Uncategorized | Fishing Report

From Tears to Cheers — 88 Fish, Ft. Hood SKIES “Fishing 101” Trip

April 4th, 2016April 4th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

After a cold morning chasing hybrid over on Belton, this Saturday afternoon was spent in pursuit of white bass over on Stillhouse with Mr. Ryan Brandenburg and his almost-7-year-old son, Aaden.

Aaden and his dad, Ryan, both celebrated their April birthdays on the lake today catching white bass.

Ryan Brandenburg is a U.S. Army infantryman and a Chicago-area native — and not a bad fisherman, either!

Ryan’s wife, Clare, booked this trip for “the boys” through the Fort Hood SKIES Unlimited program.

As I welcomed Ryan and Aaden onto the boat and got right down to business with a safety briefing, followed by instruction on vertical jigging, I looked over to my right where Aaden was and found him nearly in tears. All of this was so new to him, that he was a bit overwhelmed and just needed some reassurance that things would be okay.

So, Ryan and I did our best to give Aaden peace of mind each step along the way, from pushing off from the dock, to throttling up, to slowing down, to positioning over the first batch of fish we found, and so on.

Fortunately, of the first two areas I searched with sonar, the second was loaded down with hungry white bass, so, Ryan and I were into fish in no time, which allowed Aaden, who was seated well away from the gunwale and not fishing at this point, to see that catching fish was enjoyable. He perked up a bit when I showed him the features of a couple of our caught fish close-up.

Next, when I hooked another white bass, I offered to let Aaden reel it in. He did so, and, for the first time since stepping on the boat, he cracked a smile. Things rapidly improved from that point to where he was fishing independently and doing very well.

All of the fish we caught this evening came on slabs from out of 32-37 feet of water. We experienced solid fishing from 4:15 to 6:00p, a lull from 6:00 to 7:00p, then a resurgence of activity as the light began to fail from 7:00p to 7:45p.

As we turned the key to crank up and head to the dock, my father-and-son team had put together a catch of 88 fish consisting of 87 white bass and 1 short largemouth. Most of the fish were in the 2-year class, and right at 12.25 inches with good body condition.

SKIES Unlimited stands for School of Knowledge, Inspiration, Exploration and Skills. SKIES Unlimited classes are open to children of active duty military personnel, retirees, Department of the Army civilians, and to Department of Defense contractors. To enroll in SKIES Unlimited activities, children must be registered with CYSS at Building 121 on 761st Tank Destroyer Avenue (right across from the Chili’s restaurant).

There is no charge for registration; parents must bring an ID that shows their affiliation with the military, the child’s shot records, and the report from a recent physical exam. While the SKIES Unlimited programs are not free, many military families are eligible for sizeable credits toward SKIES Unlimited activities. There is a $300 “Army Strong” credit available to each child when their parent is deployed.

TALLY = 88 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp: 65.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW9-11 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Fair, cloudless skies.

Water Level: 622.86 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1131 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.0190 feet in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1720 strong slab bite

**Area 805 strong slab bite

**Area 1720 strong slab bite (on return visit after first bite here died)

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

I Need a Break! — 137 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow

March 30th, 2016March 30th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

This afternoon I fished with Rev. Eric Whitfield and his wife, Kris, of Round Rock, TX. Eric sent me a pre-Easter e-mail with the subject line: Chaplain Needs a Break! So, today, I did my best to provide a little respite from the rigors of dealing with the terminally ill and their families and concerns.

This afternoon’s trip offered up both quality and quantity for Eric and Kris Whitfield — 137 fish, with many 3-year-class fish beating the 14″ mark in the mix.

Eric is a U.S. Army veteran who left the military following a parachute malfunction during his attendance at Ranger School near Dahlonega, Georgia. Kris recently sold the financial services business she had built and now volunteers as a volunteer coordinator and as president of the Round Rock Arts Council.

The two had above average prior fishing experience, both with spinning and fly gear, which helped reduce their learning curve and increase their catch this afternoon.

When I arrived early to launch, Eric was already walking the banks with light tackle in hand casting an in-line spinner. I commented as I prepared the boat for launching about how I really liked the weather conditions — balmy, breezy, and with solid grey cloud cover. I covered the two foundational techniques I felt we’d need to use today: jigging and easing, and then we were off to hunt for fish.

We didn’t have to hunt long. After finding no active fish at our first stop, I moved us after just 5-6 minutes to a second area. I got very excited seeing fish blanketing the bottom over a span of about 30 yards in about 36 feet of water.

The first unsuccessful stop we made had already allowed us to work out the kinks on technique, so now Eric and Kris were primed and ready to take full advantage of the potential the situation offered. Long story short, we sat on one boat-sized patch of water for over 2 hours and boated fish continually using both the jigging and easing tactics we’d practiced. By 6:00p, when these fish finally let up, our count stood at 114 fish.

Given the heavy clouds and strong bite we’d experienced, I felt our final 45 minutes would provide lesser results and I communicated that to Eric and Kris so they’d have reasonable expectations. In our final 45 minutes on the water, we jigged at two locations and tried casting blade baits up in shallower 10-15 foot water. The blade baits were ignored, but both areas at which we tried jigging gave up fish.

As the light failed, the fish moved up surface-ward to take advantage of the light still penetrating there. This level was higher than our easing tactics could reach, so, we actually began using a slow form of my “smoking” technique to access these fish. We finished the evening with exactly 137 fish, including over a half-dozen freshwater drum with the balance consisting of white bass.

TALLY = 137 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:50p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover to the point of misting.

Water Level: 623.73 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1135 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.15 feet in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 0

Wx SNAPSHOT (a graphical look at the forecast that faced us today):

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1720/088 deep vertical jigging for mixed 1-3 year class white bass

**Area vic 1048 vertical jigging for mixed 1-2 year class white bass

**Area vic 1725 vertical jigging and slow smoking for mixed 1-2 year class white bass at last light

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Abadie Family Boats 91 Fish — Spring Break Trip #6

March 17th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

This evening, Wednesday, 16 March, I fished the 6th “Spring Break Week” trip of the week. I welcomed aboard Andre Abadie, his wife, Linda, and their boys, Nicholas and Christopher for a white bass fishing adventure on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

From left: Nicholas, Andre’, Linda, and Christopher Abadie all display white bass taken from Stillhouse Hollow just a few minutes into their 4-hour trip. The fish cooperated for over 3 of those 4 hours, allowing the Abadie’s to put together a catch of 91 fish.

Andre’ serves as a commissioned officer in the First Cavalry Division on Ft. Hood and Linda works in the healthcare field as a registered nurse. They were referred my way by COL Hank McKnelly whom Andre’ works with.

Although this spring season usually allows for some variety in the tactics we employ, last week’s rains stained the upper part of the lake and the fishing there has been off. It is in that shallower water where casting and trolling have typically paid off, but that has not been the case this week. That left us with one alternative, and that was deep-water vertical jigging.

This is a super-productive technique, however, it is quite technical and requires concentration from start to finish. So, the challenge was to help encourage Nicholas and Christopher to stick with the program. The boys did a great job, improving as they went, and their results reflected this.

By the time the sun set, we managed a nice bag of 91 fish, every single one of which was caught on slabs.

TALLY = 91 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Water Surface Temp: 65.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-9 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: A light white hazy cut down on the sun’s intensity and grew thick enough to obscure the sun just prior to sunset.

Water Level: 625.41 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 1143 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.06 feet in the past 24 hours

Other: GT= 0

Wx SNAPSHOT (a graphical look at the forecast that faced us today):

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 342/1567 – vertical jigging

**Area 947/948 – vertical jigging

**Area 640/803 – vertical jigging

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Ft. Hood SKIES Program Trip — 71 Fish, Stillhouse

March 5th, 2016March 6th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

This Saturday afternoon, 05 March, I conducted a Fort Hood SKIES Unlimited program trip with 14-year-old Love C. and 11-year-old Faith C. of Ft. Hood.

Miss Faith C. caught this Stillhouse Hollow white bass from out of 63′ of water on a jigging spoon during a SKIES Unlimited program trip.

Miss Love C. caught the very first fish of her lifetime this afternoon, earning her a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

Although these sisters had been on a boat before, neither had ever caught a fish, so, Job #1 was to fix that. Given the bright skies and light winds, we began this trip in deep water. We found 2 distinct concentrations of deep fish in both 61′ and 63′ of water. These fish were very responsive — just right to give beginners early success and bolster their confidence.

Quite a number of these fish regurgitated threadfin shad that were easily 3.5″ long which was larger than the slabs we were using. These shad were largely undigested, indicating a feed was taking place right then (digested shad indicate the fish have fed some time ago).

Within minutes of making our first of 4 stops tonight, both Love and Faith had captured their first fish, thus earning them a First Fish Award through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Angler Recognition Program.

At one point in time the bite got so aggressive that Love wound up landing two fish at the same time on one lure.

The girls were a pleasure to have on board — eager to learn, respectful to me and one another, and happy to be outdoors doing something they’d never done before.

TALLY = 71 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time: 6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Water Surface Temp: 62.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 the entire afternoon.

Sky Conditions: Fair skies with thin white haze.

Water Level: 622.12 with 622.0 being full pool. 0.01 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 947/948 — deep vertical jigging in 61′

**Area 1707 — deep vertical jigging in 63′

**Area 1709 — mid-depth vertical jigging in 30′

**Area 116 — sunset trolling

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Variety is the Spice of Life — 32 Fish, 27 Feb., Stillhouse (Trip 1 of 2)

February 27th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

This Saturday morning, Feb. 27th, I welcomed Mr. Brad Bennett and his 11-year-old son, Bret, aboard for a morning of white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow.

A few weeks back Brad sent me a note saying, “My son Bret just turned 11 and is starting to get interested in fishing. I would like to see about booking him an afternoon or evening trip with you. We would both love to soak up any fishing tips you have because I haven’t fished in many years, but just got a boat to try to get my son out on the lake. I am afraid he will lose interest if I keep taking him without catching anything.”

So, Brad chose to come along as an observer while I worked one-on-one with Bret to show him the ropes. One of the first questions Brad asked was if we were going to fish for bass. I told him we would instead be targeting white bass. Because of the relative abundance of these fish in Stillhouse, one is likely to land far more white bass in a given period of time as compared to largemouth, and, for those who lack precision and distance in their casting, white bass can be forgiving in these areas.

It all came together as soon as we idled into our first area. Some helpful gull activity pointed the way to fish, and, with some basic instruction, Bret was casting a spinning rod and reel (something he’d never done before) quite well.

The white bass cooperate for about 1 hour, but, after that, the bright skies and calm winds brought that to an end. We worked over the last location we’d seen birds working at with vertical tactics, horizontal tactics, and downriggers and did poorly. It was time for a change of location.

We headed to another area where, what little wind was blowing, would be acting best on the water to ripple the surface. We found fish shallower than I anticipated in only 16-17 feet of water, and worked them over for about a half hour with Binsky blade baits. Once this large slug of fish dissipated, we made short hops in the same general vicinity and very precisely vertically jigged with slabs for small groups of fish, one group at a time.

We pulled fish consistently for the last 45 minutes on the water. Bret hung with the program about as long as most 11 year olds would and eventually tired of the fairly intense concentration level and attention to detail that vertical jigging for sluggish fish requires.

Around 10a, dad observed that Bret had reached his limit. I’d let Brad know ahead of time to communicate this observation to me so we could end on a positive note and not turn this into an endurance contest for the young man. The point was to teach Bret a few things about fishing and have him look forward to his next trip, as well.

We ended the trip a bit early, after 3.25 hours on the water, with 32 fish boated, 100% of which were white bass.

TALLY = 32 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Water Surface Temp: 57.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: S0-3 for the first 2.5 hours, then slowly increasing up to S10 from 9:15 to trip’s close.

Sky Conditions: Clear and bright.

Water Level: 622.39 with 622.0 being full pool. 0.03 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 531 – Casting blades for shallow whites under birds

**Area 054 – Slow action on blades and slabs for whites as they wrapped up their low-light feed

**Area 094 – Moderate action on blades in 16-17 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

**Area 092 – Moderate action on slabs in 20-25 feet as breeze began to ripple surface

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Pumping Prohibition — 28 Fish, Belton, 09 Feb.

February 11th, 2016February 11th, 2016 by Bob Maindelle

This past Tuesday morning I conducted the first Fort Hood SKIES program of the new year, taking 14-year-old Aaron Cherry on a 4-hour fishing trip on Lake Belton.

Aaron Cherry with a solid 3.00 pound Belton Lake hybrid striper that struck his slab in ~35 feet of water around mid-morning.

Aaron has fish with me twice before, once accompanied by his 13-year-old sister, Rachel. This was back in the summer when down rigging was the primary tactic. So, with cold weather now firmly in place, a whole new tactic (vertical jigging) awaited him.

The air was cold, the skies clear, and the winds calm as we began our day following the passage of a mild, dry cold front yesterday with characteristic high winds. This made our first two hours on the water the toughest two hours I’ve encountered lately. But, by 9:15am, the winds picked up and began to shift from NW to WSW and the fish began to respond.

We caught all of our fish on just two areas, about 3/4 of a mile apart. Both were in ~35′ of water and both had ample quantities of bait in and around the actual patch of water we fished. At the first area there were more fish concentrated in a small area, so we stayed put. At the first area, the fish were more spread across the bottom, so, we would catch a few fish, then do a “short hop” left, right, forwards, or backwards to access “new” fish that hadn’t seen our bait yet.

Our go-to bait was a 3/4 oz. Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in white with a Gamakatsu G-Stinger affixed to it. This is a staple bait for me all winter on both Belton and Stillhouse.

As we got into fish, I noted that Aaron was working his bait well and was very disciplined about keeping it the right distance off the bottom. As a result, he was hooking as many fish as I was as we fished side-by-side. However, many of Aaron’s fish got off before they were landed as a result of his “pumping” the rod. Once we got that fixed, he kept pace with me and we both did equally well.

As the bite began to tail off around 11:35, we had worked up 28 fish in all, including 26 white bass, a nice hybrid striper which Aaron did a great job of fighting, and one school-sized largemouth bass.

TALLY = 28 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:35a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F

Water Surface Temp: 52.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable generally from NW, shifting to WSW by mid-morning

Sky Conditions: Clear, bright, cloudless skies as cold front pushed through the day before.

Water Level: 594.58 with 594.0 being full pool. 0.09 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

Wx Snapshot:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1680 – vertical jigging for fish found solely on sonar.

**Area 1626/1672/211 – vertical jigging for fish found solely on sonar.

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Squirt & the Fire Chief — 94 Fish on Belton

December 6th, 2015 by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday afternoon I welcomed City of Temple Fire Chief Mitch Randles and his 19-year-old daughter, Sabrina, aboard for an afternoon of fishing for white bass and hybrid striped bass on Belton Lake.

The afternoon fishing began with a slow jigging approach in deeper water, and ended with a bang as we cast into sub-surface hybrid stripers pushing bait to the surface. Sabrina and Mitch Randles show a sampling of the hybrid we caught under birds.

The Randles family migrated to Texas after losing their home to the devastating tornado that hit Joplin, MO, in May of 2011. Mitch has worked for the Temple Fire Dept. since then, and Sabrina (affectionately known as “Squirt” to her dad) works with the Temple Parks and Recreation Dept. in addition to attending Temple College where she is now in her sophomore year.

Mitch and I first got acquainted last winter after the Central Texas Boat Show when he hired me to train him on the sonar equipment on his bass boat. After that, his son, who now lives in Hattiesburg, MS, came for a visit and the three of us had a half day of solid cool-water white bass fishing over on Stillhouse.

Because fishing on Belton has been a bit spotty, I did some scouting on Stillhouse earlier this week and intended on taking father and daughter there to fish vertically for white bass for this trip.

Plans changed when a much-welcomed and stronger-than-forecast wind from the SSE ramped up this morning and really turned the fish on. As my morning trip wrapped up, I phoned Mitch, hoping we could change our plans to continue enjoying the strong bite on Belton.

We met up at 1:15pm and, for the first 2 hours, fished the same areas that gave up so many fish in the morning. At exactly 4:00pm we witnessed the first of what would turn out to be a solid 75 minutes of aggressive bird action, driven by gamefish feeding on shad from below, thus forcing them to the surface.

We slowly and methodically jigged with slabs for white bass, hybrid stripers, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass for the first two hours. When the birds cranked up, we all sat abreast of one another on the wide front casting platform of my boat — I chased fish and birds with the trolling motor and Mitch and Sabrina fired cast after cast, connecting on at least every third cast with the best quality fish of the day including a good number of keeper hybrid stripers.

As sunset approached and the birds relented and began to head to roost, we slowed back down and fished vertically, albeit in shallower water than we had fished in at the start of the trip (~17-20′).

The bite died hard just as the sun disappeared below the horizon, right around 5:20pm.

We boated a total of 94 fish this afternoon. The ride back in was chilly and Sabrina din’t have much insulation on her frame, so, Mitch’s first act upon beaching the boat (keep in mind all Belton courtesy docks are inaccessible due to flooding) was to start the heater in his truck for his little girl.

TALLY = 94 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:15p

End Time: 5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Water Surface Temp: 61.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-11 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Fair and cloudless

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas 1642, 1643,1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, and 1648 slow jigging.

**Areas 1650-1651 chasing birds, casting as we went

**Area 1652-1653 final stop of the night — mainly small white bass plentiful and scattered over a large area in shallower 17′-20′ water

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

…I’m just not into wearing tutus! — 20 Fish, SKIFF Trip #22

October 17th, 2015October 17th, 2015 by Bob Maindelle

You may have noticed my previous post was about this past Tuesday evening’s fishing trip with Aaron Cherry. Well, this morning I had the pleasure of fishing with Aaron’s 12 year old sister, Rachel Cherry. Following Aaron’s trip, which fell under the banner of the Fort Hood SKIES program, Aaron’s mother, Charlotte, and I discussed the SKIFF program which is available to children separated from their military parent due to that parent’s duty commitments, and which is offered to the community at no charge, courtesy of the Austin Fly Fishers.

Rachel Cherry with a beautiful Lake Belton green sunfish taken on a slipfloat and live bait in the last hour of our trip.

Rachel poses with the largest of the 15 white bass she boated on a fairly slow morning trip.

At 6:35 AM I arrived at the Cherry’s residence in Nolanville, Texas, and Rachel was bright-eyed and bushytailed in anticipation about this morning’s trip. Since I rarely encounter kids so alert before the sun has risen, I asked where she got all her energy from. As it turns out, Rachel’s mom home-schools, and their home-schooling routine involves a 5:30am wakeup so that Rachel and her brother can have some undivided attention from mom to get lessons started before their 4-year-old sister rouses and requires attention. So, 6:35am was a breeze for this girl!

The conditions we faced this morning were much different, and much tougher, than her brother and I faced just three days ago. We had a glassy calm surface, and very bright sunshine thanks to very clear skies.

We fished for right at four hours, spending the first three hours in pursuit of white bass and hybrid striped bass, and devoting the final hour to panfishing for sunfish up in shallow water. All of nature was a bit sluggish this morning, and although we certainly found fish, they were definitely not aggressive, nor did they appear in great numbers in a feeding mode. We had to work for all 15 of the white bass we caught this morning,. These fish were all scattered and suspended in very small schools of just 3 to 6 fish per school, and they were generally between 27 and 32 feet deep over a slightly deeper bottom.

As we closed out the white bass chapter of our trip and changed our focus to sun fishing, Rachel was taken with the Lake Belton waterfall, so, we swung by there for a “photo op” and then headed up shallow to fish for sunfish. During this time, we put a variety of species in the boat, including smallmouth bass, bluegill sunfish, and green sunfish. Once Rachel got the hang of setting the hook, she did great.

Since Rachel’s brother had come out with me as a part of the Ft. Hood SKIES program, I asked Rachel if she had an opportunity to participate in any of the activities offered through that program, as I thought I’d heard Aaron mention that she took ballet. Rachel scoffed at this and informed me that she preferred doing things that are more hands-on, and that, “I’m just not into wearing tutus.” It was her younger sister who is the aspiring ballerina. When I asked if she had yet considered plans for the future, Rachel told me she wanted to be a horticulturist and shared with me the long list of plant species she is now tending to at her home.

We ended up our day with exactly 20 fish and one 12-year-old girl chomping at the bit to go fishing again!

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals, organizations, and companies from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date. SKIFF is open to children in elementary and middle school, as well as youth in high school.

TALLY = 20 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Water Surface Temp: 80.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable until 9:00am, then blowing suddenly from the NNW at 11-13mph

Sky Conditions: Clear and bluebird.

Note: Lake has dropped 0.05 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 592.59 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 133 weak low-light action on downriggers

**Area 1601 slower fishing on downriggers

**Area 1576/815 best white bass action on downriggers from before/during/just after passage of cloud bank & wind shift

**Area 492 panfishing

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Army Buddies Go Fishing — 102 Fish for Fredrick and Marcus

October 15th, 2015 by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday afternoon I fished with U.S. Army Sergeants First class Frederick Harriel and Marcus Taylor. Frederick’s wife, Lakeshia, presented him with a fishing gift certificate earlier this year, and Frederick contacted me several weeks ago looking to cash it in.

From left: Fredrick Harriel and Marcus Taylor with the first and largest hybrid striper we boated on this trip. Both fellows are big college football fans, so much so that during our entire trip each had apps running on their cell phones giving audible alerts as to when their teams made progress.

Here Marcus holds one of the larger white bass we caught. “Keeper” sized fish have been the exception instead of the rule all summer as lots of small fish have made up the majority of the catch.

A mild cold front moved into the area the night before leaving in its wake high clear and cloudless skies, a northerly breeze, and high-pressure. Fortunately, the cold front was mild and therefore did not put the fishing off too badly. I waited to fish in the afternoon instead of in the morning (as the high-pressure built in).

Frederick had some fresh- and saltwater fishing experience prior to this trip, as his dad runs a boat on the St. Johns River, near its mouth on the Atlantic coast of Florida. Neither had freshwater fishing experience with downriggers nor with the vertical tactics that we used during the mid part of this evening’s trip. As has been the case nearly all summer on afternoon trips, we began fishing with downriggers in order to search for bottom-oriented fish.

The first area we fished gave up fish, but all the fish we encountered were holding together in small, suspended schools, with no bottom-oriented fish to be seen. The bottom-huggers tend to move less and be more susceptible to a vertical jigging approach, thus allowing for more efficiency and more fish to be caught in a given period of time, so, if they are anywhere to be found, I prefer to focus on them.

With about 30 fish boated, we moved onto our next area. Here, downrigging allowed us to fish and search at the same time. This searching finally led to discovery of some bottom-oriented fish clustered tightly together. We e-anchored over these fish with Spot-Lock and put over 40 more fish in the boat including white bass, hybrid, and even one largemouth bass.

Once the action died, we moved on to check out another area — found a few small white bass on bottom in ~25′ but left pretty quickly as it didn’t seem things were going to come together.

We made our final move of the evening around 6:40p to a gentle breakline connecting two flats, one at 25′ and one at 30′. As I idled in, the water column was filled with fish from 12 feet down to bottom, but, they were scattered, not schooled up. We downrigged briefly, but, as soon as the sun neared setting below the horizon, topwater action kicked in very quickly.

Fredrick and Marcus put the icing on the cake with a final 20+ fish taken on topwater in the closing half-hour of our trip, taking our tally up to 102 fish.

Generally speaking the fish are still smallish, and we landed only one legal (18″+) hybrid striped bass, but the action was fast on the many smaller fish we encountered.

TALLY = 102 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 91F

Water Surface Temp: 84.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE6-8

Sky Conditions: Fair and cloudless following a mild front’s arrival last night

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1608-1401 downrigging for scattered schools of suspended fish — no bottom-oriented fish found; boated 20 and looked elsewhere

**Area 16011-1612 downrigging leading to slabbing

**Area 1610 & 1611 smoking

**Area 478 light bottom-oriented white bass action

**Area 811 mild end of evening blitz on topwater

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

2 Kids, 4 Hours, 114 Fish — SKIFF Trip #17, Belton, 25 Sept.

September 26th, 2015September 26th, 2015 by Bob Maindelle

This afternoon I conducted an after-school Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip for Juliahna and Ethan Dixon of Harker Heights, TX.

Juliahna and Ethan Dixon with a sampling of the fish we landed this evening. The kids landed a total of 114 fish tonight, including their first fish ever, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award”.

Juliahna is a 5th grader and Ethan is in the 2nd grade. They are the children of U.S. Army Major Aaron Dixon and his wife, Ashley Dixon. MAJ Dixon is currently deployed to Southwest Asia serving as a general’s aide.

With baseball caps, windbreakers, cheese & peanut butter crackers, and jelly sandwiches all packed and ready to go, I picked the kids up from their home since it was on my way to the boat ramp so as to give their mom a little more time to herself. We headed to Belton after a slow trip to Stillhouse yesterday helped me finalize my decision on the matter, despite the little extra drive time it takes to get to Belton. In hindsight, I’m very glad we did this.

We caught fish consistently from start to finish using 3 separate techniques, including downrigging, using slab spoons vertically, and casting to fish on topwater. We caught a mix of fish today including white bass of various sizes, hybrid striped bass of various sizes, and 2 smallmouth bass, one of which was the largest fish of our trip.

As we started the trip, things were a bit slow on the downriggers at the first area we tried, producing about 6 fish in 40 minutes. We relocated and found white bass in deeper 32-36 foot water and caught them initially on downriggers, then switched over to slabs after seeing how heavily congregated the fish were near bottom. This was interrupted by a 30-minute spell of rowdy surface action nearby, after which we went back to using slabs.

By the time this area was tapering off, our final area of the evening was just starting to heat up. As we arrived, I could see fish beginning to suspend from 10 feet down to bottom in 25-27 feet of water. Every one of the 4 downrigger passes we made was answered with pairs of multiple hookups — a situation which just screams to be fished more thoroughly. We stopped trolling, Spot-Locked with the Minn Kota trolling motor, and proceeded to “wear ’em out” until more rowdy topwater action pulled us off of these fish.

We pursued topwater fish for the entire time span from sunset until dark. I cast a Cork Rig with a small shad imitator, and I had the kids throw a Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in 3/8 oz. for simplicity’s sake since they were beginners with the spinning gear. As the topwater action began, the kids were amazed a how much more the activity there was versus just 20-30 minutes earlier.

Both Ethan and Juliahna caught the first fish of their lives tonight, thus earning a TPWD “First Fish Award” for their accomplishment.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:25p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 84.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE0-5

Sky Conditions: Mostly cloudy @ 70% coverage over a fair sky

Note: Lake has dropped 0.04 feet in the last 24 hours and now stands at 593.36 above sea level, with 594.00 being full pool

Other: GT= 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1411 minimal success on downiggers

**Area 1601 successful downrigging with multiple triples, paving the way to smoking success with slabs

**Area 1603 topwater blitz

**Area 1602 downrigging leading to smoking, then transitioning into topwater from here to Area 009 right at and after sunset

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX