2023 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

SPRING BREAKIN’ WITH MOM — 151 FISH @ BELTON

March 6th, 2023March 6th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 06 March, I fished with the Greenwood Family from Allen, TX, just north of Dallas.

Mrs. Cynthia Greenwood treated her four daughters, Jocelyn (age 13), Taylor and Reese (11-year-old twins), and Kendall (age 9) to a multi-day, Spring Break 2023 trip to the north Austin area, which included a morning of fishing with me on the waters of Lake Belton.

Cynthia happens to be a guidance counselor in the same school district in which her girls go to school, so the five of them had the same dates off. No, Mr. Greenwood didn’t get “voted off the island”; he had to keep on working this week!

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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

Here is how the fishing went …

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s mom (Cynthia) in the back, then, from left: Kendall, Taylor, Reese, and Jocelyn enjoying Spring Break 2023 away from Allen ISD up north of Dallas. My five-girl crew landed 151 fish in 4 hour.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 06 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing is improving with each passing warm spring day now. The surface temperature is now in the high 50’s and climbing. We’ve got another 2 solid days of warming before the next cold front is due in, but, even it is due to be mild.

There are two distinct fisheries now present for white bass. There are fish locked down on bottom on major topographic features and there are large, slowly moving schools of fish wandering in preparation to spawn; these wandering fish tend to be suspended and clearly traveling in a specific direction. Those fish locked on bottom on topography tend to be harder to catch, fewer in number, and less likely to stay interested very long. Due to their position in the water column, these bottom-oriented fish are also in water several degrees cooler than the 20-25 foot water being used by the migratory fish.

My crew this morning had fished before, but really hadn’t caught fish before, with most of their prior experience taking place on municipal park ponds.

We started with the basics and just kept building on those basics until everyone was catching fish consistently and unaided. We began with how to hold a spinning rod, how to open and close the bail, and how to retrieve the bait smoothly and naturally. We then layered in Garmin LiveScope so each of the ladies could see their retrieve and fish response to it. Then we troubleshot kinks in their methodology and introduced a bit of hooksetting, and that was all it took.

The ladies used white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (only) the entire morning and used them with a slow-smoking tactic.

Here is a link to my tutorial on using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with a slow-smoking tactic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

Our 151 fish tally included 1 freshwater drum, 4 largemouth bass, 6 short hybrid striped bass, and 140 white bass, of which 131 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 151 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile taken on 04 March:

0 feet, 58.6F
5 feet, 58.3F
10 feet, 58.2F
15 feet, 58.2F
20 feet, 57.8F
25 feet, 57.6F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 56.6F
40 feet, 56.0F
45 feet, 54.9F
50 feet, 53.9F
55 feet, 53.5F
60 feet 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 13.95 feet low, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 57F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: S10 at trip’s start, increasing to S12 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 100% thin grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 187 – 22 fish (w/birds)
Area A0160G – 11 fish (w/birds)
Area 294/B0198G – 62 (w/birds)
Area B0021C – 5 fish
Area B0199G – 41 fish (w/birds)
Area 154 – 10 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec

HAD TO CALL IN THE RESERVES — 111 FISH @ BELTON

March 4th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 04 March, I fished with Army buddies Taylor Lubigan and Cindy Gore.

Both are medical professionals who have been called away from their civilian employment to serve on active duty as reservists working at Fort Hood helping to medically prepare other soldiers for deployments worldwide.

Taylor was born in the Philippines and moved to New Jersey at age 7; Cindy grew up in Manhattan, NY.

Despite being born on an island, this trip was Taylor’s first time on a boat!

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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

Here is how the fishing went …

PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Army Reservists Cindy Gore and Taylor Lubigan landed 111 fish on Lake Belton during their 4-hour morning trip. Warming water and increasing daylength has the fishing now steadily improving!

PHOTO CAPTION: “Two-for-ones” are a sign of very aggressively feeding fish. As the water temperature increases, so does fish metabolism. These fishes’ bodies are demanding more food, more often than just a few days ago.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 04 March 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I would now rate the fishing as “good” or “solid”, and know it will be getting better. This lengthy warming trend we’ve experienced (now a week long) raised the water temperature at depth (see below) and the fish have responded positively.

The fish are moving more quickly (as seen on Garmin LiveScope), responding more aggressively, staying interested for longer spans of time, are venturing further from bottom, and are chasing baits longer distances than just a week ago.

Applying the good old Army “KISS” principle (Keep it simple, stupid!) we found what worked early and stuck with it right through the morning. Our method definitely wasn’t broke, so we made no attempt to fix it!! At times we had company nearby and I observed that the snap-jigging tactics being employed were not producing even a fraction of the fish we were catching.

We used a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time and relied upon the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to catch every one of the 111 fish which crossed the gunwale this morning.

We had some “gravy” poured on our already good meal when bird activity erupted at mid-morning, allowing us ~50 minutes of undisturbed catching (9:30 to 10:20AM) during which time we caught a majority of our fish.

Here is a link to my tutorial on using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with a slow-smoking tactic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

Our 111 fish tally included 5 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, 4 short hybrid striped bass, and 101 white bass, of which 95 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 111 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Temperature profile taken on 04 March:

0 feet, 58.6F
5 feet, 58.3F
10 feet, 58.2F
15 feet, 58.2F
20 feet, 57.8F
25 feet, 57.6F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 56.6F
40 feet, 56.0F
45 feet, 54.9F
50 feet, 53.9F
55 feet, 53.5F
60 feet 53.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:40A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 13.92 feet low, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 58.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE11 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies with a light haze making skies light blue

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 92% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

B0196C/B0196G – 11 fish
B0013C/1544 – 5 fish
Vic 1144 – 54 fish (2 hops)
Vic B0037C/B0150C – 34 fish
B0150C – 7 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

IT WAS CHILLY, MY BROTHER! — 48 FISH @ BELTON

February 25th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 25 Feb., I fished with the Walthall family from near Lorena.

Jay and Nikkie just came along as spectators on this “Kids Fish, Too!” trip which was just for their boys, Clayton (almost 12), and Levy (age 10). This was in celebration of Clayton’s forthcoming birthday in early March.

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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

Here is how the fishing went …

PHOTO CAPTION: I think this photo perfectly captures the morning. Clayton’s face (front left) communicates some discomfort from the cold, while his brother’s beams with excitement over the fish they worked hard to capture.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 25 February 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We are truly on the cusp of the spring fishery really turning on. The primary thing I see happening right now which convinces me of this are the already large schools of white bass “massing” into even larger schools of several hundred fish each and using the edges of the Leon River channel as a migration route. I’ve now witnessed six occurrences of this in my last three outings.

This morning, given the cold conditions (41F when we linked up) and the boys’ limited experience with this sort of fishing, we kept it super-simple and worked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically 100% of the time using a “slow-smoking” tactic.

All but one of the locations we worked attracted fish by virtue of topography. The one exception was where we found a school of many hundreds of fish suspended over 55+ feet of water moving very slowly upstream along the old river channel. These fish were not really interested in feeding, but, when enough of them were in close proximity to one another and the boys worked their slabs just right, we could provoke “competition bites” or “reflex bites”.

Here is a link to my tutorial on using the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with a slow-smoking tactic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

Our 48 fish tally included 3 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, 2 legal hybrid striped bass, and 42 white bass, of which 39 were legal (over the 10″ minimum).

TALLY: 48 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: A flock of ~20 terns led the way to our first area this morning, and a larger flock of ~70 terns pointed the way to the large, migratory school of white bass mentioned above.

Temperature profile taken on 23 Feb:

0 feet, 57.4F
5 feet, 57.4F
10 feet, 56.9F
15 feet, 55.3F
20 feet, 54.3F
25 feet, 53.7F
30 feet, 53.2F
35 feet, 52.5F
40 feet, 52.3F
45 feet, 52.0F
50 feet, 51.9F
55 feet, 51.9F
60 feet, 51.7F
65 feet, 51.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Elevation: 13.90 feet low, ~.01′ 24-hour fall, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 54.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW8-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% moderate grey cloud coverage all day

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 32% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1552 (2 hops), 17 fish

Area B0197G (large migratory school), 24 fish

Area B0149C, 5 fish

Area vic 717, 2 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

THEY CAME EARLY & STAYED LATE — 155 FISH @ BELTON

February 24th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday, 23 Feb., I fished a full-day trip with George and Barbara Portele from Montgomery, TX, near Lake Conroe.

The couple are very good temperate bass anglers and have ample opportunity to pursue white bass, yellow bass, and hybrid striped bass on their home lake. George told me he’d always wanted to give Lake Belton a try, and I was honored to be the one he chose to give him and his wife the grand tour.

I couldn’t ask for better clients. They came early, stayed late, willing accepted my coaching, fished hard, and didn’t give up until we’d hit our morning goal of 50 fish, and our afternoon goal of 100 fish!! We fished 4 hours in the morning, took a 2-hour, off-the-water lunch break, and then met up again for another 4 hours in the afternoon, concluding right at dark.

The fishing has begun that sharp increase thanks to a week-long warming trend which looks like it will continue right on into next week with highs in the 70’s called for each of the next 5-6 days.

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

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: George and Barbara Portele traveled in from Montgomery, TX, to spend a full day in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton. They landed 155 fish.

PHOTO CAPTION: Largemouth bass and freshwater drum served as “bonus fish” throughout the day.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 23 February 2023 (Full day)

HOW WE FISHED:

I am excited about what lies ahead after experiencing what we did on Lake Belton today. Things are definitely starting to happen as spring approaches.

AM Summary – As has been the case this winter, the bite started off slowly. We found plenty of fish, but they were not at all enthusiastic. We caught just 12 fish in our first hour, and had to move a lot, catching just a few fish at each location before they lost what little interest they first showed, but the action rose as the light level and winds increased. The AM bite peaked right around 10AM. By 11:45, George and Barbara had landed a total of 55 fish including 51 white bass (all legal), 1 largemouth bass, and 3 freshwater drum. We fished a combination of deadsticked soft plastics when the fish were particularly slow, and changed over to white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to get the job done when the fish perked up and were willing to chase moving baits. We used a slow-smoking tactic. A tutorial video for that method is found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

PM Summary – The afternoon bite was longer and stronger than the AM by far. The combination of thin, grey cloud cover, wind, and warmth worked to fire the fish up this afternoon. We found and caught fish all afternoon. They never got “crazy turned-on”, but the fish bit more aggressively than in the morning. Most of our fish were caught on a slow-smoked slab (same one as AM), but, with the fish cooperating so well, we “played around” with ice jigs, deadsticked soft plastics, and even broke out the MAL Heavy (white tail) and caught fish on everything we used. We also benefitted from the assistance of birds (mainly terns) during the middle of the afternoon. As I saw back on Feb. 7th, right at sunset we witnessed birds working along the side of the channel over a large group of slowly migrating white bass. These fish were suspended in a 4-5 foot thick band up as high as 18′ beneath the surface. They were moving slowly and were readily taken working vertically. We fished until we’d landed 100 fish for the afternoon, and then headed in just before sunset.

Our catch in the afternoon consisted of 5 drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 94 white bass, of which 12 were short.

TALLY: 155 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: A flock of ~40 terns assisted us in finding fish mid-afternoon, and a mixed flock of about 20 gulls and terns assisted in finding a migratory school of fish navigating the channel edge later, toward sunset.

Temperature profile:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 6:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 13.87 feet low, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 57.4F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE10 at trip’s start, building to NNE14-15 at midday, then tapering back to NNE8 by sunset

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud coverage all day

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

AM: Vic 1012, 714, 1483, B0078C, B0149C, 1482, B0005C, 1552/2059

PM: B0193G, B0194G, B0069C, B0195G, mouth of B0097C

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

WARM AIR, COLD WATER –51 FISH @ BELTON

February 20th, 2023February 20th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This Presidents’ Day morning, Monday, Feb. 20th, I conducted my first fishing trip with clients aboard since rotator cuff surgery back on 13 Jan.

This trip was in celebration of James DuBose’s birthday, and was arranged for by his wife, Ashly. She worked mightily to keep this trip a secret AND coordinate it at a time when James, his dad (Vernon), and his brother (Chris) would all be available and present, as Vernon and Chris live down by Galveston.

If you follow me routinely, you’ll recall I fished a scouting trip back on Feb. 7th, anticipating a crew of clients on Feb. 9th. Well, one of those fellows got sick and the trip didn’t happen. Then, this trip was originally scheduled for last Friday (ambient air temp. 31F, wind chill 22F) and we all felt delaying to this morning was a better bet — and it was!

At this point, I am full re-opened for business and my booking calendar is up-to-date. If a date says “OPEN AM” or “OPEN PM”, I am available. You can always just call or text to check on a date, as well. Here’s that calendar: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Chris, James, Ashly, and Vernon DuBose with a few of the 51 fish they landed via slow-smoking slabs and dead-sticking with soft plastics and jigheads.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 20 February 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I spoke with a lot of disappointed anglers at the boat ramp today — mainly largemouth bass anglers who were beginning to probe up shallow for black bass. The warm air had everyone hoping that spring was coming on, but, the water temperature told a very different story. It measured only 52.3 on the surface. Bear in mind that during our last cold snap (Thur. thru Sat. last week), the air temp only exceeded the water surface temp. after around 3p on Saturday. Otherwise, that was a full 60 hours of cooling which preceded that.

I started our trip well after sunrise today (at 7:45A) as I’ve found very little in the way of fish or bird activity during the first hour of light since the water temp slipped into the low 50’s earlier this winter.

Even with a later start, we only took 3 fish in the first hour. By 9:15A, as the wind begin to increase and the sun began to shine more brightly (thru a full 100% coverage of thin clouds), the bite began to come on strong. The white bass bite definitely followed “bell-shaped” curve today, peaking around 10A, then dropping off about a half hour later.

As we moved around to several areas looking for aggressive fish, we found the fish most aggressive (though still far from truly aggressive) as soon as we dropped baits down to them. We’d typically take a few fish, then the fish would remain in the area (drawn, no doubt, by the thumper), but turn off to the slab (white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs). Seeing this, we changed over to deadsticking with a jighead and soft plastic, moved the baits much more slowly, and began catching once again. We found any suspended fish MUCH more likely to strike than those fish remaining on, or just barely off, the bottom.

Without Garmin LiveScope, our catch would have been half of what it was this morning, as the detail it provided allowed everyone to present their baits with great precision on a consistent basis to these reluctant, cold fish.

I know everyone, including myself, is getting that spring itch, but that water temperature has to temper our expectations to avoid disappointment.

Our tally of 51 white bass consisted of 3 short fish, and 48 legal-sized fish. This was a 3.25-hour trip.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: No helpful bird activity. No fish dripping eggs or milt from the 51 whites we landed. No bycatch of other than white bass today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 13.84 feet low, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 52.3F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW winds all morning starting at 10, building to 16

Sky Condition: 100% light white cloud coverage all morning. Cloud ceiling was high.

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 2059 – 33 fish

Area B0165G – 6 fish

Area B0005C- 3 fish

Area 1482 – 3 fish

Area vic B0160G – 6 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

BACK IN THE SADDLE – 56 FISH, LAKE BELTON

February 7th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, Feb. 7th, I conducted my first fishing trip after being off the water for exactly one month thanks to a rotator cuff injury on Dec. 20th, and surgery on that left shoulder on Jan. 13th.

This was a “shake out the cobwebs and scout for some fish” kinda trip, and my “adult babysitter” was Mr. Ronnie Trower of Texas Boat World fame. He kindly accompanied me as I (at a pace slower than normal) worked through launching and prepping my boat before our trip and then loading my boat back onto the trailer following the trip.

At this point, I am re-opened for business and my booking calendar is up-to-date. If a date says “OPEN AM” or “OPEN PM”, I am available. You can always just call or text to check on a date, as well. Here’s that calendar: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: After a 30 day layoff due to a torn rotator cuff, I hit the water today to do a shake-down on the boat and tackle, and identify fish-holding areas for my clients scheduled this Thursday. Mr. Ronnie Trower came along in case I got myself in a bind.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 07 February 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Since the point of this trip was to get back on the water and locate fish for my first guided party this coming Thursday morning, we agreed we’d limit our catch to roughly 4 fish at any given area and then move on so we could identify a plethora of fish-holding areas while also sampling size and fish interest level at each area which produced.

In all, we found fish at 11 distinct areas holding fish this morning and spotted birds working fish at a 12th area which we did not fish. There was a very sharp distinction between the two sorts of areas we found fish in.

The first general location was tight to bottom on breaklines in distinct schools, as would be expected of wintertime whites on topographic features.

The second general location was parallel to and just off of the main river channel. These fish were present in great numbers and were primarily suspended. I suspected at first that these might be schools of the very first spawners nosing upstream into the light current still running through Lake Belton (24 cubic feet per second), however, not a single fish oozed milt or eggs, nor had any abdominal bulge indicating developing eggs or milt.

The fish on bottom were temperamental, typically responding well as soon as our presentations arrived at bottom, then losing interest quickly. We caught these on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, 3/8 oz. and 5/8 oz.) using a combination of easing, slow-smoking, and occasional snap-jigging.

The suspended fish near the channel were aggressive when they were seen moving horizontally on sonar and, during such times, would hit a slab worked with a slow-smoking tactic. However, if the fish were not moving, they would typically only respond to a dead-sticked soft plastic with jighead positioned horizontally.

We saw three such groups of suspended fish, each indicated by gulls. The bottom-huggers were found exclusively via sonar

Our tally of 56 fish consisted of 4 freshwater drum, 3 hybrid striped bass (2 legal), and 49 white bass.

TALLY: 56 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Multiple large schools of suspended fish located adjacent to the main channel were found today. Haven’t seen this behavior until now this winter.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 12:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 13.9 feet low, 0.02′ rise in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 52.3F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm to SE3 winds all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies with occasional light rain showers all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0191G – 7 fish (suspended near channel)
Area B0186G/B0012C – 4 fish
Area Vic 354 – 2 fish
Area B0190G – 4 fish
Area vic 1012 – 1 fish
Area vic 714 – 3 fish
Area vic 344 – 6 fish
Area vic 1541 – 6 fish
Area vic B0161C/B0020C – 6 fish
Area, 2052/1934 – 4 fish
Area B0192G – 13 fish (suspended near 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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

FOGGED IN! — 68 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

January 7th, 2023January 7th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, January 7th, I fished with Chuck, Carol, and Carsyn Emerson of Holland, Texas.

I very much appreciate Mrs. Lisa Niemeier (Carsyn’s teacher from a few years back) referring the Emerson’s my way.

Carol contacted me about a week ago after the holidays were dying down and expressed an interest in doing some fishing with her husband and daughter. This morning, we made that happen.

My next weekday openings are on 12 Jan. and then 13 Feb. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: The Emersons — from left: Chuck, Carol, and Carsyn with a few of the 68 fish they landed on a foggy, calm morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was Carsyn’s first fish of the morning — a freshwater drum (nicknamed gasper goo). Look how thick that fog is!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 07 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The big story this morning was fog. As far as fishing goes, fog is just a downer. In 17 years of guiding, I’ve never had a single trip I could “write home about” under foggy conditions. Fog seems to get the bite off to a slow start and just depresses the fish activity as long at it persists, and this morning was no exception.

I arrived well ahead of the Emersons and got launched and prepped with only cloudy skies at first light, but as we approached our originally scheduled meeting time of 7:40, fog began to develop very quickly, and then a light drizzle started. We actually delayed our start 20 minutes to avoid the heaviest of this precipitation.

Once we got going, everyone picked up pretty quickly on the “slow-smoking” tactic. At first, like most kids, Carsyn struggled to turn her spinning reel’s handle smoothly and continuously, thus creating a “choppy” retrieve which is just not natural or attractive to fish. But, after we got to our second area, she worked out those kinks and wound up catching more than her fair share of fish by the time we wrapped up.

We used the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks 100% of the time and used only a slow smoking tactic in conjunction with both Garmin LiveScope and a thumper.

As soon as the fog thinned a bit, around 9:15A or so, I began to find large, bottom-oriented schools of fish, but, despite the great number of fish in these schools, there was no frenzied activity. In fact, very few hooked fish were followed upwards by schoolmates — a sign of very disinterested fish.

By the time 11:30 rolled around, we’d landed 60 fish, but I could see things were slowing way down. I suggested we give it another half hour, or stop at 70 fish, whichever came first. Well, by noon we’d worked our way up to 68 and I was very glad to hear Carsyn want an “extension” to keep on trying for 70 fish. We went until 12:15, but she just couldn’t quite budge the needle any more.

So, everyone reeled in, we took some nice family photos, and the talk quickly turned to Whataburger!

Our tally of 68 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 4 largemouth bass, and 61 white bass.

TALLY: 68 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: A persistent fog and calm winds took its toll on the fishery this morning, keeping the fish pretty sluggish all morning.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 13.57 feet low, 0.03′ fall in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 54.7F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm winds all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies with lake level fog all morning; fog was heavy through 9:30A

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0196C – 6 fish

Area 1489 – 35 fish

Area B0075C – 13 fish

Area B0171G (2 hops) – 9 fish

Area B0173G – 5 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

FISH WERE IN SCHOOLS; KIDS WEREN’T — 51 FISH @ BELTON

January 5th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, January 3rd, I conducted the first Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the new 2023 season.

Accompanying me were four kids from two families, each currently impacted by the deployment of their fathers. This would be the final day of Christmas break before the Killeen Independent School District went back in session.

From U.S. Army Sergeant John Diaz’s family I had 10-year-old Violet and 13-year-old Alexander join me. SGT Diaz has been in the military for 11 years and serves as a wheeled vehicle mechanic.

From U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Peet’s family I had 8-year-old Rowan and 12-year-old Jack join me. SSG Peet has been in the military for 13 years and serves in the field artillery.

The homefront parents, Jonelle Diaz and Theresa Peet, are back here in the Fort Hood area essentially managing as single parents while their husbands are deployed.

ABOUT SKIFF: S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. SKIFF fishing trips are provided at no charge. This program began in May of 2009, and is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans. I coordinate and conduct these ~3.5-hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: While their fathers are deployed, the Peet kids and the Diaz kids got to enjoy a fishing trip provided free of charge via the Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) program. From left: Jack & Rowan Peet, and Alexander and Violet Diaz.

PHOTO CAPTION: Jack landed our largest fish of the trip, an 18″ hybrid striped bass which fell for his small, 3/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 03 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Bottom line: This was a challenge.

I had four young, inexperienced anglers I truly wanted to do well, and at a time of year when (due to cold water and inconsistent weather patterns) the fishing is typically neither consistent nor overly productive.

My approach was to keep it very simple so far as the kids’ part was concerned, and do my darnedest to find abundant quantities of fish. Whenever white bass are found grouped together in great numbers, even if they are not very “hungry”, the sheer numbers of fish present can generate competition. A given fish may not be proactively feeding, but, I do feel it will swat at a bait just to keep another fish from grabbing it first. This was the kind of bite I needed to get the kids into, and, it worked out!

Violet was our first lucky contestant. Once she hooked and landed a fish, the three boys got competitive and started listening (that is, listening as well as Violet did right off the bat!!!) to what I was telling them they needed to do to be successful. Violet’s first bit of success also “broke the ice” and showed everyone else that this thing called catching fish could really be done.

For 3.5 hours the kids worked white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks vertically using a slow-smoking tactic while watching Garmin LiveScope. They amassed a catch of 51 fish during this time, including 1 legal hybrid striper, 1 short hybrid striper, 2 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, and 46 white bass, of which 3 were short.

We fished only three areas, and, counter to the recent trend I’ve experienced involving a near total lack of bird activity, birds (both gulls and terns) actually led the way to our final stop of the morning. This activity was light and brief and only involved perhaps 15 birds, but, it was enough to get me to the right area where I could then rely on sonar to take care of the rest.

I felt very satisfied when I overheard the discussions going on as the kids ran up the concrete boat ramp to meet their moms when Jonelle and Theresa returned to pick them up. Those discussions centered around, “When can we go again?!?”.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: After 7 consecutive trips without helpful bird activity, we had just a brief episode this morning which took place around 10:15A involving a mixture of ~15 gulls and terns — just enough to get us close enough to allow sonar to do the rest.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 8A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 59F

Elevation: 13.32 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 54.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: W3 at sunrise, increasing to W7-8 by 9A, and maintaining thru trip’s end

Sky Condition: Light blue skies with sparse, thin cloud cover at ~40%

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 89% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 714 – 29 fish

Area 294 – 8 fish

Area B0188G – 14 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

NOW THAT’S A PERSONAL BEST – 66 FISH @ BELTON

January 4th, 2023January 4th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Monday afternoon, Jan. 2nd, I fished with father-and-son team Oscar and 9-year-old Mateo Santiago of Salado, TX, after Oscar’s neighbor, Brandon, suggested he give me a try.

Oscar and his wife, Marla, both U.S. Army veterans, own their own custom cabinetry business called Wooden Woodworks (Woodenwoodworks.com) and operate out of the Salado Industrial Park in Salado, TX, making both fine cabinetry and furniture

My next weekday openings are on 9 and 12 Jan. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Oscar and Mateo landed more fish on this trip than during all of their previous fishing trips combined!

PHOTO CAPTION: Look at that smile!! This 20+ inch freshwater drum was Mateo’s largest fish of the trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 02 January 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We got going right around 1:15PM while the south wind was at its peak velocity. Instead of banging around in open water, we headed for more protected haunts and used sonar (exclusively) to find our fish this afternoon as once again, we had no birds to guide us.

We found fish in most every area we searched, but the fish were not overly aggressive, so, as you’ll see from the list of areas we fished down further in this report, we did a lot of moving to catch a few fish, typically within a few minutes of arriving, only to have those fish lose interest fairly quickly.

Oscar told me as we spoke by phone before the trip, that although fishing is something both he and 9-year-old Mateo enjoy, they hadn’t fished all that much, and it had been quite some time since the last time they fished.

Given this, they relied upon the guidance I provided to present their baits properly, and to hook and fight the fish they caught. This actually worked out well, because they did have any counter-productive habits already soaked into their “muscle memory”.

Just as was the case on this day’s morning trip, this afternoon 100% of our fish came on the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, used with a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time.

By the time the sun fell beneath the cloudbank just above the horizon to the SW around 5:30P, Oscar landed our 66th and final fish of the trip.

The pair was blown away by their results. Oscar told me that these 66 fish represented more fish than the two of them had caught, grand total, on all of their previous trips combined. Now that’s a personal best!!

Our tally of 66 fish consisted of 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 short hybrid striped bass, and 60 white bass, of which 6 were short.

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) No helpful bird activity for 7th consecutive trip. 2) On 21 Dec. the temperature profile to 55′ was a constant 58.2F; temperature fell as low as 51.7, then rebounded late this week. Today’s temperature profile was as follows (check the anomaly at 40-45′):

0 feet 55.6F
5 feet 55.4F
10 feet 55.4F
15 feet 55.4F
20 feet 55.4F
25 feet 55.3F
30 feet 54.9F
35 feet 54.5F
40 feet 54.2F
45 feet 52.9F
50 feet 52.8F
55 feet 52.6F
60 feet 52.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:15P

End Time: 5:25P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 13.36 feet low, 0.0′ change in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 55.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SW16 through ~2:30, and then fell off steadily to SW7 by sunset.

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all day.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 305 – 26 fish; second hop – 3 fish

Area 1940 – 8 fish

Area B0178C – 8 fish

Area 387 – 6 fish

Area 098 – 11 fish

Area 1298 – 4 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WHERE’D YA’LL MEET? -77 FISH @ BELTON

January 3rd, 2023January 3rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Monday morning, Jan. 2nd, I fished my first guided trip of the new year with with the Friedman family of Cedar Park, TX.

Michael Friedman contacted me early in the holiday season and wanted to do some fishing with is wife and son while their son, Cole, was home from Texas A&M on the Christmas break.

Michael works in the banking field, Kathleen is a microbiologist, and Cole is in his junior year at TAMU, where he is a part of the Corp of Cadets.

As we were waiting for the trolling motor to get us properly positioned at one of the areas we fished, I asked Michael and Kathleen how they met. Long story short, the answer to that question was ‘Bass Pro Shop’. I just grinned and told them I thought you have a pretty good shot at marriage if you met your spouse at either church or Bass Pro Shops!

My next weekday openings are on 9 and 12 Jan. My next weekend opening is Sat., 18 February 2023.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michael, Cole, and Kathleen Friedman with a portion of their 77-fish catch taken under breezy, grey conditions with slowly warming water temperatures.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 02 January 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With a returning south wind as of this past Saturday and a continuing warming trend, the fishing continues to improve following the slowdown caused by the recent 22-25 Dec. arctic blast.

We enjoyed steady catching today from start to finish. Garmin LiveScope revealed there were far more fish present at any given area than the number which perked up and paid attention to our presentations, but that low percentage which did give chase was sufficient to bring our tally to 77 fish after four hours of effort.

I kind of chuckled because Michael, after reading my report from Saturday about my clients being both willingly coached and having no bad habits to overcome, emailed me and stated, “We are all seasoned anglers with bad habits in place.”

Hey, at least he was honest!! The “bad habits” as I often call them, are mainly the tendency to set the hook instantly upon feeling a fish on the other end of the line while working slabs with a slow-smoking tactic. For white bass fishing with braid (a zero-stretch product) using a zero-slack technique, this kind of hooksetting is actually counterproductive. Michael did his best to overcome that bass-anglers habit and definitely did better in the second half of the trip as he got more practice under his belt.

Once again, we had no birds to guide us, so, all of the fish-finding was done via sonar, and primarily with well-tuned side-imaging.

100% of our fish came on the white, 3/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, used with a slow-smoking tactic 100% of the time.

Our tally of 77 fish consisted of 5 freshwater drum and 72 white bass.

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) No helpful bird activity for 6th consecutive trip. 2) On 21 Dec. the temperature profile to 55′ was a constant 58.2F; temperature fell as low as 51.7, then rebounded late this week. This morning we had 55.6 on the surface.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 13.36 feet low, 0.0′ change in last 24 hours, 24 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 55.6F on the surface

Wind Speed & Direction: S winds were already blowing at sunrise around 9mph and steadily increased to S16 by 10:30, plateaued there through ~2:30, and then fell off steadily to SW7 by sunset.

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud cover all day.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 83% illumination.

GT = 65

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 971 – 4 fish

Area B0096C – 4 fish

Area 150 – 8 fish

Area vic 714 – 10 fish

Area vic 1482 – 6 fish

Area B0078C – 13 fish

Area B0187C – 20 fish

Area B0186G – 4 fish

Area B0184G – 8 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle