I awoke around 4:30am, stepped outside to see what kind of weather I’d be facing today, and had that “sixth sense” feeling we were in for a good one!  It was warm, moist, grey, and with just a bit of breeze from the south.

.

Today’s father-and-son trip with Rodrick & Oliver Rhoads included a “behind the scenes” look at bait-netting before a very productive 172 fish day, consisting of a mix of short (<18″) and keeper (18+”) hybrid striped bass.

I was joined at around 6:45am by Mr. Rodrick Rhoads of Georgetown, TX, and his 9 year old son, Oliver.  Roderick has fished with me twice before, once bringing Oliver, and once bringing his oldest child, his daughter April.  Since I suspected the shad-catching would not be the chore it has been, I invited Rodrick and Oliver along to observe this bait-gathering process.  As dark turned to early morning grey, the shad began to show themselves.  I threw the net a few times and attempted to narrate as I did so.  We got what we were after fairly quickly and were on our way to the fishing grounds.

Not only was the shad netting easy, the fishing today was even easier.  We wet our first line at exactly 7:35am and fished until 11:45am.  We never moved the boat a single time and caught exactly 172 off of this single area.  I crunched the numbers — that is one fish landed every 1.47 minutes for over 4 hours straight.  These fish are simply in overdrive thanks to an increase in their metabolism.

A funny thing happened as I was taking a hybrid off the line for Oliver.  He noticed this particular fish had a red dot on it.  After we released the fish, I baited his line and he let it down.  His bait clicker went off indicating another hybrid had struck his shad and was moving off with it.  He reeled it in and swore it was the exact same fish.  I told him that once a fish is caught, it won’t bite again for a while because it is stressed.  But, Oliver just knew it was the same fish.  I asked him how he knew this.  He said because this fish had the same red dot in the same place as the last one did.  I asked him to point this “red dot” out to me.

You guessed it!  He pointed right to the fish’s anus.  Dad and I grinned and informed him that every fish has one of those!  He was okay with that.

Our 2-man haul today consisted of 4 white bass and 168 hybrid striped bass.  All were released to fight again.

There are only a few open slots remaining between now and the end of this annual “peak bite” for hybrid on Belton.  Those dates are:

Thursday, 30 April – AM
Tuesday, 05 May – AM
Thursday, 07 May – AM
Thursday, 14 May – AM
Monday, 18 May – AM (Memorial Day)
Tuesday, 19 May – AM

TALLY =  172 Fish, including 4 white bass and 168 hybrid striped bass

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:35a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 63F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: S11-13

Sky Conditions: Grey and overcast @ 100%

Other: GT = 115

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  Vicinity 1374

**Area  1544 in ~27 feet of water

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

On Monday, April 5th, I was joined by Kevin Yuille and a fishing buddy of his  for a morning of hybrid striped bass fishing on Belton Lake.

Kevin Yuille with two fistfuls of 3 to 4 pound hybrid stripers caught on live shad from Belton Lake.

I first met Kevin at the recent Cabela’s Great Outdoors Days event at the Buda, TX, location when he came in shopping for an upgrade to his black & grey sonar unit.  Kevin has a 17′ boat with a 50 hp motor and fishes on the weekends, mainly throwing artificial for largemouth bass

As it typically is during this 7-8 week “window” of prime hybrid striped bass fishing, fishing was pretty straightforward this morning — find bait, catch bait, find fish, catch fish.  That’s it!

Although we found no spawning shad this morning, about a half hour worth of throwing provided ample bait for the morning, mainly for smaller threadfin shad.  Once the bait was on board and being “babied”, we headed to the fishing grounds where we were greeted by some stiff winds at 18mph with higher gust and swells sufficient to make it a bit dicey for the first hour or so.

We located fish in two distinct areas, got them excited with chum, and then caught them for about 60-75 minutes at each location as the action rose, peaked, and fell off.

As is often the case in this super-productive season, it was actually harder to find and catch the bait today than it was the gamefish we used that bait to catch!  Our catch of 53 fish today was a personal best single-trip total for Kevin.

As of this writing, I only have one April date left open, and only five dates left open in May before what is the traditional end of the treadfin shad spawn and the awesome hybrid fishery that accompanies it.  The Lord has truly blessed Rebecca and I with your business this season — thank you!

Those dates are:

Thursday, 30 April – AM
Tuesday, 05 May – AM
Thursday, 07 May – AM
Thursday, 14 May – AM
Monday, 18 May – AM (Memorial Day)
Tuesday, 19 May – AM

TALLY =  53 Fish, including 4 white bass and 49 hybrid striped bass

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8:15a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Water Surface Temp: 63F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE16-18 with higher gusts in first hour

Sky Conditions: Grey and overcast @ 100%

Other: GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  Vicinity 1374

**Area  1543

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

This past Friday morning and Saturday morning I fished with the Buchholz party.  For 21 consecutive years these four men have met up for an annual fishing reunion.  The patriarch is 78-year-old Mr. Don Buchholz of Killeen, Don’s son, John Buchholz, John’s friend, Greg Horton, and Gary Cheer who is related to the Buchholz clan by marriage.

A 21-year tradition: from the left: Don Buchholz, John Buchholz, Greg Horton, and Gary Cheer.

Gary, an Englishman and 737 airline pilot, took big-fish honors on this 2-day effort with this hybrid weighing in at 4.25 pounds.

On Friday, we enjoyed ideal, pre-frontal fishing conditions as warm temperatures, southerly winds, and humid, cloudy conditions were within hours of being ushered out by an approaching cold front.  Over the four hour span, we only fished two areas with very little “search time” involved in finding fish at either area.  The action occurred, as it often does, in a bell-shaped curve, with the build-up being aided by steady chumming, the peak being fueled by the fishes’ own aggressive competitiveness and rising metabolism, and the taper-down as the school is thinned out by effective angling. We fished live shad on downlines for 178 hybrid striped bass and 5 white bass.

On Saturday, the cold front had passed and high pressure was building in.  The 7:30am starting temperature was only 55 degrees and the wind blew at a stiff 14mph from the NNE.  We had a slow start, with only 5 fish boated by 8:50am.  At this time, the sun began to break through the otherwise solid cloud cover, and, after beginning to taper off for about 30 minutes down to ~11mph, the wind ramped up again.  This seemed to trigger the fish, as we began to catch fish steadily from this time right up until 11:30am when they finally shut down.  We boated 78 fish on this trip, including 76 hybrid stripers and 2 blue catfish.

TALLY = Day 1 = 183 Fish; Day 2 = 78 fish; total catch = 261 fish, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

DAY 1:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 62F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: S6-9

Sky Conditions: Grey and overcast @ 100%

Other: GT = 20

DAY 2:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Water Surface Temp: 62F @ lower lake

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE13-14

Sky Conditions: Grey and overcast @ 100% until 8:50, then gradually clearing to 40% clouds on a fair blue sky

Other: GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

DAY 1:

SHAD: **Area 616

**Area  835

**Area  151

DAY 2:

**Area Vicinity 1399/651

**Area Vicinity 1293

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

This afternoon I fished an afternoon trip on Belton Lake with first time guests Larry Mitcham, his adult son, Randy, and Randy’s 17 year old son, Trent.  Larry lives in the Austin area, and Randy and Trent drove down from Dayton, Ohio on Trent’s spring break to visit.

Trent with the first fish of his life — a shad-caught Belton Lake hybrid.

And, not to be outdone, Randy boated his fair share, too.

If you’ve read my articles any length of time, you’ll know that I try to fish mornings whenever possible.  The morning bite, all else being equal, always seems a bit stronger and longer than the morning bite on both Stillhouse and Belton.  In this situation, Trent and Randy were only in town for a short window of time and, with all of my mornings booked this week, we went with what we had to work with and fished in the afternoon.

The main focus of this trip was to help Trent catch the first fish of his life.  He’d been fishing once before and was not able to “seal the deal” on that excursion.  We fished with live shad on a number of areas that have been producing well in the mornings, and we tried a few other areas, as well.

We had our best action right at the beginning of our trip, and again right before dark.  In the “middle” we struggled to get bit, pulling just a single here and a double there.

We wound up with 18 fish, including Trent’s first fish, a hard-pulling Belton Lake hybrid striped bass.

TALLY = 18 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time: 8:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Water Surface Temp: 62F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE18 with higher gusts

Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy at 40% coverage on fair blue skies

Other: GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  835

**Area  1208

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

This morning I fished with the Oliver clan – Grandpa Joe, Jamie, Jack, and Joe, in pursuit of hybrid striper on Belton Lake.  Grandpa is retired and resides in Temple, Jamie is a psychotherapist from Cedar Park, Jack is an electrician and realtor living near Marble Falls, and Joe is the Athletic Director at Central Texas Christian School in Belton.

From left: Jamie and Pa Oliver.

Above: Jack Oliver

Above: Joe Oliver

At 4:30am I awoke to a worst-case scenario; after gathering enough shad for this morning’s trip back on Tuesday and babysitting them for 2 days, I found every last one of them dead thanks to a failed battery charger.  So, by 5:05am I was out the door speeding to the lake to blind cast in the dark for a minimum of 120 shad to make sure the trip went right.

It is no coincidence that in my church Small Group this past Monday we looked at the life of Joseph of the Old Testament and how God saw him through a crisis.  I got reassurance from this and refused to be rattled.  I just kept throwing the net and every throw brought in a few shad such that by 7:30 I had enough to see us through.

On my last trip with this foursome, one of the brothers was late.  When he arrived and walked down to meet us at the end of the boat ramp, one of the punctual brothers remarked, “It’s like a dollar waitin’ on a dime.”   I always remembered that saying and couldn’t help but wonder who the “dime” was today as I arrived a bit tardy.

As we met up, I told the fellows what happened and then spoke out loud to the Lord, asking Him to help me settle down and get my mind on doing a good job finding fish for them.

In right at 4 hours of fishing, we put 81 fish in the boat, with the majority of them coming off of just two areas.  Chumming was critical in getting a bite started.

TALLY = 81 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8:00a

End Time: 12:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 62F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: S9-10

Sky Conditions: 100% overcast the entire trip

Other: GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1540

**Area  1270

** Area 967

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

This morning I met up with returning client Tony Bagliore of Belton to conduct a “reconnaissance” of the shad and hybrid situation on Belton Lake.  We met up at 6:45am with Job #1 being to locate and gather threadfin and/or gizzard shad with castnets.  Job #2 would then be to locate and catch hybrid striped bass with those shad used as bait.

Belton Lake resident Tony Bagliore with a nice 3.75 pound shad-caught hybrid —  a result of this morning’s scouting trip.

TALLY = 26 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 1:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 62F @ lower lake, 67-68 @ upper lake

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW11-13

Sky Conditions: 40% white clouds on fair blue sky

Other: GT = 80

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1540

**Area  1270

** Area 967

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Today on was joined on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir by brand new boat owners Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Stephenson of Sun City, TX.

This evening I fished with Lionel Johnston of the DFW area, down visiting his parents who live in Belton.  We pursued white bass on Stillhouse Hollow.

Lionel Johnston used our time on the water to ask detailed questions about Humminbird sonar operation as we worked together to locate and catch white bass.

As Lionel looked through my online reports in the “Fishing Reports and Photos” portion of my website, he saw I do on-the-water sonar training classes.  As a Humminbird user who mainly fishes for crappie in timber on Lake Lewisville, he was interested in a number of skills, so we worked those into the trip, as well.

Today, despite the foul weather (cool rain fueled by a low pressure system that mixed with an incoming cold front overnight), the fish fed moderately well.  This happens at some point every spring where the rising water temperature drives the fishes’ metabolism up sharply, forcing them to feed at times when, under normal conditions, they would not do so.

We found two “patches” of fish today.  First, we found suspended white bass down 10-12 feet beneath the surface over a sloped bottom going from 15 – 25 feet.  A few gulls hesitated over this area just momentarily and made me curious enough to check it out.  Sonar told the rest of the story when we arrived, and we were able to put 18 fish in the boat in short order by counting our bladebaits down to these fish.  This lasted only about 25 minutes or so.

The second and final group of fish we found was well-scattered on a flat.  Again we worked Cicada bladebaits over these fish, only this time we worked them right off bottom casting either parallel to the shoreline or slightly in towards shore with long casts to really cover a lot of water efficiently.

When all was said and done, we’d boated 47 white bass, 4 drum, 4 largemouth bass, and 1 crappie.

TALLY = 56 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 61.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NE8-9, shifting ENE8-9 during last half of trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover with light rain in the final hour

Other: GT = 50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1539 casting blades

**Area 407/700 casting blades

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

There is no other way to describe it … this morning on Stillhouse Hollow, Mr. Steve Niemeier, his 9-year-old grandson Caleb Fowler, and I encountered one of the longest and strongest feeding frenzies I’ve ever seen on freshwater.

Caleb holds up his Cicada blade bait with a white bass caught on each hook.  Many times we saw aggressive schoolmates follow hooked fish up to the boat nipping and swiping at the lure in the less fortunate schoolmate’s mouth.

Although the majority of our catch consisted of smallish fish, we put plenty of 12-13 inch white bass in the boat, as well.

I customarily take all fish off the hook for my clients. This is what my right forefinger looked like after this morning’s extended bout.

As we launched, everything “felt” right.  There was a slight SW breeze, the air was heavy and humid but without fog, it was warm and balmy, the lake smelled like shad, and, best of all, a mild cold front was on its way to central Texas.

From before sunrise at 7:30 to the arrival of the cold front’s leading edge at 8:50, we boated exactly 92 fish casting blades and Rattlin’ Rapalas to surface feeding white bass which were pinning shad from 1.25 to 2.75 inches in length against the surface.  There were so many fish covering such a large area, the few gulls working over these fish were spread well apart, such that it did not appear that they were on a concentration of fish at all.

At exactly 8:50am, the lead edge of the front arrived, and instantly the fish disappeared off the surface for about 15 minutes.  As the wind picked up from the NNW and slowed down a bit, the fishing slowly built back.

Long story short, these fish fed for a solid 3.75 hours allowing us to amass the second largest catch I’ve ever brought aboard my boat in 23 years of fishing on Belton and Stillhouse.  This is second only to a catch of 364 fish taken during a full-day trip in January several years ago, also in advance of a cold front’s arrival.

Steve and Caleb have fished with me quite a number of times, and our previous personal best for them was another spring white bass fishing trip on Stillhouse in which they boated 116 fish.  So, once we got on these fish and saw that this was going to be a great day, they set their sights on 117 fish.  We knew the cold front was coming, but didn’t know how that would impact the fishing once it arrived, so, we all fished hard to get to that 117 mark beforehand.   As fate would have it, we cleared that 117 fish hurdle not long after the N wind kicked in, and then set our sights on beating the 251 fish mark, which, until today, was the greatest half-day trip total I’d ever guided clients to.

A great day with a great pair of clients!!

TALLY = 256 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:20a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 61-62F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW2-3, shifting at 8:50am to the NNW through to N at 8-10

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover

Other: GT = 60

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  54/550 casting blades and Rattlin’ Rapalas

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

This Spring Break afternoon I fished with the Janysek family of Cedar Park, TX.  Earlier this week Mr. Don Janysek e-mailed me thinking a fishing trip for his 3 kids would do them some good on this week away from school.  So, today I met up with Don’s mom, Rose Janysek of Leander, and Don’s 3 children, 14-year-old Taylor, 13-year-old Luke, and 11-year-old Emma to make some memories.

From left: Luke, Taylor, Emma, and Rose Janysek with a few of the white bass that fell for bladebaits up shallow today.

As we met in the parking lot at the boat ramp, I could see Taylor was my fisherman — he had on a long-sleeve Livingston Tackle logo fishing shirt, polarized sun glasses, a fishing cap, and he started pointing out and naming items on my boat he was familiar with.  Emma was the tourist, just along for a good time and very much enjoying being out in nature with family.  And Luke was my jovial book worm — he actually brought a novel about as thick as the Bible to read while out on the water.  Instantly I made it my personal mission to keep the trip engaging enough that Luke wouldn’t pull his book out.

As we got going, I did my standard safety briefing and then we headed out to the fishing grounds.  As is often the case on afternoon trips, the bite starts slow and increases towards sunset.  Morning, on the other hand, typically start strong and then soften as the morning progresses.

About an hour into the trip, after picking up a few fish on flatline trolled baits, we got into a nice bunch of white bass herding shad both against the bank and against the surface.  We did some casting lessons for Rose, Emma, and Luke while Taylor looked after himself up on the front deck.  After a few minutes everyone was regularly reeling in white bass that fell for our Cicada blade baits kept just off bottom.

This action died about 45 minutes before sunset, as a low cloud bank in the west obscured the setting sun a good bit.  We returned to more open water and used a combination of downrigged lures and flatline trolled crankbaits to pick off 3 more white bass that were suspended between 7-15 feet below the surface in the warming surface waters.

The kids and grandma did great today, were good learners, and were rewarded for following the guidance I provided.  Dad, who remained behind at the boatramp working on his laptop was briefed excitedly about the trip’s highlights as soon as the kids reached his truck.

Best news of the day: Luke’s book never came out of the bag!!

TALLY = 34 FISH, all caught and released

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 60-61F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-7

Sky Conditions: 40-60% cloud cover on a fair blue sky

Other: GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  100/744 casting blades

**Area  1182 flatline trolling and downrigging

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)