2019 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

REPRESENTING THE QUEEN WELL – 45 FISH (PM TRIP)

August 6th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday evening I fished with Ahmed Eqab and his brother-in-law, Arthur Ghayb. Ahmed is from the United Kingdom and makes a habit of fishing local waters anytime he travels. Arthur lives in Killeen and has resided here for 11 years now.

Ahmed works in information technology for the Maersk shipping company and married Arthur’s sister some years ago. Arthur served as a U.S. Army linguist for 6 years and now works at the Gold’s Gym location in Copperas Cove.

There was a slim chance Ahmed’s 12-year-old daughter was going to make it out with us, but that didn’t happen — maybe next time.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ahmed Eqab, a citizen of the United Kingdom, traveled to Texas to see his brother-in-law and the two booked a trip. Ahmed landed this smallmouth buffalo in the heat of an August afternoon as we downrigged at 21 feet beneath the surface.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ahmed Eqab and Arthur Ghayb, brothers-in-law, with four of the 40 white bass we landed between 6:45pm and 8:15pm as the falling light level spurred fish on to begin feeding.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species targeting white bass and blue catfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 05 August 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Without a doubt, the first 90 minutes of light and the last 90 minutes of light is where all of the August fishing action is found right now. We endured a slow first 2 hours in heat waiting for that magic time to arrive right around 6:45pm when fish began to move and feed once again with the decreasing light levels. During that slow time we landed 5 fish including 3 blue catfish and 1 largemouth on cutbait, and a 30-pound class smallmouth buffalo which completely inhaled a downrigged Pet Spoon.

Once 6:45 rolled around, I began seeing white bass form into larger and larger packs along the bottom beginning in around 25-30 feet of water. The darker it got, the more abundant and aggressive these packs became. Eventually, if we saw a school on sonar and at least one of the two downrigger balls was in, we just knew we would get hit.

From 6:45 to 8:15 when we wrapped up (early, by request), we’d landed 40 additional white bass coming in as singles, doubles, and at least two triples. By 8:15, the heat and a few hunger pangs convinced Ahmed it was time to wrap it up, and we did so. Up to that point we had not witnessed any topwater action. I kept a sharp eye out for such topwater feeding as we downrigged and as we returned to the boat ramp, but saw none.

TALLY: 45 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Very little “popcorn” white bass schooling action witnessed in the heat of this sunny afternoon.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:45p

End Time: 8:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 94F

Elevation: 0.26 feet high, 0.0 foot 24-hour drop, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 90.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7-9 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 25% white cloud cover

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1802 – most all of this evening’s action took place within yards of 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)

3 GENERATIONS, 65 FISH AT THE RICHARDSON REUNION (AM TRIP)

August 5th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 05 August, I fished with Danny Richardson of Salado, his two adult sons, Casey and Kevin, and Casey’s son, 9-year-old Max. This was one of several events taking place during a Richardson family reunion centered in Salado.

Casey is a U.S. Air Force test pilot currently serving with the Canadian Air Force in Alberta, Kevin is a special education teacher in a public school in Buda, TX, Max lives with his mom in Idaho, and, although Danny’s home is in Salado, he is a contractor to the U.S. Government working in Afghanistan to maintain aircraft and tends to be overseas more than stateside.

PHOTO CAPTION: Danny Richardson with a Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken with downriggers set at 21′ over a deeper bottom using Pet Spoons on a 3-armed umbrella rig.

PHOTO CAPTION: Casey Richardson with a 3.75 pound Belton Lake hybrid.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Casey, Max, Kevin, and Danny Richardson, each with one of the 36 white bass we landed during this morning’s topwater feeding spree.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species targeting white bass, blue catfish, and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 05 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We truly went “multi-species” today in order to keep the fish coming over the side of the boat. Not only is it summertime, but, today we had bright skies and light winds, which always makes things tough.

We began our day downrigging under low-light conditions while keeping a vigilant watch on the surface for topwater action. We landed several fish on the downriggers using the upsized Pet Spoons I switched to this past weekend. After this weekend’s wrinkle in the weather passed around noon yesterday, clearing the skies, the fish got back onto their early morning feeding schedule. Hence, we enjoyed about 45 minutes’ worth of solid topwater action from 2 and 3 year old white bass.

After the topwater action died, the post-topwater downrigging did not last long this morning as the fish sounded, dispersed, and turned off quickly thereafter.

Having seen this routinely, and having a mixed party of adults with one child, I came prepared to target blue catfish after routinely seeing them in several areas while downrigging last week. We fished using a tactic shared with me by Steve Webb earlier this spring involving cutbait, and wound up putting 8 blue cat in the boat. I was using chum to draw fish in, but the lack of wind, I felt, did not help the scent disperse well, thus, we caught what was around us, but didn’t draw in a lot of other fish.

After this, we did a bit more downrigging for suspended, moving schools of white bass and found a few schools of suspended, moving hybrid stripers while doing so. These schools numbered 20-40 individuals, but typically only gave up one or two fish per downrigger pass.

We saved a bit of time at the end for a grand finale for Max, heading up shallow to treat him to some one-on-one time with the local sunfish population.

Max landed 17 sunfish in about 25 minutes’ time and enjoyed doing so, after indicating earlier in the trip that he wasn’t all that interested in the whole proposition.

TALLY: 65 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Saw no opportunities for vertical presentations today given how fast the fish were moving after bait.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 10:40a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 0.26 feet high, 0.0 foot 24-hour drop, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.4

Wind Speed & Direction: Under 5mph from the S the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High, wispy white cloud cover under 5% on a blue sky

GT = 20

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area – 012 to 016 topwater action under low light conditions

**Area – 487 to 1788 post-topwater downrigging

**Area – between 2054-2055 fishing cutbait for bluecat

**Area – vic B0161C – downrigging for late morning whites/hybrid

**Area – 502 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)

CLOUD COVER BRINGS CHANGES – 49 FISH

August 4th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I fished with long-time buddies Jim Pratt and Manuel Rodriguez. The men’s wives presented them with a gift certificate some time ago and today was the day they chose to redeem it.

Jim is in command of a Fort Hood FORSCOM medical unit as a U.S. Army commissioned officer with a background in veterinary medicine, and Manuel, from San Antonio, manages multiple SONIC restaurant franchises in that metropolitan area. The two men and their wives first got to know one another as neighbors when the Pratts were stationed in San Antonio. The men, their wives, and their kids routinely “do life” together.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jim jump started the morning by putting this low-light triple of white bass in the boat as we downrigged for fish which were aggressive, but which did not come anywhere near the surface to feed thanks to the heavy cloud cover.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Manuel Rodriguez and Jim Pratt with a few of the 49 fish we worked up on an unusually cool, cloudy early August morning in which we even saw a little light rainfall.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species targeting white bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 03 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Nature pitched a curve this morning, ending a 12 consecutive day string of reliable topwater feeding in the low-light period either side of sunrise. During this time, no topwater action occurred as thick cloud cover obscured the sun’s light thus failing to draw fish toward the surface. The fish still fed well, and, in fact, were moving and gorging themselves on shad over the same time period during which the topwater action had been taking place earlier in the week, but they did it in the lower third of the water column instead of near the surface.

We scored well with downriggers during this time, putting 28 of our 49 fish in the boat during the first 75 minutes’ of effort. During this key time, we landed singles, doubles, and triples. As we caught fish, I observed a number of other boats in pursuit of white bass moving about after not seeing a surface bite develop. I also noted those remaining stationary and fishing vertically experiencing poor results. Later, when the bite got tough, we also found that fish were not very interested in a vertical presentation. Only 2 of our 49 fish came on lures presented vertically.

After the initial strong feed, we searched 6 additional areas, finding consistency at two. Of those two, one gave up only small fish (Area 2054). The other area (Area 1814-1936) provided better quality and quantity. It was here, as the clouds thinned and the skies brightened (although still covered by clouds) that I observed the first “popcorn” schooling of the morning, as white bass pushed shad to the surface and fed for just seconds at a time.

TALLY: 49 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) I bumped up to the next size of Pet Spoon today based on observations on the size of regurgitated shad I witnessed. 2) The temperature profile I took down to 70 feet showing no distinct thermocline developed…

0 feet 86.5

5 feet 86.5

10 feet 86.5

15 feet 86.5

20 feet 85.6

25 feet 85.1

30 feet 84.8

35 feet 84.2

40 feet 82.7

45 feet 81.2

50 feet 80.2

55 feet 79.4

60 feet 78.5

65 feet 77. 6

70 feet 76.8

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.26 feet high, 0.02′ 24-hour drop, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.5

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 5-7 through 9:20, then increasing briefly to SSE13 for about 30 minutes, then dropping back to SSE5

Sky Conditions: 100% grey overcast the entire trip

GT = 40

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 813-1802 – low light downrigging

**Area 2054 – downrigging and tailspinners fished vertically

**Area 1814-1936 – downrigging

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)

FREE FISHING FOR MILITARY KIDS — 100 FISH @ BELTON

August 2nd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, August 2nd , I conducted the tenth SKIFF program trip of the 2019 season. I welcomed aboard 8-year-old brothers Jonah and Jayden Talivaa, accompanied by their mom, Joelle Talivaa, a U.S. Army veteran who served one enlistment as a truck driver. The boys father, U.S. Army Specialist Johnathan Talivaa, has served a total of 18 years on both active duty and in the Reserves. SPC Talivaa is currently deployed to Kuwait where he works in a military supply unit.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jayden, Joelle, and Jonah Talivaa with a sampling of the white bass that fed intensely, albeit briefly, this morning. After the white bass shut down, we went up shallow hunting sunfish.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species targeting white bass and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 02 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip began at 6:20am as we began searching for topwater white bass. The bite was shorter in duration and less intense this morning than I observed the rest of the week. We picked up a few casting shad-imitating slabs, but actually did much better downrigging 3-armed umbrella rigs over fish that had already sounded. By 7:40a the aggressive white bass action was over. We’d landed 17 white bass and 3 hybrid by this time.

With fairly calm winds, hot weather, and two 8-year-olds on board, it was now time for sunfishing. We hit only two areas and found all four species of sunfish very cooperative. The boys got the knack for catching these abundant fish very quickly, and enjoyed it, so, we stuck with what was working well. The boys went on to catch exactly 80 sunfish, taking our morning’s total up to exactly 100 fish before the Gatorade ran low, the sun got high, and we decided to call it good right there.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The white bass topwater bite duration lessened and Friday morning boat pressure increased. Not necessarily a correlation.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 0.29′ high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.5

Wind Speed & Direction: S5-7 entire trip

Sky Conditions: Under 5% cloud cover on blue sky.

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0159C – low light topwater action, followed by downrigging action after the increasing light drove the fish down

**Area v1583 – sunfish

**Area B0160C – 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)

6 GRANDKIDS, 2 MORNINGS, 222 FISH

July 31st, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: These past two mornings, July 30th and 31st, I fished with two different contingents of the Oliver clan. Grandpa Joe Oliver contacted me as soon as his adult kids’ summer plans were solidified to let me know he’d like to take all six of his grandkids out fishing in two “shifts” during Summer 2019.

On Tuesday, Joe was joined by his adult son, Thomas Oliver of Temple (whose 14-month-old daughter I’m sure you’ll read about in a few years), and his adult daughter, Amber Pugh, of Academy, TX. Amber’s three kids, Ben (12), Beau (5), and Addie (4) were the focus of our morning efforts.

On Wednesday, Joe, Uncle Thomas, and Thomas’ older brother, Corey, fresh in from Oregon, all saw to it that Corey’s three kids, Cullen (9), Presley (9), and Harper (7), got to spend some time on the water with their grandpa, as well.

PHOTO CAPTION DAY 1: From left, back row: Joe Oliver, Amber Pugh, and Thomas Oliver. From left, front row: Amber’s 3 kids: Beau, Ben, and Addie Pugh.

PHOTO CAPTION DAY 2: From left, back row: Joe Oliver, Corey Oliver, and Thomas Oliver From left, front row: Corey’s three kids, Cullen, Harper, and Presley Oliver.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species, focusing on white bass and sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 30 & 31 July 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED:

Both days laid out pretty much the same given the current, stable summer weather pattern. We got out there early, caught white bass as they fed aggressively until the bright sun shut them down, then turned our sights on sunfish up shallow.

DAY 1: The early morning bite, involving white bass forcing young of the year shad to the surface, produced 24 fish before the fish sounded as the light level increased. The adults cast small shad-imitators out into the fray and the kids retrieved the lures back through them. Once the bite on top died, we began downrigging, picking up an additional 15 fish for a combined 39 white bass and hybrid stripers, with our largest fish going 19″, landed by Ben. Once the white bass/hybrid action was clearly over, we headed up shallow and fished bait under slipfloats for about 90 minutes of non-stop sunfish action, adding 63 fish to our count, and setting the bar for “the cousins” at 102 fish to beat the following morning. I’ll note here that every Oliver clan member is quite competitive with coaches and athletes running all through their ranks. It was no surprise, then, that Amber texted her brother, Corey, letting him know that 102 fish was going to be hard to beat before we even got off the water.

DAY 2: This morning unfolded in much the same way that Tuesday morning did with a few helpful differences: 1) the kids were generally older, 2) the winds were a bit lighter, thus helping with spotting fish early, and 3) there were more numerous pods of fish feeding this morning. Thus, by the time the whites and hybrids ended their low-light feeding, we’d landed a half-dozen more fish and in a shorter period of time that on the previous morning. The kids (and adults) were constantly inquiring about the fish count throughout the morning. We headed up shallow and began the quest for sunfish, and these rascals really cooperated this morning. When all was said and done, we’d boated exactly 75 sunfish (bluegill, longear, redear, green, and hybrids thereof). At exactly 9:34 the adults agreed that the kids were done, and we headed back to the boat ramp before the sun made its presence felt to any greater degree.

TALLY: 222 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: N/A

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time Day 1: 6:35a

Start Time Day 2: 6:20a

End Time Day 1: 9:30a

End Time Day 2: 9:34a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start Day 1: 76F

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start Day 2: 74F

Elevation Day 1: 0.35′ high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Elevation Day 2: 0.32′ high, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp Day 1: 84.1

Water Surface Temp Day 2: 84.5

Wind Speed & Direction Day 1: S8-10 at trip’s start, staying constant throughout

Wind Speed & Direction Day 2: S5-6 at trip’s start, staying constant throughout

Sky Conditions Days 1 & 2: <5% white clouds on a blue sky

GT = 30

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT DAY 1:

Wx SNAPSHOT DAY 2:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS DAY 1:

**Area 133 to 1746- low light topwater action for whites and hybrid

**Area B0104C – low light topwater action for whites and hybrid, followed by downrigging action after the increasing light drove the fish down

**Area 1583 – sunfish

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS DAY 2:

**Area B0132C- low light topwater action for whites and hybrid

**Area 715-1656 – low light topwater action for whites and hybrid, followed by downrigging action after the increasing light drove the fish down

**Area B0158C – sunfish in 4 secondary coves

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)

Bryan Sanchez Lands 52 Fish on Lake Belton

July 29th, 2019July 29th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, July 29th, I conducted the ninth SKIFF program trip of the 2019 season welcoming aboard Bryan Sanchez of Harker Heights. Bryan is entering into his senior year at Harker Heights High School where he currently participate in the ROTC program. After high school he plans to pursue either medicine or law enforcement through the military.

Bryan’s parents are both veterans; his mom a Reservist and his dad, Javier, was disabled following his second tour to Iraq in his eighth year of service in the U.S. Army.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Pantoja brothers, Mason (right) and Connor, each with a pair of white bass taken while we worked vertically with tailspinners.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 29 July 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip consisted of three segments. First, we found fish forcing young of the year shad to the surface in the low light time just around sunrise. We cast hardbaits imitating the size, shape and color of these small baitfish to the fish and retrieved our baits just under the surface for about 35 minutes of non-stop action. The wind did us a bit of a favor in that it made it difficult to see the topwater feeding, thus allowing us to get on fish without other boats being drawn by the hard-to-see splashing. Eventually 3 other boats came in, but the catching was nearly over by then. We landed 30 fish during this time including 28 white bass and 2 hybrid striped bass. The potential was there for more, by Bryan was new to casting spinning gear, so we had to work through that learning curve.

Next, we set our downriggers down to continue to fish in the same general area where we’d seen the topwater action occur, allowing us to pull 7 more fish before the early morning white bass bite shut down. Our tally was now 37 fish,

We tried downrigging at one other area, coming up with 4 juvenile white bass and nothing more. Our tally bumped up to 41.

We stopped at one promising area holding bait and a few fish and worked slabs/tailspinners to no avail.

We wrapped up the trip fishing for sunfish up shallow in our last 50 minutes on the water, adding 11 fish of 4 species (redear, bluegill, longear, and green sunfish) to our take, ending the trip with 52 fish total.

TALLY: 52 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: N/A

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: 0.38′ high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 83.5

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10 at trip’s start, evenly tapering up to SSE14 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 40% cloud cover, evenly tapering down to 24% by trip’s end

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0155C to 1924 to B0156C – low light topwater action, followed by downrigging action after the increasing light drove the fish down

**Area B0157C to 099 – downrigging for what turned out to be juvenile whites

**Area B0158C – 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)

LIGHT WINDS, LIGHT BITE – 16 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

July 27th, 2019July 27th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, July 26th, I fished with Leo Ramirez, Leo’s father (also named Leo), and a friend of the family, Chris Hastings. The three men have fished on occasion in the past mainly as a break from the stress of work and life.

The elder Leo is a retired school teacher who now tutors kids in math; Leo once earned Texas Teacher of the Year honors at the 5A school level. The younger Leo runs his own company now after a career in the tech industry. Chris works in sales for Apple in Austin.

PHOTO CAPTION: From the left: Leo, Leo, and Chris each with a pair of white bass which came during a short spurt of action toward the end of a very tough morning made difficult by light winds and bright skies.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: 26 July 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: If you’ve followed my blogging, you’ll know I don’t sugar-coat my reports, pad my numbers, or post only when we’ve done well. Today we had a very rough go of it as is often the case under low wind, bright sky conditions.

First, we started a bit later than I normally would (my bad; a failure to communicate).

Had the light winds we experienced been forecast, my choice would have been to either delay to the evening, or postpone. As it was, we were due to have winds up to 6-8 mph by the time the low light period had passed by 8:30am (see below), but this just did not materialize. Instead, it stayed calm through 10am.

Everywhere I looked, we found much the same scenario — scattered gamefish and ample, very relaxed bait forming a 3-4 foot thick “blanket” at 30-34 feet deep. No schools, or pods, or “wolfpacks” of gamefish, just loosely scattered individuals. Also, we found no “balls” of bait forming together tightly because they felt threatened.

We downrigged extensively to cover water and to create our own breeze in the near-dead calm conditions.

Around 10:30, in about 42 feet of water off the face of a shallower slope, we finally found some fish perked up and feeding up around 27-29 feet deep, just moments before the SE breeze finally began to kick in.

I knew this was “do or die” time, and did all I could to maximize the time our baits spent in the water as we ran twin 3-armed umbrella rigs on twin downriggers using Pet Spoons as the bait.

We took 15 white bass over a 45 minute span with 4 of these coming as doubles — both for Chris. The action died nearly as quickly as it began, and the fish returned to the same lazy posture they’d been in most of the morning.

Over the course of the morning, as we downrigged and I saw loose concentrations of white bass holding in a definable area, we stopped and worked tailspinners vertically, but this did not produce a single fish for us all morning.

Beyond the white bass, we landed one smallish largemouth, also via downrigging. By the 4.75 hour mark we called it a done deal with 16 fish landed.

Fortunately, the fellows enjoyed being outdoors, enjoyed one another’s company, and enjoyed the “boat-tech” I introduced them to. Sometimes I have to remind myself that fishing is about more than a tally at the end of the day.

TALLY: 16 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Lake finally fell back to full pool for the first time after being over full pool since the major flooding last October.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Elevation: Lake at exactly full pool @ 622.00′ above sea level, a 24-hour 0.01 drop, 0 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm winds through 10:30 am, then a light breeze from the SE at under 5 mph.

Sky Conditions: <10% white cloud cover on a blue sky

GT = 5

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area encompassed within 251-1228-1229-SH0124C – 15 white bass in a 45-minute span on downriggers set a 24-25 foot for fish holding slightly deeper

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)

FREE FISHING TRIP FOR THE PANTOJA BROTHERS — 34 FISH

July 24th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, July 24th, I conducted the eighth SKIFF program trip of the 2019 season as I welcomed aboard the sons of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Elias Pantoja, along with their mom, Natalie.

SSG Pantoja is separated from his family currently as he serves as a medic in South Korea. He has been in the military for 13 years now.

The boys, Connor, age 9, and Mason, age 12, had been fishing a time or two before and did well on today’s trip. Thanks to Mr. Dave Hill of the Austin Fly Fishers, at the conclusion of the trip, each young man went home with a SKIFF logo ball cap, a small tackle box, and a closed-face rod and reel.

This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge. S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. This program began in May of 2009. It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Pantoja brothers, Mason (right) and Connor, each with a pair of white bass taken while we worked vertically with tailspinners.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: 24 July 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As I’ve described many times here, it is important to keep kids successful and to introduce transitions to new things over the course of a half-day trip to keep the kids engaged the whole time.

To accomplish this today, a day in which an unusual mid-summer north wind was making things tougher than normal, we did a bit of downrigging, followed by some vertical jigging with tailspinners, followed by some shallow water sunfishing, and then we wrapped up with another round of downrigging.

Our initial shot at downrigging did not produce for us as the wind and the fish got a late start this morning. By 7:30, we were working tailspinners in about 34 feet of water successfully. The boys managed 7 fish in the boat and a few more lost due to some “rookie” mistakes which are all part of learning. Once the population of fish we’d found turned off, we made another transition to sunfishing.

We headed up shallow into a combination of rocks, wood, and hydrilla to find our sunfish this morning, and, in about an hour’s time, more than quadrupled our catch, taking our tally up to 30 fish, including bluegill, longear, and green sunfish.

During our final half-hour on the water, we returned to the general vicinity where the white bass had cooperated on the tailspinners earlier, and more thoroughly combed over this area with downriggers equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs rigged up with small Pet Spoons. The fish were present but far from enthusiastic. Nonetheless, each brother landed two more fish each, their first on the downriggers, thus taking our final fish count to 34 fish landed.

The boys got to experience success with three different tactics and landed four different species of fish in doing so.

TALLY: 34 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: This was the second full day of mild, cold front conditions and a north wind. As usual, these high-pressure conditions made it tougher than usual.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 0.04 feet high, 0.03 foot 24-hour drop, 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: NE3-4 at trip’s start, slowly tapering up to NE10 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Cloudless, high-pressure, post-frontal skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 878/062 for white bass via tailspinners from 7:30 to 8:30, then via downrigging from 10:00 to 10:30

**Area 189 – shallow sunfishing

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)