Fished a half day morning trip on Stillhouse today with two very nice young men, Christian and Brent, both Aggies, both dads of 3 year old daughters, and both working as managers in the construction trade in Temple.

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 12:10p


Air Temp: 41F at trip’s start, warming to the mid 60’s by day’s end

Water Temp: 64.1F


Wind: Winds were light but steady from the WSW at 6 from pre-dawn until 9:30am, and then went SW up to 12, and then died to light and variable for the afternoon.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright under high pressure.

Today was the 2nd day of high pressure following the season’s 3rd major cold front’s arrival this past Friday and Saturday. Generally, this can make for some tough fishing, but our saving grace today was a wind with a westerly component that blew over the entirety of the morning feeding period.



As the sun rose, we flatline trolled Bomber baits in the vicinity of Area 110 and came up with only one white bass which would be one of our 3 largest fish of the trip. 3 more passes with 2 baits out yielded nothing, so we moved on.



With no bird activity to point the way to fish, we headed to between Areas 108 & 304 to run downriggers while watching sonar with the intent of stopping over congregated fish to slab for them. This plan went well. We caught a small white bass on the White Willow spoon but didn’t see any schoolmates with it. Our second white, however, came out of a large, active school of fish spanning a section of bottom about 60 feet in length, about 20 feet wide, and included individual fish feeding on and slightly above bottom. I buoyed these fish and we worked them over with slabs for nearly 90 minutes. The majority of our fish, 41 to be exact, came off of this area during this time. Once this action died around 9:30, the fishing really fell off.



For the remainder of the trip we tried graphing a number of areas and found fish as follows:



9 fish at Area 88. Included 2 drum, 2 small largemouth, and 5 white bass. We noted abundant forage here, and not as many gamefish as I expected given that concentration of forage.



5 fish at Area 186. All white bass, all holding just back from the shoulder of the breakline, up on the flat in 31-32 feet.



1 fish at Area 306. At this point, we lost our wind, and, despite seeing some activity on bottom, the fish were done.

TALLY = 60 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

Fished a solo half day morning trip on Stillhouse followed by a half day evening trip on Belton with Mr. Rodney T. of Belton. The reports for these two trips appear separately.

Start Time: 1:15p

End Time: 6:25p

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start, warming into the low 70’s by day’s end

Water Temp: 69.1F

Wind: Winds were moderate from the SE at 12 from trip’s start until after sunset, and then increased slightly

Skies: Skies were lightly overcast and grey the until around 11:30am today. Skies then cleared to fair, with clouds building to the N in the afternoon.

Fishing was a bit spotty today until we got into some sub-surface schooling fish right at and after sunset.

We began our trip checking out the deep water between Area 187 and Area 83. We saw single fish holding tight to the bottom throughout this area, but no schooled fish, nor any bait. We slabbed here briefly, with only 3 fish to show for the effort.

Our next success came at/near Area 307. We found fish suspended at 25-33 feet deep here, with a sprinkling of fish across the bottom. We smoked one white bass on a slab and landed 2 more on the downrigger.

We then headed to Area 295 and picked up 2 whites by downrigging and 2 via slab. We witnessed schooled fish on sonar near bottom but couldn’t get these fish to hit as we worked our slabs over them.

We stopped briefly at Area 313 and picked up 1 short hybrid, 1 crappie, and 2 white bass.

At this point, sunset was nearly upon us, so we decided to hit a shallower area for the last bite of the day. We found fish pushing shad to the surface as indicated by some light gull activity from Area 309 out to Area 310. We landed 42 fish in the last 45 minutes of the day including 4 keeper hybrid, 2 short hybrid, 1 largemouth, and 35 keeper whites.

TALLY = 56 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

Fished a solo half day morning trip on Stillhouse followed by a half day evening trip on Belton with Mr. Rodney T. of Belton. The reports for these two trips appear separately.

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp: 60F at trip’s start, warming to the low 70’s by day’s end

Water Temp: 68.1F

Wind: Winds were light but steady from the SW at 4-6 from pre-dawn until 8:45am, and then went slack until after noon.

Skies: Skies were lightly overcast and grey the until around 11:30am today. Skies lightened and darkened over the course of the morning, but direct sun did not shine during the morning trip.

This was a slow morning due to the near windless conditions. Sunrise was obscured by clouds this morning, so the light level stayed fairly low for a good while. At exactly 8:11, the combination of light SW wind and light got just right, and nature turned on hard for about 30 minutes. During this time, several gulls appeared from nowhere and began feeding on shad pushed to the surface by well-dispersed white bass in the stretch of water between Area 109 and Area 54. I caught 27 of my 29 fish of the trip in this short burst of activity. During this time I caught fish on live shad, on a small slab fished vertically and smoked, on a 3/4 oz. slab fished vertically, horizontally, and in a smoked fashion, and on a cast blade bait. I landed 3 drum, 2 largemouth, and 22 whites from 11 to 14 inches in length. The breeze died around 9am and with it, the fishing died as well.

The remainder of the trip I managed only 2 more small largemouth bass, one via downrigging and one via a slab off Area 312.

TALLY = 29 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

Just a scouting trip this morning on Stillhouse since I fished Belton last week and have been away from Stillhouse for a bit. During this change of seasons, fish do not do the same thing too many days in a row, so you have got to stay on top of things.

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 60F at trip%u219s start, warming to the low 70’s by day’s end

Water Temp: 67.1F

Wind: Winds were steady from the ESE at ~12 the entire trip with occasional gusts to 15.

Skies: Skies were heavily overcast and leaden grey the entire trip with a drizzle falling on occasion.

Environmental Notes: Saw 3 ospreys and 3 herring gulls today (was hoping for more birds — maybe we’ll get them with the cold front due later in the week). Also noted that most of the shad I graphed on sonar was up in the upper half of the water column today.

Fishing was predictably difficult today. Whenever we get a soggy east wind in advance of a rain event, fishing really slows down and today was no exception.

I graphed many areas today and fished several that I graphed.

I got a drum on a blade bait early at Area 110.

I got a small channel cat on a slab at Area 121.

I got 3 white bass and 2 largemouth suspended over 45 feet of water a few yards to the NE of Area 186.

I got 1 drum on live shad on bottom at Area 122.

The only consistent success came late in the trip at Area 306. This is not an area I fish all that often, but I saw some very minor bird activity (which was more than was happening anywhere else), so I idled in and around this area, noted a minor breakline with some bait and fish on it, and witnessed a few fish chasing shad to the surface (looked like small white bass), so I knew the potential was there. I dropped a live shad down on an unattended rod and vertically jigged with a slab. Both did well, although the fish stayed truly active for only about 20 minutes, and then, although still present, became very sluggish. I managed 16 fish here including 3 black bass to 3 pounds, 4 drum, and 9 white bass, all fairly skinny 11 inch fish.

TALLY = 24 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 afternoon trip with Billy W. and Scott L. today.

Conditions:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time: 6:20p

Air Temp: 78F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 69F

Wind: High winds were a factor today. The forecast called for 8-15 from the S., but we got 20+ winds until 3:15, then they tapered down to 9 by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were partly cloudy all day.

Prior to the trip’s start, I scoured Area 305 with sonar given that it was partially protected from the stiff S. wind. I found a few, individual fish holding tight to the bottom, but they ignored a slab jigged in and around them. Landed one 3.5 pound largemouth that was suspended at mid-depth over this area.

Picked Billy and Scott up at 1:30 sharp and we headed out and checked Area 152 to Area 301 and found bait, but no gamefish here. We then checked Area 150 to Area 294 and found scattered, suspended white bass at 20-30 feet deep over 42-44 feet. These fish did not respond to downrigged artificials nor drifted live bait.

We then headed to Area 211 and began to find find fish holding deep on the breakline. We enjoyed a mixed bag of solid, 3 year old white bass, as well as just-keeper hybrids in this area as we downrigged with White Willows and Pet Spoons. At one point, we encountered a sizeable congregation of fish on the breakline just to the NE of Area 295 and, after doubling up on the ‘rigger baits, began casting slabs over these fish and stayed in fish for 45 minutes solid with both clients taking fish on every 2nd or 3rd cast during that time. Once this action wound down, the fishing was just about over in this deepwater area. We managed 3 more whites on the downriggers afterwards, and then headed for some final shallow water live bait action before dark.

Right at sunset, we put 3 shad down on tightlines at Area 302. On our first drift of about 70 yards, we scored 1 hybrid and 1 white. On our second drift, we scored an additional hybrid and missed a second fish. Our 3 and 4th drift went unanswered.

We wrapped up right at the point of darkness with 48 fish boated.

TALLY = 48 FISH, all caught and released, except one deeply hooked white bass

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 Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start, warming to 78F by mid afternoon

Water Temp: 69.1F

Wind: See body of report.

Skies: Fair all day.

Fished a half-day morning trip by myself today which began with netting live shad for a booked trip tomorrow. At sunrise, I headed to Area 262 and observed for flicking shad. After seeing areas where the shad appeared to be concentrated, I began throwing and came up with 83 gizzards in 18 throws with the water temperature at 69F here.

With the water conditioned and the shad all stowed and happy in less time than I allotted for this chore, I headed out watching nature for signs of fish with surface conditions nearly flat calm and the sun brilliant. I noted nothing of promise and so then began to search with sonar at areas that should be holding fish and bait at this time of year. Sonar revealed a few fish not in the presence of bait at Area 130. I stopped and vertical jigged over these fish and pulled up 2 keeper largemouth, a drum, and a white bass before this limited action came to a halt. All came on a standard jigging presentation.

I then cranked up and ran sonar over a few other traditionally solid areas for this time of year. Upon arrival, the Area 103 breakline looked very promising. The bottom slopes downwards here from the S to the N and the fish were stacked up tight to the bottom right on the shoulder of the break. I dropped the trolling motor down and went to work. Over the next 2.5 hours the action ramped up, plateaued, and then fell off to near nothing. At the peak of the action, numbers of fish were aggressively pursuing my slab (TNT 180 in 3/4 oz.) as I used a smoking technique. As the action fell off, fewer and fewer fish would respond in that manner until finally, no fish would respond. The trigger for the start of the action at around 8:45am was definitely the start of the S. wind. No sooner did the light ripple from the S. turn to a light chop than the fish immediately turned on and stayed turned on for about 35 minutes over this 2.5 hour span of activity. The mixed bag catch here consisted of 48 white bass, 3 short largemouth, and 4 drum.

TALLY = 59 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 afternoon trip with Bob S. and John S. of Killeen , and Jeff M. of San Antonio

Conditions:

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time: 7:10p

Air Temp: 59F at day’s start, warming to 82F by mid afternoon

Water Temp: 71F

Wind: Winds were light all day, never exceeding 8 mph. Winds were southerly until around 3:30pm, then went light and variable through sunset.

Skies: Skies were partly cloudy but bright all day.

The fish were surprisingly willing to bite today given the bright skies and very light winds. We fished the expanse between Areas 300/301 and Area 86. Today the fish were primarily found holding suspended out from the face of the breakline. We first worked over the area with sonar on and downriggers down fishing with White Willows. We immediately got into fish and although the action rose and fell with the wind speed, it never stopped until around 5:15pm. From time to time such concentrations of fish were visible beneath the boat as we downrigged that we stopped and fished both vertically and/or horizontally with slabs and typically put 3-6 fish in the boat in short order before the school drifted off. By the time the action shut down here, we had boated 47 fish.

Following this, we checked several deep areas without results save one small channel cat caught at Area 297 on a slab.

We ended the trip at the breakline at Area 302. As I was searching this area with sonar, the screen lit up with fish at 35 feet. We circled back, got slabs down on these fish and came up with 3 hybrids and 1 white immediately. We got 3 more fish slabbing, and then the fish turned off a bit as the light began to fail. We hooked up the downriggers one last time and ended up the trip with 2 more whites and final hybrid.

The ratio of hybrids to white bass today was higher than in any recent trip. We put 18 legal hybrid in the boat today, equaling over 30% of the catch.

TALLY = 59 FISH, all caught and released except 1 hybrid we couldn’t revive

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

Here’s the summary of our results for the month, and a bit about what’s happening right now on Belton and Stillhouse

30 OCTOBER 2008 = 100

27 OCTOBER 2008 = 35

20 OCTOBER 2008 (AM – Flyfishing Trip) = 8

20 OCTOBER 2008 (PM) = 77

16 OCTOBER 2008 = 82

13 OCTOBER 2008 = 58

11 OCTOBER 2008 = 50

10 OCTOBER 2008 = 62

06 OCTOBER 2008 = 58

04 OCTOBER 2008 = 45

01 OCTOBER 2008 = 26

TOTAL CATCH FOR OCTOBER 2008 = 601 FISH

AVERAGE CATCH PER TRIP = 54.6 FISH

Water Conditions: Temps fell through the 70’s this month and currently stand at around 71F. Both lakes are ~2-3 feet low and clear. With only 2 major cold fronts having pushed through so far, we have few birds to provide hints as to fish location.

Hybrid Stripers: Hybrids began showing up regularly on deep structure in 40-50 feet, and have remained consistent in shallower water in the Leon River arm. Downrigging to find them and then slabbing to catch them has proven very effective of late. Very little topwater.

White Bass: Are now predictably schooled up in large congregations and are being found in the same areas as hybrid. Slabbing is very reliable and can account for high numbers in short time spans. Very little topwater.

Largemouth: I’ve seen very little topwater action in the past 2 weeks. Large shallow rocks, shallow rock piles, rip rap, and the like are attracting black bass right now. The mid-day bite on crankbaits and rattle baits is solid. Jig and eel fishing in heavy timber on Stillhouse is getting going now.

Fall’s a great time to book a trip — cool days, less pressure, great fishing. I’m currently booking for mid- and late-November.

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 morning trip with father and son Dick and Ed G. This trip was Ed’s birthday present to his now 85 year old dad, Dick. By the way, Dick is the eldest fisherman I’ve ever had the honor to have on board.

Conditions:

Start Time: 7:30am

End Time: 11:50am

Air Temp: 57F at trip’s start, warming to 80F by mid afternoon

Water Temp: 69-70F

Wind: SE at 5-6 by sunrise, increasing to 16-18 by noon, and tapering back to 13-14mph by sunset and thereafter.

Skies: Skies were fair all day.

Environmental Note: We witnessed 2 large flocks of gulls lift, form into V’s and head to the N. on the S. wind just pre-sunrise. Birds were not helpful in finding fish today. We also witnessed a bald eagle soaring over the lake today on our return trip to the dock.

We were blessed with some pretty easy fishing today. We got onto the expanse of bottom bounded by Area 86 to the NW and by Area 300 to the SE, and spent 3 ½ solid hours pretty steadily catching white bass and hybrids here. We initially began downrigging to have lures in the water while looking things over with sonar and immediately got hooked up. By about our 6th fish, we noted a strong congregation of fish right off the breakline, suspended at the same depth as the high edge of the breakline here. We pulled up the lines, dropped the trolling motor, and began slabbing, smoking, and lift-dropping as long as the action stayed reliable. Once things quieted down, we’d continue looking with sonar while running downriggers, picking fish up constantly on the downriggers, until we encountered another strong congregation of fish, then we’d break out the slabs again and work those fish over. We continued in this manner until the bite tapered to nothing by about 11:40a. By this time the fellows were well-satisfied with their catch and decided to head out for a father-son meal. Our total catch to this point was exactly 70 fish, including 6 keeper hybrid and several short hybrids, and the balance consisting of whites averaging right at 11 inches.

Given that we caught all of our fish off of one area, and the fact that I have another trip coming up shortly, I decided to check out some areas with similar characteristics to see if I could find other fish. In summary, I caught 10 quick white bass at Area 297 and left them biting while the conditions were still good to attempt to find other active fish. I caught 2 drum and missed a 3rd at Area 298. And, finally, since I was so close to that magic 100 fish mark, I moved to Area 294 and fished a 90 degree arc about 50 yards to the W through S of Area 294 for a final catch of 18 fish here including 17 whites, 1 small largemouth, and 1 missed hybrid.

TALLY = 100 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 Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today with two young men from Memorial Christian Academy of Killeen today, Devon H. and Mario G.

Conditions:

Start Time: 8:00am

End Time: 11:45am

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start, warming to 76F by mid afternoon

Water Temp: 71.9F

Wind: A strong NNW wind blew in a dry cold front (our second major front of the season) from around 11p last night through this morning’s trip.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear all day.

Strong dry fronts usually bode well on Stillhouse in the Fall and today’s weather setup was no exception. We caught fish from start to finish and only needed to stop at 2 areas.

Due to the chilly conditions and wind, I opted for flatline trolling until the sun got up and warmed the air a bit for the boys. We trolled twin Bombers in 8-13 feet from Area 110 to Area 116 and to the NNE of it and put 3 largemouth bass and 3 white bass in the boat for the effort before the sun climbed and brighten to the point of pushing the fish out of shallow water.

Then, in this same vicinity, back in 16-21 feet, we gave vertical jigging a try after seeing schools of whites both suspended and on bottom. As we began hovering and studying sonar while jigging, we saw ample activity. I caught 3 white bass, Mario caught 1, but the cold air was getting to the kids and their jigging technique was less than it needed to be to do consistently well. So, we left this effort behind and began donwrigging in expanse bounded by to the S by a line from Area 109 to Area 130, and bounded to the N by a line from Area 89 to Area 106, all in16-22 feet, and picked up one fish after another, including a few doubles as the wind speed increased to over 20mph.

We noted a pair of ospreys working this area the entire time, and saw the first herring gulls of the season arrive on the north wind.

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