F and the water surface temp was 67-68F.

I began checking shallow water due to the water temperature (12 feet and shallower) and found reluctant juvenile whites on Area 999. I vertical jigged for about 30 minutes thinking the increasing light would cause the fish to get more active, but this wasn’t to be. I left that area and headed to some clearer water.

Headed to Area 110 and slowly ran sonar over the area. Saw suspended fish and fish on bottom in 14-18 feet all over this area. Stopped and vertical jigged for 40 fish, mostly small whites. I experimented with a blade bait and a horizontal retrieve, but they weren’t enthused about that. About 15% small keepers.

Left to sample other active areas while the bite was still on.

Checked Area 130 in 24-26 feet with no results.

Checked Area 54 in 24-26 feet. It was loaded with fish and these fish were aggressive. I caught 20 and left them alone. About 20% small keepers.

Checked Area 140 in 24-31 feet. There were fish here but they we not nearly as active as at Area 54 even given the similarities between the two areas. Caught 10 fish here and left them alone. All short fish.

Checked Area 141. There were fish holding to the W. side of the actual hump feature here, but they were unresponsive.

Moved to Area 104 at the high side in 27-29 feet and finished out the trip here with 20 fish, including several nice white bass and 5 solid drum. About 40% keepers with several 12+ inches.

Headed back to the stained water which now had some light on it and gave Areas 127 and 91 a try without any results.

TALLY = 93 fish, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








MARCH 2008 SUMMARY






27 MARCH 2008 (PM) = 77 FISH

27 MARCH 2008 (AM) = 203 FISH

24 MARCH 2008 (PM) = 66 FISH

24 MARCH 2008 (AM) = 31 FISH

21 MARCH 2008 (PM) = 47 FISH

21 MARCH 2008 (AM) = 66 FISH

20 MARCH 2008 = 90 FISH

19 MARCH 2008 (PM) = 45 FISH

19 MARCH 2008 (AM) = 46 FISH

17 MARCH 2008 = 102 FISH

15 MARCH 2008 = 66 FISH

13 MARCH 2008 = 142 FISH

11 MARCH 2008 = 87 FISH

08 MARCH 2008 = 39 FISH

06 MARCH 2008 = 100 FISH

04 MARCH 2008 = 52 FISH

01 MARCH 2008 = 69 FISH

TOTAL FISH CAUGHT: 1,328 FISH

AVERAGE CATCH PER TRIP: 78.1 FISH


Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








27 MARCH 2008 (PM)






Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a morning and an afternoon trip today. Reports for each are posted separately.


EVENING TRIP: Fished a half-day evening trip from 4:15pm to 7:45pm with Leonard N. of Killeen.

At launch time, the air temp had increased to 76F, the skies remained cloudy and the humidity level was high. The winds topped out at 22+ by around 2pm and leveled off around 16-18mph through sunset (obscured). We tried to fish in wind-protected areas and fortunately were able to fish such areas where abundant bird activity led the way to active fish.

We fished 3 areas over the duration of the trip and found fish at each area keeping the fishing consistent. The results were essentially the same at Areas 138, 136, and 137. These areas ranged in depth from 16 to 23 feet, with fairly clean bottoms. Shad schools were not thick by any means, but they were present and showed on sonar regularly

Fish were primarily bottom oriented, except when birds came into the picture – they indicated active fish, and sonar showed these active fish to be both on bottom and suspended.

We caught mainly white bass with a handful of small hybrids (largest was 16″), drum, sunfish, and largemouth bass thrown in. No crappie showed up in the catch.

One quirky observation we made: a number of the larger (13-14″) white bass we caught had an odd yellow tint to the normally white areas on their sides. Some of these “yellowed” individuals, also had reddened features at “joint” area where fins met the body, in external mouth crevices, nostrils, etc. These fish also had a slightly “glazed” or “cataract” appearance to their eyes. They obviously were healthy enough to hunt, and they fought normally … kind of strange.

I was hoping to see a little surface activity at sunset, but the sun was obscured by clouds at that time and so our chances of surface activity were killed.

TALLY = 77 FISH, all fish were caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








27 MARCH 2008 (AM)






Stillhouse Lake Fishing Report by Stillhouse Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a morning and an afternoon trip today. Reports for each are posted separately.


MORNING TRIP: Fished a half-day morning trip from 7:15am to 1:45pm with Dick C. of Killeen and Joo C. of South Korea. Joo is a foreign exchange student living with a family in Salado, and Dick C. wanted to treat the young man to some good old American fishing before he heads back to Korea.

At the start of our trip, the wind was SSW at ~14 mph. This was the 3rd consecutive day where winds would hit 20+ mph from this direction. The winds stayed manageable until around 11:45, when they racheted up to 22+ and became an issue for boat control. The skies were mostly cloudy and grey the entire trip. The air temp. was 66F and the water temp ranged from 62-64F. No useful bird activity was observed the entire day. Large gulls were harassing loons over open water, but very little else was seen.

Not knowing what the wind was going to do, I decided to get out on the most exposed areas first before the wind eliminated these areas as options. We hit the stretch from Area 54 to Area 108 and vicinity, and experienced moderate action on slabs for about an hour and a half as the guys worked through the learning curve of slabbing. We left this area with over 20 fish boated, mainly small white bass. All fish were tight to the bottom in 22-26 feet.

Next, with the winds building, but still manageable, we hit Area 130 in 24-26 feet for about 45 minutes, and did very well, taking our tally up to 51 fish. Again, fish were tight to bottom, all came on slabs, and most were small whites.

At this point, Joo mentioned that his wrist was giving him some problems from the jigging motion and from reeling in fish (I told him I took that as a compliment!), so we took a ride to Area 999 and flatline trolled a bit while the fellows enjoyed a mid-morning snack. At Area 999 I kept our crankbaits down at 12 feet in 10-16 feet of water. We came up with 2 largemouth and 1 solid white bass.

Somehow a full belly made Joo’s wrist feel better, and he gave the thumbs up to going back to slabbing.

We made one final stop at Area 104, and, due to the wind, ranged wide to the east through Areas 131 and 139 at around 11:00 and proceeded to catch fish steadily for two and a half hours straight. We took our fish count from 54 up to 203 by the time we wrapped up – the fish were just incredibly hyped up. We fished in 27-34 feet, and again the fish were tight to the bottom. Fish typically hit on just the first or second lift of the rod tip after dropping to bottom. After while, as I saw Joo really getting into a rhythm and doing well, I invited him to give my tandem rig a try, and the young man just flat mastered that technique right away. He caught doubles more often than not, and for every double he brought up, Dick brought up a single. We put triples in the boat over and over again until we finally had to pack up and leave them biting. Even when the wind got ahold of us and we got pushed back, the fish hit the slabs as they strung out and were not being well presented. Joo had to get back to school, Dick had to get to work, and I had to get some charge on my batteries before my afternoon guest showed up.

A great trip with a great pair of fellows!

TALLY = 203 FISH, all fish were caught and released with the exception of 3 drum that didn’t make it after coming up off bottom too quickly.

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








24 MARCH 2008 (PM)






Stillhouse Lake Fishing Report by Central Texas Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished a morning and an evening trip today. Reports for each trip are posted separately.


Evening Trip: Fished from 4:15pm to 8:00pm. Around 2:30 today the wind shifted out of the S at 10-12 after going slack for a short period beforehand.

Given the sun and warm temperatures (air temp a high of 64F today), I decided to try some shallower areas this afternoon and did pretty well.

First stop was at Area 91. I found fish on the windward side of this feature in 16-18 feet, but most fish were suspended individually or in groups of no more than 4 fish. I caught 20 fish here including (primarily) white bass, with a number of small crappie and small largemouth bass thrown in. All of these fish came on a retrieved slab played on sonar.

I next gave flatline trolling a try N of Area 999 and did well following the contour from 12 out to 18 feet on multiple passes. This yielded 10 additional fish, including (primarily) short largemouth, as well as crappie and small white bass.

As the light began to lessen, I headed to Area 116, and found fish on sonar at the flat base of this feature to the S of the breakline. Found good sized 13″ white bass here, as well as smaller whites and suspended crappie. Added 20 fish to the count here.

At sunset, I moved down to Area 888 to see if there may be any surface activity yet. There was none, but there was ample fish activity here with schools of shad seen on sonar, and with small whites, small crappie and small largemouth all responding to the slab presentation. Finished the evening with 16 fish here, all caught in quick succession as the light failed.

TALLY = 66 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing