2019 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

HYBRID HAUL!! – 95 FISH/44 LEGAL HYBRID

June 4th, 2019June 4th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, June 4th, I welcomed aboard Derrick Fontenot, his girfriend, Veronica Merritt, and their friend, Tony Siefner, whom Derrick works with. All three are veterans — Derrick and Veronica served in the U.S. Army, and Tony served in the U.S. Navy.

This trip was a long time in the making. Derrick originally scheduled this trip last summer, but weather hindered our efforts and the peak spring hybrid bite was over by the time things settled down. Once again, Derrick was scheduled during the peak spring hybrid bite this year, but, flooding rains with lightning moved in the morning of our trip. So, this makeup to the makeup finally happened, and, according to my crew, it was well worth the wait.

This morning’s catch included our greatest tally of legal hybrid striped bass in this 2019 season — 44 in all.

PHOTO CAPTION: Veronica Merritt led the big fish contest with the 4.75 pounder until late in the game when Derrick came up with a dandy.

PHOTO CAPTION: Derrick Fontenot with our single largest fish of the trip. This thick rascal went 5.50 pounds.

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Navy vet turned Samsung engineering tech Tony Siefner with a sweet 5-pounder that crushed his live shad hung in 48 feet of water.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid Striped Bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 04 June 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We met this morning at just before 6am and looked for some pre-dawn topwater action from white bass and hybrid stripers chasing shad in shallow water. The forecast called for light winds, but in reality, the winds were 9-10 from the SE before sunrise, which put both a chop and a bit of swell on the water, thus making spotting topwater fish very tough. We landed 1 largemouth, 1 white bass, and 2 bluecat on paddletail grubs, but wrapped that effort up early and went right to live shad fishing in deeper water.

We fished 3 deepwater areas this morning. The first was loaded down with white bass and short hybrid to the point where I was concerned about just burning through bait, so, we used bait just long enough for everyone to work out the kinks on when to do what with the barbless circle hooks so they were good to go once we encountered larger, legal-sized hybrid, and then we worked the whites and short hybrid over with tailspinners in 48 feet of water, landing 25 fish and then moving on in search of large hybrid.

The second and third areas we hit today were similar in depth and topography. Thanks to the ideal weather conditions, the hybrid on both areas were on the prowl, up off bottom, thus making them much easier to spot on sonar as we searched for them. After we found them, fishing was straightforward. Smaller shad once again outperformed medium- or large-sized threadfin (and I tend to avoid gizzard shad).

Everyone quickly got the hang of the timing of their response when the bait-clicker alerted them to the presence of a fish taking the bait, and from then on our results were solid. We ended up with a total of 95 fish, of which 44 were legal hybrid, with the top two fish going 5.00 and 5.50 pounds. We had very few issues with bothersome blue cats today and only occasionally got visited by white bass once we moved away from that first location.

Derrick came prepared with a lot of good questions and determined he would join me for on-the-water sonar training sometime later this summer.

OBSERVATIONS: Today’s weather conditions were PERFECT. This is just what I would have ordered if the weather was selectable. Fish were still very tight to the bottom once again today. We caught 100% of our fish 3 cranks up.

TALLY: 95 fish caught and released, with 44 legal hybrid in this mix of hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, largemouth bass, channel cat, and blue cat

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 5.68 feet high on a 24-hour fall of 0.51 feet and with a flow of 4586 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 79.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: S7-8 all morning

Sky Conditions: 100% cloudy all morning with perfect “squinting light” brightness

GT = 15

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1646/1653 – pre-dawn drift and cast for 4 fish

**Area vic 187 – 25 whites/short hybrid on tailspinners

**Area vic 1556 – solid hybrid bite on live shad

**Area vic B0152JWC – solid hybrid bite on live shad

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)

MAYBE “STANDBY” IS FOR YOU – 51 FISH @ BELTON

June 3rd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 03 June, I fished with Mr. Ken Powell, a retired teacher and coach now living in the Lake Buchanan area. Ken has a very flexible schedule in his retirement, and so he’s asked me to put him on a “permanent standby status”. This means anytime I have a scheduling glitch, he gets a call and has a shot at taking what often is a reduced price trip, allowing me to recoup most of the day’s wages I had planned on earning.

Sometimes I have folks that must cancel, get ill, miss a flight, etc. and wind up not being able to fish as planned. Such was the case today. Life got busy for the folks due to join me today and they just couldn’t make it. I shared with Ken what was going on in the fishery, and, although he’d fished with me before, we’d never targeted hybrid with live bait together and he wanted to experience this on Lake Belton. We had an enjoyable time, Ken caught 3 limits of keeper hybrid, we landed a bonus 8.5 pound bluecat, and Ken paid less than full price for the adventure. It was a win-win.

If you have a very flexible schedule and would like to be on my “short notice standby list”, please just call or text me at 254.368.7411 and let me know.

PHOTO CAPTION: Retired educator and football coach Ken Powell with an 8.5 pound Lake Belton blue catfish taken in 50 feet of water on cutbait as a “bonus” fish as we targeted hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ken also put 15 legal hybrid in the boat this morning. This stocky 5.5 pounder was our largest of the trip. All of our hybrid came on live shad.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid Striped Bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 03 June 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Based on my observations on Saturday morning, Ken and I met at 6am to spend that time before sunrise in pursuit of fish we could sight cast to which were feeding on shad and spawning shad up in shallow water under low-light conditions. We picked up about a half-dozen fish this way, but the large schools of fish I saw Saturday did not materialize this morning.

After that window closed, we headed out to deeper water to fish live baits for large hybrid stripers. We had good success through 8:30, then the winds calmed and the sky brightened and the bite went right downhill. Later, after having a tough 90 minutes or so to wait through, the wind began to ripple the surface once again and some cloud cover built back in. The fish responded pretty quickly and we were able to enjoy a strong close to our trip.

OBSERVATIONS: Fish were still very tight to the bottom today. We caught most of our fish 3 cranks off bottom, and never came more than 4 cranks up.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released, with 15 legal hybrid in this mix of hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, largemouth bass and blue cat

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 6.20 feet high on a 24-hour fall of 0.50 feet and with a flow of 4597 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 79.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-6 through 8:30, then going calm, then picking back up at S6-7 around 10am

Sky Conditions: 90% cloudy through 8:30, then sunny during the period of calm, then clouding back up to 60-70% as the wind picked up again around 10am

GT = 15

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 187 – 24 fish with 1 legal hybrid

**Area vic 1277 in 50′ – 26 fish with 14 legal hybrid

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)

A LAKE BELTON PERSONAL BEST – 6.75 POUNDS

June 2nd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I fished with returning, long-time client Steve Niemeier and his 14-year-old grandson, Caleb Fowler. Caleb had been all day the day before on an end-of-school-year trip to Six Flags, and didn’t mentally join us until around 9 a.m., but he was physically present, nonetheless! Caleb is one of the select few freshmen who will be entering the “Belton New Tech High School” as a freshman in the upcoming school year. The process for entry was widely anticipated and heavily competed for.

PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Niemeier’s personal best hybrid striped bass – 6.75 pounds. This well-proportioned fish was strong and clean — no missing scales, no sores, no scars, and no evidence of prior capture. Thanks to the barbless circle hooks we use, the fish was hooked cleanly in the corner of the mouth for a quick, simple hook removal and was released after a brief pause for this photo.

PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Niemeier and his grandson, Caleb Fowler, with a pair of hybrid which came under the boat as part of a wolfpack of about 14 fish. All 4 of our baited rods went down, and the spinning rod Caleb was working a tailspinner on also got hit. We landed 3 of the 5, including the two largest of the bunch, shown here.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid Striped Bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 01 June 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We had pretty tough conditions coming out of the shoots this morning. I had hoped to cash in early on some topwater action which I noted was taking place pre-sunrise on yesterday’s trip. Due to timing issues, that didn’t quite work out, so, we devoted our entire trip to angling for deep water hybrid with live shad. The still, partly-sunny conditions did not do us any favors in the first 90 minutes on the water, but, once a light southerly ripple got going (which turned into a light, steady breeze later on), the fish began to perk up. We enjoyed a full 2-hour bite sitting atop one area. We noted boats moving around all over prior to this bite starting, leading me to think others were experiencing the same scenario. By the time this bite died, there were few fishing boats left going into the 11 o’clock hour as the temperature started to climb, the wind slacked off, the skies brightened more, and the fishing slumped.

To get bit by legal hybrid this morning (that’s 18+ inches), we had to wade through some short hybrid, white bass, and blue catfish to do so, but, with a teenager on board, the action produced by those smaller fish kept things interested. Occasionally, during a lull in the action, both Caleb and Steve would drop down a tailspinner and fairly quickly would come up with a short hybrid or white bass while the live baits continued to work.

With the tough conditions and lack of enthusiasm by the fish as seen on sonar wherein the fish rarely came up more than 2-3 feet off bottom, we fished just 2-3 cranks up off bottom the entire morning.

Large baits went largely ignored, and those smaller shad just barely staying inside a 3/8″ mesh on my smaller castnet did all the catching this morning.

Steve, whose family goes back several generations to the Gatesville area, has fished Belton his entire life. Today, he landed the single largest hybrid he’s ever landed. That fish struck Steve’s bait in 49 feet of water and absolutely buried the rod to the last guide closest to the reel when Steve engaged the reel on it. After bring the fish to net, we weighed it carefully twice; it went exactly 6.75 pounds on a certified scale. That was the single largest hybrid I’ve had come aboard the boat this season and it was a personal best for Steve.

I believe Steve was fine to head for lunch after landing that big fish, but we persisted, checking two more areas after the area that gave that fish up stopped producing. We did not find any more biting fish after ~10:30a, and therefore called it a done at about a quarter past 11am.

OBSERVATIONS: For the second consecutive morning, no shad spawning en masse this morning on calm winds.

TALLY: 43 fish caught and released, with 11 legal hybrid in this mix of hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, and blue cat

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 7.16 feet high on a 24-hour fall of 0.50 feet and with a flow of 4617 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 79.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: light and variable until 8:30, then <S7 the remainder of the trip

Sky Conditions: Partly sunny at start of trip, then 70-80% cloudy until 10:30a, then beginning to clear to 40% cloudy

GT = 20

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0152JWC – cheated a bit shallower up onto the flat and away from the channel on this stop

**Area vic 787 – fished on the channel drop here

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)

Tracie Turns 70 – Happy Hybrid Birthday

June 1st, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning I fished with returning guests Tom and Tracie Byrd and Tom’s sister, Patty Williams. This was in celebration of Tracie’s 70th birthday. Tom, a former USAF fighter pilot, and Tracie live “in the country” on the outskirts of Austin where they keep up with their own horses and board others’ horses, as well. Patty’s background is in the banking business. The Byrd’s have been out with me for a number of years, often in celebration of Tracie’s birthday.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Sisters-in-law Patty Williams and Tracie Byrd, the birthday girl. The ladies landed these hybrid simultaneously which offered a ‘one photo, two fish’ opportunity.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tom landed our largest hybrid of the trip, this 5.75 pounder.

PHOTO CAPTION: Patty landed our longest hybrid which stretched 23″.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid Striped Bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 30 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s action all came off of one spot, although we checked four areas and fished three of them. We found our best fishing from 8:30 to 10:20 in exactly 48 feet of water. Smaller shad seemed to get all of the attention this morning, with large shad going either unnoticed or getting knocked around but not swallowed.

We fished our vertical tightlines anywhere from 2 to 4 cranks off bottom as the fish activity level dictated. In addition to the legal hybrid we pursued, we also landed short hybrid which are very energetic fish to have on the line, as well as mature, 3-year class white bass and a few (annoying) blue catfish.

At exactly 10:21am we quickly got all the gear in the boat and sped off the lake in advance of an approaching thunderstorm which would dump about 1/2 inch or rain on the area in a short span of time. We felt the temperature drop suddenly as storm clouds built to the NW of us and weather radar revealed the stormy mass was moving toward us. We lost about 25 minutes’ of fishing, but the bite was on its way out by then, anyway, just as it was on Wednesday’s trip.

OBSERVATIONS: No shad spawning en masse this morning on calm winds.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released, with 14 legal hybrid in this mix of hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, and blue cat

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:21a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 7.66 feet high with a 24-hour fall of 0.48 feet on a flow of 4627 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 77.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE at trip’s start, slowly swinging through N, then NW, then suddenly ramping up and shifting W in advance of an approaching storm cell at 10:21am.

Sky Conditions: Partly sunny skies until 8:15 am, then grey skies the remainder of the morning

GT = 75

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 150

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)

HOLY SMOKES (BBQ)!! — 74 FISH @ BELTON

May 30th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with another contingent of the Oliver family. This go round, brothers Jack and Joe fished with me, joined by Jack’s sons, Eli, Isaac, and Asa. Jack and his family are from Marble Falls.

As some of you know, I no longer fish on Thursday so I can dedicate that one day each week specifically to marriage maintenance. Miss Rebecca and I actually call these “Marriage Maintenance Thursdays”. Well, this week we’d planned to hit a few shops Rebecca wanted to go to in Marble Falls. I was hoping to drop in at the old Thomas Bait location, now known as Waymore Bait and Tackle, right at FM1431 and Hwy. 281, as well as Rods, Barrels, and Strings, both in Marble Falls.

Anticipating that we’d be having lunch there, Rebecca chose a few places that looked good to her, and I then ran these by Jack and his boys. The pick was Holy Smokes on Commerce St. in Marble Falls. So, we went, we ate, and we enjoyed!! We split a “Bubba Plate” which was a sampling of chicken, brisket, ribs, and 2 kinds of sausage, plus 3 sides, all for under $16. It was great! (Not Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton great, but very, very good, nonetheless).

Thanks, Jack!

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Eli Oliver with his dad, Jack with a pair of solid Lake Belton hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brothers Eli and Isaac Oliver of Marble Falls with a pair of hybrid taken on live shad which struck just seconds apart.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Joe Oliver and his nephew, his brother Jack’s son, Asa Oliver. Asa serves as a professional firefighter in the Hill Country near Lake Travis.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Hybrid Striped Bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 29 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We fished smallish live shad on tightlines in 48 to 62 feet of water and never brought our baits up more than 5 cranks off bottom. Most locations took only 3 cranks before the baits were too high to get chased with regularity. The first 2 hours were slower than the time from 9-11 am. That slower first half also had dark skies with lighter winds. The final hour from 11-Noon was fishless after the fish quit and the weather began getting squirrely with intermittent rain showers accompanied by wind gusts whenever the drops fell. It was a solid morning of fishing after much environmental change has taken place in a fairly short period of time.

OBSERVATIONS: 1. We missed very few bites today whenever my anglers resisted the urge to lift their rod tips while using circle hooks, which tells me the fish were aggressively taking the baits, not just swiping at them. 2. Shad are still spawning. 3. I noted the significantly cooler water temperature on Belton vs. Stillhouse and suspect that all the water taken from down low in the water column at Lake Proctor has kept Belton from warming as quickly as Stillhouse (which is smaller and has no reservoir above it feeding water in).

TALLY: 74 fish caught and released, with ~46 legal hybrid in this mix of hybrid, short hybrid, white bass, and blue cat

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7a

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 8.56 feet high with a 24-hour fall of 0.44 feet on a flow of 4646 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 76.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-13 the entire morning

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning

GT = 25

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1944 – slow, steady pick of legal hybrid

**Area B0091C – slow, steady pick of legal hybrid

**Area vic B0151C – action-packed mixed bag angling for a full 2 hours with ~50% of the catch legal hybrid along with whites and blue cat.

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)

First SKIES Trip of the Season — 80 Fish

May 26th, 2019May 28th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Memorial Day Monday I fished the season’s first SKIESUnlimited trip with the Pak family. U.S. Army Chaplain Richard Pak is pursuing an advanced degree at TAMUCT, thus, he and his family will be in the Fort Hood area through December when he graduates. Mrs. Sara Pak and the couple’s daughters, Samantha (age 14) and Addyson (almost 12), accompanied him in this assignment.

SKIESUnlimited stands for Schools of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration, and Skills.

SKIESUnlimited offers dozens of activities for military and Department of Defense kids of all ages, ranging from gymnastics to piano lessons, from academic tutoring to various forms of dance, and more.

To participate in such courses, children must first be registered with Child and Youth Services. Registration is free and is accomplished by contacting Parent Central Services at 254-287-8029. Once registered, parents may go online to enroll their children for the myriad courses available, including my own “Fishing 101”.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Sara (mom), Samantha (14), Addyson (11), and Rich Pak with a pair of the white bass the girls landed early on in our multi-species trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: Samanatha Pak boating them 3-at-a-time! We used a light, 3-armed umbrella rig to take white bass in shallow water under early morning low-light conditions.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 27 May 2019, AM – Memorial Day

HOW WE FISHED: As the Pak family arrived at boatside on Memorial Day Monday, I asked about the girls’ prior fishing experience. They had both bottom-fished in saltwater for flounder off the Washington coast with their maternal grandfather, but not much else. So, I tried to work in as many successful tactics as the season and the conditions would allow for so as to give them a well-rounded experience on the water.

This past Saturday I conducted a sonar training session for a Garmin LiveScope owner and spotted surface-feeding white bass gorging on shad over the span of at least 40 minutes or so. I cruised by this area for our first stop of the morning and taught the girls how to cast with spinning gear. They were equipped with paddle-tail grubs on 1/8 oz. jigheads and picked up the mechanics of casting very quickly. Unfortunately, the fish never appeared on the surface for more than a few seconds at a time, so, they didn’t catch any fish via casting, but, at least we knew fish were in the vicinity, which led up to our second tactic … downrigging.

Using 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons, we ran twin ‘riggers and kept our baits about 2 feet above the level which most of the fish seen on sonar were holding at. Success came quickly, as Samantha boated the first downrigger-caught fish of the season, and made it a TRIPLE at that!!! That means she landed one fish on each of the 3 lures on the 3-armed umbrella rig, all at the same time. We went on to land another half-dozen fish on the ‘riggers before the brightening skies drove the fish out of the shallows.

Next, we worked tailspinners vertically on spinning rods in 48 feet of water to catch 5 white bass very quickly. We then moved to a mid-depth area and landed another four whites on the tailspinners before the fish got finicky. I immediately switched over to downrigging to see if a horizontally presented bait would be preferred over a vertically presented bait. We got one more white bass right away, making me think we might be on to something, but, after 20-30 more white bass seen on sonar refused to budge, we knew it was time to try something else.

Our final shot at the fish came in the form of fishing with a simple slip-float rig using worm as bait for sunfish up shallow in flooded terrestrial vegetation. The girls watched me demonstrate what to do one time, and they were then off to the races. Over the final hour of our trip, the sisters landed an amazing 61 sunfish (quite literally a fish per minute), including bluegill and green sunfish. With the water temperature right at 80F, they just kept coming!

OBSERVATIONS: Although we weren’t exclusively focused on white bass today, the white bass bite was softer again this morning as the weather went back to having some turbulence to it, with varying levels of light coming through the clouds, and varying wind velocities, including gusts up to 16+.

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 8.01 feet high with a 24-hour fall of 0.1 feet on a flow of 933 cfs

Water Surface Temp: 79.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE the entire morning, gusting from 10-17

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning with “squinting brightness” from 8:15 on

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 110/540 – 9 fish on downriggers

**Area vic 1063 – 5 fish in a short-lived burst of action on our first several sets of drops with tailspinners

**Area vic SH0118C – 4 fish in a short-lived burst of action on our first several sets of drops with tailspinners; 1 on a downrigger

**Area SH0038C – 61 sunfish

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)

The Olivers’ Silver Lining – 51 Fish

May 25th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished once again with a contingent of the Oliver family, including brothers Joe, Jamie, and Jack, along with one of Jack’s sons, Eli. Due to limited access at Lake Belton offering no real options if high winds are a concern (which they were today), and with few other options to pursue, we focused on white bass on Stillhouse.

Some recent health challenges with these brothers’ parents brought them all to the area at the same time for a bit, and they decided to put a silver lining on their cloud and take in a few hours’ fishing while they were all in the same locale.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jamie, Joe, Jack and Eli Oliver with a few of the 51 white bass we tracked down today on what was a pretty tough go of it on Stillhouse.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 22 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Once again, tailspinners were the go-to option this morning and they produced well when we found fish to present them to, but finding fish was pretty tricky. The white bass have been difficult to predict. On numerous occasions I’ve worked to find fish and found them, only to go and look at 6 or 8 nearly identical areas only to find them devoid of fish.

Conditions have been far from stable, and that definitely has not helped things. Flow from the dam has been on-again/off-again as the USACE juggles the situation on the Brazos River watershed. Water levels have stayed somewhat constant at just over 8 feet above full pool. The wind and weather has also been very dicey with heavy clouds, light rain, and winds rising to over 16 mph by the afternoon each day this week. It has been hard to get traction and keep it.

Fishing was off again today. We landed a total of 51 fish. We did catch fish in two distinct areas, one right as we began our trip, and again in deeper, clearer water around 10:00 to 10:30am, but, in neither scenario were the fish really fired up. In both locations we didn’t see the number of “fresh fish” circulating and patrolling actively through the area as has been the case in most of my Stillhouse white bass trips over the past several weeks since Belton shut down. I noted also that the fish really didn’t stay actively, aggressively pursuing our baits up off the bottom for any real length of time even when we were catching them. The real thing working in our favor was the Oliver’s four rods working (and mine working part-time) which kept up a constant commotion which interested the fish we found enough to provoke some feeding.

OBSERVATIONS:

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 8.29 feet high with a 24-hour fall of .03 feet on a flow of 933cfs

Water Surface Temp: 80.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning with varying light levels changing with cloud thickness.

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 116/540 – gave up 25 fish in our first 75 minutes

**Area vic SH0117C – gave up 25 fish from 10-10:30a

**Area vic 1713 – picked up 1 fish and saw potential here, but the bite was over by this time

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)

MURKY SKIES, MURKY WATER, MEDIOCRE FISHING – 53 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

May 20th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with a crew of 4 fellows from various walks of life. John Anderson, the one who organized the trip, retired from environmental compliance work for the McLane Company. Next was James Mills who took John’s position when he retired. Then there was Durwin Speidel, who managed the environmental, health, and safety program for Schlumberger before retiring. Steve Sanders, a retired Killeen banker, rounded our crew.

Although all four men had fished before, none had fished the way we did today, using an electronics-intensive approach for deepwater white bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Steve Sanders, James Mills, John Anderson, and Durwin Speidel, each with a white bass taken in over 40 feet of water using tailspinners in conjunction with LiveScope technology by Garmin.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 20 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Once again, thanks to very dark skies through 8:40, the fishing, all of which is taking place in deep water, did not turn on until around 9:00 AM. I theorize that the deep water is not well illuminated during the earlier morning hours, thus leading to a late-morning bite for going on 2 weeks now. At 40-50 feet, with thick cloud cover obscuring the sun, and with flood water making the lake murky, it has got to be quite dark at such depths.

We found active fish at two separate locations this morning at which we landed the majority of our 53 fish. Even though we did enjoy success, the action today was relatively subdued. The fish did not move about along the bottom with the frequency and intensity I saw last week. When we did raise interested fish, not nearly as many chased their hooked schoolmates upwards, and the schools of fish we encountered moved off with only minor interest in the commotion we created with our lures, the thumper, and hooked fish being played back to the boat.

Tailspinners performed well, and, thanks to this crew following my suggestions to a “T” for minimizing lost fish, we had very few fish hooked which did not make it aboard to be included in our tally.

OBSERVATIONS: After fishing these lakes for 27 years, I suppose I have developed a “sixth sense” for what kind of activity level the fish will likely display, based on water and weather conditions. That sense told me today’s results would be diminished. When I try to pin down what gave me that feeling, I believe the gusty wind conditions that existed prior to sunrise, and the very dark cloud cover combined to keep me from getting excited about our prospects once the sun rose this morning. Gusty pre-dawn winds never seem to bode well, and, on morning trips, anytime the sun’s intensity is insufficient to cause me to squint due to very heavy cloudiness, I feel our chances of doing real well are reduced. This “gut feeling” turned out right on this morning. Yes, we caught fish, but the bite was soft as compared to last week’s results with very little other than the current weather having changed over the weekend.

TALLY: 53 fish caught and released – including 69 white bass and 1 freshwater drum

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 8.14 feet high with a 0.02′ 24-hour drop and a 914 cfs flow from the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 80.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-14 and gusty

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning with varying light levels changing with cloud thickness. A light, spitting rain through 9AM.

GT = 65

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0116C

**Area SH0117C

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)

70 FISH, AND THEN THE RAIN CAME

May 18th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, and Harker Heights native Sky Sparks. These men got to know each other through the wound care medical practice which Jim just retired from, located in Harker Heights. Jim has fished with me on a number of occasions previously, and Sky made it out with me once before on a hybrid striped bass trip to Belton last year.

PHOTO CAPTION: Sky Sparks and Dr. Jim Wood with a few of the 70 fish we landed this morning as storms bore down on us from out west. We got a full 4+ hours in, thanks to good forecasting by NOAA and KWTX (TV channel 10) and my trusty MyRadar Pro weather radar app as a backup.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 18 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Once again, fishing today was a one-trick pony. The only fish I am currently finding on Stillhouse are deep, well-congregated schools of white bass in 35-45 feet of water. These fish have been very “moody”, turning on and turning off again fairly regularly. These fish have shown a definite fondness for the tailspinners my clients and I have been using ever since the waters on Belton and Stillhouse have become murky due to flooding. Using a “smoking” tactic, as we normally would with slabs, produced several hundred white bass for my clients this week alone.

On the trips I conducted Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and today, the last 2 hours has definitely outproduced the first two hours with 8:30 to 9:00am seeming to be the turning point.

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Proactively avoiding a hookset and doing a crankbait-style “swing-landing” of the fish into the boat both prevent a lot of lost fish on these heavy baits fished on a “short leash” of braided line. 2) No evidence of spawning shad this morning. 3) Upper third of reservoir has distinct murky brown tinge due to wind stirring up silt.

TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

0 feet = 78.1F

5 feet = 77.9F

10 feet = 77.4F

15 feet = 76.4F

20 feet = 75.6F

25 feet = 73.3F

30 feet = 71.2F

35 feet = 70.3F

40 feet = 70F

45 feet = 69.6F

50 feet = 68.4F

55 feet = 66.6F

65 feet = 62.8F

70 feet = 61.5F

75 feet = 60.1F

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released – including 69 white bass and 1 freshwater drum

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 7.84 feet high with a 0.01′ 24-hour drop and a 1,789cfs flow from the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S11-13

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning with varying light levels changing with cloud thickness. A light, spitting rain on occasion before severe thunderstorms moved in later in the day, around 2:10pm.

GT = 90

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic SH0113C – 11 fish through 9 a.m. with a number of misses as we sharpened our technique

**Area SH0114C – longest, strongest bite of the a.m. with over 50 fish taken off this area.

**Area SH0115C – a final 7 fish landed here as the bite was waning — lots of potential here; worth a future look

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)