Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

FREE S.K.I.F.F. FISHING TRIP FOR THE EGGERTS & GIBSONS

August 17th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, August 17th, I conducted the season’s 15th S.K.I.F.F. trip, welcoming aboard kids from two families: 8-year-old Luke Eggert of Killeen, 8-year-old Riley Gibson of Harker Heights, and Riley’s 10-year-old brother, Vince Gibson.

Luke’s dad, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class (E-7) Lucas Eggert, has served for 20 years on active duty and is currently assigned as the Military Science 3 Instructor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. For the sake of stability, SFC Eggert’s family lives apart from him near Fort Hood where he heads home on a roughly every-other-weekend basis. Luke’s mom, Kyong, coordinated this trip for Luke.

The Gibson’s father, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant (E-6) Alan Gibson, has served for 12 years and is currently serving as a scout in a Ft. Hood cavalry unit. SSG Gibson recently received orders sending him to Afghanistan. With a younger, 5-year-old sister at home, mom and I thought it best to have her older two kids join me today, and then provide Hazel with a trip of her own, possibly including another youngster her age. We set that trip date for Wednesday evening, September 11th.

This fishing trip was provided to these military families at no charge. S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. 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. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents’ military-related disabilities prevent them from taking their own children fishing. 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.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Luke Eggert (age 8), Riley Gibson (age 8), and Vince Gibson (age 10), each with one of the six fish we landed via early morning downrigging on Stillhouse Hollow during this mid-August SKIFF program fishing trip.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass early, then sunfish thereafter

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 17 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We targeted small “wolfpacks” of suspended white bass in open water during our first hour on the water using a combination of #12 and #13 Pet Spoons on 2- and 3-armed rigs fished at 21′ over a deeper bottom. I had the kids take turns on the downriggers in age order so everyone got to experience catching the same number of these larger fish before we went up shallow after sunfish. Everyone landed 2 “big fish”, including 5 white bass and 1 largemouth bass, before the novelty of that approach wore off and it was time to move on.

We then headed up shallow to fish in cover for sunfish. The kids put an additional 39 fish in the boat, including bluegill, green, and longear sunfish.

TALLY: 45 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse continued, atypically, to display zero topwater action by gamefish this morning. This trend has been noticed not just by me, but a number of the regular participants in the 3X9 Series bass tournament series, as I’ve spoken with them in phone interviews for my weekly report on that series for the Killeen Daily Herald.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time: 10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.25 low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 88.4

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW6-8 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic SH0080C – downrigging at 21′ over a deeper bottom for 5 white bass and 1 largemouth using #12 Pet Spoons on one ‘rigger and #13 Pet Spoons on the other

**Areas SH0121C & SH0126C – 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)

8-YEAR-OLD ISAAC MARTINEZ LANDS HIS FIRST FISH – 28 FISH

August 16th, 2019August 16th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, 16 August, I fished with 8-year-old Isaac Martinez of Fort Hood. Isaac will be heading into the 3rd grade at a charter school in the Belton Independent School District this coming school year. His dad, U.S. Army Sergeant (E-5) Gerardo Martinez, is a generator mechanic currently on a rotation to South Korea in support of the field artillery unit he is assigned to SGT Martinez has been in the Army for 10 years. The Martinez family just returned stateside from a longer assignment to South Korea in which SGT Martinez was able to be accompanied by his family. Isaac’s mom, Sarah, also has a 1 1/2 year old son, Nicholas, to care for, so, she entrusted Isaac to my care this morning.

This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge. S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. 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. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents’ military-related disabilities prevent them from taking their own children fishing. 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.

PHOTO CAPTION: This white bass from Stillhouse Hollow was the first fish of Isaac’s life. He caught it using a shad-imitating spoon on a downrigger and earned a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department “First Fish Award” for his efforts. Way to go, Isaac!!

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Multi-species

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: 16 August 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Since Isaac had never been on a boat before, nor had he ever caught a fish before, we spent only a short time in pursuit of larger fish, then switched over to fishing for higher numbers of smaller fish to ensure the action level stayed high. During our short stint of downrigging, we landed one nice white bass of about 13.5 inches (thus earning Isaac his TPWD First Fish Award), and a 15″ channel catfish. Afterwards, we headed up shallow and fished two separate areas for sunfish, landing 26, including bluegill and longears. These sunfish were taken on bream poles.

TALLY: 28 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 10:00am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 0.22 low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 87.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: S3-4 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area Vic 1128 – 1 white bass, 1 channel cat via downrigging

**Area SH0125C – sunfish

**Area 515 – 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)

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED — 58 FISH @ BELTON

August 15th, 2019August 16th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Wednesday morning, August 14th, I fished with first-time clients Dr. Mike Reis and his wife, Barbara, of Belton, TX. Mike is a family medicine doctor, and Barbara just retired from being a mom, only to take on a full-time job of being a grandma, with at least 3 new “clients” on the way from their two sons, one daughter, and their respective spouses!

PHOTO CAPTION: Barbara Reis took this nice Lake Belton hybrid striped bass on a tailspinner fished vertically in an area loaded with bait and with white bass present, as well.

PHOTO CAPTION: Once again this morning the topwater blitz remained reliable, albeit short-lived. About 35 minutes is all these fish will stay at the surface given the cloudless conditions we’ve had most morning for the past 3 weeks.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass the entire trip, with an “intro” to both jugfishing and sunfishing (both to be shared with grandkids) mixed in

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 14 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning began like most morning under these last 3 weeks of stable weather, but the mid- to late-morning fishing was definitely enhanced by the wrinkle in the weather today triggered by an incoming, mild cold front. The topwater blitz that has routinely taken place occurred again this morning, but afterwards we enjoyed some pre-frontal fish feeding activity, most of which was subsurface but aggressive.

We were able to locate active white bass the entire morning which responded best to downrigging, but also took horizontally retrieved bladebaits and vertically worked tailspinners. These fish were very actively moving, hence, Spot-Locking over top of them did not really work very well as they just would not stay put. The ability to see fish on side imaging, mark them, then downrig over them quickly on a subsequent pass put a lot of fish in the boat this morning in the form of both singles and doubles.

While we downrigged, we also kept an eye on 20 juglines we quickly set out, all baited with shad. We got 8 pulldowns on 20 jugs in 2.25 hours, which resulted in 2 landed blue catfish (a lot of gar in the area told me we’d have a lot of “false alarms”, as well).

To close out the trip, and because Mike requested that I show him some options for fishing from his own boat which is not trolling-motor equipped (and because he and Barbara will be doing a lot of fishing with a lot of grandkids before long), I did a “demo” on shallow water sunfishing, providing them with some tips on rigging and bait selection which will help them help others be successful.

TALLY: 58 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) We had a wrinkle in the weather today as a mild cold front hit at precisely 9:10am. This allowed for an average topwater feed at low light, but, thanks to prefrontal activity and some cloud cover, there was a solid white bass bite beyond the topwater blitz this morning. 2) The slight change in the behavior of the topwater feeding fish I noted Monday and Tuesday mornings repeated itself again this morning. Instead of moving parallel to the shore during their feed, the fish moved perpendicular to the shoreline from shallow to deep, finally leaving the surface while over ~40 feet of water.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.05 high, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.2

Wind Speed & Direction: Prefrontal winds were light and variable generally from the south, then winds went NNW6-7 at 9:10 as the mild cold front hit

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat through 8:20, then increasing grey cloud cover up to 50% built in.

GT = 55

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT: NOAA nailed it today. The forecast windshift of the incoming cold front was literally within minutes of the forecast shown on the day’s weather graph…

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1792 to 1804 for early morning topwater action with little post-topwater downrigging action today

**Area 788-172 for successful mid- to late-morning successful downrigging action with less successful blade bait and tailspinner attempts thrown in

**From Area B0085C to to the small cove – jugfishing for 2 bluecat and a lot of false alarms due to gar

**Area B0168C – sunfish intro for a half-dozen 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)

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!! — 24 FISH @ BELTON

August 15th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday morning, August 13th, I fished with returning guest Mr. Kelvin Gladden Sr. and his two sons, Kelvin Jr. and Tevin. The elder Kelvin is now retired, his son, Kelvin, works locally for Walmart, and Tevin is in graduate school pursuing a Masters of Business Administration degree up in Alaska.

Kelvin’s last trip out with me saw him, Kelvin Jr., and two neighbors land 220 fish in the more fishing-friendly month of March (2018). I was very upfront with Kelvin as he called to book this August trip that the fishing is pretty tough — and it was. More important to him, though, was the chance to spend time with his sons while they were both in town.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Kelvin Jr., Kelvin Sr., and Tevin Gladden, with a few of the beefy white bass we took during a brief morning topwater spree on Lake Belton via sight-casting.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tevin landed this just-legal hybrid striper on topwater as it mixed in with its white bass cousins. We landed 3 other hybrid during this morning’s topwater binge, but, they were all around 14 inches.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass early, then jug fishing for bluecat thereafter

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 13 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was August-tough already, made even tougher by a light wind situation this morning. After a short topwater feed, things got very quiet. We managed a few more white bass after the topwater blitz ended by using downriggers, then headed to shallower waters to give jugfishing a try. We only landed 2 on cutbait this morning, but the most excitement was caused by the “two that got away”. In both instances, we had free-floating juglines set out in the light winds. Over the course of the set, we had approximately 8 tip up. Two of these began to obviously cruise at a steady clip upwind, leaving no doubt there were fish attached. As we approached the first “cruiser”, the fish spooked, thus pulling the jug so far under that we couldn’t grasp the line. This happened 3 or 4 more times before we finally secured the line. Kelvin Sr. was the “jug man” and tussled with the fish at boatside. It was about a 3-foot longnose gar. As sometimes happens with gar, this one had the hook in its bony snout and, without much “meat” for the hook to grab into, the hook pulled out as Kelvin tried to lift it aboard. The second scenario involved an even larger fish which moved the jug about a quarter-mile upwind before we spotted it (as it had broken away from the rest of the flotilla of jugs). On a number of occasions the fish plunged the jug well beneath the surface an kept it there for long whiles. Eventually we got the gaff around the line only to have this fish, which was over 4′ long, get off, as well. Because we couldn’t spot this jug for quite some time, I asked if we needed to consider abandoning the jug, thinking perhaps a yellow cat had tangled it in a subsurface snag. Kelvin Sr. tactfully stated, “Well, Bob, you know inquiring minds want to know.” I knew he wanted a look at whatever was big enough to pull that jug under, so we persisted and were at least treated to a glimpse of the mystery fish.

TALLY: 24 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The slight change in the behavior of the topwater feeding fish I noted yesterday morning repeated itself again this morning. Instead of moving parallel to the shore during their feed, the fish moved perpendicular to the shoreline from shallow to deep, finally leaving the surface while over ~40 feet of water.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.08 high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.2

Wind Speed & Direction: S3-4 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 018 to B0165C to 793 – topwater white bass under low light conditions

**Area 1791 to B0153C for post-topwater downrigged white bass

**Area B0110C to 031 – jugfishing for 2 bluecat and 2 missed longnose gar

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)

FREE S.K.I.F.F FISHING TRIP FOR THE HAGENS & BATTENFIELDS

August 14th, 2019August 14th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Monday morning, August 12th, I was joined by a pair of mothers and their daughters for the 2019 season’s 13th S.K.I.F.F. program trip.

6-year-old Julie Battenfield was accompanied by her mom, Nikki Battenfield. Nikki’s husband, U.S. Air Force Tech Sergeant Lonny Battenfield, is a plumber with a combined 19 years of active and reserve service. He is currently deployed.

8-year-old Ava Hagen was accompanied by her mom, Ilka Hagen. Ilka’s husband, U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Volker Hagen, is a truck driver with 15 years of active duty service. He is currently on a rotation to South Korea.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Ava and Ilka Hagen, and Nikki and Julie Battenfield holding a pair of white bass we took before the sun began shining directly on the water.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass early, then sunfish thereafter

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 12 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We targeted white bass feeding on shad on the surface under low-light conditions by casting shad-imitating Pet Spoons to them until they quit feeding, catching exactly 25 while the action lasted. We then continued catching fish via downrigging until around 8am. We then spent the remainder of the trip in pursuit of sunfish in the shallows. We made four stops and the girls landed exactly 50 fish, including four species of sunfish, blacktail shiners, and a smallmouth bass.

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: There was a slight change in the behavior of the topwater feeding fish this morning. Instead of moving parallel to the shore during their feed, the fish moved perpendicular to the shoreline from shallow to deep, finally leaving the surface while over ~40 feet of water.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.1 high, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.3

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1788 to 1746 – low light topwater white bass

**Area 1791 (downrigging beyond this waypoint by ~200 feet and running parallel to the contour of the bottom)

**Area B0167C – 3 short hops here for sunfish

**Area B0163C – 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)

DESTINATION: CENTRAL TEXAS — 52 FISH

August 13th, 2019August 13th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Sunday evening I fished with Jaime Mata, Nate Renteria, Caleb Perez, and Oscar Mendoza, all relatives from Odessa who headed to central Texas for a short family vacation which included this evening’s fishing trip, and a visit the following day to the BSR Cable Park in Waco. All the arrangements were made by Angie, Jaime’s wife.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Oscar Mendoza, Caleb Perez, Jaime Mata, and Nate Renteria, each with one of the blue catfish we took on free-floating juglines in the first half of the trip while waiting on the white bass to get ready for their sunset feed.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jaime Mata, Caleb Perez, Nate Renteria, and Oscar Mendoza with 4 of the 46 white bass we took on downrigged Pet Spoons as the white bass assaulted the shad as the sunlight failed in the late evening.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass late, blue cat early

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 11 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: I normally don’t fish on Sundays, but, with my wife away spending time with her dad and older sister, and with the limited window Jaime and his family had to accomplish all they’d hoped to on their family getaway, I went ahead and booked them for an evening trip, being very upfront with them that the first half of the trip would be very hot and the fishing slow during that time. They were good with that.

As I’ve mentioned numerous times over the past several weeks since this very stable high pressure, hot, dry weather has been in place, the fish are in a solid routine and are not varying from it. Trying to catch white bass much before 6:45pm is very tough, so, I’ve been focusing on other, more cooperative species, including blue catfish.

This evening we put about 1.5 hours of effort into duping blue catfish using free-floating juglines baited with shad. We landed 6 fish using 35 jugs.

We closed out the trip downrigging with 3-armed umbrella rigs for white bass. We equipped the rigs with Pet Spoons. The white bass have shown a significant preference for the size 13 over the size 12, so all rigs are now 100% rigged up with #13’s — no more mix and match as I’d been doing as an experiment. 46 white bass caught and released, including singles, doubles, and triples.

TALLY: 52 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Today was the 4th of 4 consecutive days in which NOAA called for a heat advisory. Afternoon temps would climb to 101 and feel like 106F. No evening topwater bite observed.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 5:30P

End Time: 8:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 101F with a heat index of 106F

Elevation: 0.15 high, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 88.9

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady at SSE10 through 7P, then tapering down to SSE7 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Cloudless blue skies

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**From Area B0117C through 185 – 6 bluecat on 35 jugs in 1.75 hours

**Area 814 to B0154C – center of mass for low-light evening downrigging

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)

A MULTI-SPECIES EVENING WITH JOSH, LEE, & PATTI – 22 FISH

August 12th, 2019August 12th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday evening I fished with Mr. Lee Cooper and his wife, Patti, who are grandparents to 11-year-old Josh Mokry, all from the Arlington, TX, area.

Lee and Patti presented Josh with an “adventure with grandparents” Christmas present, and Josh chose to make that adventure one that involved the pursuit of fish.

Because my schedule is packed leading up to the restart of public school (locally on 26 August), and because Josh’s schedule would be filling when school begins, we chose to get this trip in during the evening, although I generally try to dissuade folks from heading out in the August heat, particularly when a heat advisory is in effect, as it was this day.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Patti Cooper, grandson Josh Mokry, and Lee Cooper with a few of the 14 white bass we downrigged for as sunset approached.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Josh Mokry, Patti and Lee Cooper with a few of the blue catfish we landed on juglines as we pursued other than white bass in the time preceding the start of the evening white bass bite.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass late, blue cat early

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 10 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As I’ve mentioned numerous times over the past several weeks since this very stable high pressure, hot, dry weather has been in place, the fish are in a solid routine and are not varying from it. Trying to catch white bass much before 6:45pm is very tough, so, I’ve been focusing on other, more cooperative species, including blue catfish.

This evening we put about 1.25 hours of effort into duping blue catfish using free-floating juglines baited with shad. We landed 8 fish using 35 jugs.

TALLY: 22 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Today was the 3rd of 4 consecutive days in which NOAA called for a heat advisory. Afternoon temps would climb to 101 and feel like 106F. No evening topwater bite observed.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 5:30P

End Time: 8:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 101F with a heat index of 106F

Elevation: 0.17 high, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 88.8

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-14 through 7P, then tapering down to SSE8 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 35

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**From Area B0130C through B0166C – 8 bluecat on35 jugs in 1.25 hours

**Area 814 to B0104C – center of mass for low-light evening downrigging

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)

THE BLUE CAT NICHE – 58 FISH @ BELTON

August 11th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday morning, August 10th, I met up with the crew from Real Star Property Management LLC for a little team-building and fun away from the office. This morning’s crew included trip coordinator Brandon Griffith, brothers Eli and Isaac Schlabach, and Isaac’s girlfriend, Hatice Alkaya. The three fellows had been out with me last year on Stillhouse when downrigging was the go-to tactic. This morning, they got a good introduction to hot-weather fishing on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Hatice Alkaya, Isaac Schlabach, Eli Schlabach, and Brandon Griffith, each with a Lake Belton blue catfish we took during the second half of our trip on a combination of rods and reels and juglines.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass early, blue cat late

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 10 August 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip had three distinct components: low-light topwater, post-topwater downrigging, and late morning catfishing. The weather has been super-stable and the fish are just locked into a routine such that white bass are very tough to come by outside of the first and last 90 minutes of light morning and evening.

Hence, I’ve been experimenting with a number of ways to keep fish coming over the side of the boat on my multi-species trips. Sunfish (especially when I have youth anglers aboard) and blue catfish have filled that niche nicely.

So, we took topwater white bass (33 to be exact) by sight-casting, then we took another 9 white bass via downrigging after the topwater died, then we used a combination of 35 juglines and 4 rod & reel combos to catch blue catfish after the white bass feed was over. This catfishing produced 16 blue cat, including 11 on jugs and 5 on rod and reel. Bait of choice this morning was shad.

TALLY: 58 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Today was the 3rd of 4 consecutive days in which NOAA called for a heat advisory. Afternoon temps would climb to 101 and feel like 106F.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 0.17 high, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 69 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.9

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1764 to B0165C – low light topwater

**Area B0104C – center of mass for post-topwater downrigging

**From Area B0166C through 031, and half way to 591 – bluecat on jugs

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)

FREE S.K.I.F.F. FISHING TRIP FOR THE SCHELLIN BOYS – 30 FISH

August 10th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Friday evening, 09 August, I met up with Mrs. Lindsey Schellin and her sons, Logan (age 8) and Jayden (age 6) at Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir for an evening in pursuit of sunfish on what was the 2019 season’s twelfth S.K.I.F.F. program fishing trip.

Lindsey’s husband, U.S. Army Specialist Gage Schellin, died while on active duty in 2014. SPC Schellin had served for 2 years in his first enlistment as a Firefinder Radar Operator in one of the Fort Hood field artillery units.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: 6-year-old Jayden Schellin with a redear sunfish he landed, Lindsey Schellin, and Logan Schellin with a bluegill sunfish he landed.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Sunfish

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: 09 August 2019, PM

HOW WE FISHED: Given the heat (we faced a heat index at 106F this afternoon), and the boys’ age, Lindsey and I agreed that a short, action-packed trip focused on sunfish would be just right for the boys. Fortunately, Lindsey, an Alabama girl, was no stranger to fishing, so, as soon as I showed the boys what needed doing, she was able to cover down on one of them and we worked together to help the boys keep fish coming over the side.

I established some goals for the boys to keep their focus. Their first fish won them a pin-on fish award, and, when their combined total hit 25 fish, they would each win a SKIFF ballcap and their own closed-face rod and reel, which Austin Fly Fishers’ Dave Hill hustled up for us.

We fished up in shallow cover where rock, wood, and weeds provided cover for the sunfish. We drew them out with our lightweight slipfloat rigs presented with bream poles.

When all was said and done, the novelty of the whole adventure wore off about the time fish #30 came over the gunwale. I leaned over and told Lindsey, “You know it’s time to wrap up when you and I are the only ones holding the fishing poles.” She nodded knowingly and we got things tidied up and made our final run back to the boat ramp.

Lindsey and the boys were on their way up to the parking lot, when I noticed they had turned back and were now coming my way. I thought perhaps they’d forgotten something so I asked if I could help. Lindsey told me that the boys just wanted to see how the boat got back out of the water!

TALLY: 30 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00pm

End Time: 8:30pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 99F

Elevation: 0.11 low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 92.1

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: High white haze over a blue sky just thick enough to cut some of the sun’s heat

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 420 – sunfish (2 hops)

**Area Sh0055c- sunfish

**Area 1948 – 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)