WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, October 10^th, I fished with the Hinshaw family from right here in Central Texas.

Denny and Cindy treated their 7-year-old son, Grant, to this fishing trip for his birthday, on the recommendation of several co-workers in the anesthesia department at Baylor Scott & White in Temple where Cindy has worked for many years as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” packed trip, just for Grant, but, as always, I encouraged Grant’s parents to bring their licenses to they could be as “hands-on” as possible helping me help Grant be successful.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: Cindy, Grant, and Denny Hinshaw with a few of the white bass we landed via a combination of downrigging and vertical jigging with MAL Lures.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Cindy Hinshaw holds our largest fish taken this Saturday morning — a 3.75 pound hybrid striped bass which raced about 25 feet off bottom to overtake her MAL Lure and grab it about 12 feet below the surface.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

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

HOW WE FISHED: To keep things interested for 7-year-old Grant, I planned on as much variety as the weather and season would allow for.  We downrigged early, we fished MAL Lures vertically in the mid-part of our trip, and wrapped up sunfishing in the shallows.

The downrigging was as good as I’ve seen it in the past several weeks. A handful of boats, all working vertically, struck out, moved out of the area, and allow for long, full sweeps of the contours where I was finding fish.  We landed non-stop singles and doubles of 1- and 2-year class fish from the first drop of the downrigger balls just after 7A through to 8:20 when the bite slacked off.

We moved on to deeper water, found fish congregated with bait in their midst, and went to work with MAL Lures worked with a smoking retrieve in a vertical format from our fixed position above them with the boat held steady via Spot-Lock.

Grant did surprisingly well keeping the cadence necessary to do well on this tactic, landing a fish on his third iteration and then never looking back as he piled the fish in the boat.

After a 37-fish run here, it was around 9:50A, and I sensed a change of venue would be a good idea.  We retooled for shallow-water sunfishing, headed up shallow, and coached Grant to a 28 sunfish streak landed in just 30 minutes.

We wrapped up right at the 3.5 hour mark with exactly 100 fish landed for our efforts.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released (71 white bass, 1 hybrid striper, 28 sunfish)

OBSERVATIONS:  For the second Saturday in a row lake traffic was enjoyably light thanks to archery season taking some outdoorsmen off the water, cool temperatures taking recreational boaters off the water, and the academic year pulling families away to school-related sports and activities.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

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

Water Surface Temp: 75.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning, with patchy fog on the drive to the boat ramp

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

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Morning:

**Area vic 488-834 – 35 whites via downrigging in extended low-light conditions thanks to cloud cover in the east

**Areas vic B0089C – 2 short hops for 36 whites and 1 hybrid on MAL Lures smoked

**Area B0045G – 28 sunfish in 30 minutes on slipfloats

 

 

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 I fished a full-day trip with Gary and Rachel Davidson of Kerrville, TX.  Gary established a CPA firm there back in 1991 and recently stepped back into a semi-retired status.

He and Rachel are both solid anglers and good wingshots, as well.

Although I am glad to have all of my clients aboard, it’s always especially nice to have experienced anglers who, because of their abilities, are able to squeeze all of the potential out of a day on the water.

That is exactly what the Davidson’s did today, boating 262 fish in about 8 hours’ worth of effort.

After laying out of the fishing game for quite some time, the Davidson’s are in the process of procuring a new boat in ~90 days.  Gary came ready to both pick my brain on and see sonar and trolling motor technology put to use in a real-world scenario.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Rachel and Gary Davidson landed a total of 262 fish, with 259 of them taken on MAL Lures fished in 30-42 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Friday (full day), 09 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED: Aside from 3 white bass caught during a slow, very murky, overcast start to the day on downriggers, every last fish we landed today was taken on either a white MAL Lure or a chartreuse MAL Lure fished with a “smoking” tactic vertically beneath the boat while we hovered atop fish we’d found with sonar.

Although the enthusiasm level of the fish waxed and waned through the course of the day, we caught fish continuously from around 8:45A through noon, then again during the entirety of our 3 hour afternoon leg, from 3-6P.

The best of the best took place from ~10:30 to 11:30A as the skies brightened (although still 100% grey) to squinting-level, and the wind went straightline ~6 with gusts to 9 from NNW.

The Davidson’s quickly comprehended the underwater environment as portrayed on Garmin LiveScope, and were very coachable when it came to their technique using the MAL Lure.  The results proved this out.

 

TALLY: 262 fish caught and released ( 2 largemouth bass, 1 hybrid, 259 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  Best 1-hour window took place with 100% grey skies with enough light intensity to necessitate squinting without sunglasses on, and with humidity at a highpoint for the day, just before afternoon clearing began to kick in.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7A

End Time: 6P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.04′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 76.25F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW breeze all day 3-7 mph caused by counter-clockwise rotation of the atmosphere associated with Hurricane Delta

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover through noon, and 25% white cloud cover on a blue sky in the afternoon

Moon Phase: A waning gibbous at 55% illum.)

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Morning:

**Area vic 085 – 3 whites downrigging under low-light conditions

**Areas vic 714 – 6 whites via smoking with MAL under murky skies

**Area vic 150 – 41 whites, 1 hybrid via smoking with MAL as clouds thinned and wind increased and bite intensified

**Area vic B0002C to B0198C – 57 fish via smoking with MAL as temperature increased, & light intensity through the grey cloud cover went to “squint” level

**Area vic B0003C – 72 fish via smoking with MAL as conditions continued to be idea.  Saw light surface action and prolonged feeding activity in the lower half of the water column as viewed on LiveScope

Afternoon:

**Area vic B0172C – 11 fish via smoking with MAL

**Area vic B0080C – 44 whites via smoking with MAL

**Area vic B0044G – 47 whites via smoking with MAL

 

 

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, Wednesday, October 7th, I fished for a second time with Cassandra Matos and her dad, Howard Davis, both of Killeen.

Cassandra contacted me a few weeks back and got a fishing gift certificate for her dad for his birthday from her and her mom.  Since their October 9th experience last year turned out well, they stuck with an early October date for their morning on the water.

Howard is a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran who retired both from the military where he served as a combat engineer, and from civil service where he worked another 27 years in supplies and logistics.

Cassandra works as a buyer for McLane’s in Temple.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Cassandra Matos and her dad, Howard Davis, celebrated his birthday with a fishing trip on Lake Belton.  The pair boated 51 fish, including this 5.25 pound hybrid, and another 6.00 pound hybrid.

 

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Wednesday morning, 07 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED:   Fishing was made difficult this morning by bright skies and light winds the entire morning.  When the wind did blow (SE at about 6mph for about 45 minutes), the fish responded well — we enjoyed our most productive window during this time.  Otherwise, we did a lot of moving to catch the few active fish from out of a much greater number of disinterested fish.  Unfortunately, due to terrain and timber, I was not able to downrig in these areas, so a vertical presentation had to suffice.

Other than a quick downrigger bite right at first light, all of the rest of our fish (43 out of 51) came on the MAL Lure worked vertically.

After what little wind we had died, the remaining 3 areas we fished all fished the same  — plenty of fish present, but in a negative mood and fairly transient.  I tried MAL Lures to try to excite the fish, and tried a slow, easing tactic with slabs to tempt sluggish fish, and neither really produced with consistency.

The fish at all of these post-wind areas presented in the same manner — found fish tight to the bottom in a non-feeding posture (flat to bottom).

While fishing Area 1391, we saw multiple hybrid swim by up high in the water column — landed 2.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released ( 49 white bass, 2 legal hybrid stripers)

OBSERVATIONS:  Fish were deep and transient today.  All fish were caught in 35+ feet of water, with the deepest fish coming out of 52 feet of water.  Well-tuned sonar was key in spotting these bottom-hugging fish congregated at those depths.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  7:00A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation:  0.06′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 74.0F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light the entire trip, <5mph from SE

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover and bright sun

Moon Phase: A waning gibbous at 74% illum.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1804 – a brief spurt of low-light activity on the downriggers which quit right as the direct sun struck the calm surface.  We landed 8 fish, including one double before this ended abruptly.

**Areas vic  2054 – found fish tight to the bottom in a non-feeding posture (flat to bottom).  Picked up 5 fish and moved on.

**Area vic B0043G – this was our most productive area of the morning.  From 8:30 to 9:15, we picked up 26 healthy white bass here just as what little wind we had this morning began to blow, then peaked, and before it died off once again.

**Area vic 1482, 2055, and 1391 —

 

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, 03 October, I fished with returning guest Charlie Beigel and his three sons – John (18), Konig (16), and Chaz (14).  The boys are all students at Lake Travis High School north of Austin, and Charlie is nearing retirement after selling his engineering business and then working for a season for the buyer.

We had originally planned this father-sons outing back in August, but the uncertainty surrounding back-to-school plans prevented that.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left: Chas, Konig, John, and Charlie Beigel had an incredible 160 fish haul on Lake Belton today with manageable southerly winds and light fishing pressure thanks to cool weather and the opening of archery season for deer.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: When I say there were “hundreds of fish crawling all over the bottom” … this is what I’m referring to.  Every single one of those brighter yellow dots is an individual white bass!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday evening, 03 October 2020

HOW WE FISHED:  The fishing really fired up this afternoon from 3:30 to 6:00P, and then crashed.  It seemed every place I searched held at least a few fish, and, a handful of areas had, literally, hundreds of fish crawling all over the bottom.

Fishing was super-simple this afternoon.  We found fish using a combination of Humminbird side-imaging and Garmin 2D and down-imaging (Clear-Vu), then, with the aid of the Minn Kota i-Pilot Link technology, we parked right on top of the fish we’d found, whether they were out to the side of the boat or directly beneath us when I first spotted them.

Once the boat steadied into a hover and our lines hung plumb and vertical, we dropped our MAL Lures to bottom and cranked them up ~9 turns.  The action was always strongest as soon as we began presenting our lures, and then slowly tapered to nil at each location.

The length of time each of the four major schools we fished over stayed active increased as the afternoon moved along until, finally, they fish pulled back pretty abruptly right around 5:50P to 6P.

From 3:15P to 6:00P (2.75 hours), we landed 151 fish (that’s 55 fish per hour).  From 6:00P to 7:15P, we landed 9 fish (that’s 7.2 fish per hour).  Yes, I’d say the fish pulled back pretty abruptly!!

The last batch of fish we found was the shallowest of all, at about 22 feet.  All other fish were 30-40 feet deep.  That last batch, despite being tightly grouped and bottom-oriented, was just obstinate.  We worked MAL Lures vertically and horizontally for them, but to no avail.  Finally, we had to put downriggers in to move more quickly, thus passing the lures over many, many inactive fish to comb out that fraction of fish still willing to feed.  This is what yielded our final 9 fish for us.

We landed a lot of small fish in our mix this evening, which is pretty standard for fall fishing now that the 2020 crop of white bass spawned March-April 2020 have grown large enough to grab a bait.

Lots of action today, and that was fun!

 

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released ( 100% white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  Traffic was light thanks to the opener for archery deer season this morning, and a cool, 52F start to the morning.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  3:15P

End Time: 7:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation:  0.1′ high with a 0.05’ 24-hour drop and 51 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 73.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  10-11 mph SE breeze all morning, then lightening up in the afternoon with a SE9 breeze dying to SE2  by trip’s end.  We never saw the early afternoon wind spike forecast by NOAA.

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover, bright sun in the morning, then a high, thin layer of white haze all afternoon.

Moon Phase: Full moon +3 today (a waning gibbous at 98% illum.)

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic  837 – 37 white bass landed by 3:50P

**Areas vic B0070C/2027 – 22 white bass landed by 4:20P

**Area vic 1934 – 30 white bass landed by 4:40P

**Area vic 327 – 62 white bass landed by 5:50P

**Area vic 171 to 2037 – a final 9 white bass landed by 7:15P

 

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 morning I fished with Tanya Taylor, her godson, Payton Gottschalk (age 10), and Payton’s dad, Damon Gottschalk.

Our original date was rained out and, in hindsight, that most likely worked in this crew’s favor, as such a productive day would have been much less likely in the summer heat.

Tanya does social work and counselling focused on kids with a firm in Killeen, and Damon is in commercial real estate.  Both are involved with kid-focused non-profit organizations.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From left: Damon Gottschalk and his 10-year-old son, Payton, and Payton’s godmother, Tanya Taylor, all natives of Belton, TX.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Wednesday morning, 30 September 2020

HOW WE FISHED: 

After several days of northerly winds, winds returned from a southerly direction this morning, and above average fishing resulted.

This morning’s trip broke down into two distinct segments — low-light horizontal work for heavily schooled, aggressive fish feeding in the lower half of the water column, followed by vertical work with MAL Lures for less aggressive, but still well-organized fish holding in a “blanketing” pattern over the bottom and less than 18 inches off of it.

The horizontal bite took place from first light through about 8:20, then a bit of a lull occurred, followed by an increasingly strong bite from 9:00 to 10:20.  The action quickly tapered to zero by 10:50.

The active, patrolling fish we caught horizontally came on downrigged Pet Spoons worked on 3-armed umbrella rigs in ~ 35-40 feet of water.

The fish we landed later were first seen on sonar; we then Spot-Locked atop of them and worked MAL Lures vertically in the lower 2/3 of the water column as sonar revealed their presence and position. On occasions when the bite slowed, a few horizontal casts would both catch fish and bring an abundance of fish from the surrounding area in following the hooked fish, thus “restocking” the area beneath the boat, allowing us to return to the more sure bet of fishing vertically for fish physically seen on sonar.

We finished up the morning with 126 fish caught and released — a personal best for all three of my crew. Tanya, Damon, and Payton, to their credit, were all willing to be coached and earnestly tried to follow the guidance I gave them, which, in turn aided their success greatly.

TALLY: 126 fish caught and released (1 hybrid, 125 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  Increasing sighting of migratory birds:  2 small flocks of gulls, 6 osprey, numerous flocks of teal, 1 loon, and numerous blue herons.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Elevation:  0.24′ high with a 0.29′ 24-hour drop and 1,670 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 74.25F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light WSW breeze at ~6 the entire trip

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover, bright sun

Moon Phase: Full moon today

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1804 – low light horizontal downrigger work for 27 fish thru 8:20

**Area vic 788/B0171C – vertical work with MAL Lures for 99 fish from 9A to 10:20A, action then tapered to nil by 10:50  

 

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, 26 September, I fished with father-and-son Paul and Parker Autry who drove in from near Georgetown, TX.

Parker just began Kindergarten at a private Christian school in the area, and Paul works for a company focused on providing construction software to aid in large, commercial construction efforts.

This whole fishing trip idea began back in late July when Paul’s wife, Morgan, got him a fishing trip gift certificate from her, Parker, and Parker’s little brother, Noble. 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Paul and Parker saved the best for last.  This 3.75 pound Stillhouse largemouth chased an MAL Lure about 8 feet off bottom in about 32 feet of water and the fight was on.  We broke out the landing net for this one to make sure it didn’t get away.

 

 

  PHOTO CAPTION #2:   Downrigging before the fog developed contributed these nice white bass to the tally.  

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED:  Saturday morning, 26 September 2020

HOW WE FISHED:  Well the weather threw us a curveball this morning … fog — a persistent fog.  As I arrived at the launch around 6:15A, everything was looking good.  The air was 64F, stars were shining, and (as you can see from the weather forecast pasted in below), we were due for some more southerly winds which began yesterday, and at a good velocity.

We got to the first area I intended to fish, got lines in the water, and, as it got brighter the fish began to respond.  We were on our third white bass of the morning — the first fish Parker had ever encountered — and a very dense fog began to develop.  The combination of humidity and temperature were such that we were now caught in a ground-level cloud. The fishing died where we were, and relocation to 3 other areas also did us no good. 

Whenever I have kids aboard I always bring my sunfish gear, and this morning was no exception.  So, while we waited for conditions to improve on the open water bite, we fished shallow, recently flooded cover for sunfish, and did well. Sunfishing requires hand and eyes be constantly engaged, so it is a good fit for elementary-aged kids.  Parker managed 18 sunfish — a combination of bluegill, greens, and longears — as we fished two areas prior to the fog lifting at around 9:30A.

I got back out into open water to search for white bass, finding a few more in our final hour via downriggers.   Just about the time young Parker was requiring lunch, we brought the ‘riggers in, snapped a few photos of our white bass, and then released them. 

As we released our fish, I noted an abundance of other fish showed on the bottom beneath the boat as our released fish swam downwards (as seen on sonar).  We quickly grabbed the spinning rods rigged with MAL Lures and, in seconds, were fast to a nice largemouth bass which would be our largest fish of the morning.

TALLY: 34 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Temperature profile indicating the thermocline is breaking down…

 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  3.27′ high with a 0.01′ 24-hour drop and 1 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 75.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Calm during the foggy period through, 9:30A, then ramping up quickly to SSW13.

Sky Condition: Fog began to form around 7A and persisted until around 9:30A, giving way to 100% grey skies.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 74% illumination GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

   

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 039-1102 – downrigging for whites until fog developed and killed the bite

**Area Sh0043 and 239 – shallow sunfish

**Area vic 790 – downrigging/vertical MAL Lure work  

 

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 afternoon, Friday, 25 September, I returned to the water after a few days off due to foul weather early in the week, and a string of sonar training sessions thereafter.

I fished Belton for the first time in quite a while, mainly because I had two youngsters, ages 5 and 6, aboard, and the water level being closer to normal at Belton meant that sunfish would not be dispersed into flooded brush as is the case over on Stillhouse, which is 3+ feet high now.

I fished with Alberto Bursian and his 5-year-old son, Tiago, and with Alberto’s friend, Greg Crisp, and his son, 6-year-old Brigs.    

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   This “bottom-hugging” scenario in warm water just screams for a vertical method using the MAL Lure.  Fish were blanketing the bottom over a ~40 yard stretch and were ready to feed.  Each one of those blue, oval-shaped dots holding just off bottom is a white bass.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Alberto and Tiago Bursian, left, and Greg and Brigs Crisp.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Friday afternoon, 25 September 2020

HOW WE FISHED: Thanks to a returning southerly wind, the fishing was pretty easy this afternoon.  We got on our first bunch of fish just minutes after launching at 4P, and stayed on them for a full 2.5 hours.  We alternated between vertical work with white MAL Lures and chartreuse MAL Lures and horizontal work with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.  The vertical bite was better earlier on, then faded.  The MAL’s definitely took better fish.  Many of the fish we took on the downriggers were smallish.  By the time 6:30P rolled around, we’d boated 84 fish and the bite was waning in this general location.

We moved on and changed up our approach in order to target sunfish up in shallow water.  In about 30 minutes’ time we put 26 sunfish in the boat using live bait under floats in under 4 feet of water.  Our catch consisted of bluegill, green, redear, and longear sunfish.

From 7PM to 7:40PM we took one last shot at the white bass.  I’d hoped to find another bottom-hugging school which would be susceptible to vertical tactics, as the boys, despite their young age, were doing well with the retrieve cadence needed to provoke fish to bite, thanks to hands-on coaching and encouragement by their fathers.

We did pick up a final 9 white bass, but all via downrigging.  We wrapped up right at 7:45 with exactly 119 fish boated.

TALLY: 119 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  4:00P

End Time: 7:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 84F

Elevation:  0.64′ high with a 0.03′ 24-hour rise and 17 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 79.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE6-7 Sky Condition: Blue skies with <5% white, high cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 66% illumination

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1024 for early white bass both vertically and horizontally, 84 fish

**Area 185 – 26 shallow sunfish

**Area 1921 – a final 9 low-light white bass on downriggers

 

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

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WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, September 17th, 2020, I fished with Robert Hughes from near Lubbock, TX, accompanied by his grandson, Nathan Elliott, who lives in Gatesville and works in Harker Heights.

Robert, age 74, retired from the janitorial supply business, and Nathan is a professional firefighter employed by the City of Harker Heights, working out of the firehouse on FM3481, near Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. Nathan coordinated this trip for his grandparents as part of their 57th wedding anniversary during which they drove down to see him.   

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Nathan Elliott and his grandfather, 74-year-old Robert Hughes, shared a day on the water in pursuit of white bass.  Downrigging with Pet Spoons and vertical work with MAL Lures put 73 fish in the boat today.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

HOW WE FISHED:  After getting off a plane inbound from Alaska in the wee hours on Wednesday morning, I slept briefly, then got right out on the water to scout in advance of this trip, as I’d not fished locally since Labor Day Monday and there had been a lot of environmental change since that time (6′ elevation increase, a cold front, and atypical, extended periods of NE winds).  

I opted to invest my scouting efforts on Stillhouse for several reasons: 1) the Corps is releasing water from Lake Belton (a negative factor), 2) the release rate at Lake Belton led me to believe the gates would shut soon, thus introducing another negative variable to an already tough scenario, 3) I got below average reports from those fishing both Belton and Stillhouse while I was away, and 4) my 30+ years of record-keeping indicate that, in a tough scenario, Stillhouse typically outperforms Belton.

The scouting went well.  My goal was to catch 3 fish at a given area and then move on to check additional areas, and, in so doing, I found 4 fish-holding areas which we could fish today.

When all was said and done, we put this morning’s trip together on just 2 of those 4 scouted areas.  Today’s conditions were a bit better than during my scouting efforts yesterday, in that we had both a steady, manageable wind (vs. calm yesterday), and light cloud cover (vs. clear skies yesterday).

We met up at 6:45A, had lines in the water around 7:05A, caught fish via downrigging for 2 solid hours before the suspended, scattered schools of white bass we were targeting dispersed. We landed 33 fish during this time using Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs.

We next looked at an area I scouted yesterday (but found nothing present at that time); I did this because the wind was blowing into the area leading me to believe it could have turned on overnight.  It did not.

So, we moved on to a third area I scouted with good results yesterday.  We found fish very active there from 9:20 until around 10:20.   Sonar was quite active with both balled up shad and gamefish as I idled around, so, we began to put downriggers down.  No sooner did Nathan get his set to depth then it went off.  When I saw the aggression level of these fish, I directed Robert to unrig his downrigger, and to send an MAL Lure plummeting for the bottom instead.

Long story short, we sat on a large, moderately aggressive school of white bass for a full hour and pulled another 43 fish without moving the boat, all on chartreuse MAL Lures.  I like the chartreuse whenever there is cloud cover, whereas the white and chartreuse fish equally well under clear, sunny skies.  

Fortunately, both fellows quickly got the hang of timing their presentation of the MAL Lure to the passing of the fish beneath the boat via the use of Garmin LiveScope, doing this just as you would “lead” a bird when shooting a shotgun.  The rest was history.

By 10:20, the wind was quickly coming out of the fishes’ sails, and, after spending our final 15 minutes downrigging and failing to add even a single fish to the tally, we called it a good day and headed back to the dock.

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released (71 white bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 1 largemouth bass)

OBSERVATIONS:   No water has been released from Stillhouse since the recent rains, thus allowing 6+ feet of new water to accumulate, whereas Belton had a flow of 1,645 cfs  this morning and was slowly falling as a result.  During the day (Thursday, 17 Sep.), the COE reduced the flow from Belton to 51 CFS — yet another negative factor I’m glad we avoided).  

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:40A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation:  3.14′ high, +0.02′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow (up over 6 feet after ~4.50″ began fell on Wednesday – Friday, 02-03 Sep., followed by another 1.25″ on 10 Sep.)

Water Surface Temp:  81.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE11 all morning

Sky Condition: 80-90% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: New moon today

GT =35

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1133 to 482 –  downrigging with Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs for 33 fish in 2+ hours.

**Area vic SH0033G –  MAL Lures worked vertically in 35′ to the shallow side of this area for 40 fish in ~ 1 hour

 

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