Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

WE’LL HAVE TO PLOW – 81 FISH @ BELTON

March 13th, 2019March 13th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This opening day of Spring Break 2019 I fished in the afternoon with a couple, Thomas and Sharon Sexton, visiting from Cadillac, Michigan. Thomas now works in the maintenance area for Martin-Marietta in that area, and Sharon is a labor and delivery nurse. The Sextons came to Texas to visit an old Army buddy of Thomas’, and left behind 0F weather and a pile of snow. Despite the fact that our Texas weather on this afternoon wasn’t all that balmy, they were enjoying the break from the extreme cold up north. While here in Texas, the Sextons got word that freezing rain had caused power outages in their region up north, so they weren’t sure what they were heading back to. One thing was for sure according to Thomas … he said “We’ll have to plow.” — meaning plow snow with a vehicle-mounted plow in order to get to his house!!! I’m so glad I left upstate New York in 1986!!

When not working, the Sextons enjoy bowhunting for deer with their kids — Tom with a bow and Sharon with a scoped crossbow.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Sexton with a Lake Belton hybrid taken in under 15 feet of water on a Cicada bladebait after cormorants and terns pointed the way to feeding activity.

PHOTO CAPTION: Tom and Sharon Sexton display a few of the better white bass we landed using both snap-jigging and smoking tactics with the white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab/Stinger combo.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday afternoon, 11 March

HOW WE FISHED: This afternoon we enjoyed success throughout our 4+ hours on the water. The bite started of a bit slow and tentative as afternoon trips typically do, but the action increased as time went on right up until the fish shut off just prior to tonight’s obscured sunset.

We started of by snap-jigging in about 32′ for clusters of fish I found with sonar, as there were no birds offering a shortcut to the fish finding. About the time our first area was waning, I spotted a flock of 30-40 terns aggressively feeding near the bank in 10-15 feet of water. As I approached, I could see cormorants were working this area, as well, but, even after the cormorants spooked, the terns kept working, giving me hope that there were at least a few gamefish present. Given the shallow depth, we threw blades and connected with 1 drum, 1 white bass, and 1 hybrid striper. Nothing to write home about, but, this was by far the shallowest I’ve found gamefish since October.

Our next several “hops” came under yet another flock of terns working over 38-42 feet of water. These birds were strictly working atop fish. Seeing the scenario unfolding before us, I put the Garmin LiveScope into action, thus allowing all 3 of us to see our moving baits in real time as we arrayed ourselves along the starboard gunwale. Sharon and Tom quickly got the hang of timing the presentation of their slabs to get to the suspended fish in such a way that tempted them consistently to bite, and it was game-on for about an hour.

After the fish settled and the birds dissipated, we had success snap jigging at two more locations before the slightly foggy conditions obscured the light and killed the bite for good around 7:15pm.

OBSERVATIONS: The slow warming trend we’ve enjoyed since last Wednesday morning has definitely begun to move fish and bait shallower and has increased the energy level (metabolism) of the fish in general.

TALLY: 81 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:15p

End Time: 7:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 0.73 feet high, with a 0.07 foot rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 54.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NE7-8 all afternoon

Sky Conditions: Leaden grey skies with light fog.

GT = 33

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0111C – snap-jigging during the slowest part of the afternoon

**Area B0140C – light, shallow water action indicated by cormorants and terns

**Area B0139C – best, most prolonged bite of the afternoon (3 short hops) under birds for aggressively feeding white bass throughout lower 1/2 of water column

**Area vic 097 – snap-jigging as the bite wound down

**Area vic 560 – snap-jigging as the bite wound down and finally died

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

PLAYIN’ REDNECK ATARI – 71 FISH

March 11th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This opening day of Spring Break 2019 I fished with Mr. Steve Webb of Harker Heights. Steve is a multi-species angler who tends to focus on Lake Belton catfish. His wife and daughter, Bailey, were to join us but fell ill the night before, so, instead of a family outing, I tried to turn this into a “techy” trip for Steve’s sake, focusing on the application of the Garmin LiveScope technology.

Steve, originally a farm kid from Greasy Corner, Arkansas (yep, look it up if you don’t believe me!), took one look at the Garmin and said, “Man, that’s like redneck Atari!”.

We enjoyed comparing notes all morning. As a result, I’m planning to take a peek at his “Sun Up Sun Down” YouTube channel, primarily focused on fishing Lake Belton. The fish we landed were just icing on the cake this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Webb with a 14″ Stillhouse Hollow white bass taken out of 44 feet of water under birds using a 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 11 March

HOW WE FISHED: We spent a good portion of this morning’s trip chasing birds which were working atop fish which were really not in an overly-aggressive feeding mode. Each place we searched with sonar did indeed hold fish, but they tended to be in small clusters. When we stopped to fish for them vertically via snap-jigging, we caught what was there, but nearby fish did not “pile on” and come in to the commotion created by our jigging, thumping, and catching.

So it was until around 11:40a when, just as the majority of the birds had ceased to work, we encountered a nice concentration of fish on a breakline adjacent to the Lampasas River channel in about 42 feet of water. We quickly took our fish count from 29 fish up to 71 fish and then left them biting by 12:30pm. We used a slow smoking tactic for these fish, thus getting Steve his first fish ever caught via this method.

The 3/8 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger attached did the trick for all but 3 of our fish, and those were taken on Cicada bladebaits.

OBSERVATIONS: Once again, birds were helpful in finding fish, but the fish under them tended to be well-spread and not very aggressive. The primary fish these gulls were feeding on were stunned sunfish, and there was much more flying and looking by these birds than there was diving and eating.

TALLY: 71 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45am

End Time: 12:30pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F

Elevation: 0.14 feet high, with a 0.07 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 56.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NE8-10 all morning

Sky Conditions: Leaden grey skies with periods of light mist and light fog.

GT = 25

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic SH0044C to 1508 – light action under birds in deep water

**Area vic 1537- light action under birds in deep water

**Area vic 1345 – light action under birds in 25′ on both blades and slabs

**Area SH0095C – best action of the morning in the last 50 minutes with aggressively feeding fish in entire lower 1/3 of the water column turned on to a slow smoking retrieve

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

Colonel Dave and Raptor Robert — 50 Fish on Stillhouse

March 10th, 2019March 10th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, March 9th, I fished with U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel David Bowers, Robert Smith (a friend of David’s mom), and David’s two kids, Kayden (age 6) and Keira (age 4).

David is a battalion commander at Ft. Hood, and Robert is retired from the glass industry in the Cincinnati area and now serves at Raptors, Inc. which cares for injured birds of prey and educates the public about these birds.

Strangely enough and evidently in an aerial display of appreciation for Robert’s efforts, we were treated to a rare sighting of a pair of bald eagles flying slowly from SW to NE directly overhead around 9:15 am!!

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Robert Smith, Kayden, Keira, and David Bowen with a sampling of the white bass we landed today on vertical tactics used in deep water.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 09 March

HOW WE FISHED: This trip was nearly a carbon copy of the past two trips on Stillhouse this past Wednesday and Friday in that the still-cold water has the fish still fairly deep and fairly sluggish. We therefore vertically jigged using the “old faithful” snap-jigging method to take the lion’s share of our catch this morning from fish on bottom in 45-50 feet of water. The fishing was steady right up until 9:50a, at which time a narrow band of showers moving from west to east dropped about 10 minutes worth of rain on us. This rain was the lead edge of a mild cold front. Immediately after its passage the fishing got tough as the skies cleared and the air got cooler and drier. After a lull in the wind which had been blowing from the SW, about 20 minutes after the rain ended, the winds began to rapidly ramp up to NW18. As the winds increased, the bite bounced back and allowed us to enjoy a bit of slow smoking in 36-42 feet of water for fish that were just a bit more perky than those we’d encountered earlier.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time: 11:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 0.27 feet high, with a 0.03 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 55.6

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SSW7-8 until the mild cold front’s passage at 9:50, then shifting NW and building quickly to 18 mph

Sky Conditions: Light grey skies with 90% coverage and little direct sun showing through until the mild cold front’s passage at 9:50, then clearing quickly to cloudless with noticeably less humidity

GT = 20

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 350/339 (low light bite under most helpful bird action of the AM)

**Area SH0094C

**Area vic 1537/SH0024C

**Area vic 1317

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

OLD HIGH SCHOOL BUDDIES HIT BELTON – 75 FISH

March 10th, 2019March 10th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday evening, March 8^th, I fished with high school buddies Steve Murphy and Ted Tilley. The men, now both retired, went to high school up in Wisconsin. Steve retired from the U.S. Army where he worked for over 20 years in food service, and then worked another 18 years for the Killeen Independent School District where he focused on nutrition. Ted, now residing in Colorado, retired from the paving/asphalt industry.

A big thanks to George Van Riper for referring these fellows my way.

ABOVE: From left: Steve Murphy and Ted Tilley managed to catch fish when they weren’t razzing one another about past peccadilloes.

ABOVE: Steve landed a “two-fer” out of a school of smaller white bass that fired up and bit as soon as we got our slabs down to bottom.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 08 Mar., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: After launching right at 2:00p, we found our first fish around 2:30pm and these were scattered, suspended fish over ~42 feet of water. We used the Garmin LiveScope to track our lures and fish movement simultaneously and successfully connected with white bass, hybrid striped bass, drum, largemouth and crappie holding about 12-15 feet off bottom and slowly meandering about in search of the shad also in this area.

The next three areas we fished found us probing progressively shallower water, finding fish on bottom in 34’, 27’, and as shallow as 17’. The last area at which we found fish on bottom saw us fishing in 32’. Each stop produced fish, but no area was really “on fire”, thanks to the still-low water temperature. Around 5:50p, we made a final move. Once again, in about 42’, we found abundant suspended fish in a horizontal band from 25-30 feet deep. Using the LiveScope, we zeroed in on these fish using a slow-smoking tactic with the 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab/Stinger combination. We landed 20-25 of our total catch of 75 fish in this last 35 minute run.

OBSERVATIONS: We seem to be right on the cusp of the normally very productive spring fishing. There are currently no days on the extended forecast during which day or night temperatures are due to fall below the temperature of the water, thus, a net warming will take place over this time.

TALLY: 75 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time: 6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.3 feet high, with a 0.05 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 52.8-53.1

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SSW12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Light grey skies with 90% coverage and little direct sun showing through for the entirety of the trip.

GT = 30

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0136C

**Area B0137C

**Area vic 1736

**Area vic 097

**Area B0138C

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

Wounded Warrior Project Comes to Stillhouse — 76 Fish

March 9th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, March 8^th, I fished with a crew of 6 members of the Wounded Warrior Project. This was the second such trip I’ve had the pleasure of conducting this year.

Joining me this morning for a half-day of chasing white bass were Hector Cuellar, Eric Haines, Brian Hammonds, Matt Hinds, and Frankie Silverio, all current or former members of the U.S. Army, and Kristin Taddeo, a Gold Star family member on WWP’s staff.

ABOVE: The six participants from this past Friday’s WWP fishing trip: (back row, from left) Brian Hammonds, Eric Haines, Matt Hinds, (front row, from left) Frankie Silverio, Kristin Taddeo, and Hector Cuellar.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 08 Mar., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: Snap-jigging was the go-to method this morning as the water temperature, which recently dropped due to a 3-day cold snap, was still in the low 50’s. Hence, the fish were very sluggish and not willing to move very far nor very fast to get to a bait. We got into fish right away under birds, but, as has been the case lately, the birds seem focused on the relatively few fish which have moved up shallow and are feeding in 25 feet of water or less. Following and focusing fishing efforts on these birds has led to scant results. Additionally, the fish I have witnessed these birds grabbing off the surface have been sunfish, not shad. So, after seeing this play out, we looked for and found fish in deeper water (40-50’). These fish, although not any more active, were definitely more heavily schooled up, thus allowing for long stretches of catching without having to move and reignite a bite. Our third hour on the water was our most productive as the wind rose and the sun brightened the still-grey skies to “squint-level brightness”. During this time we encountered a single instance of fish willing to chase slowly smoked baits up off bottom after finding them postured from bottom up to 5-6 feet up off bottom.

Both methods involved the use of white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger Hooks.

TALLY: 76 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 0.3 feet high, with a 0.05 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 52.8-53.1

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SSW10-12 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Light grey skies with 100% coverage and no direct sun showing through for the entirety of the trip.

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic SH0072C

**Area vic 1711/557

**Area vic 1895 (4 short hops)

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

SWEET ON BOTH ENDS, BUT SOFT IN THE MIDDLE – 51 FISH

March 6th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 6th, I fished with Dr. Linda Hankins and her friend, Tommy Hennessee. Linda operates the Belton Animal Clinic focusing mainly on pets and small animals, and Tommy, a U.S. Army retiree from the Quartermaster Corps, is a self-described “helper-outer” at the clinic.

Linda received a gift certificate for this trip from the Harrison family back during Christmas of 2017 and decided it was high time to cash it in.

ABOVE: Tommy Hennessee landed his personal best largemouth on this morning’s 24F start on Stillhouse Hollow. This fished pulled my certified scale down to 4 7/8 pounds. This fish was landed on a white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached from out of 27 feet of water.

ABOVE: White bass were the staple of our catch this morning, firing up right at sunrise, calming with the lessening of the wind, then firing right back up again once a sustained wind and some cloud cover moved in. We caught fish from between 22 and 42 feet, and all were within ~6 feet of the the bottom.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 06 Mar., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: After losing two days on the water to cold and wind, today we saw a warmup take place, but not before enduring a few final hours of sub-freezing temperatures in advance of a wind shift from ENE to SSE. As I made pre-trip preparations at the boat ramp this morning before sunrise, the mercury fell to 24F. The past few days pushed the surface temperature down about 3.5 degrees to between 50.1 and 51.7F, depending on location.

As the title for this post implies, we enjoyed good fishing on the ends (start and finish) of the trip, but had a tough go of it from about 9am to 10:20am during which time our conditions were the brightest and calmest they would be all day. This temporary calm occurred as the winds shifted from ENE to SSE, and was not exactly forecast to take place, so, we had to take some lemons and make lemonade for a while.

Finally, some high, thin cloud cover built in and the winds did ramp up fairly quickly to SSE12 over a 30 minute span. As this played out, fish got noticeably more active, pulling up off the bottom to feed. We took our fish count from 22 landed fish at 10:20 to 51 landed fish by 11:30. This catch included mainly 2-year class white bass, accompanied by a handful of drum and 2 largemouth bass, one of which was a personal best for Tommy.

I really wanted to be on the water today when that wind shifted, and, in hindsight, I’m glad we were as that was the most productive spike of activity of the 4.5 hours we fished.

OBSERVATIONS: The fish were definitely impacted by the cold in that they were loathe to move very far to take a bait. Even when conditions improved with the increasing wind and cloud cover, we used a very slow smoking tactic to tempt fish which had suspended as much as 5-7 feet off bottom.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 24F

Elevation: 0.42 feet high, with a 0.07 foot drop over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 50.1 to 51.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were variable at up to 5mph through 9am, then went slack until 10:20a, then ramped up quickly to SSE12 through our 11:30 departure.

Sky Conditions: Clear skies through 9a, then high, thin white cloud cover at 40% and building thereafter.

GT = 80

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 984 – low light bite with bird assist

**Area vic 330 thru vic 052 – fair bite with bird assist

**Area v 069 wind-enhanced bite – no birds

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

MOM LANDS THE MONSTER — 66 FISH @ BELTON

March 3rd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday afternoon, March 2nd, I fished with Mr. Kelly Hankins, his wife, Lizzy, and their 17-year-old son, Clayton, on a multi-species trip on Lake Belton. Due to the low water temperatures, our main focus was on white bass.

Kelly, an Army brat whose dad retired at Ft. Hood, makes his living as a home inspector in the Temple-Belton area. Lizzy, a native of Killeen, is a physician; and Clayton is a senior at Belton High School where he plays saxophone in the band and has his sights set on attending college at Tarleton where he desires to focus on bio-med studies. The Hankins’ 13-year-old daughter did not join us on this chilly, damp outing.

Lizzy Hankins landed this 5.00 pound Lake Belton largemouth on a 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab equipped with a Hazy Eye Stinger Hook from out of 33 feet of water. This fish was one of 4 largemouth bass we landed in a 15 minute span after putting the boat in SpotLock near isolated wood cover which happened to be near the group of bottom-oriented white bass we were targeting. The fish was weighed on a certified scale, photographed, and released with no signs of barotrauma.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 02 Mar., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: Given the low water temperature and cold, damp conditions, today’s approach was necessarily nearly 100% snap-jigging, as it will likely be until we get our water temperatures to around 58 degrees (which, by the looks of the ‘polar vortex’ on its way to Texas, won’t be any time soon!). During the “low light bite”, which on this foggy evening occurred around 5:10 to 5:40, while working the thumper, we had a nice school of white bass suspend right beneath the boat about 8 feet off bottom. We S-L-O-W-L-Y smoked our slabs through these fish and got bit consistently. This was the most productive spurt of the trip, with all other efforts producing a steady pick of fish from start to finish.

OBSERVATIONS: The bite was definitely “front loaded” at each of the seven areas we found fish at this afternoon. By this, I mean we caught most of our fish, and caught them in quickest succession, immediately upon our arrival. After catching a few quick fish, the action would quickly taper to nil and we’d have to continue looking. A few times simply jogging a few boat lengths put us back in contact with the fish, but, with the water so chilly, the commotion we created by jigging and catching fish did not draw nearby fish to us. Rather, we had to go to them.

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:50p

End Time: 6:10p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Water Surface Temp: 52.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were NNE7-9 the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 100% grey with about a 1.5 mile visibility through the fog.

Water Level: 0.29 feet above full pool with a 0.02 foot 24-hour rise

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0135 – snap-jigging

**Area vic area encompassed by 1077/1362/1000/826- snap-jigging

**Area vic 1827 – two short hops – snap-jigging

**Area vic 1919

**Area vic B0112C (suspended fish came to thumper well enough to allow for slow-smoking through them)

**Area 164/B0114C – three short hops

**Area vic B0116C

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

ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR 43RD ANNIVERSARY – 48 FISH WITH THE ROBINSONS

February 26th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, February 26th, I fished Mr. Marcus Robinson and his wife, Kim. The two left their home near Austin to spend a few days at a cottage nestled along the banks of Lake Belton to celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary. Over the years, Marcus has worked in industry, including stints with Nabisco and Texas Instruments, then at age 33, went into full time ministry from which he has recently retired. Kim, after raising two sons, now serves as a nanny. Marcus is transitioning from kayak angling to fishing from a boat and so had a keen interest in the sonar, trolling motor, battery, and flooring setup I have in my boat, as well as in the vertical tactics we used, which were very new to him.

Marcus landed this old gal in the opening minutes of this morning’s trip. This battle-scarred baby took a 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger Hook in 30 feet of water and then gave a real good account of herself on the light spinning tackle we were pursuing white bass with.

Something is going on with Stillhouse bluecat. I’ve now had a blue cat over 5 pound come aboard on each of my last 4 trips, which is more blue cat than I’ve seen in the last decade! Either someone did some “midnight stocking”, or the zebra mussels are fueling a bluecat revival. Regardless, Kim was glad this rascal obliged!

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 26 Feb., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: The Robinsons were limited to either Monday or Tuesday this week, so, come Saturday, I studied the weather closely and made my best estimate that today’s weather would produce better than yesterday morning’s bright, calm conditions. In hindsight, I feel that was a good call, as yesterday was, indeed, bright and calm and, as I scouted around the lake I saw no birds flying in search of bait during the most critical first 2.5 hours following sunrise. Additionally, Marcus had a concern about the impact of the cold and damp on Kim; today was 10 degrees warmer at sunrise than the day before.

All of that, however, still doesn’t mean today was a red-letter day. We had only a 6-7mph breeze through 9:50, which then died until around 11:50, and we also experienced a thin fog from around 8:00 until 10:00, so we did not have either the brightening of the sky or a sudden wind shift/increase to trigger the fish.

The fish and birds were both fairly lackadaisical this morning, forcing us to move routinely and permitting us to pick up just a few fish at each stop we made with no more than 8-10 caught at any one area. In general, the fish were in 27-32′ during the time the breeze blew, then we had to search deeper, 50+ foot water to get bit once the wind died.

All but 8 of our fish were landed on the Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger hook attached, in color white and 3/8 oz. size. Those other 8 came on bladebaits.

OBSERVATIONS: We observed no suspended fish today, in fact, most all of the fish we observed were nearly flat to bottom. The fish really did not respond all that well to the thumper; I think it kept the resident fish resident, but didn’t draw other fish in. The bird action, though helpful, involved a lot more flying than feeding this morning.

TALLY: 48 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 1:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp: 53.8-54.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were ESE6-7 thru 9:50, calm from 9:50 thru 11:50, then E7 from 11:50 thru 1p

Sky Conditions: ~50% cloud cover at sunrise, clearing to under 10% cloud cover by 10am, then with a high, thin, grey layer of clouds moving in as the winds spiked around 10am.

Water Level: 622.68 ASL, with a 0.07′ rise in the last 24 hours.

GT = 40

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1518 first stop, low-light bite with moderate action on snapjigging

**Area vic 1892 moderate action on snapjigging

**Area vic 745 shallow fish on blades

**Area 1195 moderate action on snapjigging at edge of channel

**Area 1690-1302 – this expanse of water had small wolfpacks of whites and drum working in 50+ feet of water

**Area 052 – midday action for smaller whites

**Area 1195 moderate action on snapjigging at edge of channel (2nd stop here)

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

WINDY … WITH A CHANCE OF MORE WIND — 42 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

February 23rd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, February 23rd, I fished with Mr. Doug Streater, his son-in-law, Travis Anthony, and Travis’ son, Colby — three generations aboard for a white bass fishing trip on a balmy late-winter morning. Doug serves as the president of Extraco Bank and is headquartered in Temple, TX, Travis is a Scott & White orthopedic surgeon working at Metroplex in Killeen, and Colby is an about-to-turn-10 young man who enjoys playing baseball.

Doug was referred my way by both Steve Niemeier and James Caddell — thanks, fellows!!

From left: Travis Anthony, his son, Colby with a 5.25 pound largemouth, and Colby’s grandpa, Doug Streater. This fish looked as though it had just downed a large sunfish or small white bass. Colby did a great job of hanging on and bringing it to net from out of 44 feet of water.

From left: Doug Streater, Colby Anthony, and Travis Anthony with a sampling of the quality white bass we landed on our windy morning on Stillhouse Hollow. All of these fish were very wide, healthy fish.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 23 Feb., 2019

HOW WE FISHED: I touched base with Doug back on Thursday when the NOAA forecast indicated the entire day Saturday would be a blowout due to high winds. We decided then to make a final call around 8:45pm on Friday evening after the forecast had been revised a number of times. As we compared notes on Friday evening, it looked like we’d get at least 3 good hours in with the winds under 18mph. As the sun rose, shrouded by a layer of grey clouds to the east, winds were right at W10. We did, indeed, get in exactly 3 hours of solid fishing. Nearly at the stroke of 10, the birds which had been feeding steadily and helping point the way to fish either lighted on the water or began doing a lot more looking than feeding, and our catch rate dropped off sharply at that point.

During those productive first three hours, we alternated between snapjigging and easing, with only one instance of slow smoking, all with 3/8 oz. slabs. Around 8:45am I spotted gulls working as shallow as we would find them all morning and threw bladebaits under them, but only wound up hooking and landing two fish with this approach.

Although we caught fish steadily, the bite never got on fire this morning — it was more of a steady pluck until 10am. Around 10:15, in addition to the morning feed wrapping up, we also saw a rapid ramp-up in wind speed to over 20mph with occasional higher gusts. Boat control became an issue and, despite consistently placing ourselves under the only remaining actively working gulls on the lake, we had difficulty seeing the gamefish driving the baitfish they were sipping off the surface, much less catching them.

The highlight of the trip came when Colby landed a 5.25 pound largemouth from out of 44 feet of water on his light spinning rod geared for white bass. The fish had an oddly distended belly — I suspect it had just swallowed a large sunfish or a small white bass.

All but two of our fish were landed on the Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger hook attached, in color white and 3/8 oz. size.

OBSERVATIONS: This morning we observed the greatest number of actively feeding birds I’ve seen on Stillhouse all winter, since the first migrants arrived in mid-November.

TALLY: 42 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Water Surface Temp: 53.1-54.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: W10 at trip’s start, slowly ramping up to WNW18 by 10am, then sharply increasing to WNW20-24 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: ~50% cloud cover at sunrise, clearing to under 10% cloud cover by 10am, then with a high, thin, grey layer of clouds moving in as the winds spiked around 10am.

Water Level: 622.39 ASL, with a 0.14′ rise in the last 24 hours.

GT = 80

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 143/089/1060 – first stop, low-light bite with moderate action on snapjigging

**Area SH0093C to 052 (fish found throughout this area, well-spread, under birds) – snapjigging and easing for the most productive span of the morning

**Area 730 – blades up shallow for 2 fish

**Area Vic1439 – snapjigging and easing with fair success on a waning bite

**Area Vic1518 – snapjigging in deep water – one largemouth

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