WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning, 02 November 2020, I fished with 74-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran Carl Schwenke of Salado.

Carl recently purchased his own tri-toon which he keeps stored at BLORA on Lake Belton.  He has a Minn Kota GPS-type trolling motor and a Garmin sonar unit on this rig and has scheduled an on-the-water sonar training with me in the near future, but wanted to get on the water and see similar equipment in use first so he could get the most our of training time.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Although the lion’s share of our catch consisted of white bass, a few hybrid, largemouth, and drum also fell for the MAL Lure.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: The frequency of “by-catch” largemouth continues to increase on a daily basis, indicating these fish are moving to deeper water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday (AM), 02 Novembr 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

The catching started right off the bat this morning.  That said, due to a poor result in my attempts at low-light downrigging last week, I decided to move my trip start times back a bit to coincide with sunrise instead of getting started well before sunrise as I do in the warmer parts of the year.

As I moved away from the launch area and was going over pre-trip “admin” (safety briefing, reel handle adjustments, technique review, etc.) I had sonar running and noted a school of white bass holding in right at 30 feet of water over several yards of bottom as we drifted.

Once I finished all the admin (which I went through quickly in order to get lines in the water while the fish were beneath us), we got lines in the water and, using MAL Lures fished vertically, put 17 fish in the boat in no time.  As the sun began to clear the horizon and shine brightly through the cloudless sky, this bite wound down pretty rapidly.

From that point on was hunted white bass congregations using sonar in 36-46 feet of water, finding 3 cooperative schools which fed right through our wrap-up at 11:20.

Each of these three locations fished the same – fish started off tightly holding on bottom, rose up off bottom as we began working the MAL Lures, and then as we began pulling fish in routinely, some of the most active individuals would rise to the midpoint of the water column.

Fishing with a “plain-Jane” retrieve using a moderate cadence once the spinner blade had begun turning was the key to consistent action.

We finished up with exactly 151 fish for our efforts, which included drum, hybrid, largemouth, and white bass in the 0, 1, 2, and 3-year classes.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

 

TALLY: 151 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Start time adjusted to 6:45AM following end of Daylight Saving Time.  I was launching at 7:15A, but, with the decline in the low-light downrigging bite last week, decided to push the start time 30 minutes later (as it would have been 6:15AM after the time change).

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Elevation:  0.48 low with a 0.02’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW wind at 13 at trip’s start, fading to calm by 9:45, then turning SE at 5-7 thereafter

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies with <5% cloud cover

Moon Phase: A waning gibbous at 97% illumination

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas vic B0194C – white bass on vertically retrieved MAL Lure; count to 17 (SP)

**Area vic B0075C – white bass on vertically retrieved MAL Lure; count to 75 (SP)

**Area vic B0157C– white bass on vertically retrieved MAL Lure; count to 137 (SP)

**Area vic 682– white bass on vertically retrieved MAL Lure; count to 151 final (SP)

 

 

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) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

 

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday evening, Halloween 2020, I fished with three generations aboard.

Richard Kusak arranged this trip after being referred my way by Belton chief of police, Gene Ellis.  Richard, a former military policeman and Belton police officer, brought along his dad, Randy Kurzinsky, and his 12-year-old son, RJ Kusak.

Randy is part of the United Steel Workers’ Union up in Ohio and works as a heavy machinery mechanic in a scrap yard there.  He loves leaving the cold behind and visiting Texas, especially this time of year.

RJ is working his way through middle school with the Belton Independent School District and is attending class in person where he plays bassoon in addition to his academics.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From left: RJ Kusak, Randy Kurzinsky, and Richard Kuzak with some of the solid white bass we took on Halloween 2020.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Triple!!  We tried downrigging for variety’s sake and to give RJ’s wrist a break, and Richard came up with 2 sets of triples on the 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Here’s Randy K. with a nice largemouth taken from amidst a large school of white bass.  As I’ve noted several times this past week, brightly colored largemouth are now beginning to show up in deep water.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #4:  I captured this image just after sunset as a small, single-engine float plane which was doing “touch and go” practice all day, came near enough for a photo.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 31 October 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: 

This afternoon with picked up right were we’d left off this morning as the afternoon bite got underway, then tapered up to a peak, then dropped off beginning around 5:30P.

We caught fish in rapid succession by working MAL Lures in both white and chartreuse vertically over heavily congregated fish at three distinct areas.  These fish were “glued” to the bottom when we first detected them on sonar, then got “teased” up into the lower third of the water column after we began catching them.  The commotion caused by reeling fish in, working the MAL Lures, and the feces and regurgitated fish falling down from the fish we’d hooked, just served to attract more fish and get a frenzy going.

We landed 42 fish at our first stop, another 19 fish at our second stop, and another 19 fish at our third stop.  By the time we saw a slowdown of the fish at our third stop, RJ’s wrist was already hurting, so I did some cogitating and thought how I might a) offer him some variety, and b) do it in a way where he could rest his wrist.  The solution was giving downrigging a try.

This morning’s downrigging attempt was a flop with no fish to show for the effort, so, I was a bit leary about doing this, but, we’d already caught a bunch of fish and so I thought a short experiment wouldn’t hurt.

We got re-tooled for downrigging and, no sooner did the balls go down than Richard came up with a triple and RJ came up with a double.  We continued downrigging as long as the fish were willing to bite horizontally moving baits, which was until right around 5:30, when there was a very distinct decrease in the action.  Richard actually wound up catching back-to-back triples — a pretty rare event.  We landed another 23 fish downrigging, and, as we wrapped that up, our tally stood at 103 fish

After the 5:30 slowdown, we looked at 4 other areas and sonar revealed nothing at each one.  We persisted, and found one last patch of fish.  This school gave up a final 22 fish for a grand total catch on the evening of 125 fish.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 125 FISH  

OBSERVATIONS:  Had reliable report of white bass popping shad in last 90 minutes prior to sunset in the vicinity of Area B0047C.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  2:45P

End Time: 6:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation:  0.46′ low with a 0.03′ 24-hour rise and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7-9 all afternoon

Sky Condition: Blue skies with <5% white cloud cover

Moon Phase: Full moon

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 192/1678  – 42 fish using MAL Lure vertically  (SP)

**Area vic 1934/1819  – 19 fish using MAL Lure vertically   (SP)

**Area vic 1827 – 19 fish using MAL Lure vertically   (SP)

**Area vic 709/1024 – 23 fish downrigging with Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rig

**Area vic 1815 – 20 fish using MAL Lure vertically   (SP)

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)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, October 31st, I fished with three friends from the Austin area.

Stiles Parker, who fished with me once before over the summer, accompanied by his brother, arranged this trip for himself and two of his brother’s co-workers — Paul Geyman and Chris Mitchell.

All had prior fishing experience, but not with the tactics we employed today.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   That’s Chris Mitchell — he landed the largest of our 151 fish this morning.  This hybrid, and four other keepers like it, were mixed in with a nice school of white bass in about 38 feet of water.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: The largemouth bass count coming out of deep water is starting to rise.  Note how nicely colored this bass is.  It has not been in deep water very long.

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Paul took this hybrid on a white MAL Lure.  It came out of the same school that Chris’ hybrid came from, and just minutes apart.

PHOTO CAPTION #4: Tres amigos.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday, 31 October 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: 

I spoke with Stiles by phone in advance of the trip letting him know the bright skies and calm winds would make things tough as long as they persisted, and, they did.

We went fishless for 1.25 hours until, around 9AM, the southerly winds began to ripple the surface and, just a few minutes thereafter, the fish turned on.  From that point until the close of the trip, we found fish consistently and the fish we found cooperated consistently.

Each of the three areas we fish produced similarly in that the fish first presented in a positive posture on bottom, then, as we created commotion with our presentations, they pulled up off bottom into the entire lower third of the water column, with occasional fish coming up as much as half way off bottom.  We found these “high flyers” were typically small fish.

The MAL Lure worked with a plain-Jane retrieve from bottom up through the fish very well today — it wound up being the only thing we caught fish on this morning, as the low-light downrigger bite seems to have died.  White and chartreuse MAL Lures were used interchangeably and worked equally well.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 151 FISH  

OBSERVATIONS: Spotted the first gulls on Lake Belton which were actually “working” the lake looking for food.  Their behavior did not aid in finding fish, but, at least we have a few present now, and more to come.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation:  0.46′ low with a 0.03′ 24-hour rise and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S3-6 most of the morning, with a quick increase to S9 over the hour’s span from 10:45 to 11:45

Sky Condition: Clear skies

Moon Phase: Full moon

GT = 70

Wx SNAPSHOT:  N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0182C – 45 fish using MAL Lure vertically  (SP)

**Area vic 305 to B0119C – 43 fish using MAL Lure vertically   (SP)

**Area vic – 63 fish using MAL Lure vertically   (SP)

 

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)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, October 30th, I fished with father and son team Kelly and Aaron Baggett.

Dr. Aaron Baggett, is an assistant professor on the faculty at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, and his father, Kelly Baggett, is a retired school district superintendent from the Lubbock area.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  From left: Aaron and Kelly Baggett with a few of the 121 fish we landed at the tail-end of the north wind this past Friday, following the most recent cold front’s passage.

 

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Friday, 30 October 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: 

I observed that the fairly quick, horizontal presentation of downrigging was all but ignored this morning.  In the low-light period prior to sunrise which had been producing about 20 fish for me very consistently up through around 8AM, we only landed 4 fish this morning.  However, as we downrigged and my eyes were glued to my sonar screens, I noted that most of the fish I saw were suspended at 24-28 feet over a deeper bottom, and were not holding near bottom as was the case prior to this cooldown.

This led me to look up shallower where the 24-28 foot horizontal band of water intersected with the bottom, and, I found fish there.  I found white bass, hybrid striped bass, and largemouth bass.  It was interesting to note that the largemouth bass we caught were very handsomely colored, meaning they had been in shallow water very recently (as the coloration of largemouth which linger in deep water for long whiles begins to fade making them look very pale).

We caught 30 additional fish in that 28-foot water and then found fish deeper than that after the brilliant sun continued brightening the sky.

As is often the case, the fishing peaked as the wind peaked this morning, between 8:30AM and 10:40AM.  During this time we fished two more locations.  The first produced another 17 fish which were mostly small fish.  While these fish were still biting, we chose to move to see if we could find larger fish – with my clients’ blessing, of course.   Some folks prefer the action the smaller fish provide, and so I always give the option to remain on small fish.

Because it happened so suddenly, I actually noted the exact time at which the winds went calm Friday morning – 10:43AM – as we fished our third and final area of the morning.

From that point on, the fishing began to taper to nothing, and, by 11:30AM, the fish finally shut down.  This final stop produced more than half of our fish – exactly 70.

In all, we managed to catch 121 fish, the vast majority of which were white bass in the 0-, 1-, and 2-year classes.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 121 FISH  

OBSERVATIONS: Water surface temperature fell 4.4F due to the recent extended cold snap from Mon. to present.  Temperature profile from the 5 to 65 feet deep was homogenous, at 67.8F; the surface was 67.2.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:10A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation:  0.43′ low with a 0.05′ 24-hour rise and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW9 until dying suddenly at 10:43A

Sky Condition: Clear skies

Moon Phase: A waxing gibbous moon at 99% illum.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1804 – 34 fish in 2 short hops (SP)

**Area vic B0118C  – 16 fish, mostly small (SP)

**Area vic B0152JWCC  – 71 fish with mix of year groups (SP)

 

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)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, Oct. 26th, I fished with pastors PJ Condit and Scott Smith.

The men became friends a few years ago when they attended an event at the same retreat center near Lexington, TX.

PJ is the lead minister at Community Christian Church in Round Rock, and Scott is the senior pastor at Crestview Christian Church in Copperas Cove.

My original Monday plans were to fish with a man and his 9-year-old daughter, but, on Saturday, when it looked sure that this morning’s weather was going to be only for the most die-hard of anglers, we rescheduled and I posted my “last minute” opening on Facebook.  PJ, who has fished with me previously and follows my Facebook page, was the early bird who got that worm.

 

Although it drizzled on us the entire time, we never got downpoured on, and, with a few layers of clothing and Gore-Tex on the outside, the conditions were tolerable.  It was kinda like icefishing — the wind was cold and the fishing was vertical.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  PJ Condit came up with our best fish of the outing in the final 30 minutes of the day.  We landed two other legal hybrid, as well.

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  If you glimpse behind Scott’s right hand, you can see this largemouth bass had plenty of company down in the lower third of the water column where dozens of white bass (and other species, I’m sure) were up an feeding on shad, and on our MAL Lures.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3:  Pastors’ Day Off!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday, 26 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

Yet again I was blessed to have a booked trip which coincided with pre-frontal activity.  Although none of the weather sources I use (NOAA, KCEN-TV, KVUE-TV) got it exactly right, they all agreed that the front would arrive just after noon today.  That gave me from 7:30 (when it was sufficiently light enough thorough the heavy cloud cover to turn the bite on) until around noon to take advantage of the much better than average fishing which precedes a cold front’s arrival.

Indeed, the downrigger bite, which has been going 50 minutes tops, lasted over ninety minutes this morning, giving up numerous doubles, and a total of 44 fish by 9:00AM.  We left those fish still biting as soon as I felt the bite was waning so as to get on top of an even more aggressive vertical bite.

Although the fish were fired up this morning, I noted that on any given area, they only stayed really aggressive for 20-30 minutes, thus requiring that I find fish multiple times this morning.  We wound up fishing vertically in 5 distinct areas, and caught equally well at each one.

By 10:40A, the bite began to wane, and the temperature began to drop noticeably as cold air began to filter in slowly, but surely.  We landed our final fish at 11:30A and had to work for the final 3 fish we landed.

In all, we caught and released 130 fish, with 86 of those taken on chartreuse MAL Lures.  I used white and chartreuse interchangeably most times, but, with such dark grey cover this morning, I felt a bit more confident in the brighter chartreuse model.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 130 FISH (126 white bass, 3 legal hybrid striped bass, 1 largemouth bass)

OBSERVATIONS: 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:10A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F  (and dropping to 54F by trip’s end

Elevation:  0.34′ low with a 0.01′ 24-hour rise and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 71.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW winds all morning, starting and staying at 10-11, then ramping up from 10:40A to NNW14 as temperature began to drop noticeably.

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: A waxing crescent moon at 78% illum.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic  B0155C to B00156C  – low light downrigging for 44 whites with balls at 26-30′.  This bite lasted 2x the duration it had been lasting over the past 2 weeks.  We left at 9AM with fish still biting to get onto the even better vertical MAL Lure bite.

**Areas vic 1012, vic 098, vic B0149C, vic 355, and vic 355  – all areas produced 20-30 minutes’ worth of vertical fishing with MAL Lures worked directly beneath the boat in the lower third of the water column (SP)

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)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, October 21, I fished with Mr. Dennis Rocke’s two grandsons, 10-year-old Malachi, and 6-year-old Hans.  Dennis came a chaperone and able assistant to help me help the boys be successful today.

Dennis, who is working his way toward retiring from the car business, flew down from up north to visit family here in both Central Texas and in the DFW area, and planned this trip with me after his wife located me online.

The boys had limited prior experience with fishing, which, is oftentimes a good thing.  They were very willing to listen and learn and did very well as a result.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Malachi Rocke holds one of the 105 white bass he and his younger brother caught while on an outing this past week with their grandfather, Dennis Rocke.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: As has been the case ever since the thermocline developed, and is now the case now that turnover has occurred, the MAL Lure has provided flawless performance, keeping the catching simple and effective.  Here, Hans Rocke holds one of the 105 fish he and his brother landed.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Wednesday (PM), 21 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

Any time I have elementary-aged kids on board, I shoot for maximum variety.  Sometimes wind, weather, season, and fish behavior limit my options, but today, much was on the table.

We started and ended our afternoon trip working deep water for heavily congregated white bass using vertical “smoking” tactics on spinning rods equipped with MAL Lures.  The boys landed their first 40 fish this way, and their final 30 fish this way.

After spending some time working MAL Lures for white bass (and after Hans’ wrist started hurting thanks to all the reeling he was doing!), we switched gears, went up shallow, and pursued sunfish in the still-warm shallows.  The boys put an easy 25 sunfish in the boat, consisting of both longears and bluegill.

By the time that one stop we made for sunfish played out, we headed off to a bit shallower water and I introduced the boys to downrigging.  We landed 10 fish on the downriggers including 2 sets of triples, on double, and 2 singles.  I could tell the boys like the hands-on approach more, and, since most all of the fish we took up shallow on downriggers were smallish white bass, we broke the MAL Lures back out and fished them right up until the fish quit just minutes after the sun set in the west.

For their efforts, the boys landed a grand total of 105 fish, all released in great shape.

TALLY: 105 FISH (100% white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:    The deep bite (35+ feet) dried up right at 6:15 as the shadows lengthened toward sunset around 7P.  We had to move shallower to get bit at that time.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  3:25P

End Time: 7P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 83F

Elevation:  0.26′ low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 75.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE breeze starting at 5 and slowly tapering up to 9

Sky Condition: ~30% white cloud cover on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: A waxing crescent moon at 28% illum.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 0147, vic B0010C, and vic 0153 – early vertical work for deep white bass on MAL Lures under our brightest conditions; 40 fish (SP)

**Areas vic  1992 – shallow sunfish; 25 fish

**Area vic  1024 – a combination of downrigging (for 10 fish), and vertical work for 12 fish (SP)

**Area vic 1077 – a final 18 white bass on MAL Lures worked in under 25 feet for a final 18 fish (SP)

 

 

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)

 

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Wednesday, October 21, I fished with John and Mary Lou Post who recently retired to the outskirts of Lampasas, TX.

Following retirement from the U.S. Air Force, John continued working for several years in civil service.  He is originally from northern New Jersey.

Mary Lou is a retired hospital pharmacist, originally from Austin.

Our originally planned date for this trip was back on 04 September, but foul weather prevented that from taking place.  The weather more than cooperated today … grey skies and gentle SE breezes made for great fishing this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: John and Mary Lou post racked up a catch of 175 fish during their 4-hour morning trip on Belton today. This catch included 170 white bass and 5 legal hybrid striped bass.  22 came on downrigged Pet Spoons; 153 came on white and chartreuse MAL Lures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Wednesday (AM), 21 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

Fishing was nearly “cookie-cutter” versus yesterday thanks to near-identical wind, weather, and sky conditions.  We put 22 fish in the boat under low-light conditions via downrigging with twin ‘riggers equipped with Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs.  After that bite ended with the brightening of the post-sunrise sky,  we headed out into water deeper than the 30-36 foot water we’d been downrigging over and began working vertically.

We fished just 3 areas this morning, taking white bass in the 0-3 year class at each one in the lower third of the water column.  The first two stops each yielded fish for right at an hour, and the last area began to taper off after about 35 minutes.

The white MAL Lure and chartreuse MAL Lure worked equally well when worked properly.

With the water temp at about 73 degrees, the fish were very active and a fast retrieve was essential.  Slow retrieves got ignored.

We wrapped up at 11:35.  Fish were still willing to bite, but we’d seen the best of it by then, and I had to get turned around and prepped for my PM trip.

TALLY: 175 fish caught and released (170 white bass, 5 hybrid striper)

OBSERVATIONS:   Of the 175 fish landed, not a single fish was seen to regurgitate recently eaten or partially digested shad, although many did defecate at boatside.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation:  0.26′ low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 73.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE breeze starting at 5 and slowly tapering up to 9

Sky Condition: Grey, cloudy skies all morning at ~80%

Moon Phase: A waxing crescent moon at 28% illum.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1933 to 812  – 22 whites via downrigging in low light conditions

**Areas vic 1374 – white bass on MAL Lures, 53 fish (total 75) (SP)

**Area vic B0012C to 305 –  white bass on MAL Lures, 50 fish (total 125) (SP)

**Area vic 714 –  white bass on MAL Lures, stopped at 50 fish caught at this location, (final total of 175) (SP)

 

 

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) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, October 20th, I fished with Ted and Shelly Helm of West, Texas.  The Helms own a small RV which they use as a family vehicle.  Since the Corps of Engineers limits camping opportunities in the winter months, the Helms camped out in the parking lot of the Belton Walmart and arrived early for this morning’s fishing trip.

The Helms enjoy team roping and have organized a 21-event series for those with like interests starting in the new year.

The Helms have laid out of fishing for about 30 years and are starting to get back into it.  Neither had ever downrigged before, and neither had ever fished with the benefit of Garmin LiveScope working for them, until today.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: Shelly and Ted Helm of West, Texas, caught and released 96 fish on this cloudy, breezy Tuesday.  20 fish were taken via downrigging and 76 fish were taken on the MAL Lure fished vertically.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday (AM), 20 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

With abundant cloud cover, the deep water bite got going a bit later than with clear skies, so, we started off the day downrigging and rode that horse until it stalled.  We worked 3-armed umbrella rigs at 26-28 feet deep over a deeper bottom as the sun (obscured) was rising, then headed out deeper for vertical work thereafter.

We downrigged for 20 fish, including 4 sets of doubles and one hybrid, then moved on to work MAL Lures in conjunction with LiveScope.

As the wind and light levels (still through grey cloud cover) increased, the bite intensified.

We wound up with 96 fish total.  These final 76 fish came on MAL Lures “smoked” upwards with the vast majority of the fish chasing upward from off the bottom.  In the 10-11AM hour, we picked off a few smaller whites that were cruising up higher off bottom.

The fish hit the chartreuse and white equally well.

TALLY: 96 fish caught and released (94 white bass, 1 hybrids striper, 1 largemouth bass)

OBSERVATIONS:   Hundreds of migrating gulls seen formed up in V-shaped flocks of about 20 birds each headed southeast before sunrise this morning.  The number of coots coming down is also increasing daily.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation:  0.26′ low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 0 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 74F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE breeze starting a 8 and and slowly tapering up to 13

Sky Condition: Grey, cloudy skies all morning

Moon Phase: A waxing crescent moon at 19% illum.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1933   – 20 whites via downrigging in low light conditions

**Areas vic B0081C to 1482 – white bass on MAL Lures smoked from 44′

**Area vic B0075C –  white bass on MAL Lures smoked from 36′

**Area vic B0003C –  white bass on MAL Lures smoked 38′

 

 

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) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, October 12^th, I fished with a great crew of 4 teens from the Leander area, accompanied by Debbie Wright, mom to two of those kids.

Debbie Heard of my guide service through a local Facebook page after a local family their reported about the fun and productive trip they had experienced.

I welcomed aboard Debbie’s son and daughter, Adam and Anya Henson, as well as Adam’s buddy, Trevor Sheehy, and Anya’s friend, Allison Trantham.

None of the kids had prior fishing experience, which is often a plus, as folks with little or no experience tend to listen well and follow the coaching I provide very closely, as all four of the kids did today.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  From left: Allison Trantham, Anya Henson, Adam Henson, and Trevor Sheehy with a few of the 114 white bass they landed as a dry cool front moved in this Columbus Day 2020.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Allison Trantham landed our largest white bass of the trip.  This fish went 14 3/8″ and was likely 4-5 years old or more.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday (AM), 12 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED:  

We were very fortunate to hit the water right on the lead edge of an incoming, dry, and mild cold front. The front came at exactly 6:32AM as I was on the water prepping the boat for my crew’s arrival.

As white bass typically do with autumn cold fronts, the fish fed hard this morning as the wind’s velocity rose as high pressure built in.

We downrigged until around 8A for a total of 20 fish, including numerous sets of doubles using 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.  Once the sun rose high enough to strike the water, that bite died nearly instantly.

We then headed out looking for large congregations of white bass “carpeting” the bottom after I gave everyone my MAL Lure tutorial with the boat on Spot-Lock.

We found fish at the second of two areas we searched and they were ready to go.  I always know it is going to be really good when the fish rise up off the bottom to meet our falling lures instead of just staying glued to the bottom as the lures draw nearer to them.

All four kids got the hang of the MAL Lure after just a few “real life” iterations, and from then on it was catching, not fishing.  We landed 58 fish on our first Spot-Lock, then nature called and we headed in for a restroom break.  It killed me to pull off of biting fish!

We headed back out in search of fish and, of course, those fish we were on were gone, but, I found another equally willing school of fish, this time in over 50 feet of water (the first time I’ve caught fish that deep since May).  We took another 36 fish from this school by smoking MAL Lures before the kids gave out right around the 10:30 mark.  Hunger and hurting wrists were the chief complaints.  We wrapped up with exactly 114 fish landed, 100% of which were white bass.

TALLY: 114 fish caught and released (100% white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:   The fish really put on the feedbag this morning thanks to the arrival of a dry cold front right at exactly 6:32AM.  Although gusts to 23 were forecast, we never had winds over 14 and were able to get in a full trip.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation:  0.02′ low with a 0.02’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 75.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW11-14

Sky Condition: Clear skies with much particulate matter in the air thanks to the incoming cold front’s wind velocity

Moon Phase: A waning crescent moon at 25% illum.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1933 through 085 – 20 whites via downrigging in low light conditions with fish quitting right as the direct sun’s rays struck the water

**Areas vic 1012 to 150 – 58 white bass on MAL Lures smoked

**Area vic 1482 – 36 white bass on MAL Lures smoked

 

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) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday afternoon, October 10^th, I fished with a crew hailing from West Virginia.

Mr. Jason Thompson drove down to Texas from West Virginia to visit his son, Brenden, who is a field artilleryman stationed at Fort Hood.  Accompanying Jason was his girlfriend, Heather Moore, and Heather’s 15-year-old son, T.J. Goodman.

Back in Morgantown, WV, Jason works in the maintenance field, Heather is in the handy-woman business doing cleaning and running errands for others, and T.J. is working his way toward high school graduation.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: TJ Goodman, Jason and Brenden Thompson, and Heather Moore with a sampling of our 125 fish catch, all taken on MAL Lures worked vertically in the lower third of the water column from 35 to 44 feet deep.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday (PM), 10 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

Despite weather which was 180-degrees different from today’s morning trip, this afternoon’s efforts turned out well.

We had near-90F temperatures today with clear, bright skies and light SSW winds as upper level high pressure pushed out the last of Hurricane Delta’s anti-clockwise winds and cloud cover by mid-day.

After spending some time bringing everyone up to speed on exactly how to use the MAL Lure, we fished only two distinct areas, making multiple “short hops” at both to put a total of 125 white bass in the boat this evening in right at 4 hours.

Every last fish was taken on either a white or chartreuse MAL Lure fished with a “smoking” style retrieve in 35-44 feet of water.

I just released a new video about using the MAL Lure and so thinking through the wording on the script for that video helped me improve my coaching for clients.  You can see that video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=151s

The first area we hit showed fish carpeting the bottom in 40-44 feet of water.  It produced well from 3:30P through 6P, then went flat.  We moved and fished up a bit shallower and found another hour’s worth of action in about 35-38 feet of water.  By 7P, the sun had set and I’d really talked up Miller’s Smokehouse (which closes at 8P on Saturdays), so, we reeled lines in right at 7:00 and headed to the dock so Jason and crew could enjoy some Texas BBQ before heading back east.

TALLY: 125 fish caught and released (100% white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  We saw unseasonably high afternoon temperatures today at 91F, with a forecast for even warmer highs tomorrow, then a cold front is due in for Monday with a mid-to-late-week cooldown expected thereafter.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time: 3P

End Time: 7P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 87F

Elevation:  0.03′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 77.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW3-4

Sky Condition: <5% white cloud cover on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Last Quarter (a waning moon at 45% illum.)

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0009C to B0010C to B0184C — multiple short hops through 6P for 82 fish

**Areas vic B0044G – 2 short hops from 6-7P for a final 43 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) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec