Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Carlos “The Closer” — 175 Fish

December 9th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, Dec. 9th, I fished with first-time guests Shawn Kelley and Carlos Saldana. The two got to know each other through the church — The Potter’s House — in Killeen, TX.

Shawn, a father of 8 ranging from a baby all the way up to 18 years of age, does remodeling work for a large property management company in the area, as well as custom cabinetry, and Carlos works construction for a long-time, local company specializing in acoustics.

We nick-named Carlos “The Closer” at trip’s end as we set our sights on catching 175 fish, and he worked, fooled, and landed the final one of the morning helping us reach that goal.

DATE: Monday, 09 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 11, 16, 18-20 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Shawn Kelley and Carlos Saldana with a few of the 175 fish they landed on a balmy December morning on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

PHOTO CAPTION: This freshwater drum looked more like a black drum you’d see down on the Gulf Coast. It went 6.75 pounds and struck Shawn’s MAL Dense just at it hit bottom, which is where these fish primarily dwell.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing was better today than the weather we experienced led me to believe it might be. The forecast for this morning was great (and is shown below), but, that westerly wind never developed until we had less than an hour left in our trip. We also experienced some fog early in the trip.

Regardless, we found fish and bait consistently and got bit consistently in those areas after ferreting them out using sonar. At mid-morning, we were blessed to find a small, active flock of gulls working over a ~3 acre area. The fish here were deep and active, and, as a result, were willing to come up to the top of the lower third of the water column in the 51 feet of water we found them in.

This area gave up the majority of our fish and produced until about 10:20.

Thanks to water temperatures still in the low 60’s, we were able to “smoke” MAL Dense Lures up off the bottom and catch fish consistently with just this one lure and with just this one tactic.

Of the 175 fish landed, 2 were freshwater drum, 12 were largemouth bass, and the remainder were white bass.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 175 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) With the water temperature now in the very low 60’s from top to bottom, fish were noticeably less aggressive than over the previous 2 weeks, but, still aggressive enough to chase the MAL Lure moving at a moderate cadence. That will likely change inside a week’s time.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Monday, 9 Dec….

0 feet 60.8F
5 feet 60.9F
10 feet 61.1F
15 feet 61.1F
20 feet 61.1F
25 feet 61.1F
30 feet 61.1F
35 feet 61.1F
40 feet 60.9F
45 feet 60.6F
50 feet 60.6F
55 feet 60.4F
60 feet 60.4F
65 feet 60.4F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 1.88′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW4-5 until 10:40, then ramping up quickly to WSW13-14

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 62% illumination.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 7 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 088 – 36 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Area SH0301G – 112 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Area 716/0305 – 20 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

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

Happy 11th Birthday, Son! — 125 Fish

December 8th, 2024December 8th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Thursday morning, December 5, I fished with first time guests – – the father and son team of Clinton and Charlie Fatter.

Clinton is a family medicine doctor, who, along with his wife, is raising their three kids in Belton, Texas. Charlie is the eldest of the three kids, and this trip was in celebration of his 11th birthday.

DATE: Thursday, 05 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 11, 16-20 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Clinton Fatter took the eldest of his three children, Charlie, on a fishing trip for his 11th birthday. The pair landed 125 fish, including white bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum.

PHOTO CAPTION: This freshwater drum struck Clinton’s lure right as it dropped to bottom. It would be the heaviest of the 125 fish father and son landed on their 4-hour morning trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Conditions were good today, in that we had a northerly wind blowing hard enough to create occasional whitecaps, and we had a nice deck of thin, gray clouds with no direct sun shining on the water.

The water temperature continues to fall very slowly, but is still in the 60s. Although the fish were not as aggressive as they have been over the last two weeks, they were still quite willing to follow a smoked MAL Lure up off the bottom .

Since the fish were willing to follow, only one technique and one lure was necessary this morning. We used MAL Dense Lures with silver bodies and chartreuse tails in conjunction with a smoking tactic. Smoking involves dropping these heavy lures to bottom and cranking them right back toward the surface at a moderate cadence, ensuring the blade gets spinning as close to the bottom as possible.

In this manner, Clinton and Charlie put together a catch of exactly 125 fish in four hours of effort.

Their catch included freshwater drum, largemouth bass, and white bass up to 15 inches in length.

This morning‘s fishing followed a normal curve with activity going from near zero and improving in the first hour, plateauing at a peak in the middle two hours, then falling off to very low activity by the time the fourth hour had run its course.

During the second hour, some light bird activity cropped up, mainly consisting of gulls working over top of loons. This activity did help get us in the vicinity of some bottom-hugging white bass, which were certainly easier to catch than those which were suspended.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 125 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) With the water temperature now in the very low 60’s from top to bottom, fish were noticeably less aggressive, but, still aggressive enough to chase the MAL Lure moving at a moderate cadence. That will likely change inside a week’s time.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Saturday, 29 Nov….

0 feet 62.0F

5 feet 63.7F

10 feet 63.9F

15 feet 63.9F

20 feet 64.1F

25 feet 63.9F

30 feet 63.9F

35 feet 63.9F

40 feet 63.9F

45 feet 63.8F

50 feet 63.5F

55 feet 63.5F

60 feet 63.5F

65 feet 63.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 51F

Elevation: 1.70′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE10-13

Sky Condition: Grey skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 20% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 6 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0109C – 27 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Area 0210 – 16 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Area 772 – 47 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Area vic SDH001 – 5 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0296G – 7 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 716/0305 – 17 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) Trip #23 for 2024

December 8th, 2024December 8th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Saturday morning, November 30, I welcomed aboard Haniel and Nancy Aglee, ages 9 and 5, respectively. The girls’ mother, Abra Alokpa, is a disabled US Army veteran, originally from Togo. This was the 2024 season’s 23rd SKIFF program trip provided specifically for military kids.

Abra served six years in the military’s supply chain.

ABOUT SKIFF: SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009. SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru. S.K.I.F.F. provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish. SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member. In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to kids of bona fide disabled veterans. I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

DATE: Saturday, 30 November 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 11, 16-20 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Nancy (age 5) and Haniel (age 9) Aglee were treated to a free SKIFF program. The girls’ mother, Abra Alopka, is a disabled veteran who served 6 years in the U.S. Army’s supply chain.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After a cold front passed through Central Texas on Thanksgiving Day, this trip began clear, cold, and breezy. The ambient air temperature was 38°, with windchill pushing it a bit lower than that.

The calm conditions which often follow a front existed overnight, and so this morning we were fortunate to have a returning south wind.

Thanks to this wind, which began blowing before sunrise, fish were active right as the sun rose, and stayed that way for several hours.

We fished only two areas with the first giving up 18 fish, despite going through a pretty steep learning curve, which was not aided by the girls’ thick clothing, gloved hands, and donned lifejackets.

Despite that, they both eventually got the hang of cranking the MAL Dense Lures I rigged them up with at an attractive cadence to fish which were located both on the bottom and suspended.

Once the girls had the hang of the technique, I moved to our second and final area, which, thankfully, had more bottom-oriented fish than suspended fish. These bottom-oriented fish are more easily caught, because it is not as critical to get it ahead of their direction of travel as it is for suspended fish.

As we inched past the two hour mark, around 9:40 AM, Abra took some cues from Nancy after sensing she was getting cold. As it turns out, she was quite cold despite dressing well for the conditions and, to play it safe, we concluded the trip at that time.

By this time, we’d seen 54 fish come over the gunwale. Everyone hunkered down with hooded heads ducked, and cold fingers in gloves and pockets for the ride back to the boat ramp and took some photos in an area protected from the wind and cold.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 54 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) For a second consecutive day, bird activity kicked in during our second hour on the water and helped us narrow down where we needed to look for fish.

2) We stayed on fish for the entire morning thanks to decent winds from the south following a cold front’s passage over the course of daylight hours on Thanksgiving Day two days prior.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Saturday, 29 Nov….

0 feet 62.0F

5 feet 63.7F

10 feet 63.9F

15 feet 63.9F

20 feet 64.1F

25 feet 63.9F

30 feet 63.9F

35 feet 63.9F

40 feet 63.9F

45 feet 63.8F

50 feet 63.5F

55 feet 63.5F

60 feet 63.5F

65 feet 63.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 9:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F

Elevation: 1.68′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6-8

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies with thin, white cloud cover in the NW

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 0% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 18 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 1691 – 36 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures for bottom-oriented fish

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Moe Fish, Please! — 155 Fish

December 7th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Friday afternoon, November 29, I fished with Mr. Gary Rowland and his 11-year-old grandson, Carter Moe.

I saw ideal conditions in the morning, and called Gary several days in advance to see if they could bump their trip up to take advantage of that, but, because they were coming from Houston – – almost 3 hours away – – that was just not possible. So, we stuck with the afternoon.

After experiencing lighter than expected traffic, the two arrived earlier than expected, so instead of beginning the trip at 1:15 PM, we got going around 12:45 PM.

Gary is a retired US Air Force officer and Carter, who lives with Gary and Mrs. Rowland, goes to a private school in the Houston area.

DATE: Friday, 29 November 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 11, 16-20 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Yes, white bass were our target species, but, every winter, as Stillhouse begins to cool down, and right on through late February, quality largemouth bass like these begin to show up as bycatch (as do freshwater drum). Gary’s fish (left) went 6.50, and Carter’s went 6.25 pounds on a certified scale.

PHOTO CAPTION: We went deep (48-53′) to combat the low wind speed and bright skies today, and that paid off. These fellows landed 155 fish in right at 4 hours’ time on MAL Dense Lures worked straight up off the bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: “Drum” roll for the kid in the Buc-ee’s hat, please!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After the cold front which blew in on Thanksgiving day passed off to the east, we were left with continuously lightening winds today. By the time we put lines in the water, there was an ENE breeze still going around 7 or 8 mph, which bode well for my two-man crew.

My decision the afternoon prior to this one to fish deep under clearer, brighter skies and calm winds paid off handsomely, so I continued down that same path this afternoon.

This, too, worked out very well. We made only two stops over the course of a four hour afternoon, resulting in a catch of 155 fish.

77 of these came at our first stop, and the balance at our second.

Once again, one lure and one technique or all that were required to keep fish coming over the side. Both fellows used the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail with a smoking tactic, accompanied by Garmin LiveScope to make this catch. They dropped this heavily weighted, in-line spinner all the way to bottom, then began cranking it toward the surface while watching sonar. The vast majority of the fish this afternoon followed their lure upward off bottom.

Included in the 155 fish catch were three largemouth bass exceeding 6 pounds with the largest going 6.5 pounds. A handful of hefty freshwater drum were included in the catch, as well.

We wrapped up around 4:45 PM and headed back in as the sun dipped below a heavy bank of gray clouds in the western sky. As I bid grandfather and grandson farewell, one was headed for the hotel hot tub, while the other had pizza and the hotel swimming pool on his mind. I will leave it to you to guess which was which.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 155 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Fishing for fish found as deep as I could find them (48-53′) helped overcome the low wind speeds.

2) Very few fish suspended today — almost all bites originated from the bottom.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Monday, 25 Nov….

0 feet 67.9F
5 feet 67.9F
10 feet 67.9F
15 feet 67.9F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.9F
30 feet 67.9F
35 feet 67.9F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 67.8F
50 feet 67.2F
55 feet 66.4F
60 feet 66.1F
65 feet 66.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 12:45P

End Time: 4:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 1.65′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE6-8

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies with 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 196 – 77 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0300G – 78 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

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

They Set an All-Time Boat Record of 401 Fish!!!

December 5th, 2024December 8th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Friday morning, November 29, I fished with a crew of five returning guests, including Jack Oliver, his grandsons, Jack and Roy Martin, Jack’s brother, Jamie Oliver, and Joseph Jarosek, who is dating Jack’s daughter.

This trip came together on pretty short notice when I advertised availability on Facebook on Thanksgiving Day after seeing a good opportunity for a high catch thanks to an incoming, dry cold front. I previously attempted to bump up my party booked for the afternoon into this ideal timeframe, but they were unable to come earlier than planned.

Long story short, this party of five landed a new high catch of 401 fish in right at 4 hours’ time.

The three previous record-holders, the dates of their trips, and their catches are as follows:

364 fish, 26 April 2021 with Jack Oliver, Mark Kay, Lance Gray, and Matt Matula

389 fish, 25 May 2021 with Larry Haynes, Joe Oliver, Donna Hine, Jeff Oliver, and Larry Lattimer

392 fish, 19 April 2022 with Mike Stone, Randall Stone, and Shawn DeJournett

DATE: Friday, 29 November 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 6, 9-13 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Roy Martin (age 12), Jack Oliver, Joseph Jarosek, Jamie Oliver, & Jack Martin with a portion of their record-setting catch of 401 white bass, all caught and released over a 4-hour span.

PHOTO CAPTION: Large freshwater drum often show up after we’ve been fishing at one area for a while. As white bass regurgitate what they have eaten as a stress response to being hooked and reeled in, their stomach contents sink to bottom and act as chum to draw in other species.

PHOTO CAPTION: Joseph Jarosek landed the largest of the numerous largemouth bass which showed up on our catch. If even a small piece of cover is located near where we are catching white bass, these curious predators will come over for a look and will often strike at our presentations and be caught.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Thanks to the stiff, dry, north wind, the fish were in frontally influenced overdrive. We fished only five areas and, just has has been the case for a full week now, the white bass were in overdrive, readily responding to the splasher, and then, once consolidated near the boat, readily responding to our vertical presentations.

A smoking tactic was the only tactic required. Everyone dropped their lures to the bottom, closed the bails of their spinning reels by hand, removed the slack, and then cranked their lures toward the surface , while watching Garmin LiveScope to see if they were either getting followed or could time the rise of their lure so as to intersect the path of suspended fish.

All fish were taken on the MAL Dense Lure with silver body and chartreuse tail. Of all of the lures in the MAL Lure family, this is the heaviest, as it is the only one with a body made of lead, whereas all the others are made of brass. It is just shy of an ounce in weight, therefore, it sinks quickly, getting back to bottom where the fish are very quickly after a fish is caught, or after making an upward retrieve which does not draw a response.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense (top) with its rougher lead body (versus smooth brass on all other MAL versions) sinks the quickest of all and puts more fish in the boat when fish are deep. I mark my MALs with a 1 (for Original), a 2 (for Heavy), and a 3 (for Dense) so I’m sure to grab the right one when things get going fast and furious. Find ’em here: https://whitebasstools.com/

Along the way, this crew landed a number of quality largemouth bass and large freshwater drum as a bycatch to the white bass we were targeting.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 401 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Bird activity kicked in during our second hour on the water and helped us narrow down where we needed to look for fish.

2) We stayed on fish for the entire morning thanks to decent winds following a cold front’s passage over the course of daylight hours on Thanksgiving Day the day prior.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Monday, 25 Nov….

0 feet 67.9F
5 feet 67.9F
10 feet 67.9F
15 feet 67.9F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.9F
30 feet 67.9F
35 feet 67.9F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 67.8F
50 feet 67.2F
55 feet 66.4F
60 feet 66.1F
65 feet 66.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation: 1.60′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: N12

Sky Condition: Clear blue skies with 0% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 48 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 0210/2017 – 84 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0070G – 9 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0298G – 209 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0296G – 51 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

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

Peak Season Participants — 145 Fish

December 4th, 2024December 4th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: On Wednesday morning, November 27, I welcomed back long time client, Mr. Steve Niemeier and his granddaughter, Zoey Haberer.

Joining the two was first-time guest, Adam Haberer, Steve’s son-in-law. Both Steve and Adam work at a Temple, Texas-based certified public accounting firm. Steve is a very plan-ahead kind of guy, and through the years has always looked ahead and tried to hand-pick fishing dates during peak times of year (Oct. to Dec., and mid-Mar. to late May) which coincided with his grandchildren’s days off from school.

As a result, he and they tend to do much better than average.

DATE: Wednesday, 27 November 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 6, 9-13 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Steve Niemeier, and Zoey & Adam Haberer with a few of the 145 fish they landed working MAL Dense Lures vertically up off bottom in deep, open water.

PHOTO CAPTION: At this time of year, through mid-February, quality largemouth bass will become a regular part of the catch even though we are not specifically targeting them.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
This morning‘s conditions were ideal – – we had a southwesterly breeze which began before sunrise, along with thin, gray cloud cover, and a warming trend, which would only last until yet another cold front entered into Texas airspace in the overnight hours following this trip.

As we began our trip, I spotted what I thought would be some helpful bird activity after seeing both loons and gulls working in a deep, windblown cove. I headed to the commotion, but only found scattered and suspended white bass along with the shad these birds were eating.

Although Steve did just fine here, this was not the kind of fishing in which I would expect a nine year-old to do well, because this fishing required timing the rise of the lure to intersect with the horizontal travel path of the fish as they swam beneath the boat and could be observed doing so on the Garmin LiveScope.

We caught a few fish there and moved on in a search for a much larger congregation of more bottom-oriented, fish.

We were fortunate to find exactly that in the following two areas we would visit.

Once we found what we were after, the fishing was very straightforward. Just as with the five prior trips fished on Stillhouse on Saturday thru Tuesday, all that was required was to drop an MAL Dense Lure (silver body and chartreuse tail) to the bottom and crank it sufficiently fast to get the blade spinning. Once the blade was spinning after one good, hard, fast crank, I had everyone idle back on the speed to allow the lure to rise moderately quickly through the water column, while keeping the blades spinning.

Those fish hugging-bottom would chase it upward and grab it, and those fish which were suspended would take chase after it after the lure passed by their noses.

When all was said and done, this crew of three landed 145 fish, including a few largemouth bass, a few drum, and a lot of quality white bass with many in the 14 inch range and a handful exceeding 15 inches.

Zoey was a real trooper, staying engaged and maintaining her technique throughout the four hour trip and doing far better than she had on any of her previous trips out with her grandpa.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 145 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Bird activity was helpful in finding fish in the 2nd hour of this trip.

2) We stayed on fish for the entire morning thanks to decent winds and grey cloud cover.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Monday, 25 Nov….

0 feet 67.9F
5 feet 67.9F
10 feet 67.9F
15 feet 67.9F
20 feet 67.9F
25 feet 67.9F
30 feet 67.9F
35 feet 67.9F
40 feet 67.9F
45 feet 67.8F
50 feet 67.2F
55 feet 66.4F
60 feet 66.1F
65 feet 66.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Elevation: 1.50′ low and falling slowly with a 43 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 65.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S10-12 with higher gusts on an incoming cold front

Sky Condition: Light grey skies with 100% cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0055G – 3 suspended fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0297G – 132 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (3 short hops)

Area SH0296G – 10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

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