2023 Fishing Reports | Fishing Report

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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Another Garmin LiveScope Convert — 29 Fish @ Stillhouse

August 2nd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, August 2nd, I fished with returning guest Ken Powell. Ken has fished with me three times previously with his last time out in 2019. None of these prior trips have been in the heart of the summer, and none of these prior trips included the use of MAL Lures, nor Garmin LiveScope.

Ken is a retired high school educator and football coach now living near Lake Buchanan. Fortunately, he is a coachable coach!

More than catching fish, Ken expressed a desire to see and experience Garmin LiveScope and both “smoking” and “sawtoothing” with MAL Lures firsthand.

Here is how the fishing went….

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: I took this photo and chose to illustrate this summary with it because it captured an unusual event. Ken landed three sets of “doubles” today (two fish landed simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig); this double included a white bass and a channel catfish. Catching a cat on a moving bait is rare enough, but to do it in open water targeting fish suspended at 28′ over a much deeper bottom is beyond rare.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 02 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED:

In a word, it was … tough. We had zero wind for our first 2.5 hours, which never helps the already pretty tough summertime fishing.

We covered a lot of ground today studying 2D, DI, and SI sonar while downrigging with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons on one and #13 Pet Spoons on the other.

When sonar revealed concentrations of fish present, we observed for action on the downriggers to let us know that the fish were not just present, but also feeding.

When we found what we were after, Ken brought in the fish (singles and doubles), and we then set up atop the same fish and began working vertically (first) by smoking MAL Lures while watching Garmin LiveScope, and then working horizontally by sawtoothing MAL Lures after the initial fish we encountered began to lose interest.

We also did something today I can only do with smaller numbers of experienced anglers aboard … whenever we cast horizontally to use a sawtooth tactic, we left a rod in a nearby rodholder with the MAL Lure resting on bottom so it was pre-positioned for the next school of white bass which came by. On such a tough day, this added a few fish to the count.

Ken made a comment which stuck with me. Referring to a December 2018 trip during which we landed 117 fish by snap-jigging in advance of an incoming cold front, Ken said, “I know we’ve caught a hundred fish before, but this was 100% more interesting to me using this LiveScope.”

That is something which, as a guide, I really need to heed. LiveScope certainly does keep folks more engaged and for longer periods of time than tactics which do not involve that technology, especially when fishing featureless open water as I so often do in pursuit of white bass. I hear this from parents of 7 & 8 year olds, from guys like Ken (in his mid-70’s), and everyone in between.

This morning’s catch of 29 fish included 27 legal white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 channel catfish.

TALLY: 29 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: Young of the year bait is just about everywhere in the 28-37′ range.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 16.02 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 8:50, then starting S6 and building quickly to S12

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 933 and SH0032G/SH0031G produced the majority of our fish this morning

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

PLACEHOLDER FOR 39 FISH

August 1st, 2023August 8th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

On 1 Aug. I fished with David, Savannah, Cole, and Caden K.

They did not want last names or images posted.

39 fish @ Belton

IT WAS A BLAST TO CAST WITH THE McLEANS — 72 FISH

July 29th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, July 28th, I fished with Chad McLean and his two kids, Hunter, age 14, and Victoria, age 11.

Chad is the founder of Sendero Shooting Sports, the most complete indoor shooting facility in Central Texas, where I’ve personally been a member since they first opened in 2020. This venue is super-clean and super-safe and I enjoy going there to practice my small caliber prairie dog skills on the 105-yard indoor rifle range.

Chad approached me recently about offering a fishing trip as a prize for a forthcoming Cast & Blast event being held at Sendero Shooting Sports on July 30th, and decided to book a trip so he could experience for himself exactly what a prize winner would experience.

Here is how the fishing went….

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Victoria, Chad, and Hunter McLean cleaned up on Lake Belton this past Friday, boating 72 fish during their 4-hour morning trip using a variety of tactics including sight-casting, downrigging, and sawtoothing.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 28 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We met up at 6:20 and covered the tactics we would employ this morning. We had lines in the water by 6:34 AM, but struck out as we down rigged atop the first area I took us to. With the sun still not yet having broken above the horizon, there was still ample opportunity for topwater action, and we were fortunate enough to find some at the second area we checked out.

The surface feeding white bass kept us busy for about an hour during which time I had all three anglers abreast on either the port or starboard side, with everyone casting MAL Minis on long, light action, St. Croix Panfish series rods with 10-pound braid to enhance casting distance.

Both of the kids were fairly new to casting with spinning gear, so I aided them as needed, and/or as they requested, while still trying to let them do the majority of what was required to land fish independently.

By the time the topwater action wrapped up, we had 22 fish in the boat, which included the last fish caught in that vicinity, which was a 5+ foot long, 18-pound longnose gar which struck Chad‘s MAL Mini spinner with all of about 4 feet of line out as he was concluding a retrieve.

After the sustained topwater action ended as the sun struck the water, we then searched for “popcorn“ action, and counted on those fish at least getting us into the right vicinity so we could loiter and catch additional fish as they appeared.

Most of the fish we took as we keyed off of these popcorn schools of white bass we took by sight casting. At this point, it was not as critical to use small baits only, so, we switched over to MAL Heavies to gain distance and sink rate, when needed. We added another 27 fish to our count before this chapter closed around 8:50.

Next, we change locations, and did some downrigging, again, keying off of popcorn schools of white bass to let us know we were in the right vicinity. We took 10 more white bass and 1 bluecat on the downriggers with one ‘rigger equipped with #12 Pet Spoons and the other with #13 Pet Spoons. I suspected the smaller #12’s might outperform the larger spoons, but, they both caught equally well.

Around 9:50 things were definitely slowing down, so I suggested we start heading back to our start point and keep our eyes and ears open as we went. My plan was to run sonar over a few areas and quickly check them for an abundance of fish. As we made our way, I spotted a great disturbance about a half-mile ahead on the nearly flat surface. It was the single largest school of white bass we would spot all day, and, miraculously, they stayed up long enough for us to get to them and for everyone to make multiple casts before they disappeared for good. We took another 12 fish out of this school, including one “demo” fish I used LiveScope to spot and tempt as Chad looked on. We waited for other schools to pass beneath the boat so he could do likewise, but, the fish were done by then.

We wound up with a total of 72 fish including 70 legal-sized white bass, 1 longnose gar, and 1 blue catfish.

TALLY: 72 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: After zero low-light topwater on Thursday, there was abundant, sustained topwater action on the much more calm surface this morning under low-light conditions.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.12 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at SSE4-6 at sunrise, falling of to variable S0-3 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover, but hazy with Saharan dust

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1549 out to the channel – 22 fish via sightcasting

Area B0210G- sightcasting after keying on popcorn whites – 27 fish

Area B0009C through B0185C – downrigging – 11 fish

Area B0013G – late morning, open-water sightcasting – 12 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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

LOOK OUT, FISH! HER HAT’S ON BACKWARDS! — 55 FISH

July 27th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 27th, I fished the third and final trip of the summer 2023 season with the Brewer clan of Georgetown, TX.

Two Thursdays ago, Mr. Larry Brewer brought out, among others, his grandson, Eymon McCormick; last Thursday, Larry brought his granddaughter, Adi Zwern, and today, it was Miss Finley Zwern’s turn to fish.

Finley will turn 12 next week just before starting the sixth grade where she resides near Houston.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are August 21 – 24 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Mr. Larry Brewer (left) and his long-time friend, Blake Hoekstra, chaperoned Miss Finley Zwern, but left all the catching to her. She landed 55 fish this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: When Finley turned that hat around it’s like she transformed into a superhero with special fishing powers!!! That’s a Texas smallmouth bass she’s displaying.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 27 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With both Adi and Finley, I made a request of Larry that he spend just a little time familiarizing both girls with how to cast with spinning gear prior to their arrival so we could have as many options for catching fish open to us as possible.

This small investment of time paid big dividends today, as all but three of the 55 fish Finley landed came on other than downrigging gear.

As we got going this morning, I put twin downriggers down so we could have lines in the water if/when we encountered fish on the surface, right at first light. Unfortunately, there was no strong, sustained topwater feed prior to the sun directly striking the water’s surface, and we settled for three white bass on the downriggers before having to press on. These fish hit 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with a mix of #12 and #13 Pet Spoons.

As the sun rose, but while it was still low in the sky, we began to see “popcorn“ schools of white bass briefly bursting to the surface and feeding on all sizes of shad, but mainly young of the year shad. I put Finley on the front casting deck with me and ran the trolling motor from school to school while she turned her ballcap backwards like she meant business, and put her newly polished casting skills to work. She threw an MAL Mini to imitate the young-of-the-year shad.

By the time this activity settled down, we had added another 11 fish to our count, including nine white bass and two beautifully colored smallmouth bass.

We then opened a new chapter by seeking out more heavily congregated fish in the lower half of the water column and working them over using a sawtooth method with MAL Heavy Lures with white tails. Once again, this required that Finley cast – – this time, long and accurately. She did remarkably well at that, and we added a total of 33 additional white bass to our count before 9:15 AM rolled around.

At 9:15, we put all the white bass gear aside and retooled to go up shallow and pursue sunfish at Finley‘s request. We now had 47 fish in the boat. In the 45 minutes or so we invested in sunfishing, Finley was able to tempt quite a number to pull her float under, and she wound up actually boating eight of those sunfish, including bluegill, longears, and greens.

We wrapped up at 9:50 on this 3.5 hour “Kids Fish, Too!” package trip, by which time Finley had landed 55 fish.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: No low-light topwater this morning in the 9mph SE chop.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.05 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at SSE9-12

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover, but hazy with Saharan dust

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 66% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0039G – downrigging for sparse low-light action

Area BDH0013 – popcorn topwater

Area BG0022CH – sawtoothing for whites

Area B0226G – sunfishing

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

BASS: WHITE, BLACK, & BUGLE-MOUTH — 50 FISH

July 26th, 2023July 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, July 26th, I fished with first-time guests Jason McNutt and his two teenage boys, Alex and Andrew.

Mrs. Mandi McNutt coordinated everything, including an overnight stay prior to the trip at one of the hotels in Belton.

Jason is the senior pastor at Hill Country Bible Church in Dripping Springs near Austin, and is also a U.S Air Force veteran who spent about 10 years flying B-52s.

The trio had made a few stabs at fishing previously, including ice fishing, but had very limited prior experience in pursuing fish from a boat.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught white bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: The McNutts caught black bass!

PHOTO CAPTION: … and the McNutts caught bugle-mouth bass!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 26 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a very difficult first two hours this morning, during which time I found it tough to even find fish to fish for, much less get them to bite. Halfway through the trip, we had only landed four fish.

Around 8:50 or so, things began to turn around when I spotted the first occurrence of largemouth bass hitting on the surface. This was not widespread, nor very frequent, but at least it told me gamefish had begun to move. From this first real contact with an abundance of fish and until we wrapped up at around 11:20, we had consistent action.

We alternated routinely between fishing MAL Heavy Lures with white tails using a smoking tactic and a sawtooth tactic. Whenever LiveScope revealed a large school of white bass moving in from the bow or the stern, everyone got their presentations down to bottom and awaited an opportunity to reel their lures up just prior to having the fish pass by. Otherwise, we worked off the starboard side of the boat with everyone abreast of one another using the sawtooth method.

We wound up with a grand total of 50 fish (as I told everyone at 11 AM with our count then at 47, that we’d extend until 11:30 or 50 fish which ever came first). It took father and sons just 19 minutes to put those final three fish in the boat.

Our take of 50 fish included 3 freshwater drum, 1 common carp, 1 largemouth bass, and 45 legal white bass, with several exceeding 14 inches.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: This was the latest I’ve seen the bite kick off on Stillhouse all summer.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 15.60 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable at S8-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 56% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 850, SH0232G/1423, SH0059G, & SH0065G (2 hops) — all fish @ all areas came via alternating between smoking and sawtoothing MAL Heavies with white tails.

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

Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) – 75 FISH

July 25th, 2023July 25th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, July 25th, I fished the season’s fifth SKIFF trip of the 2023 season for a family separated from their loved one by his military duty. Joining me this morning were Mrs. Melinda Whitacre, and her three kids, Natalie, age 13, Lily, age 9, and Evan, age 6.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Whitaker has served in the US Army for 11 years. He is currently deployed to southwest Asia with his Patriot Missile unit.

ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip, like all SKIFF trips, was provided to this military family at no charge. This program began in May of 2009. It 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 to 4 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…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From the left, that’s Natalie and her mom, Melinda Whitacre, in the back row, and Melinda’s two youngest, Evan and Lilly in front, each with one of the white bass they landed in the first part of the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple for Lilly right off the bat this morning!

PHOTO CAPTION: … And a triple for Evan right about the time we switched from downrigging to sightcasting at mid-morning!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 25 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With zero cloud cover and calm winds, the fairly light surface activity which presented itself this morning was very easy to spot. I glanced at the clock on my chartplotter as soon as I saw the first evidence of white bass on the surface; it was 6:38 AM. This morning’s feed was less aggressive, and of a shorter duration than yesterday’ss feed, despite nearly identical wind and weather conditions.

None of the kids were already familiar with casting spinning gear, so, despite topwater action which would have lent itself to sightcasting, I opted to keep downriggers in for as long as the fish showed themselves on the surface. By around 7:20, these fish left the surface and did not linger in the area and continue feeding heavily beneath the surface as they did yesterday. We put 21 fish in the boat during this first round of activity.

We made a move and probed a new location we had moved to with downriggers as I kept an eye on sonar as well as the lake’s surface. Seeing consistent action along a roughly 60 yard stretch of shoreline about a half-mile away, I brought in the downrigging gear, Spot-Locked a long cast’s distance from these fish, and sightcast to them whenever they showed themselves, as well as blind cast to this general area when the fish sounded.

I did the casting and handed off the rod for the kids to do the reeling and the catching. Given these fish were eating young of the year shad and were in under 7 feet of water, I opted for using the MAL Mini, and it worked like a charm.

We moved routinely, but only yards at a time in order to keep up with the fish as they continued to pin shad against both the surface and the bank. We took our tally from 21 up to 48 before the kids interest began to wane, and the consistency of the fishing began to slide. Although Lilly would likely have hung with me all day, that was not the case for young Evan.

As I see younger kids begin to grow disinterested, I try to insert a transition. In this case, I came prepared to pursue sunfish in shallow water using red worms and slip floats. We beached the boat in one spot, and put a final 27 fish in the boat from within a 20 foot radius of the point we had beached at. This included a mixture of bluegill sunfish, long-eared sunfish, and green sunfish.

Our final count today was 75 fish, all caught and released. This included 48 white bass, and a mixed bag of 27 sunfish. We wrapped up right at the 3.5 hour mark.

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile taken on Monday, 24 July, was as follows:

0 feet, 87.5F
5 feet, 87.9F
10 feet, 88.1F
15 feet, 87.0F
20 feet, 86.4F
25 feet, 85.5F
30 feet, 82.1F
35 feet, 73.0F
40 feet, 68.6F
45 feet, 66.0F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 63.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 14.93 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S5-7 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 46% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 080 – low-light downrigging for 21 fish

Area 1760 thru 1041, and 689 – sightcasting near shore for 27 fish

Area 1583 -27 sunfish

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

CATCHING WHILE LEARNING — 79 FISH @ BELTON

July 24th, 2023July 24th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, July 24th, I fished with first time guests, Mr. Dustin Marsh, and his nine-year-old son, Lucas.

The two fellows rose early to make the drive from College Station to Lake Belton for our 6:20 AM start.

Dustin runs a large animal veterinary practice just outside of town, and also raises his own cattle, chickens, and kids!

Although father and son normally chase largemouth bass, they recently “discovered“ white bass, and have been trying to get smart on finding and catching this species.

Dustin, let me know when he made the reservation for the trip that he would like to ask lots of questions, and I told him that was just fine with me. A guided trip ought to be a learning experience, not just a time to catch fish.

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 14 & 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This father-and-son trip was both for catching and for learning. I tried to find scenarios where I could demonstrate sight-casting, downrigging, smoking, and sawtoothing to Dustin and Lucas, and, fortunately, the fish cooperated.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Lucas actually landed two sets of triples today as we used downrigging as a tool to locate larger groups of fish which could be fished even more effectively with other tactics. This trio fell for a set of #13 Pet Spoons with silver prismatic tape and yellow feathertails.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 24 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As we got going, I explained the approach I planned to take this morning. I wanted to first look for topwater action under low-light conditions and fish for whatever we found as long as we could. Before and after that top water action, we would be using downriggers, both as we waited on the fish to get going, and has the fish moved deeper in the water column and further offshore after the topwater ended.

We took a handful of fish while downrigging and, as the eastern sky brightened, some topwater action did develop. I equipped both fellows with MAL Mini Lures on long, St. Croix Panfish Series spinning rods, coupled with large arbor reels to maximize casting distance on these small lures which do an excellent job of imitating young of the year shad.

After the topwater action ended as the bright, direct sun struck the water, we immediately got back to downrigging and continued catching fish from the very same schools that had just been on topwater, but which had now pushed down 12 to 17 feet beneath the surface.

We downrigged until I found a sufficiently large quantity of fish out to either our port or starboard side, at which time we brought in the downrigging gear, Spot-Locked, and began working MAL Heavies with white tails, using a sawtooth method to take fish very efficiently and very consistently.

It was during this time that Dustin asked the best question of the morning, when he inquired about comparing and contrasting white bass behavior versus that of largemouth bass, which he already had a pretty good grip on.

I told him the biggest mindset change you have to make when going from fishing for largemouth to fishing for white bass is getting away from a “spot“ mentality. Largemouth bass, crappie, and other cover-loving, ambush-feeding fish will often hang out on “spots” which you can return to time and time again and expect to catch fish. White bass are nomadic, constantly roaming after threadfin shad. Although they will use general areas frequently, you really have to scrub a much larger patch of bottom as you look for white bass given this tendency they have to roam constantly.

Eventually, the fish we were casting MAL Heavies to dispersed, and we once again set out downriggers, picked up a few more fish, and then things got very quiet for most of the remainder of our trip. It was now around 9:10 and we had planned to fish until around 1020 or 1030.

I looked over a number of areas, and did not see anything that I could get excited about. After seeing about five “popcorn“ schools of whites in one fairly large patch of open water, we put downriggers down, and picked up five more fish before deciding to wrap up.

On our way back in, I decided to give one area, which we were going to pass by anyway, a look. We found a few fish in about 22 feet of water, and these fish gave me the opportunity to demonstrate the one tactic we have not had success with yet, and that was a “smoking tactic. Dustin and Lucas picked up four more fish there via smoking, bringing our grand total to 79 fish boated.

So, over a 4-hour span, the two got a successful introduction to topwater sight-fishing, downrigging, fishing the MAL horizontally using the sawtooth method, and fishing the MAL vertically using the smoking method.

Our count of 79 included 2 freshwater drum, 8 short hybrid, and 69 white bass, all of which were legal.

TALLY: 79 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: Water temperature profile taken this morning, 24 July, was as follows:

0 feet, 87.5F
5 feet, 87.9F
10 feet, 88.1F
15 feet, 87.0F
20 feet, 86.4F
25 feet, 85.5F
30 feet, 82.1F
35 feet, 73.0F
40 feet, 68.6F
45 feet, 66.0F
50 feet, 64.4F
55 feet, 63.8F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 14.87 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW6 thru 9A, then going calm until ~10:05, then picking up SE5 thereafter.

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 36% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 929 – downrigging, followed by topwater, followed by sawtoothing, followed by more downrigging — 70 fish by 9:10A

Area vic 1334 – 5 fish downrigging

Area vic B0031G – 4 fish smoking

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

ADI, AGE 10, DID IT ALL BY HERSELF — 25 FISH

July 20th, 2023July 20th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 20th, I fished with 10-year-old Miss Adi Zwern from just west of Houston. Adi was accompanied by her grandpa, Larry Brewer, and by a friend of the family, Blake Hoekstra.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip where Adi did all the catching. These trips are a bit shorter and a good bit less expensive than my standard 4+ hour adult trips.

Each year Adi’s grandparents in Georgetown, Texas, have her in for a visit, and, for the past several years, that visit has included a fishing trip just for her.

Adi did it all today, and all by herself. She rigged the downriggers, landed all the fish, held and returned the fish to the water, cast her MAL Lures horizontally, and smoked her MAL Lures vertically.

Despite pretty tough conditions, she came away with a 25-fish, multi-species catch.

Here’s how the fishing went…

—————————————————————————————————–

Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Adi Zwern, age 10, front and center. Behind her is her grandpa, Larry Brewer, and behind Larry is his long-time friend, Blake Hoekstra. Adi landed 25 fish on Stillhouse today using a variety of tactics.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 20 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing continued to be pretty tough on Stillhouse. We witnessed next to no topwater action and found very few large schools of white bass. Those schools we found were moving very quickly and, despite catching fish from these schools and drawing them in with the commotion created by the splasher, these fish did not tend to stick around very long.

We alternated between downrigging and working MAL Heavy Lures with white tails vertically (primarily) in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

We found fish in a number of locations and, most of those locations gave up fish, but only a handful at best. As Larry put it, “Sometimes you get the chicken, and sometimes you just get feathers.” Today was a “featherful” kind of day.

Adi landed a total of 25 fish, including 23 white bass (with 2 small young-of-the-year fish in that count), 1 freshwater drum (which “croaked” at her!!), and 1 largemouth bass.

TALLY: 25 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: 1) We landed two “young-of-the-year” white bass this morning. This was the first of the new crop of fish I’ve witnessed year-to-date. 2) This was the temperature profile on Stillhouse taken before sunrise on 19 July…

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 87.2F
10 feet, 87.3F
15 feet, 87.3F
20 feet, 87.3F
25 feet, 87.0F
30 feet, 84.2F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 69.6F
45 feet, 67.4F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 62.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:38A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 15.23 feet low, 1 CFS flow, 0.06′ drop over the last 24-hours

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW11-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 7% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

No one area really produced strongly this morning.

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

AN OUTDOOR, FAMILY-ORIENTED TRADITION – 44 FISH

July 19th, 2023July 19th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, July 19th, I fished with three of the eight grandchildren of Joe (and Dicque) Oliver. Joining their grandfather this morning were Ben, Beau, and Addie Pugh, as well as the kids’ mom (Joe’s daughter), Amber Pugh, and Joe’s son, Thomas Oliver, the kids’ uncle.

Each summer for many years now Joe has hosted these two sets of three grandkids, treating them to an outdoor, family-oriented experience before the new school year begins.

As everyone boarded the boat, talk immediately turned toward competing with the results of the kids’ cousins (Cullen, Presley, & Harper Oliver and their dad, Corey) after their 93-fish haul last week.

Here’s how the fishing went…

—————————————————————————————————–

Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Joe Oliver, Ben Pugh, Thomas Oliver, Addie, Amber, and Beau Pugh (in 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION: …and here’s that same crew of kiddos 5 years ago (in 2018) — that’s Addie, Ben, and Beau in the front row with their mom and Uncle Thomas behind! They haven’t missed a year in between.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 19 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

In a word, the fishing this morning was just “flat”. We found fish in multiple locations, but, with the exception of a short, 25-minute window at mid-morning during which both the gamefish and bait got “frisky”, and during which we enjoyed our best catch rate, the fishing was just pretty tough.

When white bass are starting to feed, in the midst of feeding, and coming off of a feed, they will typically be suspended at least slightly up off the bottom, thus allowing them to be detected with sonar much more readily than when they are in “sulk mode” with bellies-to-bottom before and after feeding.

This morning, there were just far fewer fish to detect than in recent days. When I did see fish and got set up over them, we caught a few, typically right off the bat, but really didn’t see a bite strengthen by drawing in fish from the surrounding area by creating commotion as we caught fish and used the splasher.

Regardless, everyone did catch fish today using both the downrigging tactic and by way of “smoking” MAL Lures (MAL Heavies with white tails) vertically, and all enjoyed one another’s company while doing it.

Amber and Beau both learned to cast spinning gear today, and Joe and Thomas have officially become semi-pro downrigger operators!

This crew landed 44 fish this morning, including 43 white bass (all legal), and 1 freshwater drum in the five pound range.

TALLY: 44 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

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

OBSERVATIONS: This was the temperature profile on Stillhouse taken before sunrise on 19 July…

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 87.2F
10 feet, 87.3F
15 feet, 87.3F
20 feet, 87.3F
25 feet, 87.0F
30 feet, 84.2F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 69.6F
45 feet, 67.4F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 62.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 15.17 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW11-13 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 3% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0032G – early downrigging only

Area vic SH0227G – smoking MALs

Area vic SH0213G – smoking MALs

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