2019 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

WAS THAT A QUADRA-FECTA OR A FOUR-FECTA? — 136 FISH @ BELTON

December 4th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, December 4th, I fished with returning guests David Vahrenkamp and Jerry Worley, as well as first-time guest Charles Vahrenkamp, David’s father.

Jerry owns the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency in Harker Heights, David works at Bates Nissan in Killeen, and Charles is a long-time employee in the Austin tech industry (long-time, as in since the mid-70’s).

PHOTO CAPTION #1: We enjoyed quality …

PHOTO CAPTION #2: … and quantity this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 04 December 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: David and Jerry have fished with me twice previously this autumn as the white bass bite has gone into overdrive, capitalizing on the high numbers of smaller fish available at this time of year. On this third outing, I thought we’d try to mix it up a little and add some quality to the quantity by trying a little live bait. Ever since the (somewhat) reliable bird activity has been occurring in the mornings, I’ve noticed suspended hybrid stripers chasing shad in the middle of the water column very actively while the white bass tend to stick to bottom. As a hedge against tough fishing (which I anticipated due to light north winds which were forecast, but which actually blew quite adequately until around 10:15), I went out early and netted threadfin shad.

We fished live shad from sunrise until 9:50 and caught exactly 41 fish, the majority of which were hybrid striped bass, but only 3 of which were in excess of 18″ (the legal length for that species for those who keep fish). We also landed large white bass, largemouth bass, drum, and blue catfish.

As the morning moved on, the interest in shad grew less and less despite an abundance of both bait and fish in the area.

At this point we re-tooled with spinning gear and closed out our trip fishing with artificial offerings for smaller, but more abundant, white bass. In the final 70 minutes of the trip we landed another 95 fish, including mainly small white bass, a few short hybrid, a few keeper white bass, a few largemouth, and a few drum.

During this time when we were “whacking and stacking” (thanks for that awesome fishing term, Steve Webb!) on slabs, I put out three baited lines on the backside of the boat. One had an 8″ gizzard shad, one had a 6″ gizzard shad, and one had average threadfin of about 3″ in length. Now catch this: during the 70 minute span in which we landed 95 fish on artificials, we got exactly 4 pulldowns on the live bait, resulting in 1 white bass and 1 drum being landed. For whatever reason, the fish nearly completely ignored the live bait while tripping over themselves to get to the artificials.

As with previous adventures with David and Jerry, new phrases were coined again today. A pair of terms — synonyms — were crafted by these fellow: quadra-fecta and four-fecta. The definition of these terms is the same: a situation in which four anglers hook up on four fish simulanteously, all resulting in landed fish. We enjoyed at least three such scenarios on the water today.

The go-to bait was the 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab equipped with Stinger Hook, and we fished in 30-38 feet of water, primarily led to fish by bird activity, although we found the fish remained biting well after the birds moved on to more surface-oriented gamefish and baitfish.

TALLY: 136 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Birds worked continuously from sunrise through ~10:15am.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation: 2.75 feet low, 0.00′ 24-hour change, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.4

Wind Speed & Direction: NW12 at sunrise, slowly tapering to NW2-3 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal bluebird skies

GT =50

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0153C to 1802 – primarily short hybrid on bait until around 8:10am

**Area 1656 through 787 – birds fed throughout this stretch of water from 8:10 to 10:50 and then quickly tapered to nil thereafter

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)

FISHING FOR PERCH…KINDA! — 156 FISH @ BELTON

December 3rd, 2019December 3rd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Back this past summer, I got a request to donate a fishing trip for the benefit of Mr. Marion “Perch” Daniels. The nice lady who contacted me was Laurie Fleet, a lifetime resident of Salado, and 4th generation SHS grad. Here’s what she let me know about “Perch”…

Our good friend Perch is fighting the battle of his life and a battle that many other’s have fought. He has been diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma and you can imagine all the struggles that go along with this. There’s never been a nicer guy than Perch and I know all his friends will want to come together and help help help. He and Laura need us right now and I know we will all gladly do so.

Mr. Reed Smith of Flat, TX, bid on the fishing trip I offered to Laurie for that benefit event, and today Reed brought two buddies out for a morning of white bass fishing. He let me know Perch’s cancer is in remission and that he’s slowly regaining his health.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left, Reed Smith, Scott Stephens, and Bobby Jenkins landed 156 fish on their 4-hour morning trip on Lake Belton. Their catch included white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 03 December 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We struggled to find fish during the first hour of the trip as the 10-11 mph S. winds which had been forecast had not yet materialized. As soon as the slightest ripple began, the fish turned on and we stayed on fish continuously for the remainder of the trip, having to stop at only 3 distinct locations to stay in the action.

The easing tactic using 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks was the only tactic we had to employ this morning. Once the fellows quickly got the fundamentals down, I layered in Garmin LiveScope, and they were off to the races as they observed their presentations and fish responses, both positive and negative, to those presentations.

Reed asked a great question today which was, “What is it about these areas that causes the white bass to be there?” I pulled up the depth highlighting feature on the Humminbird Solix, highlighted in bright green all of the water from 30-36 feet deep (adjusted for the lake being down ~3 feet), and pointed out how slow-sloping areas in that depth range were the common thread.

TALLY: 156 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird activity this morning thanks to calm winds after the winds reversed direction around 8pm the previous night.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 44F

Elevation: 2.73 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 57.2

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at trip’s start with a light S. breeze beginning around 8AM and building to S13 with gusts to 15 by the end of the trip.

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal bluebird skies

GT =100

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0201C and B0202C (2 hops)

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)

REAL NICE FOLKS FROM MINNESOTA — 223 FISH @ BELTON

December 2nd, 2019December 2nd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with 4 members of the Kovar family from just west of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Dale Kovar, his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Chelsea Rademacher, all flew down to Texas to see their son, Rhett, before he deploys to Iraq as a member of the Minnesota National Guard. Rhett only recently completed basic training and AIT, then got called up and has now been at Fort Hood living in the barracks since October. Two other siblings were unable to make the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left, that’s Linda, Chelsea, Dale, and Rhett with a few of the 223 fish they landed under breezy, post-frontal conditions.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Linda landed the top two fish of the trip this morning, including this nice hybrid and a freshwater drum which went 4.75 pounds.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 02 December 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was easy this morning. Birds started feeding and leading the way to fish just a few minutes after sunrise. The bird action was most intense in the first hour after sunrise, but did not quit entirely until around 10AM. We used two different methods this morning, depending on how the fish were presenting on sonar. If the fish were very active and chasing bait throughout the water column, we used a slow version of a smoking tactic to cover the water column; and, if the fish were less aggressive and holding on bottom, we used a slower, lower easing tactic. We used a stinger-hook equipped 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab in white color for both jobs.

While the birds worked, we made 4 stops under them as they moved about feeding, and typically began by using a smoking retrieve until the fish settled, then mopped up with an easing retrieve, and then moved to a new bunch of fish once the easing slowed down. We boated our first 100 fish by 9:19AM.

After the birds quit, we spent our final hour atop a school of white bass holding on a breakline. I layered in Garmin LiveScope at this point to help keep everyone engaged. These fish quit just a few minutes before 11AM. We finished up with 223 fish including white bass, hybrid striped bass, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

On two separate occasions the fish fed so aggressively that Rhett and Chelsea wound up catching two fish on their slabs at the same time — one fish on the treble, and one fish on the stinger hook.

Of course, when all was said and done, I directed them to the good care of Mr. Dirk over at Miller’s Smokehouse for lunch. I just wouldn’t be right to come all the way from Minnesota and not dine there.

TALLY: 223 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: I noted that in ~23 feet of water or less, even when birds were working fish and bait aggressively, my outboard would spook fish from directly beneath the boat. Therefore, I used side-imaging to find large concentrations of fish, then put my cursor on the H’bird Solix on those fish and let the i-Pilot Link system take us more stealthily to those fish instead of running over them with the outboard. It seemed that only those suspended fish were negatively impacted in this way.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Elevation: 2.69 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 57.4

Wind Speed & Direction: NW11 at sunrise and tapering off just a bit to NW8 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal bluebird skies

GT = 70

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0153C, vic 1804, vic B0159C, B0197C – 4 stops along a line connecting these areas, all with bird-assist

**Area vic B0118C

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)

BIRTHDAY FISHIN’ WITH JEB & FRIENDS — 73 FISH @ BELTON

December 1st, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: During the afternoon of Saturday, 30 November, I fished with three young men, all from Salado, TX, in celebration of Jeb Hercules’ 14th birthday. Joining Jeb for this outing were his friends, Kase Maedgen, and Zane Roche, as well as Jeb’s dad, Chris Hercules.

Jeb’s mom, Michele, set the whole thing up about a week in advance.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Jeb Hercules (right) and friends Kase Maedgen (center), and Zane Roche, all of Salado.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Fittingly, the Jeb the birthday boy landed the evening’s largest fish. This hybrid striper took Jeb’s slab as it fell back toward bottom, whereas most white bass strike as the lure is rising.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 30 November 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was a bit tough this afternoon as the Pacific cool front which passed by around 10 AM moved quickly east. During the entirety of the afternoon we faced slowly decreasing wind speeds, starting around 8 mph, and tapering to near calm by sunset. The skies were high and clear. We found plenty of fish in plenty of places, but they were just reluctant to bite. As I found them on sonar, they were still concentrated around the 33 foot mark as they had been in the morning, but the fish were more spread out, they were tighter to the bottom, and they refused to chase very far or very fast.

We wound up “hopping” 11 different times — a testament to how loathe the fish were to move to us; rather, we had to move to them. Most of the fish we caught we caught right off the bat upon arriving at a location and dropping down. We would catch the fish that were there and no more, as fish were not moving toward our commotion very eagerly at all.

We used an easing tactic with 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached to catch every one of the 73 fish we landed. Our catch included white bass, hybrid striped bass, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird action this evening. It is atypical to find fish white bass clearly presenting on sonar (positioned sufficiently high off the bottom that there is target separation on down-imaging) and not biting well, but, that is exactly what we encountered this afternoon.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:10PM

End Time: 5:50PM

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 2.67 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.5

Wind Speed & Direction: NW8 tapering slowly and evenly down to near calm over the course of the trip

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal bluebird skies

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1000, 3 hops

**Area 327/211, 4 hops

**Area 1882/1819, 2 hops

**Area vic B0199C

**Area vic 1802

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)

WACKY WEATHER WHITE BASS – 128 FISH @ BELTON (AM TRIP)

November 30th, 2019November 30th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Mr. Mike McLaughlin of Georgetown, TX, his son-in-law, Keith Duncan, and Keith’s 13-year-old son, Alex. Alex has been out with me every year in the autumn, with the exception of last year during the massive flooding, since he was just 6 years old.

Mike is retired from law enforcement, Keith is in the tech industry, and Alex is working his way through homeschooling at the eighth grade level.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: Mike McLaughlin, Keith Duncan, and Alex Duncan with part of our catch of 128 fish, all taken from ~33 feet of water this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 30 November 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing took place in two distinct spurts this morning, all driven by the weather. It all began last night around 7PM when a warm front moved into Central Texas, taking the temperature quickly from 53F, up to 71F in a matter of a few hours. This warming caused the lingering fog of the daytime hours to dissipate, but the atmosphere remained humid. This morning, I had light mist on my windshield driving to the lake, but our fishing hours were all dry. As we launched, there was a 13 mph SW wind and thick grey cloud cover. Once it got light enough to illuminate the depths, the fish began to bite under clouds and wind. Soon, that wind died to calm and we caught zero fish during that entire span (nearly 2 hours). Finally, around 10AM, the lightest ripple began from the SW and quickly shifted W, then NW a a mild, clearing Pacific cold front moved in. We took our fish count from 28 to 128 in the 1.75 hour span between 10AM and 11:45AM. All of the fish came on an easing tactic using only 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached.

TALLY: 128 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird action this morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:10AM

End Time: 11:50AM

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 2.67 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.0

Wind Speed & Direction: SW12 @ obscured sunrise, followed by a 2 hour period of calm, murky, warm conditions, followed by clearing, drying conditions with the arrival of a minor Pacific cold front.

Sky Conditions: Grey skies and warm, humid conditions through 10AM, then clearing and drying with the arrival of a Pacific cool front

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0199C / 1292 — fished this area twice, once as the wind blew before the calm and again after the wind started again after the calm; caught 28 the first time and 60 the second

**Area vic B0012C — 40 fish

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)

WHITE FRIDAY — 106 FISH @ BELTON

November 29th, 2019November 29th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: No crazy shopping mall scenes nor door-buster drama for Mr. Sam Simon and me. Nope, just a foggy, deserted Lake Belton and hundreds of white bass ready to get all over our slabs on this Black Friday turned White Friday here in Central Texas.

Sam, a retired U.S. Army veteran, has been out with me once before and fishes, mainly for largemouth bass, from his own boat, so we run into each other from time to time. Sam was planning on his brother visiting from Thomasville, GA, for the holiday and booked the trip for the two of them, but, when that didn’t pan out, Sam thought fishing was still better than turkey leftovers and college football, so, we made an afternoon of it.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Retired U.S. Army vet Sam Simon of Killeen and I had the lake to ourselves this cool, damp November 29th. The fish were already wet, so they didn’t mind a bit.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: These are the tools getting the job done right now – Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 28 November 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: As I looked at the forecast as my evening trip wrapped up on Wednesday before I took yesterday off, I saw some funky weather I preferred to avoid forecast for this morning. I consulted with Sam, and we agreed to fish in the afternoon instead. That turned out well.

The morning weather had a lingering, more persistent fog than was called for, along with cool, windless conditions — not good.

This afternoon’s weather saw the fog lift and become more of an occasional mist, with a little bit of heating and a little ESE breeze — not great, but enough to get the fish going.

We met up at 1:00p and were on fish by 1:15p. The first area we fished (of a total of five) was the only one where I had to locate fish using sonar exclusively. The remaining four areas were indicated by light bird activity. Each of the five areas we fish gave up for for about the same 30 to 40 minutes or so, and then went quiet, necessitating a move.

Once again, and as will be the case for some time to come, an easing tactic using slabs equipped with stinger hooks was the way to go. The white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook did the trick over and over and over again. I make and sell these myself now after some “supply chain issues” in the past caused delays for my clients in purchasing them elsewhere. Check this link: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/fishing-guide-product.php

Even if you don’t use my Stinger Hook, at least use someone’s stingers or make your own, but don’t fish a slab without one!!

I really made a believer out of Sam when it came to stinger hooks this evening. In my pre-trip brief, I told him why I used the stingers and that they would likely account for 50-60% of our hookups.

If I had $5.00 for each time Sam said, “That stinger hook really jacked that fish up,” meaning it was the hook which caught the fish versus the treble hook which was hanging outside the fish’s mouth, I believe I could have doubled my fare tonight.

All of our fish were caught in 26-33 feet of water and were located in the lower third of the water column.

As the fog began to redevelop around 4:20p, thus diminishing the light, we noted the fish were hesitant to come more than 4-5 feet off the bottom. This was made very evident as we watched the fish react to our presentation on Garmin LiveScope. So, we adjusted our presentation accordingly and continued to get bit.

We hit the 100 fish mark at 3:56, and fished our last area until it went dry at 4:26, then called it a day a bit early with exactly 106 fish landed including 2 largemouth, 12 drum, 4 hybrid stripers, and 88 white bass.

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Fish showed a definite preference for the 3/8 oz. slab versus the 3/4 oz. this evening.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:00P

End Time: 4:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 53F

Elevation: 2.67 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.2

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE3-6

Sky Conditions: Grey skies and list mist/light fog

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0119C/B0012C

**Area vic 1656 (w/ birds)

**Area B0200C (w/ birds)

**Area vic 1802 (w/ birds)

**Area B0104C/B0197C (w/ birds)

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)

WE CAME BACK TO REALITY, AND IT WAS GREAT! — 139 FISH @ BELTON

November 27th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This Thanksgiving Eve I fished with returning guest Danny Marriott of Georgetown, TX, and his son-in-law, John Griffin, from the Houston area.

Danny is the operations director at First Baptist Church in Georgetown, and John is a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Game Warden covering the Houston area. John and his wife and daughter drove in this morning to be with his in-laws for Thanksgiving and got in a little off-duty outdoor time for a change.

If you follow me here on Facebook, you know we had a heck of a day yesterday with rare prefrontal weather conditions which really turned the fish on. Today we were faced with cooler conditions and northerly winds and it was “back to reality” with our results more in line with the season. Regardless, with water temperature still hovering around 60F, the fish were still readily found and caught. We ended up with 139 fish boated this evening.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left, John Griffin and Danny Marriott with a Thanksgiving Eve’s catch of white bass from Belton Lake.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Danny landed our largest fish of the trip, this zebra mussel-fattened freshwater drum that fell for his slab in about 33 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 27 November 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was pretty one-dimensional tonight as it will be for quite some time to come as we ease into the cool-water period of the year. We found fish, relying primarily on Lowrance StructureScan (pre-FishReveal software) to do an excellent job of target separation in deep water, thus allowing us to distinguish fish from the bottom. Once fish were found, we used the i-Pilot Link system (Minn Kota trolling motor and Humminbird Down Imaging) to mark and then park on top of the fish. We kicked on the thumper, let down our Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 3/8 oz., with Stinger hook attached) and used an easing tactic to tempt the fish until they would no longer fall for our charade. Then, we moved on and repeated this process, all to the tune of 139 fish boated, including white bass, drum, largemouth, and hybrid stripers.

TALLY: 139 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird action this afternoon. Fish were a bit finicky given the cloudy, cold-front conditions we faced. Fish did not stay interested very long after their initial expression of interest in our presentations, therefore, we had to move a good bit to keep the action going.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:00P

End Time: 5:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 2.63 feet low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.2F (thanks to 67F air temperatures through 2:00AM this morning, just before the mild cold front rolled in)

Wind Speed & Direction: NE12-13

Sky Conditions: Grey skies

GT = 95

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0184C/1679 – 2 hops

**Area vic 1819

**Area vic 1827

**Area B0199c/B0124C

**Area vic 817

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 RIGHT TIME, PLACE, WEATHER, & CREW – 276 FISH @ BELTON

November 26th, 2019November 26th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yes, that title is no joke! My 3-man crew this morning landed fish, literally, at a rate of more than one fish per minute for 4.5 hours straight on Lake Belton.

This morning, Tuesday, November 26th, I welcomed aboard long-time client Steve Niemeier, accompanied by his grandson, Caleb Fowler (age 14), and his great nephew, Tevan Gilmore (age 15).

With a cold front due in around 11pm this evening, we had pre-frontal activity which is always among the best weather scenarios one can encounter if timed correctly.

Adding to this was the fact that all three anglers have fished with me before, and, more importantly, have used the tactics we used today (vertical jigging with slabs) previously, so there was no learning curve to get through. Finally, the boys were very competitive with one another which kept them engaged and their concentration levels high. Finally, my crew set a high goal for themselves. On a previous outing on Stillhouse (15 March 2015) which included just Steve and Caleb and also occurred in pre-frontal conditions, the two landed 256 fish in just under 4 hours. My crew wanted to beat that tally today — and they did!!

Steve very much appreciates the consistency and productivity of fall fishing, and routinely books several trips in November as far in advance as July or August to make sure he and the kids get to cash in on this high-numbers bonanza.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left, Tevan Gilmore, Caleb Fowler, and Steve Niemeier landed 276 fish on Lake Belton under ideal pre-frontal conditions during this morning’s half-day trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 26 November 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Despite the fish being in overdrive this morning, there was no helpful bird action to key off of. I suspect this might be because the water was already whitecapping before the (cloud-obscured) sunrise, thus making it difficult for these birds to spot subsurface activity.

So, we relied upon good old sonar to get the job done. We fished only 3 areas this morning and used a fast easing tactic to provoke the fish we’d found into striking. These areas were all gently sloping, all in 31-35 feet of water, and were all relatively clean bottoms with ample baitfish in the vicinity.

Our bait of choice was the smallish 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached. The stinger accounted for easily 45% of our catch this morning. We had very few other bycatch species today — only drum. No largemouth, no hybrid, no crappie, no bluecat, which was also surprising given how ramped up the white bass were.

I often fish alongside my clients as it helps create and maintain the commotion which keeps fish interested and holding beneath the boat as fish are caught and then regurgitate and defecate, thus creating a natural chum-line of sorts. Today, there were many instances where I just put my rod up in the holder and unhooked and released fish because the catch rate was that high. The thumper also did its part to draw and hold fish beneath the boat.

With the water temperature fairly stable at around 60F and only a mild, short front due in overnight, plus being in the dark of the lunar cycle, I anticipate the fishing will stay strong for as long as our current weather forecast looks ahead (about 5-6 days).

TALLY: 276 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird action possible due to strong winds. Had credible report of evening bird action which occurred under “calm before the storm” conditions prior to cloud-obscured sunset.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 2.60 feet low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW4-6 at sunrise, increasing to SW11-12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Fair blue skies

GT = 100

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT: NOTE THE WINDSHIFT DUE AT ~9PM AND THE WESTERLY COMPONENT TO THE WIND THE ENTIRE DAY PRIOR TO THE FRONT’S ARRIVAL

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0156C/B0132C – 185 fish caught here by 9:36am

**Area B0003C/B0195C

**Area B0198C

**Area B0199C (successful post-trip scouting)

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)

HE CAME 3,147 MILES FOR LAKE BELTON WHITE BASS — 141 FISH

November 25th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 25th, I fished with father/daughter pair Warren Howard and Kristi Hendrick. Military duty pulled Kristi’s husband away for the holidays and so her dad flew down from Alaska to make sure she didn’t eat turkey alone. While he was at it, he thought spending some time in Texas’ well-lit outdoors (they’re only having ~ 3 hours of light each day in Fairbanks, Alaska, right now) and warmth would be a great idea. So, although he is much more accustomed to fishing for grayling in moving water, Warren decided to give Texas white bass a try.

Kristi shared a crazy story that illustrated how austere life can be in Alaska. Fairbanks is one of Alaska’s 6 largest cities with a population of 31,516 according to the 2018 U.S. Census. Kristi said that folks in Fairbanks were very excited about soon being able to go to the new Sonic restaurant being built in Wasilla, a short SIX HOUR DRIVE AWAY (yes, that’s one way)!

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Belton’s freshwater drum, a routine bycatch while fishing for white bass, have become fat and sassy with zebra mussels as a new food source. If you leave a slab holding near bottom very long, the drum will beat the white bass to it!

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Warren landed this beautiful crappie on a slab. As we vertically jigged for white bass, a small bit of wood cover showed up anchored to bottom as we watch LiveScope. Out of that wood came this crappie.

PHOTO CAPTION #3: And of course Warren and Kristi caught a mess of white bass this morning under very pleasant late-November conditions. It was down to t-shirts by 11:00am!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 25 November 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: The fish were a bit more relaxed today, as is often the case in the mild weather lulls between fronts. We found some birds working, but not aggressively, and not for an extended period of time. The catching today was a slower, steady take of fish with most of the fish very much bottom-oriented (versus suspended as we found them on Saturday with post-frontal, breezy conditions.

We stuck with the 3/8 oz. slab for all of our work today and used an easing tactic to catch every last one of the 141 fish we boated. Our catch once again included a bycatch of solid drum (which I know for certain are devouring zebra mussels, as quite a number of the drum we’ve caught have regurgitated them), hybrid stripers, and a single crappie.

We hit 6 areas in 4 hours to put together this catch, hence an average of 40 minutes’ worth of action at each of the locations we fished. Well adjusted down-imaging sonar was the key to seeing fish which are barely separated from the bottom. This necessitates a leveled transducer adjusted at slow forward speed and the resulting boat angle.

TALLY: 141 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Birds worked less aggressively today and for only about 65 minutes from sunrise.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 2.60 feet low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW4-6 at sunrise, increasing to SW11-12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Fair blue skies

GT = 100

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1579, vic 1924, and B0197C

**Area encompassed by B0189C/960/B0190C

**Area B0195C, B0196C

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)