2021 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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JAYD & THE J-DOG JUNK REMOVAL CREW – 143 FISH @ BELTON

December 31st, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, December 30th, I fished with Jayd Bosiacki and the crew of J-Dog Junk Removal, based in Killeen.

Jayd invested time, money, and effort into his crew this holiday week by taking them bowling, to an escape room, and, on this morning, fishing on Lake Belton.

Joining us were Blake Cyr, Shawn Barr, Jayd’s dad, Don Bosiacki, and Taylor Graham.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Blake Cyr, Jayd Bosiacki, Shawn Barr, Jayd’s dad, Don Bosiacki, and Taylor Graham.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 30 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

A very mild front passed over Central Texas yesterday, barely shifting our winds at that time, but, this morning, the impacts were definitely more notable. The air was drier, the temperatures cooler, and the winds blew from the WNW for the first 90 minutes following sunrise.

Fortunately, everyone on the J-Dog crew had prior fishing experience with spinning gear, so I had to do very little in the way of coaching to get these fellows ready to catch.

I did park us in 20+ feet of water and demonstrate the slow-smoking tactic we’d be using all morning.

Due to the number of folks aboard, casting would not be an option for safety reasons, so, I brought only spinning rod and reels rigged with white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. I had 5/8 oz. and 3/4 oz. versions of the same rigged and ready to swap out if need be, but, the 3/8 oz. baits performed well from start to finish.

Our efforts were aided in the first 90 minutes by helpful gull action. The only downside of fishing under birds during a holiday is that everybody and their brother can spot birds, so, you are just about guaranteed to have company — and we did.

Regardless, we got a great start under those birds and, after they dispersed, put the valuable lessons the fellows had learned by repetition to use under more difficult conditions when the fish slowed down, the winds decreased, and the skies began to clear.

Every last fish the 5 fellows landed came on a rising 3/8 oz. bait fished with a slow-smoking tactic moving toward the surface, with their efforts enhanced by Garmin LiveScope.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 143 fish, including 3 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 139 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 143 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: We saw a spike in fishing pressure today as nice weather coincided with holiday schedules to put a lot more folks on the water than has been the case lately.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 51F

Elevation: 2.27 feet low, 0.00 fall in last 24 hours, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW 9 at trip’s start, fading to near calm by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 70% cloud cover, decreasing to 20% by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 15% illumination.

GT = 86

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1798, B0025G, 132, and 677/1604 all produced the same way with slow-smoked 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

THAT BIRD-SPOTTING SPIDEY-SENSE — 79 FISH@ BELTON

December 29th, 2021December 29th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, December 29th, I fished with Mr. Kyle Kirkes and his two young children, Kinsley, age 8, and Easton, age 5.

Kyle and I put this together at the last minute after a client’s work schedule prevented them from joining me on what was forecast to be a balmy, pre-frontal weather scenario.

Kyle phoned me, asked what I thought about the fishing given the kids’ ages, and we agreed to give it a go.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Easton, Kyle, and Kinsley Kirkes on what might have been one of the last few kid-friendly fishing days of the fall/winter season. The kids landed 79 fish in right at 3 hours using Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 29 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

A very mild front was due in today and, although it did materialize, it was even milder than forecast. We had minimal winds today, no obviously noticeable wind shift, and little clearing in the afternoon.

Still, what weather we did experience was sufficient to turn the fish on. The kids stayed engaged for right at 3 hours, and, fortunately, the fish cooperated well that entire time. In fact, we left them biting at around 10:40.

Feeding gulls working bait over top of white bass pointed the way to our first 2 hours of action. Although the bird activity was not constant nor heavy, by observing them we had good intel on where to probe with sonar once the fish we were on tapered off.

At one point Kyle and I though the birds had given up, but with what we nick-named her “Bird Spotting Spidey Sense”, Kinsley spied another flock of about 8 gulls working in the light fog (and blending in with it quite well!). This opened the door to another 20 fish or so landed and added to our tally.

We made five stops this morning and caught 12-20 fish at each one.

Due to its simplicity and efficacy, we used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 3/8 oz.) 100% of the time this morning; and we used them with a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time.

Although I’ve certainly had more productive trips numbers-wise lately, when I take a look at this morning’s big picture, I consider it a solid win … putting young elementary-aged kids who had never used spinning gear before on 79 fish in just under three hours in late December is not an easy task, nor a task that can routinely be done this time of year. Our conditions were just right and the kids were eager to do well, and for that I’m thankful.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 79 fish, including 2 largemouth bass, 4 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, and 70 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: We enjoyed pre-frontal fishing without the wild pre-frontal storms, high winds, or dropping temperatures normally associated with a front’s arrival.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 2.27 feet low, 0.01 fall in last 24 hours, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW6 at trip’s start and for about 75 minutes, then varying between 3-5 SW thereafter.

Sky Condition: We had the lightest of fog prior to sunrise, turning to fully greyed skies for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 24% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 156 – all fish on a slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0119G -all fish on a slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0120G – all fish on a slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area 1286 – all fish on a slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0025G – all fish on a slow-smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

JOSHUA’S BELATED BIRTHDAY – 120 FISH @ BELTON

December 27th, 2021January 2nd, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, December 27th, I fished a belated birthday trip with 13-year-old Joshua Howe, accompanied by his mom and dad, Janet and Allen, all from the Austin area.

We originally had this trip booked earlier in the fall, but, the weather forecast called for post-frontal calm, clear, cold conditions on that date and I encouraged the family to postpone as a result. As it turns out, that weather did materialize, so, I was glad they were able to be flexible. The end result was a near-perfect weather scenario today so far as wind and cloud cover were concerned.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Janet, Allen, and Joshua Howe with 6 of the 120 fish they caught and released on Lake Belton on 27 Dec. 2021.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 27 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The wind and cloud cover were ideal this morning, and, although we did not have the super-charged activity which a cold front brings with it, we enjoyed steady action from start to finish, most of which came without the help of bird activity.

With the grey cloud cover we had, the bite eased to a start instead of starting suddenly as it does on clear days. We fished from 7:40 to 9:15 at one area without making any short hops and landed exactly 70 fish on 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs before the bite there wound down. Although there were a lot of small fish in this catch, it gave everyone an excellent chance to work out the wrinkles on this vertical jigging tactic (easing) which was new to them via repetition.

After these fish knocked off, we went looking and found a small flock of about 8 gulls working over 2 cormorants with fish amongst them. We used MAL Heavy Lures to cast horizontally with a sawtooth retrieve to whichever side of the boat side-imaging indicated more fish were on. We landed 9 more fish in this area, 6 of which would be the largest white bass we would land all morning.

After this, I found fish along a breakline. We found the fish in small groups which would get excited when we first presented our slabs to them, but would then lose enthusiasm quickly. In response, we moved as soon as I sensed the fishes’ interest was waning, and we wound up fishing 3 stops along this feature, adding another 24 fish to our count.

Our final stop came in the deepest water (32′) and under the brightest conditions of the trip, between 11:00AM and 11:55 AM. During this time we added a final 17 fish to our tally, all on eased 3/8 oz. slabs. Ample bait was showing in this area.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 120 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 6 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 113 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 120 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile:

0 feet 62.4F
5 feet 62.4F
10 feet 62.4F
15 feet 62.4F
20 feet 62.4F
25 feet 62.3F
30 feet 62.3F
35 feet 62.2F
40 feet 62.2F
45 feet 62F
50 feet 62F
55 feet 62F
60 feet 62F
65 feet 62F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 2.25 feet low, 0.00 fall in last 24 hours, 73 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 at trip’s start, building to S11 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies for the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 46% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 085/1802 – 70 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area vic 029 – 9 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth tactic

Area v132, v097 (2 hops) – 24 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area 2625 – 27 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

CHRISTMAS EVE WITH IAN – 52 FISH @ BELTON

December 26th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, Dec. 24, I fished with 10-year-old Ian Hinkel on the 2021 season’s 13th and final SKIFF program trip. Ian’s aunt Kayla accompanied him, but did not fish.

Ian’s father, Andrew Weidlich, has been in the U.S. Army for 9 years serving as a Blackhawk helicopter mechanic and is currently separated from his family while serving in Germany.

SKIFF is an acronym for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. It is a program now in its 12th year, sponsored by the Austin Fly Fishers, and supported by individuals and entities, all of whom desire that kids separated from a parent by that parent’s military duty, be given an opportunity to experience the outdoors through fishing during that time of separation, free of charge. The program offers a time of respite for the home-front parents who may need a short break from single-parenting. Reservations for SKIFF trips may be made by phoning or texting 254.368.7411. Children must be 5 years of age or older.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ian Hinkel took two white bass on one lure at the same time. These two whites fought over this shad-shaped bait, and one got caught on the treble, while the other got caught on the stinger hook.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ian landed a total of 52 fish during his 3.5 hour SKIFF program trip provided at no charge to kids separated from their parents due to those parents’ military duty (deployment, schooling, TDY, JRTC, NTC, gunnery, field time, etc.).

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 24 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

I was hoping for a trifecta on bird action, as a strong showing of gulls had led the way to fish the past two mornings, but that was not to be. So, we were left to finding white bass “the hard way”, with sonar alone.

We got into fish well at two separate areas and, for the first time thus far this fall/winter caught 100% of our fish on the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. I never saw fish “carpeting” the bottom at any of the areas we checked, which has been the precursor to a good catch on the MAL Heavy Lure worked vertically for the past several weeks.

For Ian, using a slab in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope was like a video game come to life. He grasped the concept of what signatures were fish, what signature was his lure, and where he was in relation to the bottom. With this understood, he effectively worked his lure a majority of the time today. Especially important was getting his lure to rise directly in front of the direction of travel of fish moving parallel to the bottom. This was a formula with a near 100% success rate.

Although we caught a few fish here and there, the very first area we fished, and the final area we fished produced the lion’s share of our catch, with a many fish being caught in our final hour as were caught in the first 2.5 hours, thanks to thick cloud cover limiting light penetration.

When all was said and done, Ian landed exactly 52 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 3 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 48 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 52 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: For the third morning in a row, the final hour produced as many fish as the first 2.5 hours combined. Gulls are beginning to get distracted by loons and cormorants.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 2.24 feet low, 0.00 fall, 73 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: S11 at trip’s start, building steadily to S15 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies for the first 2.5 hours, then rapid clearing to 20% white clouds on blue sky in the final hour.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0098G – 27 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/4 oz. white)

Area vic B0022C – 25 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/4 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

TWO ELEMENTARY-AGED ANGLERS – 36 FISH @ BELTON

December 25th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday morning, Dec. 23, I fished with two young men from different families on what was the 2021 season’s twelfth SKIFF trip. Joining me were Robert DeLoach and Ethan Garrison.

Ethan Garrison’s dad, Staff Sergeant Leon Garrison, was recently sent to Fort Benning for a leadership development course. He has served as an infantryman for twelve years. Ethan’s mother, Jamie Garrison, coordinated her son’s adventure by texting the local S.K.I.F.F. trip coordinator.

Robert DeLoach’s dad, Lieutenant Colonel John DeLoach, is currently deployed to eastern Europe with his aviation unit. Robert’s mother, Rebecca DeLoach, coordinated the trip after seeing a posting on the Fort Hood Area Events Facebook page.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ethan Garrison, left, and Robert DeLoach used a combination of vertical jigging with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and casting horizontally using a sawtooth retrieve to amass a catch of 36 fish during their 3.5 hour SKIFF trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 23 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We faced a challenging weather scenario this afternoon, on the heels of a solid 100-fish morning with two very inexperienced kids.

I moved our starting point to a more protected area due to the high midday wind speeds. This wind would prevent us from getting out on productive, open water areas.

As we fished more protected water, the wind speed finally began to slack off, and even though this put the winds back into the manageable category, failing winds rarely fuel an increase in fish activity, and this afternoon was no exception.

Hence, we encountered pretty disinterested fish just about everywhere we went. Our best run of fish in terms of fish interest was a 9-fish run up in the shallowest water we would fish all afternoon, between 3:45 and 4:30 PM. The abundance of fish we found there led to bites out of a sense of competition, and our results came on a more quickly moving MAL Heavy Lure.

Despite the tough situation, the boys did great; they stayed focused; they kept working their baits well, and they caught more than the conditions would normally produce for two elementary-aged anglers.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 36 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 2 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 33 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 36 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Dying winds and decreasing cloud cover made this afternoon’s fishing a good bit tougher than the morning’s fishing.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 2:00P

End Time: 5:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.24 feet low, 0.03 fall, 73 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: S17+ at trip’s start which prevented us from getting safely to open water. Then the winds began to die off, making the fishing we were presented with tougher as the afternoon rolled on.

Sky Condition: Brightening skies and thinning cloud cover throughout the afternoon.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1827 – 9 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area vic 1624 – 12 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area vic 415 – 9 fish on MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) worked with sawtooth tactic

Area vic 1659 – 6 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

FREE FISHING FOR SOLDIERS’ KIDS — 100 FISH @ BELTON

December 25th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, Dec. 23, I fished with siblings Liam and Sophia Garcia on what was the 2021 season’s eleventh SKIFF trip.

The children’s father, Sergeant Manuel Garcia Perelta, is an automated logistics specialist with four years in the U.S. Army. He is currently deployed. The kids’ mom, Veronica Munoz, arranged the trip for them after seeing a post about the opening on the Fort Hood Area Events Facebook page.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Sophia and Liam Garcia with 2 of the 100 fish they landed on Lake Belton using Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs during their SKIFF trip this past Thursday, 23 Dec.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 23 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s fishing was pretty straightforward. Thanks to a stiff southerly breeze and moderately thick, complete gray cloud cover, the fish started feeding at 7:50 AM, drew attention from birds, and from that point until 9:50 it was just a matter of staying in the center of mass of the action in 32-34 feet of water. Because of the kids’ age and inexperience (they’d never been on a boat before), I stuck with as simple an approach as I could.

We simply allowed 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to sink to the bottom, and reeled them up with a “slow smoking“ approach and got hit routinely as our lures rose towards the surface, both by fish which pursued from off the bottom, as well as by suspended fish. The bird activity wrapped up around 9:50, and we continued to milk fish from the vicinity where they had been working for another 20 minutes until the action died altogether.

At this point we had 49 fish in the boat. I searched two areas, found little on sonar, and continued moving.

Our last area produced the balance of our 100 fish morning. On a fairly slow sloping area, again, in 32 to 34 feet of water, we found white bass in a feeding posture, positioned just a foot or two up off the bottom. These fish were aggressive. They actually rose up to meet our falling slabs as we first began fishing, and then began to move up as much as 1/3 of the way from the bottom into the water column as we hooked fish and reeled them in, thus creating a commotion which drew other fishes’ attention.

Due to the increased wind speed we encountered at this area, I equipped the kids with three-quarter ounce slabs (Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in white color), so the slabs would sink more quickly and the kids could definitively feel bottom. Up until this point we had used the 3/8 ounce version.

As mom pulled into the parking lot, we had 96 fish landed. Another six minutes later, at 11:10 AM, we hit 100 fish and called it a great morning.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 100 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 4 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 95 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: About 80 gulls pitched in on the feeding today, which was the single strongest round of bird action I’ve seen thus far this fall/winter.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 2.24 feet low, 0.03 fall, 73 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-15 all morning.

Sky Condition: Grey skies just thin enough to cause “squinting” levels of light to come thru beginning around 8A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0098C – 49 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white) in 2.5 hours

Area B0022C – 51 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/4 oz. white) in 45 minutes

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

WINTER SOLSTICE — 46 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

December 22nd, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, 22 Dec. 2021, I fished with returning guests — the father and son team of Charles and David Stichler.

Although catching fish was desirable, the pair’s goal was to observe the approach I was taking to finding and presenting to cool-water fish. For this reason, I focused on fish in deeper water which were more densely congregated and therefore lent themselves to being caught with use of a vertical slabbing tactic since the men had already experienced the use of horizontal work with the MAL Lures back in the summer on Stillhouse.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next few openings will be on Christmas morning, then on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: Charles Stichler with a 5.5 pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken from 32 feet of water working an MAL Heavy Lure (white blade, chartreuse tail) with a sawtooth retrieve.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: David and Charles Stichler with some of the results of their efforts at learning to work a slab other than by traditional snap-jigging. The white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab accounted all of the fish not taken on the MAL Heavy Lures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 20 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

After laying off a day to avoid yesterday’s post-frontal calm, clear, cold conditions, complete with fog following sunrise, we experienced one of those “lull between the fronts” kind of days where the fish were pretty non-committal.

Although there was a good bit of bird activity, much of it was a result of gulls just feeding on shad near the surface where our unusually warm conditions had them positioned and feeding there; most were not being chased to the surface by gamefish.

After observing multiple groups of birds which we passed on, we finally did find two small flocks which helped get us in the vicinity of fish, allowing us to close the deal with sonar.

As it turned out, of the several areas we fished, the best two were the ones the birds led us to. The other fish we found with sonar alone were quite stubborn.

We played it two ways with the fish we found near bird action. Option 1 was to use Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 3/8 oz.) vertically with a slow “smoking” retrieve if/when fish were seen on Garmin LiveScope in good quantities directly beneath the boat. Otherwise, Option 2 was to idle into the wind until we spotted sizeable congregations of white bass on side imaging, then stop to cast MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) out over them and work the lures back through them with a “sawtooth” retrieve.

Given the fishes’ lackadaisical attitude, the MAL Heavy Lures did best, as they allowed us to cover much more water and screen out the few aggressive fish amongst a population which was generally disinterested – just as downriggers do in the summer months.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 46 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 2 freshwater drum, 2 legal hybrid striped bass, 3 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 38 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 46 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Today was the winter solstice, with daytime and night being right at 12 hours each. From now until 22 June the days will get increasingly longer. 2) We found ourselves in a “lull between the fronts”. I anticipate each day leading up to the next cold front will be a bit better thanks to a net warmup with the unseasonably warm weather we are now having, which is due to continue through at least Sunday, 26 Dec.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 2.21 feet low, 0.02 fall, 79 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light SSE wind at ~4-6 all morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, hazy white sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 90% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0026C – 11 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0180C – 32 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth pattern (white blade/chartreuse tail)

Area 1659 – 11 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

BY THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH — 70 FISH @ BELTON

December 20th, 2021December 20th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 20 Dec. 2021, I fished with two young buddies — Kaden Howley and Will Bralley, both 12 years of age, accompanied by Kaden’s mom, Nancy.

The boys have grown up together, play soccer together, and attend the same church and school together. So, when Nancy got this trip as a Christmas present for Kaden, picking Will to come along was only natural.

Here is how the fishing went …

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My next few openings will be on Christmas morning, then on January 5th & 12th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kaden Howley and Will Bralley with a sampling of their cold-weather catch from Lake Belton this morning. The boys landed 70 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 20 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Here we go again on that frontal system roller coaster! After record high temperatures on Thursday and Friday, a cold front hit us on Saturday dropping temperatures and a few drops of rain as the wind speed picked up beginning around 6A. Sunday had a continued N wind with clear conditions, and a mild disturbance began to push in from the SW on Sunday afternoon. This caused this morning’s conditions to be cloudy at first, then clearing as that system moved NE. I knew classic post-frontal conditions (calm, clear, cold, bright) were on the way, but the timing was uncertain.

The boys heeded my advice and bundled up and we got out after the fish starting around 7:40AM. We caught a handful of fish under birds right at sunrise, but these scattered fish didn’t stick around long. We caught a few fish here and a few fish there with some long pauses in between as I ran sonar methodically over an abundance of potential fish-holding areas.

Around 9:30A, we got our first break. After the grey clouds had completely cleared, we got the morning’s first real wind with velocity enough to do more than ripple the water. Finding our first solid concentration of fish corresponded with this event. Both boys were able to take multiple fish using an easing tactic with the 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs from out of 24 feet of water. I did two more “short hops” here once the fish at our initial stop dispersed. We now had 29 fish to show for our ~2.5+ hours of effort. It was now around 10AM.

I continued the hunt for fish with sonar, finding mainly small groups of 5-20 fish here and there, which we passed on. Finally, around 10:50A, I found a solid, well-grouped school of about 200 white bass in about 29 feet of water on side imaging. The wind was just right to allow us to “park” parallel to their location and lob casts beyond them, and work our MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) through them with a “sawtooth” tactic. Knowing that we had a number of factors working against us already, my gut told me to ride this bite out until it was completely through, as leaving fish to find more fish under this morning’s conditions seemed too great a gamble. Fish kept moving in and out of the area we were casting to, essentially restocking the pond for the boys.

The boys really did a good job of casting both far and accurately, and they meticulously worked their MAL Lures just right. They took our fish count from 29 fish to a final tally of 70 fish in just under 2 hours — not a frantic pace of catching, but a nice, steady flow of fish over the gunwale.

As 12:45 rolled around, the bite died hard as the winds went slack. We, literally, missed the approaching post-frontal scenario by the skin of our teeth. Seeing this, I rescheduled my crew on the calendar tomorrow for another day to avoid the tough day Tuesday will no doubt be.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 70 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 3 freshwater drum, 3 juvenile hybrid striped bass and 63 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the temperature profile this morning:

0 feet 60.4
5 feet 61.2
10 feet 61.4
15 feet 61.4
20 feet 61.4
25 feet 61.4
30 feet 61.4
35 feet 61.4
40 feet 61.4
45 feet 61.4
50 feet 61.4
55 feet 61.4
60 feet 61.1

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40

End Time: 12:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 2.18 feet low, 0.05 fall, 39 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable until 9:30, the going ESE4-5

Sky Condition: Light rain and clouds moved NE as sunrise, leading to steady clearing and warming through the morning.

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 153 – 5 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white) under sparse birds

Area 029- 10 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area 1656 – 14 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area 1679 – 41 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth pattern (white blade/chartreuse tail)

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

ICING ON THE CAKE — 205 FISH @ BELTON

December 19th, 2021 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday afternoon, Dec. 17th, I fished with returning guests Jason Locklin and his son, Morgan. Joining me for the first time on this trip was Ava Locklin (Morgan’s sister), as well as a friend of Jason’s — Brock Powell, and Brock’s daughter, Amelia.

Jason organized the trip, convinced whomever needed convincing that the kids would be okay missing a half-day of school right before the holiday break, and helped me help everyone else by taking fish off and untangling the occasional tangle.

I half-jokingly told the kids that any fish we caught would be icing on the cake after they got to leave school early to be on the water in shorts and t-shirt weather.

Jason is on the staff at Temple College, Brock is a homebuilder (Dusek and Powell Custom Builders), and the kids are all working their way through school with golf as their chosen avocation.

Here is how the fishing went …

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My next few openings will be on Christmas morning, then on January 4th, 5th & 11th. Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Amelia Powell, Jason, Morgan, and Ava Locklin, and Brock Powell. This crew landed 205 fish under textbook pre-frontal conditions this afternoon before another cold front would arrive ~6AM the following morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (PM), 17 December 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

If there was ever an illustration about how powerfully pre-frontal weather impacts fishing, today was it. After fishing M, T, and W and landing 65, 51, and 72 fish on those days, we hit the road running this morning landing 143 fish, and then topped the week off with this 205 fish trip this afternoon.

The fish were in a strong, feeding mood. Hence, they were just slightly up off bottom (and in some cases, suspended well off bottom) which makes them much easier to find on sonar.

We fished five areas with our results improving as we worked our way toward sunset.

Our first stop saw the fish tightest to bottom and the least aggressive we’d find (although still quite willing to follow and strike our Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs in white 3/8 oz.). We landed 16 fish there.

Our next two stops required the same tactic, but gave up 49 fish and 15 fish, respectively, as the feed began to build toward a late afternoon peak.

We made our third stop after spotting some bird action (way to be on the lookout, Morgan!!). We did three “short hops” in this vicinity while throwing MAL Heavy Lures (white blade, chartreuse tail) out horizontally and using a sawtooth tactic for the retrieve. These fish fed long and hard right up until sunset, which was obscured by cloud cover. We landed 108 fish here.

With the sun now set, we had a very limited amount of time before the bite would shut down. I took us to the nearest location which had both shallow water and clear water so what ambient light we still had would still be reaching close to the lake’s bottom. We found a few fish actually feeding on the surface as we idled in and I looked around. I equipped everyone with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, except Morgan, whom I perched on the front casting deck with an MAL Lure and instructions to sight-cast to any nearby boiling fish (which he executed well on).

We were 12 fish shy of a 200 fish trip when we rolled up on this area with the game clock ticking away. When the last fish came over the side, it was nearly dark and we’d tallied 205 fish.

For spotting helpful birds, maintaining solid technique from start to finish, for being able to receive coaching and adjust his tactics on the fly, and boating the most fish, it gave the unofficial MVP award to Morgan on this afternoon’s trip.

When all was said and done, we landed exactly 205 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 5 freshwater drum, 6 juvenile hybrid striped bass and 194 white bass.

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 205 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Despite the crazy week of weather, the influence of pre-frontal weather certainly helped us along today. Our best catching came when we could see heavily congregated white bass to the port or starboard, then cast to them so as to work our MAL Heavy Lures horizontally through them. Although the fish responded to a vertical slab, it was not with the enthusiasm with which they went after the MAL.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:30P

End Time: 5:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.12 feet low, no elevation change, 39 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: S14 gusting 16 thru 2:45P, then tapering back down to S7 by sunset.

Sky Condition: Heavy grey cloud cover all morning; lighter grey cloud cover in the PM, but still with no direct sun coming through.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT: 2-day forecast showing the arrival of the next front ~6A Saturday

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1659 – 16 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white), lots of small fish here

Area 192- 49 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white), lots of small fish here

Area 1815 – 15 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white)

Area B0171C – 108 fish on MAL Heavy Lures worked with a sawtooth pattern (white blade/chartreuse tail)

Area 1659 – 17 fish on an eased Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (3/8 oz. white), mostly small white bass

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com