2023 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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GPS SAYS IT’S A 10-DAY TRIP — 159 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

April 17th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 17, I fished with returning father and son team, Oscar and Mateo, Santiago, accompanied by a new client, Mr. Jonathan, Briscoe’s of Belton.

The Santiagos operate Wooden Woodworks, a custom cabinetry shop based in Salado, TX, and Jonathan is the Assistant Vice President of commercial lending at Horizon Bank in Temple.

As we wrapped up the trip today, I snapped a few photos of my three man crew with a few of the white bass they had landed. Oscar and Jonathan started joking about how it might be to get yanked out of a school of fish in one part of the lake and then released to swim amongst strangers in a different school at a totally different location on the same lake. Jonathan, speaking for the fish, said something to the effect of, “Yeah man, my GPS says I have a 10-day journey back to the ‘hood!”.

Here is how the fishing went…

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 6 and 7 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Oscar and Mateo Santiago and Jonathan Briscoe with some chunky Lake Belton white bass caught under very pleasant, dry, cool spring conditions.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 17 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite a few negative factors, including bright skies and nearly calm winds, the low to mid 60° water temperature now found from the surface to the bottom of Lake Belton has the white bass truly cranked up. We got on fish early and stayed on fish right to the end today.

There were dribs and drabs of spawning shad on the shoreline this morning, but by observing both birds and fish, I could tell there was much more shad action offshore. One needed only to observe LiveScope for a few minutes while on Spot Lock to see abundant schools of shad racing about just off the bottom with gamefish often in hot pursuit.

We fished vertically exclusively for the first two hours of the trip, then, as the fish begin to really shift into overdrive, we changed over to using a horizontal tactic whenever the vertical fishing showed even an inkling of slowing down.

For our vertical fishing today we chose the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail as our go to bait. When we fished horizontally using the sawtooth method, we went with the MAL Dense with white body and chartreuse tail for that task.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

We fished only five locations today, finding fish at each one, and landed a total of 159 fish including 2 largemouth bass, 11 juvenile hybrid striped bass, and 146 white bass.

TALLY: 159 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: There was minor threadfin shad spawning this morning following an overnight temperature drop to 49F.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 49F

Elevation: 14.49 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .02′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 64.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW3 at trip’s start, slowly shifting and building to SSE13 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 20% coverage moved in from the E

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 9% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1188 – 22 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0041G/187 – 30 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0075C – 29 fish on smoked MAL Heavies and sawtoothed MAL Denses

Area 187 – 19 fish on smoked MAL Heavies and sawtoothed MAL Denses

Area 953 – 59 fish on smoked MAL Heavies and sawtoothed MAL Denses

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

TIME SURE FLIES — 84 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

April 14th, 2023April 14th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yesterday morning, Thursday, April 13, I fished with first time guests, Patrick and Aubri Lin from the north Austin area. I very much appreciate long time client Dwight Stone referring these folks my way for their father-daughter adventure.

Patrick and his wife, both chiropractors, have a private practice, and Aubri is a homeschooled third grader who, I might add, can handle a spinning rod pretty darn well.

Here is how the fishing went…

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 6, 7, and 8 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Patrick Lin and his 8-year-old daughter, Aubri, with some solid Lake Belton white bass taken mainly by working MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails vertically using a smoking tactic.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 13 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Today was the first day of a returning southerly wind after a week of winds from the north following last week’s cold front. As we launched, the winds were still very light from the northeast, then subsided for over an hour, and then got going, gently at first, from the southeast, slowly building up to around 6 or 7 mph.

As I compared notes at the boat ramp with others on Lake Belton, and then by phone with a buddy over on Buchanan, we agreed that the fishing was pretty slow in the first half of the morning, and then began to improve as the winds picked up. Indeed, we only landed 16 fish in our first two full hours on the water, then wound up with 68 additional fish in our final two hours – – a move than four fold increase in our catch in the last half of the morning as compared to the first half.

For all but the final 45 minutes, Patrick and Aubri used MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails fished vertically with a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. While the fishing was slow, bottom-hugging fish would, on occasion, chase the lure upward, overtake it, and get hooked.

In the final two hours as the fishing improved, fish would rise up off the bottom on their own, drawn there both by the splasher and by the commotion created by previously hooked fish struggling up through the water column, and by released fish swimming back down through the water column.

As we observe quite frequently, whenever those fish are suspended up off the bottom, those individuals highest up near the surface are the most aggressive fish. I advised Patrick and Aubri to try to target those fish individually, and attempt to bring their lures right past those fishes’ noses with the aid of LiveScope. As we sat and caught fish routinely, I regularly glanced at side-imaging, and, from time to time, spotted fishable groups of fish to the port or starboard side of the boat.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

When I spotted this, I coached Patrick through the process of correctly presenting the MAL Dense Lure with a sawtooth presentation. He really enjoyed the casting and found it more engaging, so, for the final 45 minutes he continued to improve his skills using that tactic and caught fish as steadily as Aubri did continuing on fishing vertically.

Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Things were going just fine but, quite suddenly, at 12:03 PM, Patrick exclaimed, “Bob, we’ve got to go back! I’ve got to see clients at 1:45, and I didn’t realize it was already past noon.“.

Yes, time sure flies when you’re having fun.

We wrapped up this trip with exactly 84 fish caught and released, including one freshwater drum, one large mouth bass, 11 short hybrid, and 71 white bass.

TALLY: 84 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The threadfin shad spawn has begun once again after stopping shortly after it began early last week, thanks to the cold weather from last Thursday through early this week.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 14.41 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .04′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 64.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE1-2 for the first 30 minutes, then calm until ~10A, then picking up SE4-6

Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 10% coverage moved in from the NW

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 49% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0067G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 1882 – 10 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area vic 1544 – 35 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area vic 1389 – 33 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

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

A PRETTY OBTUSE GUY – 140 FISH @ BELTON

April 12th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, April 12, I fished with returning guests, Dr. Jim Wood and Sky Sparks.

Dr. Wood is a retired surgeon and wound care doctor and Sky makes his living as a medical scribe.

This morning’s weather was nearly cookie-cutter as compared to yesterday, and the fish did much the same things at the same times and in the same places as yesterday.

Here is how the fishing went…

—————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 01, 06-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, TX, and Sky Sparks of Killeen, TX, pair up for a 140-fish morning on Lake Belton. The men worked MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails vertically for the vast majority of their catch on this bright, cool, calm morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 12 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Our first 45 minutes or so were fairly slow as it was dead calm with a bright, rising sun and conditions cold enough to require a couple upperbody layers on, but not quite cold enough for gloves.

While the fish were slow, we used white, 5/8 ounce, bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with an easing tactic to coax lethargic, bottom-hugging fish up off bottom in a attempt to get them to chase and strike our rising baits. We landed four fish this way before departed, hoping to find at least a ripple on the lake’s surface in water more open than the water we were currently fishing.

After finding just the slightest ripple on the water over top of an area which normally produces well this time of year, I watched sonar and saw the telltale sign of bottom-hugging white bass in right at 34 feet of water. As we set up on top of these fish, the commotion we created combined with that of the splasher, began to pull these fish up off bottom very quickly before we even dropped our baits down.

Although I had intended to start off here with slabs, this behavior indicated to me we needed to go with a more aggressive approach, so, I switched everybody over to MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails so we could drop straight down and race these upwards with a smoking tactic. These fish responded well, and we spent 2.75 hours pulling fish after fish from the school, for a total of 110 fish landed at this area.

Whenever the action waned a bit, I kept Jim and Sky working vertically and I worked an MAL Dense out horizontally to draw fish in from around us by getting them to follow the lure (or a hooked fish which I slowly reeled in) back to the boat, thus “restocking the pond” for Jim and Sky.

During this time, we slowly found ourselves surrounded by other boats, but the MAL Heavy really outperformed everything else around us. Observing this, Jim said something to the effect of, “Now, I’m a pretty obtuse guy, but if I was one of these guys in these other boats, I think I would ask, “What the heck are you guys using?”.“

Definition of obtuse according to the Oxford Dictionary: annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand.

By about 11 AM it was clear these fish were slowing way down, so I moved us to the same location where I wrapped up yesterday’s trip with a strong final bite.

What I found directly over the channel were, literally, thousands of white bass milling around about 12 feet up off the bottom in a long school, which was about 12 feet thick. I Spot-Locked atop one portion of the school, got the splasher going in order to hold some of these fish under the boat, and Jim and Sky worked their baits with a smoking tactic, focusing on those fish highest up in the water column.

I don’t know if these fish were spawning (thanks to a lack of flow in the tributaries), or migrating, but they definitely were not feeding. Despite the huge number of fish present, we still had to work for these. One tip I gave Jim and Sky was to single out one fish at the top of the school and try to run their MAL right in front of its nose instead of coming through the fish or behind the fish as it appeared on Garmin LiveScope. We added a final 26 white bass to our count here before calling it a good day as these fish begin to lose interest right at noon.

Our 140 fish haul included one largemouth bass, one crappie, two legal hybrid striped bass, and four short hybrid striped bass, along with 132 white bass.

TALLY: 140 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile down to 45′ taken yesterday (11 April)…

0 feet, 63.8F
5 feet, 63.9F
10 feet, 64.1F
15 feet, 63.9F
20 feet, 63.8F
25 feet, 63.7F
30 feet, 63.5F
35 feet, 62.8F
40 feet, 61.7F
45 feet, 61.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 14.37 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .04′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 63.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE3-4 after the first hour’s calm conditions

Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 10% coverage moved in from the NW

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 60% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1371 – 4 fish early on eased slabs

Area 717 – 110 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area 0158/B0067G – 26 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

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

GO HORIZONTAL, YOUNG MAN! – 145 FISH @ BELTON

April 11th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:This morning, Tuesday, April 11th, I fished with members of the Oliver family – – some of my oldest clients in terms of years they’ve been coming out with me.

This morning, Jack Oliver coordinated the trip for his three adult boys, Asa, Isaac, and Eli, as well as for two of his three brothers – – Joe and Jamie (we’re gonna get Jeff out before long!!).

As it turned out, a family emergency arose just as we begin fishing our first spot. I took Joe back in so he could tend to that at the same time Isaac, who was arriving an hour late, was just pulling up. So, I only had a net of five people aboard at any given time this morning.

Here is how the fishing went.…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 01, 06-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left Jamie, Asa, Jack, Isaac, and Eli Oliver with a sampling of the nice fish they caught and released on Lake Belton using the MAL Heavy with a sawtooth tactic.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 11 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s conditions were the toughest I’ve faced in quite some time. The cold front, which came in late last week, had its high pressure fully built in this morning, meaning, no cloud cover, bright sunshine, and calm conditions. Accordingly, we struggled not to find fish, but to get fish we found to get excited about chasing and biting our lures.

I found that parking right on top of the most dense schools of fish I could possibly find and using an easing tactic with 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab at least began to put fish in the boat as one in perhaps every 15 to 25 fish would begin swimming upwards after the lure with enough gusto to overtake it and bite.

Things stayed tough until right around 10 AM when a light northeast breeze begin to move the water and puffy white clouds begin to move in from the southwest.

Things started happening quickly at this point. I combed over an area with sonar and found fish blanketing the bottom, yet not very far up off of it, for a span of about 100 yards. Seeing there was no brush in the area, I moved shallower than, and parallel to, this group of fish hanging on the 28 foot contour mark. I Spot-Locked, put everyone abreast of one another on the starboard gunwale, and had them cast out horizontally using MAL Heavies with chartreuse tails using the sawtooth method.

Immediately, we started boating fish after fish as they came over the side as singles, doubles, and even a few triples. We worked that area thoroughly with two “short hops” after the initial anchorage for about 90 minutes picking up 51 fish there.

Around 11:45, those fish gave out and I made a move and found a nearly identical scenario some distance away. We did the same thing using the MAL heavies with a sawtooth method, and put a final 16 fish in the boat.

Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

One huge take away today was how much more interested these fish were in a horizontal retrieve than in a vertical retrieve.

Included in our tally of 145 fish this morning were four short hybrid stripers, two freshwater drum, one flathead catfish, one largemouth bass, and 137 white bass, of which approximately 27 were short.

TALLY: 145 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here is the water temperature profile down to 45’…

0 feet, 63.8F
5 feet, 63.9F
10 feet, 64.1F
15 feet, 63.9F
20 feet, 63.8F
25 feet, 63.7F
30 feet, 63.5F
35 feet, 62.8F
40 feet, 61.7F
45 feet, 61.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Elevation: 14.32 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .00′ change over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 63.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE4-5 after the first 2 hours’ calm conditions

Sky Condition: Clear skies for the first 2 hours, then puffy white clouds at 25% coverage moved in from the SW

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 80% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1819 – 7 fish under low-light conditions on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0016C – 18 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0184C – 12 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area 0149 – 41 fish on eased 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area B0066G – 51 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense

Area vic 0141 – 16 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense

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’S WHAT DADS DO! — 102 FISH, LAKE BELTON

April 10th, 2023April 10th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 10th, I fished with father-and-son team Joey and Wyatt Sapien.

The fishing was solid this morning after a topsy-turvy weather run over the past 5 days. Thanks to grey cloud cover and a gentle breeze, the fish bit well for the last three hours of our four hour trip.

As we wrapped things up at the close of the trip, Joey semi-exaggerated the events which played out, saying, “Yep, we caught 102 fish, and I landed about 12 of those and also managed to get both of the two snags we had to go get with the trolling motor.”

I told 12-year-old Wyatt, “See that’s the kind of things that dads to to make their sons look good!”.

Here is how the fishing went…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 01, 06-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Father-and-son time for Joey Sapien and 12-year-old Wyatt. These fellows took 102 fish on MAL Heavy and MAL Dense Lures this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Wyatt landed the first smallmouth bass of his life this morning, then landed another one about 20 minutes later. Both took the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail counted down to a 6-count.

PHOTO CAPTION: If it eats shad, it ate the MAL Heavy Lure this morning. This largemouth bass and four others like if fell for this threadfin shad imitator; a few others were lost “on the jump” before the made it over the gunwale.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 10 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Our first hour was a bit slow as it was pretty gloomy thanks to thick, grey cloud cover and light winds. In our second hour, winds picked up and the sky brightened, although still fully greyed over, and the bite began to develop.

We took 47 of our first 49 fish under birds working bait with white bass and schoolie-sized largemouth below them. When we actually saw fish boiling on shad, Joey and Wyatt cast just beyond them and immediately began to retrieve; otherwise, they counted their MAL Heavy Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) down for 4 to 6 seconds and then began a moderate retrieve straight back to the boat.

This catch included 2 smallmouth bass and 5 largemouth bass.

After this action died we moved on and found another school of white bass well-spread across the bottom in ~28′ adjacent to the channel. I Spot-Locked in deep water and we cast shallower, toward the shoreline using MAL Dense Lures (chartreuse tails) with a sawtooth method.

Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

We repositioned on these fish three separate times and took our final tally up to exactly 102 fish.

Of the 102 fish we landed, 5 were largemouth bass, 4 were hybrid striped bass, 2 were smallmouth bass, and the remaining 91 fish were white bass, all of which were legal-sized fish including one white bass landed by Wyatt which measured 14 7/8-inches.

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The laughing gulls now make up the majority of the population of gulls still inhabiting Lake Belton. These are not as credible as ringbills and terns.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 14.32 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .02′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to 3 days of light rain (which produced very little runoff).

Water Surface Temp: 64.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE4-5 after the first hour’s calm conditions

Sky Condition: Moderate grey cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 80% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0076C – 49 fish on MAL Heavy Lures sight-cast or counted down

Area B0067C – 53 fish on sawtoothed MAL Dense; 3 hops

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

REFRESHING RAIN, REFRESHING CLIENT — 122 FISH @ BELTON

April 6th, 2023April 6th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, April 6, I fished with Mr. Shawn Ely from near Moody, TX.

Shawn was the perfect fit for this day of pretty crummy weather. I was originally scheduled to have a dad and his three kids on the water this morning, and, although they would have most certainly caught fish, the conditions they’d have to endure to do it would likely have dampened the enjoyment of that trip.

On short notice Shawn stepped in. He grew up in the outdoors, owns two boats of his own, is a student of white bass fishing, can handle a rod well, and knew enough to dress appropriately for both the wet and the cold.

Here is how the fishing went…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 01, 06-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Shawn Ely with a pair of Lake Belton white bass which went right at 14″ and fell for an MAL Dense worked “sawtooth-style”.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 06 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As we got going, I knew Shawn’s goal was more to learn about approaches to finding and catching white bass than to actually reel in hooked fish. I asked him before we ever wetted a line, “How can I help scratch where you itch when it comes to white bass?”.

As we spoke about this, I listened and tried to come up with a plan on how best help given the weather conditions we faced, and the point of the season we are in.

The first thing I knew I could accomplish was introducing Shawn to the “Sawtooth Method” of working an MAL Lure.

Indeed, we worked MAL Dense Lures (white body, chartreuse tail) for a full 3.5 hours of our 4 hours on the water. We covered every aspect: from fighting slack, to hooksetting, to boat positioning, to reading birds, to spinner startup, to speed control, and more. One of the big lessons Shawn came away with on this topic was how little I rely on sonar for fishing horizontally after initially finding fish.

Here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Another area we touched on addressed the question: How few fish is too few to stop and fish for? On this matter I tried to point out both large and small schools of white bass and the thought process I went through on deciding whether or not to stop based on what I observed.

We got to compare notes on side-imaging from my Humminbird Solix 15 with his Garmin unit.

Finally, in our final half-hour on the water, we really shifted gears as the fish were wrapping up their morning feed and getting sluggish. I introduced Shawn to the use of a slab in conjunction with the “easing” tactic, which is something I’ll use through the end of May for very stubborn fish, typically right at the beginning and end of a morning trip. This was very sonar intensive, as Garmin LiveScoped helped advise us when to keep the slab moving upwards as fish were chasing, and when to stop lifting and allow the lure to return to bottom.

It was a real joy to have an experienced angler on the boat who could appreciate little technique nuances as Shawn did, and who could make small, on-the-spot technique adjustments to enhance success.

If there was one odd thing we agreed upon it was this: today’s fishing was almost too easy in that because we did not struggle to find fish, Shawn didn’t get to really see what ferreting out the locations of active fish looked like — they were just everywhere!!. But, neither of us complained about that!

When all was said and done, we landed 122 fish, including 2 largemouth bass and 120 white bass with about 20% of those whites running short.

TALLY: 122 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The cold front which passed yesterday morning stalled to our SE and occluded. It then generated rain all day today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F and falling to 48F

Elevation: 14.28 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to passage of a violent, albeit brief, thunderstorm right at sunset Monday night and additional rains on Wednesday and this morning.

Water Surface Temp: 63.4F on the surface. (a ~2.4 degree drop from yesterday)

Wind Speed & Direction: NW6-8 most of the morning (and significantly less than the NW14-18 called for)

Sky Condition: Moderate grey cloud cover all morning with one ~25 minute round of rain at mid-morning with a light sprinkle falling in our final 40 minutes on the water, as well.

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 01899 thru 2029 – 111 fish over 3.5 hours all on sawtoothed MAL Heavy

Area 817 – 11 fish easing slabs for demo purposes as fish were getting lethargic

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

IF HE SAID IT ONCE, HE SAID IT A DOZEN TIMES — 144 FISH @ BELTON

April 5th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, April 5, I finished with first time guests Richard and Al Eyster. These cousins are both retired from careers in the oil and gas industry and grew up with both freshwater and saltwater fishing experience. Al, however, didn’t do much fishing after boyhood, and estimated it had been over 30 years since he had touched a rod and reel prior to this morning’s trip.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 01, 05-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Al and Richard Eyster enjoyed the typically above-average fishing which takes place immediately following a cold front’s passage as the north winds begin to ramp up. The pair took 144 fish today using multiple MAL Lure types with a variety of retrieves.

PHOTO CAPTION: Many folks would wake up to this and think, “Forget it!”, but, at the storm’s rate of progress west, its passage coincided with sunrise, giving us improving conditions through the morning hours.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 05 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We planned to start at 7:40 AM and were delayed just a few minutes as the trailing edge of a cold front passed through the area. Wind, rain, thunder, and lightning all moved from west to east, and as it did, I provided my safety talk and tactics orientation inside Richard‘s Chevy Suburban, so we would be ready to fish as soon as the rain let up and the lightning moved safely past us.

Although the action was slower in the first and last hours, we caught fish consistently from start to finish for a full four hours this morning. The fishing was made simple by the presence of shad-eating birds, including terns and a variety of gulls. Where the gulls were circling over the lake, baitfish were being driven to the surface by aggressively feeding gamefish below. Even when the birds quit, the fish, although less aggressive, still remained in the area and were easily caught. We used three different retrieves all employing, the Heavy, and the Dense versions of the MAL Lure.

When the fish were less aggressive at the beginning and end of the trip, we used the MAL Heavy vertically, and in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope by dropping to the bottom, then cranking it upward off the bottom 5 to 6 cranks while watching LiveScope for a chase.

Later, but still under dark skies, the fish begin to chase bait in the lower half of the water column. At this time, we used MAL Heavy Lures, cast them out, let them sink to bottom, and brought them back with a straight, plain-Jane retrieve at a moderate cadence.

Once the skies brightened, the fish moved out deeper but were still feeding aggressively and were covering a large area of bottom, as seen on side-imaging. With this scenario, we cast the heaviest MAL, the MAL Dense, out horizontally, allowed it to sink with an open bail and worked it back to the boat using the sawtooth method.

If he said it once, he said it about a dozen times … Richard stated, “I really need to get one of these LiveScopes.” We then consider the major events lying ahead such as Fathers’ Day, his birthday, Christmas, etc. You can put two and two together.

By 11:50 AM we were headed back to the dock with 144 fish landed, including eight hybrids, striped bass, one blue, catfish, and 135 white bass with several fish right at the 14 inch mark

TALLY: 144 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: As the north winds increased following the front’s wet, stormy passage, the bite also increased.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:50A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F (falling from 76F at 5AM, just hours before the front moved in)

Elevation: 14.27 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .01′ rise over the last 24 hrs. thanks to passage of a violent, albeit brief, thunderstorm right at sunset Monday night.

Water Surface Temp: 65.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW4 at trip’s start after the cold front’s passage, building up to NW14 as we left the lake

Sky Condition: Slowly decreasing cloud cover going from 100% grey to 30% white by noon.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 817 – 57 fish early

Area B0067G – 57 fish in 2 short hops adjacent to river channel

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

…MOST SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT… — 126 FISH @ BELTON

April 3rd, 2023April 3rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 3, I fished with returning guests, Kelvin Gladden Sr., and his two adult sons, Kelvin Jr., and Tevin. Kelvin Sr. is a retired U.S. Army veteran, Kelvin works for Walmart, and Tevin signed on with a tech company based in Temple back in 2020. Here is how the fishing went…

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Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are 27 April (PM), May 15 (AM), and June 01, 05-08 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kelvin Gladden Sr., and his sons Tevin and Kelvin Jr. landed 126 fish working MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails using a vertical smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 03 April 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We got off to a slightly later than intended start, with lines in the water around 8:25, but thanks to calm winds and dark gray skies, the fishing was still pretty slow even then. As soon as the clouds begin to thin, the bite picked up, and the bite improved even more after we got some wind moving and the brightening of the skies continued.

The lengthy warming trend we have enjoyed made what I feel is the most significant improvement in the fishing so far this spring over this past weekend. Every group of fish we found, although their energy level certainly differed from school to school, was energized enough to aggressively pursue a quickly retrieved MAL Heavy Lure used with a smoking (not slow-smoking) tactic. Additionally, each school readily pulled up off the bottom, whereas less aggressive schools right up until late last week would often stayed glued to the bottom, no matter what.

Fishing was pretty straightforward after we figure it out what these aggressive fish were willing to do. I found the fish, put us on Spot Lock over top of them, made sure that my crew knew how to get the MAL Lures’ blades spinning early in the retrieve, and the rest was gravy. The Gladden family put 126 fish in the boat this morning including 3 hybrid stripers, 1 yellow cat, 1 freshwater drum, 1 smallmouth buffalo, and 120 white bass.

TALLY: 126 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The first whiporwills showed up in the cedar breaks this weekend and the first of the spawning threadfin shad were spotted running along the bank this morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8:15A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 14.28 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .04′ fall over the last 24 hrs. thanks to passage of a violent, albeit brief, thunderstorm right at sunset last night.

Water Surface Temp: 62.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE3 at trip’s start, rising to SE 9 by mid-morning, then dropping off again toward noon.

Sky Condition: Slowly decreasing cloud cover going from 100% grey to 30% white by noon.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 93% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0051C- 22 fish

Area B0020C – 16 fish

Area B0172C – 15 fish

Area 437 – 15 fish

Area 165 – 9 fish (very shallow)

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

CAST-IRON CASTERS – 77 FISH @ BELTON

March 31st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday evening, March 30, I fished with first-time guests Russell and Kelly Allen, both retirees who travelled in from near Brownwood, TX, to fish with me in celebration of Kelly’s birthday.

Russell retired from the oil and gas industry, and Kelly retired from a career as a court reporter. The two struck me as very humble, godly folks. They appreciated the prayer I always include at the start of my trips, and they asked to pray with me as our trip concluded, which was much appreciated.

As we got to talking, the Allens shared fond memories of a retreat they went to once upon a time in Oklahoma which involved a week’s worth of sleeping on cots under tents and learning to cook with cast iron pots and pans!

Here is how the fishing went…

————————————————————————–

Peak spring dates are just about gone. Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are May 15 (AM), May 30 (AM), June 01 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Retirees Russell and Kelly Allen shook off the drizzle, kept a great attitude, remained coachable, and did well, landing a mixed bag of white bass, hybrid stripers, and a single largemouth bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 30 March 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Although the warm, southerly breeze and occasional drizzle of the morning hours continued into this afternoon’s trip, the wind cut back to a steady 6-7mph and the temperature warmed to about 68F and stayed there all afternoon.

Fishing was just average this afternoon. We found several groups of fish that were relatively inactive which gave up only a few fish each, as well as two areas which produced no fish at all. As we encountered these lethargic fish, the white, 5/8 oz. slab was our tool of choice to provoke a chasing response. Presenting consistently to a large number of fish was the key to getting bit during this tough spell.

The last two hours of the trip were much more productive than the start. We moved up shallower as the light level began to decrease as the sunset (obscured by clouds) neared. A few spurts of topwater feeding and some minor bird activity let us know when we were at least in the right vicinity of catchable fish.

Once we saw this increased activity by the fish, we changed over to MAL Heavy and MAL Dense Lures and began to work them horizontally. We worked the MAL Heavy Lures from the surface downward using a count-down method, and we used the MAL Dense lures from the bottom upwards using the sawtooth method. Of these, the count-down method definitely excelled, as the fish on bottom (those seeing the MAL Dense on the sawtooth presentation) were not nearly as fired up as the fish up higher in the water column. We found both kinds of fish (those which were lethargic and on bottom, and those which were more active and up higher in the water column) both using the same areas at the same times.

In the final 15 minutes of the trip, I moved us up very shallow and we successfully landed both white bass and a few more hybrid in as little at 2 feet of water as we Spot-Locked in 7-9 feet of water and cast up shallower.

Our tally of 77 fish consisted of 4 short hybrid striped bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 72 white bass, of which 4 were short.

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS: The water temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet, 62.3F
5 feet, 62.3F
10 feet, 62.0F
15 feet, 62.0F
20 feet, 61.9F
25 feet, 61.7F
30 feet, 60.9F
35 feet, 60.0F
40 feet, 59.4F
45 feet, 59.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:15P

End Time: 7:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 14.32 feet low, 24 CFS flow, .00′ fall over the last 24 hrs.

Water Surface Temp: 59.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE7 all afternoon

Sky Condition: 100% moderate, grey cloud cover with occasional light drizzle

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 63% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0051C- 22 fish

Area B0020C – 16 fish

Area B0172C – 15 fish

Area 437 – 15 fish

Area 165 – 9 fish (very shallow)

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