This past Tuesday morning, April 4th, I fished with Mr. Will Almond of Kempner, TX, and Mr. David Ross of Salado, TX.

 

David Ross holds our longest fish of the morning, a 22.5″, 5.00 pound hybrid striped bass caught with baits suspended over a 42′ bottom.

 

 

Although this fish measured 21.5″ — an inch shorter than our longest fish, it was a deeper-bodied fish and wide across the back — very healthy looking with good color.  Wish they were all like this one!

 

 

Will has a 5-year-old son who loves to see dad’s fish pictures.  Will asked me to text the unedited photos I’d taken before we left the boat ramp at the end of the trip knowing he was going to be asked for pictures when he walked in the door.
Both fellows are avid outdoorsmen who enjoy fishing, hunting, and shooting. Both make their livings as pharmacists for H-E-B – – Will at the store in Burnet, and David at the store in Belton.

We enjoyed mild weather and winds today which, when combined with the low humidity, made for a very enjoyable morning to be in the outdoors.

We got going around 7:10 and, given the bright conditions, I chose to head to deep, clear water to fish specifically for hybrid striped bass using freshly caught live shad.

I have found that this deeper, clearer water seems to hold fewer white bass currently, thus, when specifically pursuing hybrid, I have not encountered near the number of killed, or stolen baits as compared to fishing in areas where white bass tend to be more prolific.

We fished four areas this morning and the first three produced primarily legal- sized hybrid striped bass up to 22.5 inches and 5.00 pounds. We stuck with this effort for 3.75 hours and put a total of 69 fish in the boat. At around 11 AM, the winds began to increase sharply and the area we had been fishing began to slack off. We moved to our fourth and final area. No sooner did we get baits down, then a massive school of white bass moved in on our baits. The number of individuals in this school was several hundred. Knowing that putting bait down would be an inefficient means of catching these, at best, I suggested we transition to the light spinning rods I always keep on board just for such situations.

In 45 minutes’ time, we put an additional 39 fish in the boat, all consisting of one and two year class white bass. We wrapped up our trip right around noon with exactly 108 fish boated, of which approximately 30 were keeper hybrid striped bass.

All of our live shad fishing was done with what is essentially a Carolina rig – – I use a three-quarter ounce egg sinker powder-coated white for visibility, below that is a ball bearing swivel to which a 2.5 foot leader made of fluorocarbon has been attached. At the end of the leader I used a snell knot to attach a #1 circle hook, complete with a “tag” of mono which is very helpful in preventing the point of the hook from sticking back into the bait and preventing a solid hook up.

TALLY = 108 FISH, all caught and released

 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 67.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE7 at sunrise, shifting and increasing to S16-17 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Clear and bright

Water Level: 1.41 feet above full pool

GT = 85

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1377 – hybrid on live shad in 40-45′; keeper hybrid upon arrival with smaller fish filtering in after we’d fish for a while

**Area – 1294 – hybrid on live shad in 40-45′; keeper hybrid upon arrival with smaller fish filtering in after we’d fish for a while

**Area 152 – hybrid on live shad in 40-45′; keeper hybrid upon arrival with smaller fish filtering in after we’d fish for a while

**Area 787/682 – white bass on slab with Hazy Eye Stinger hook

 

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

Thanks to the statewide public school Spring Break this week, my fishing calendar is completely full with 2 trips per day scheduled each day from Monday through Saturday.  Each day I aim to provide a quick snapshot of the action …  Wednesday I split time between Belton in the AM targeting white bass on slabs and hybrid stripers on live shad, and Stillhouse in the PM targeting white bass on slabs.  The returning south wind surely helped the bite today.

WEDNESDAY AM

 

Who: Mr. Steve Stewart, his adult daughter, Cara Massey, Cara’s husband, Brian, and the Massey’s two boys, 9-year-old Owen and 6-year-old Hudson.

What: Multi-species trip on Lake Belton targeting white bass on artificials and hybrid striped bass on live shad.

Where: Lake Belton, Area 1827/1680 for 41 fish, Area 1909 for 60 fish, and Area 346/152/976 for 50 fish.

When: 8:00a to 12:20p

Other:

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  62.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S8-10

Sky Conditions: <20% white cover on a fair sky

Water Level:  0.75 feet above full pool

GT = 60

Tally: 151 fish, all caught and released.

 

WEDNESDAY PM

 

Who:  Harker Heights High School baseball Coach Randy Culp and his sons, 12-year-old Easton, and 9-year-old Cannon.

What: White bass fishing with a 100% vertical approach using 3/8 oz. slabs equipped with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks.

Where: Stillhouse,

When:  4:00p to 7:30p

Other:

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Water Surface Temp: 64.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: S8-10

Sky Condition: <20% white cover on a fair sky

Water Level:  0.47 feet above full pool

GT = 0

Tally: 116 fish, all caught and released.

DAY’S GRAND TALLY = 267 FISH, all caught and released

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Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.

Thanks to the statewide public school Spring Break this week, my fishing calendar is completely full with 2 trips per day scheduled each day from Monday through Saturday.  Each day I aim to provide a quick snapshot of the action …  Tuesday was pretty tough thanks to near-calm, bright post-frontal conditions in the morning following yesterday’s dry cold front passage.  The fishing picked back up in the afternoon after a 10-12 mph SSE breeze kicked in from 3p until dark.

TUESDAY AM

Who: Mr. Bill McClure of Leander, TX, and his three grandsons — Chris Ramirez (12), Beruke Mekonen (10), and Alex Thompson (8).

What:  White bass fishing using bladebaits early and slabs in deeper water later on.

Where: Stillhouse, Area109 to1054 throwing bladebaits for the first 90 minutes after sunrise for 28 fish, then Area 529 with slabs for 18 fish, then Area 986/1529 in deeper water with slabs for 11 fish

When: 7:45a to 11:45a

Other:

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F

Water Surface Temp:  62.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  <2mph W for first 90 minutes, then <2mph SSE for remainder of trip

Sky Conditions: Morning began cool and crisp in the wake of yesterday’s mild cold front passage; AM had fair skies and <10% white cloud cover

Water Level:  0.57 feet above full pool

GT = 50

Tally: 57 fish, all caught and released.

 

TUESDAY PM

Who: Mr. Jon Cates and his 8-year-old son, Louden.

What: White bass fishing with a 100% vertical approach using 3/8 oz. slabs equipped with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks.

Where: Stillhouse,

When:  3:30p to 7:40p

Other:

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Water Surface Temp: 64.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-12

Sky Conditions: Fair skies with ,10% white cloud cover

Water Level:  0.57 feet above full pool

GT = 0

Tally: 95 fish, all caught and released.

DAY’S GRAND TALLY = 152 FISH, all caught and released

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Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

This past Tuesday morning, November 29th, I fished a full day, multi-species trip on Lake Belton. Joining me for the entire trip was Dave Ross, accompanied by his friend Will Almond in the morning, and, after Will departed at lunch, we were joined by Joey Sapien for the final four hours from around 11:30 to 3:30 PM.

 

Our best fish came at first light under grey clouds and gulls.  We landed 11 legal (18″ or longer) hybrid stripers on bladebaits before 8:15am.

 

Although fish were chasing shad to the surface, the fish did not remain at the surface, therefore, a sub-surface retrieve using bladebaits worked very well this morning for both quality fish and quantities of fish.

As the skies brightened and cleared and the winds calmed at midday, we faced a tough job of locating fish.  Once found, a more methodical approach was required to catch them.  We landed 76 fish during our 11:30 to 3:30 portion of this full day trip versus 103 from 7-11am.

Will works as a pharmacist for HEB in Lampasas, Dave works as a pharmacist at the HEB in Belton, and Joey works for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department.  Will and Dave fished with me one time previously, this past May, and Joey joined me for the very first time today.

We landed exactly 103 fish during the morning trip and all fish came as a result of taking cues from very helpful bird action. Actively feeding  fish would force shad to the surface where the birds would see the commotion of the fish chasing the bait and would swoop down to attempt an easy meal. At times, upwards of five dozen birds were working over a fairly small area, thus making an easily noticed stir above the water surface.

When we encountered aggressive fish spread well through the water column, we used a three-quarter ounce silver slab in combination with a Hazy Eye Shad tandem rig. When the fishing was a little tougher and the fish more lethargic, we used a smaller, 3/8 ounces slab, also in silver, just by itself, equipped with a stinger hook.

After a very quick dockside lunch, we turned right back around and put in another four hours with Dave and Joey. This scheduling was a little bit of a curveball to me, as I normally fish the first four hours of light and the last four hours of light, with a two hour break in between, with the period from 11:30 to 1:30 typically being very tough fishing. This afternoon we worked through this tough, slower period by picking up a few fish on the downriggers and then began looking for deeper, heavily congregated and bottom hugging fish for the final three hours. We were successful in finding such concentrations of fish by carefully sweeping over a number of areas with sonar, then going back to the fish we located, spot locking on top of them with the Ulterra trolling motor, and working our slabs down in the lower 8 to 10 feet of the water column.

Our grand total for this day’s effort was 179 fish. The majority of the keeper hybrid we caught came in the first hour and from the shallowest water we fished, that being just 13 to 15 feet deep.

TALLY = 179 fish, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  3:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F

Water Surface Temp:  66.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW12

Sky Conditions: Light but complete grey cloud cover through 11am, then brightening and becoming 40% cloudy.

Water Level:  0.33 feet above full pool

GT = 60

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

MORNING:

**Area vic 739, fancasting with blades and slabbing in 15-22′ during low light conditions before sunrise under birds

**Area 738 – smoking and easing under birds

**Area 737 – smoking and easing under birds

**Area 1001-812 – smoking and easing under birds

AFTERNOON:

**Area 1656 – downrigging

**Area 1635 – easing for fish found with sonar

**Area 1675-1658 – easing for fish found with sonar

**Area 1827 – easing for fish found with 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

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

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This past Saturday evening, September 17th, I fished on Belton Lake with Rolf and Nina K., and their 3 boys, Roman, Dorian, and Karsten, ages nine, six, and four, respectively. The boys’ aunt, Jo De, who was visiting from New Hampshire, coordinated the trip by phone with me yesterday and joined us, as well.

Dorian K. and his dad, Rolf, with one of the many white bass we took by downrigging and, around sunset, by casting to schooling fish on the surface.

Karsten and his mom, Nina, with one of the white bass he reeled in after it chased down a Pet Spoon being trolled behind a downrigger.

Big brother Roman with a nice white bass of his own, also taken on a downrigger within a half-hour of our 5pm start.

We agreed that the focus of the trip would be making the boys successful, and since none of them had fished before, we simply went in order from youngest to oldest and had the boys take turns on the downriggers each time one or two white bass struck either the tandem rig or the three-armed umbrella rig, both of which were equipped with Pet Spoons.

 

After three full rounds for each boy, I could see the novelty of downrigging was wearing off a bit, so we changed things up and moved into shallow water to target sunfish. We used live bait under slip floats to present our small offerings to sunfish in cover-rich shallow water.  Each of the boys took four rounds on the rod before getting antsy once again to “go fast” and do a little something different.

 

With the sun getting close to setting, I began to look for larger and more heavily schooled white bass slowly making their way shallower for the final low-light feed. Again, we caught singles and doubles on the tandem rig and three-armed umbrella rig for about 25 minutes until the sun got low enough to spur on the first of the evening’s top water action. Once the white bass began feeding on the surface they fed hard and continuously right up until 8 PM and then shut down.

 

Between sunfishing and our second attempt at downrigging, I took the time to show the two older boys and Nina (the only adult with a license) how to cast so that if and when the white bass began to feed on top, we could take full advantage of it with 3 rods working the fish. This turned out to be a wise choice, because there was plenty to take advantage of.

By the time the last fish had chased shad to the surface, we had tallied a total of 65 fish. Not bad for a boatload of rookies! This evening, all three boys earned a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department “First Fish” award.

TALLY = 65 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 5:00p

End Time:  8:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 93F

Water Surface Temp:  85.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  E9

Sky Conditions: <10% cloud cover.

Water Level: ~0.01 feet high.  Lake is at full pool with only evaporative losses and no water being released.

GT = 50

 

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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