29 JAN 2008

01/30/08 9:36 PM

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick, solo, morning trip this morning on Stillhouse to keep my finger on the pulse of the white bass movement to stage prior to the spawn. I fished from 7am to 10am The air temp. was 62F and the surface temp. was 50.2F. The wind was south at 5-6 at launch time, but tapered up quickly to 20 mph by 11am, and up to 30+ by mid afternoon. As the wind built, it also shifted from the south, through the west and to the north, and the temps dropped sharply down to 38F by sunset.

I searched some uplake areas including some shallow flats and some areas adjacent to the main river channel. There was ample bait showing on sonar, but not much in the way of gamefish. A fair number of terns were working in this area, but none bunched up and actively diving indicating the presence of fish.

I moved back down toward mid-lake and continued to look for birds and at sonar. All was still quiet by 8:30 and with only 1 small white boated at Area 101 during a quick stop there.

Finally, at around 9:45 a small flock of terns ~20 in number began feeding over open water at and between Areas 54 and 102. I got on these as quickly as I could, and wound up catching 13 keeper whites and 1 short largemouth out of this activity in about 30 minutes. These fish were caught with a combination of slabs and horizontal slabs. Then, it was over. No fish, no birds, no nothing. The winds went slack just briefly, and then the wind began to come out of the west as I headed in.

The tally for this trip was 14 white bass and 1 largemouth bass.

Tally = 15 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick, solo, evening trip tonight on Stillhouse to keep my finger on the pulse of the white bass movement to stage prior to the spawn. I fished from 3:45pm to 6:30pm. The air temp. was 68F and the surface temp. was 50.2F. The wind was strong from the south at 20+, but tapered out to 4-5mph by sunset.

I searched some uplake areas including some shallow flats and some areas adjacent to the main river channel. There was ample bait showing on sonar, but not much in the way of gamefish. A fair number of terns were working in this area, but none bunched up and actively diving indicating the presence of fish.

I moved back down toward mid-lake and checked out some channel edges and finally spotted small, suspended schools of whites on sonar. These fish were predictably at 12-16 feet deep over the deeper channel ledge in the vicinity of Area 101. I set up to slab over these fish and found them very hesitant to strike a suspended slab either moving or held still. I replaced the slab with a horizontal slab presentation and that did the trick not only on the suspended fish, but also on bottom oriented fish that showed up from time to time.

The slower the wind got, the more the bite faded. By 6p, most everything was over. I then hooked up the downrigger and used sonar to look over the deep flat adjacent to the channel section I was fishing. I found good numbers of small schools of whites, still suspended, between the channel and Area 100, but only got 1 to strike the moving presentation.

The tally for this trip was 23 white bass, of which 21 were legal. All 21 of these fish were beefy females. This was by far the best quality batch of fish I’ve pulled up in a long time.

Tally = 23 white bass, 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

Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a Kids Fish, Too! trip today with 4th grader Ryan F. of Harker Heights. Ryan’s dad is serving in Iraq, AND Ryan has 3 sisters at home, so he was overdue for some good old guy-time.

We began our trip at 7:15am and fished until 2:15pm.

At launch time the air temp. was 38F with a heavy fog (thank goodness for GPS) and the water surface temp. was 50-51F.

Bird activity was non-existent due to the fog, so we relied solely on sonar and experience today to get to the fish. We made a 2 hour and 15 minute stop in the vicinity of Area 27 and found scattered whites and small hybrids on bottom in 26 to 28 feet and caught a mixed bag of 13 here before that sluggish action dried up.

I was really proud of Ryan, as he had never fished before — he said the closest thing to fishing he’d ever done was to go crabbing while visiting his uncle in England. He got the hang of slabbing pretty quickly, and, with occasional reminders about watching his technique, he did very well.

By 9:45 the fog was beginning to lift, so we made a run to Area 99. There is a fair slope here from 35 feet up to 23 feet of water with a good, clean bottom. Although the lack of bait on sonar concerned me as we cruised the area, my concerns were set aside as soon as the slabs went down. Over the next 2 hours and 45 minutes we bagged 35 more fish including a long 4.25 pound hybrid for Ryan (the largest of 3 legal hybrids caught today). The best window of action was from 10:30 to 11:45, just as the fog had completely lifted, and a light puff of south wind tried to get started.

By noon the action was over with, and we took a lunch break on the water. Ryan learned the fine art of how to make a good deal while snack-swapping.

As we ate and tallied our catch, we calculated that we were 2 short of catching 50 fish. So, you guessed it, we spent another 2 hours trying to put 2 slimy somethings in the boat so young Ryan could tell his mom we caught 50 fish. Finally, off the deep side of Area 99, two juvenile white bass cooperated and we wrapped things up.

On our way in we took a quick look at Cowhouse Point; there were several boats and what looked like very little action on the now glassy smooth surface, so we headed to the dock.

As we were heading home Ryan paid me the nicest compliment I ever got in the guide business. He said: Mr. Bob, I’ve never fished before and you’re an expert, but I caught more fish than you … I guess ’cause you’re a good teacher.

Made my day!!

TALLY = 50 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Killeen Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick solo morning trip today from 6:45am to 9am. At launch time the air temp was 38F and the water surface temp was 52F. Winds were 7-8 from the southeast.

At first light I headed out to look for birds. At sunrise, what is becoming fairly predictable gull and tern activity redeveloped at Area 89 on the NE facing slope down to 25′. I stayed here for the duration of the trip and caught a mixed bag on slabs.

The catch consisted of only 10 fish today – 8 whites of various sizes and 2 keeper largemouth.

Tally = 10 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

Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half-day KIDS FISH, TOO! trip on Belton Lake today with Brandon and Austin K., two fine young boys from Killeen. Brandon (4th Grade) and Austin (1st Grade) are brothers; their dad is serving in Iraq for another 11 months, so we gave their mom some much deserved down time today.

We launched at 7:15am and wrapped up when cold feet got the best of little Austin around 12:15pm. The air temp at launch time was 42F (and only warmed to 47F) with a light rain falling the entire trip. The water surface temp was 52F.

As is typical of nasty winter days, both the bird and fish activity was pretty brief and low key at first light, but then re-occurred in very short spurts over the course of the day. At the first area we tried (south of Area 27) we found fish scattered and tight to bottom over a slow slope in 24 to 34 feet of water. Not being too sure of how the boys were going to tolerate the cold, I first took a downrigging approach at these fish I was seeing on sonar. These fish were very sluggish and wanted nothing to do with a fast moving lure. So, we dropped the slabs overboard and I watched the boys closely to make sure they were keeping them near bottom. We immediately had success as the boys got the hang of slabbing and kept the fish coming over the side slowly but surely for about 2 1/2 hours. By 9:45am we had boated 23 fish (including 4 short hybrids, 5 short whites, and 14 keeper whites). Things then quieted down.

We took a short trip back to the ramp to enjoy some snacks, hot chocolate, and the truck’s heater, and then headed back out on the water around 10:30am.

I had the boys hunker down behind the console as I covered water quickly looking for any manner of bird activity during a brief window of time where the light fog lifted.

We found a single flock of birds working over open water, and sonar revealed that several loosely associated schools of white bass suspended between 20-30 feet over a 40 bottom were pushing shad to the surface. This was a difficult situation, as the fish were not active enough for downrigging, and slabbing for suspended fish was a tad too technical for the boys. So, we tried downrigging into the wind to slow the boat to a crawl and managed a few fish this way. Then, we got a break when we found scattered fish oriented on the bottom in this same vicinity (Area 97). Again, down went the slabs and up came the fish. In all, we added 13 fish to our count following our break, including 1 keeper hybrid, and 12 keeper whites, all of which went 13-14 inches (somewhat of a rarity on Belton these days).

TOTAL CATCH = 36 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick, solo, morning trip tonight on Stillhouse to keep my finger on the pulse of the white bass movement to stage prior to the spawn. I fished from 7am to 9:30am.

I searched some uplake areas including some shallow flats and some areas adjacent to the main rive channel. These was ample bait showing on sonar, but not much in the way of gamefish. A fair number of terns was working in this area, but none bunched up and actively diving indicating the presence of fish.

I moved back down toward mid-lake and checked out some channel edges with little success.

Moving shallower (since the water is still 52-53 F), I went and check out a shallow hump at Area 89.

I found a mixed bag of fish here on the NE facing slope down around 23-25 feet. This was the only location I seriously fished, and I stayed on it a long time as the fish continued to show on sonar and never completely shut down until around 11am.

I wound up with 2 keeper largemouth, a keeper crappie, and 7 whites, of with 4 were beefy females.

Tally = 10 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half-day morning trip today from 6:50a to 12:30p. At launch time the air temp. was 46F and the water surface temp was 53F. The winds were light from the south, but slowly shifted west, then northwest as a quick, dry cold front moved through over the afternoon hours.

Fishing was tough today. There still seems to be very little white bass action upstream of the Union Grove Area. Birds are abundant, but are not focused on shad driven to the surface by fish.

I fished only two areas today – Areas 89 and 90. I got on Area 89 when terns were working over two loons. I knew the loons had to be on shad, and the area has enough topography to hold fish so down went the slabs. Over a 3 hour span, 18 fish came off the area, including 4 white bass from 16 to 16.25 inches and a 3.75 pound largemouth. 2 smaller black bass and 11 smaller white bass were also landed here. All fish were on bottom in 19-15 feet. By 10:30 things shut down as this area was no longer impacted by wind as it was when winds were from the south.

I moved to align on topography impacted by the west wind on Area 90 and found fish on sonar showing at 20-23 feet on bottom. I buoyed these fish as the wind was picking up quickly at this point. Slabs went down and 2 white bass and a largemouth came up. By 12:15 things got real quiet and we called it a day.

Total catch was 17 white bass, and 4 largemouth bass.

Tally = 21 FISH, all caught and released

Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

We had the most productive day I’ve ever shared on the water with clients with exactly 361 fish boated by a party of 3 including Jerry W., Dusty R., and Daniel K. of Killeen and Harker Heights.

We fished a full day trip from 7a to 4:30p. At launch time the air temp was 34F and the water temp was 52F. Air temps rose to the low 60’s during the day.

The day broke down into 3 distinct parts, all driven by wind. From pre-dawn through 11:45 we had a SW breeze gently tapering from 9+ mph pre-dawn down to calm by 11:45. During this time the slabbing bite remained wonderfully consistent. Locating fish was aided by, but not dependent upon, birds. There were several times when birds led us to fish, but fishing stayed hot well after birds departed. As is typical for this cold water season, a still slab did better than an actively jigged lure. A long stretch of water from Area to Area was most productive – we fished about 5 areas in between to account for 282 fish. Of these fish, we experienced a 30/70 hybrid to white bass ratio. 60-70 percent of the whites were legal, but only two exceeded 11.5 inches. Of the hybrids, only 3 were legal, with the largest exactly 3.75 pounds, and the majority of the remainder going just slightly larger than the largest of the white bass, at about 12 to 12.75 inches.

At 11:45 the wind stopped and the fishing crashed. We took an on the water lunch break and I setup downlines with live shad hoping to tempt something a little larger. We tried shallow, deep, points, humps, channels sections, and near timber, and came up with only one short hybrid and a nice blue cat over a 3 hour span.

By 3pm the wind was once again sustained, this time out of the SSE. Once the water started moving again for 20-30 minutes, the fish turned back on. We located fish off a point between Area 19 and Area 84. From around 3:15 to 4:30 we put an additional 79 fish in the boat consisting of the same ratios of whites and hybrids. The very last fish of the day was a jumbo bluegill, the length of which eclipsed the current lake record, but, alas, the weight fell short of that record. It struck a jigging spoon and went 8 7/8 inches and a shade over 0.50 pounds. A great ending to a great day!

Total = 361 fish, all caught and released

Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished Stillhouse today on my lonesome between guided trips to sample the uplake white bass action. Fished from 7:45 to 1:30. At launch time the air temp. was 31F and the water surface temp. was 50F. There was a light SSE breeze at 5-8 and some thin grey cloud cover.

Normally by this time of year at least some white bass have moved into the upper reaches of the reservoir, but, with the high water temperatures still in existence, I suspect this movement will be delayed.

I observed no bird activity indicating fish anywhere uplake of Union Grove Park today, and graphed no concentrations of white bass on any of the deep flats, channel ledges, or humps that typically hold fish this time of year after running sonar for 3 straight hours.

At around 10:45, I moved further downlake and found both shad and congregated fish. By this time, the activity level had slowed, but I still managed to put 18 fish in the boat including a sweet 8.375 pound channel cat (shown in Photo Gallery), a 3.5 pound largemouth, and a 15.5 inch white bass, as well as a sunfish, 2 smaller largemouth and 12 smaller white bass. All of the large fish came on live shad, the balance on a jigging spoon. All fish came off of a gentle hump near Area 77.

Tally = 18 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

Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

We had a great start to 2008 today!! Fished a half day morning father/son trip with Joe (dad) and 8th Grader Josh L. of Copperas Cove. We fished 7:15a to 12:05p. Air temp. at launch time was 29F and the water surface temp was 55F. High pressure continued to build in today with high blue skies and a stiff N. wind. Ice formed on the deck until the sun got up high enough to get some radiant heat on it.

I came prepared to fish with slabs, live shad and downriggers, just in case. Truth be known, we really only needed the slabs, but we used all 3 techniques because neither father nor son had fished any of these ways before.

In summary, we jigged with slabs from 7:30 to 10:45 watching both birds on occasion and sonar on occasion to stay with the fish over this period in a stretch from Area 27 to Area 14. We caught a total of 106 fish on slabs including 5 keeper hybrids, 3 largemouth bass, and a mix of 98 small hybrids and white bass. About 60% of the whites were legal, but none exceeded 12 inches. Fish ranged from 23 to 34 feet deep and liked the slab either held still or rising slowly off the bottom.

After this action died, and with the wind picking up substantially, we anchored up at Area 23 in 34 feet of water and fished with live shad on downlines. We immediately picked up our biggest fish of the trip here, a nice 5.00 pound hybrid (the young man, Josh, caught it — dated photo is in the Gallery) and thought we were in for a treat, but we continued to have baits robbed, pecked, and maimed by small white bass and gave up on this area. We then moved to Area 86 in about 40 feet of water and experienced the same assault by small whites. This time, we jigged out of one side of the boat while watching the bait lines out the other, and picked up 2 small whites and a drum on slabs, as well as a drum on one of the baited lines. We noted abundant schools of suspended small whites passing under us as we bait fished, so, realizing things were about to slow to a crawl, we rigged up one downrigger and got a single white bass that way, just because the fellows wanted to try a new technique. By noon we called it a great day and headed in with cold hands and some great pictures to commemorate the trip.

Tally = 112 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