Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

Happy 8th Birthday, Luke!! — 66 Fish. Lake Belton, 06 May ’17 (PM)

May 10th, 2017May 10th, 2017 by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday afternoon, May 6th, I fished a birthday trip for eight-year-old Luke Phillips, accompanied by two of his buddies, Colby Anthony and Brooks Hull, as well as Luke’s dad, Will Phillips.

The birthday party, from left, Colby Anthony, Will Phillips, Luke Phillips, and Brooks Hull with a sampling of the white bass they caught on slabs in our last hour on the water, from 5:15 to 6:15pm.

Brooks pulled in the largest fish of the trip this evening, a 3.25 pound, 18.50 inch hybrid striper that fell for a slab.

Due to Will’s work commitment, we had to adjust the timing of this trip around his work schedule, which put us fishing from 2:30 to 6:30 PM.

Given the boys’ age, I knew it would be important to introduce a variety of tactics and transitions during the trip so as to keep their interest and help them be successful.

We began by downrigging which produced eight fish, followed by shallow water sunfishing which produced five more fish, and then we closed with working vertically for deep, heavily congregated white bass using a smoking tactic.

This was the first time this year where the fish were active enough to respond to a smoking tactic versus the easing tactic that has been necessary up to this point. I noted that the water surface temperature went from 70 to 74 from morning to evening today. At our one and only area that produced white bass on the smoking tactic, we took our fish count from 13 up to 66. Two of these fish were legal hybrid, both landed by Brooks while fishing right in between his two buddies, literally 4 feet away from both of them.

Some guys have all the luck!

TOTAL = 66 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time: 6:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80

Water Surface Temp: 74F

Wind Speed & Direction: S10

Sky Conditions: Fair and cloudless

Water Level: 0.65 feet above full pool and falling; 1592 cfs release at Belton Dam

GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 473 through 1584 – downrigging for white bass – 8 fish

**Area 166 – slipfloats for sunfish – 5 fish

**Area 1940 – smoking for white bass – 53 fish

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Bluebird Skies – 59 Fish, Belton, 06 May ’17

May 10th, 2017 by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday morning I fished with Don Hardison, and his friend from church, Chris Hindal, both now residing in the Cedar Park area, northwest of Austin.

Retired pastor Chris Hindal put the morning’s first hybrid in the boat. We landed four hybrid in our first hour, then had a 2 hour gap before landing our last half-dozen, thanks to bright, calm conditions.

Don Hardison picked up his personal best largemouth today as we fished large threadfin shad near manmade cover strewn about on the bottom over which we were searching for hybrid. This fish went just a shade over 4.5 pounds on a certified scale.

Don spent most of his working life developing software tools for the intelligence community up in the D.C. area, and Chris is a retired Baptist pastor. Chris pastored three churches in his career, one in northeastern Pennsylvania, one in Iowa, and the one he retired from in Fort Myers, Florida. He remains active in international mission work to this day.

We were due to see the northwesterly winds of the past three days turn around and go southerly overnight, but this did not happen. Instead, we had the lightest of northwesterly breezes for about 1.5 hours, then the winds went slack for another hour, then we finally got a southerly breeze that went right up to 8 to 10 mph and the water finally got moving. I began our day where I had begun my last three days’ worth of trips successfully and where I ended last night’s trip successfully. Although we did get a few white bass and four hybrid stripers here, the action was nothing like what it had been the past several days.

Our best action of the day came between 10 AM and noon. From 10a to 11a we fished our live baits at 37 feet over a 42 foot bottom and slowly took hybrid, landing about as many as we missed. By the time this bite died we had landed a total of 20 fish, of which 10 were keeper hybrid.

From 11 to just after noon we decided to chase white bass for a change of pace. Using light spinning gear and white, three-quarter ounce slabs, we vertical jigged in 38 to 45 feet of water and put exactly 39 more fish in the boat. Most of these were well-proportioned three-year-old white bass going right at 12.75 to 13.25 inches.

We wrapped up our day with a total of 59 caught, and ended on a strong note with those white bass coming on the slabs.

TOTAL = 59 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 72.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light NW ripple as sunrise, then going slack until 10a, then picking up at S7-8 for the remainder of the trip

Sky Conditions: Fair and cloudless

Water Level: 0.65 feet above full pool and falling; 1592 cfs release at Belton Dam

GT = 25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1935 – 4 hybrid, white bass, largemouth on shad

**Area 1659 – 1 largemouth

**Area vic 1676 – 2 largemouth

**Area 152 – 6 hybrid landed with as many missed

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Fishing for Answers — 37 Fish, Lake Belton, 05 May ’17

May 8th, 2017May 9th, 2017 by Bob Maindelle

This past Friday after noon, May 5th, I fished with Clay Lohse who drove four hours from Abilene to do an instructional trip on Lake Belton in order to help him in his own efforts on Fort Phantom Reservoir, his “home” lake.

Clay Lohse drove from Abilene for answers to some very specific questions he had about the pursuit of white bass, hybrid stripers, the use of sonar, the use of downriggers, and more.

Clay is an ER nurse and is progressing towards nurse practitioner status. He came prepared with 11 very specific questions that he wanted to be sure to cover with me during our time on the water. He emphasized that he was not so much interested in catching a lot of fish, but rather was interested in learning about my approaches to catching fish through the seasons of the year.

With this in mind, I tried to demonstrate for him as much as this season and today’s weather and fish behavior would allow for.

I started out by responding to his questions about sonar use, and then provided a live demo as we searched for, found, and successfully caught heavily congregated, deep water white bass holding in 42 feet of water on bottom.

Next, knowing these fish were present, I demonstrated two different downrigging tactics. The first was the “wrecking ball” tactic I wrote of in my recent In-Fisherman magazine article. The second involved the use of Pet Spoons used on a tandem rig to catch white bass. This resulted in two singles and two doubles caught in just a matter of minutes.

Next, we moved to a less steeply sloped and shallower area where I was able to demonstrate the use of blade baits. Clay successfully put a small white bass in the boat using this tactic.

Next, we went to the back of a shallow cove where I demonstrated the use of a pole and slip float combination targeting sunfish. This was mainly because he mentioned he has a 3-year-old, and I knew this would be helpful as Clay introduced his child to fishing.

We wrapped up the trip this evening fishing live shad on tightlines and boated numerous white bass and hybrid striped bass using this tactic.

As a bonus, Clay and I were able to take advantage of subsurface feeding white bass we found driving shad to the surface on our ride back into the boat ramp.

For our efforts, we landed a total of 37 fish this evening, and Clay went away a very satisfied, and much more well-prepared angler.

Here is the first sentence of an email Clay sent me after fishing on Fort Phantom: “Hey Bob, wanted to let you know I did awesome at Fort Phantom thanks to the techniques you taught me!”

It is very gratifying to get a note like that from someone I’ve provided instruction to.

TOTAL = 37 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:20p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Water Surface Temp: 76F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNE7

Sky Conditions: Clear

Water Level: 0.67 feet above full pool and falling; 1592 cfs release at Belton Dam

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

05MAY16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 308/508 easing for deep white bass & downrigger demo

**Area 818 bladebait demo

**Area 1754 sunfish demo

**Area 1935 sunset hybrid on shad

**Area 1938 post-sunset topwater whites fished subsurface

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

NEW SMALLMOUTH BASS LAKE RECORD @ BELTON – 4.25 POUNDS, 20.125″

May 8th, 2017May 8th, 2017 by Bob Maindelle

THE FOLLOWING APPEARED IN THE KILLEEN DAILY HERALD, 07 MAY 2017:

On Wednesday morning [03 May, 2017], Jonathan and Sarah Manning of Copperas Cove and their children, Emily and Jacob, took a guided fishing trip with me on Belton Lake based on the recommendation of Kirk Bateman, a friend of theirs from Eastside Baptist Church. This trip was an early gift to Sarah for Mothers’ Day.

Jacob with Fish

JACOB MANNING’S BELTON LAKE RECORD SMALLMOUTH BASS.

Emily Manning Catfish

EMILY MANNING’S 8.5 POUND FLATHEAD CATFISH.

We met at Rogers Park at 7 a.m. and, under a gloomy, gray sky, headed out primarily in pursuit of hybrid striped bass. This time of year large, lively threadfin shad captured with a cast net typically produce the best results.

As we stopped at our first fishing area in 31 feet of water, Emily was attempting to get her bait down to 25 feet when a 3-pound hybrid striper struck the bait before she could even get her rod in the rod holder. Within minutes, both of her parents also caught similar-sized hybrid stripers.

Unfortunately, this school of fish did not stay around long in this vicinity, forcing us to go looking for actively feeding fish elsewhere.

After trying another area with good fish-holding potential but only finding small blue catfish present there, we moved on to our third area.

Along a sloped, rocky bank in about 28 feet of water, I spotted actively feeding gamefish, using my Humminbird Solix 15 sonar unit in side-imaging mode. Feeding fish typically are found a few feet up off the bottom, and these fish were no exception.

We got all four rods baited and set with the baits a few feet up off bottom and began watching our rod tips for action. We did not have to wait long.

Suddenly, the audible bait clicker on Jacob’s reel sounded off indicating a large fish had taken his bait and was rapidly removing line from the spool of his reel. The rod was bowed down at 90 degrees into the water under the strain of the large fish.

With his dad reassuring him and coaching him, Jacob held on to the rod tightly and tried to retrieve line back onto the reel as the fish would allow. As I glanced at the reel’s line counter, I saw there was still 23 feet of line out. Jacob would gain 6 or 7 feet of line, then lose 3 or 4, and so it went for several moments until the fish changed course and rocketed toward the surface, leaping out of the water trying to shake the hook from its mouth.

Jacob remained calm and brought the fish to net. We all let out a collective “Whoa!” as the fish was a large one. The certified scale I keep on my boat for just such occasions indicated this outsized smallmouth bass weighed exactly 4.25 pounds. When laid upon the Chek-It Stik designed specifically for measuring fish, this specimen measured 20.125 inches.

Jacob’s fish was a quarter-pound heavier than the existing Belton Lake Junior Angler category smallmouth bass record captured by Shaylei Wrisk in June 2011. An application has been submitted to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to declare this fish as the new lake record for this category, based upon its weight.

Less than two minutes after we successfully released Jacob’s fish, his sister Emily’s rod bowed over deeply and she, too, was hooked into a large fish. As her fish emerged from the depths, we clearly saw it was a darkly-colored yellow catfish, also known as a flathead catfish. Emily’s fish weighed 8.50 pounds.

In all, the Manning family landed 41 fish in their four-hour excursion.

Friends from Way Back — 48 Fish, Lake Belton, 04 May ’17

May 8th, 2017May 8th, 2017 by Bob Maindelle

This past Thursday evening I fished a multi species trip on Lake Belton with Rick and Sharon Powell of Belton, and their longtime friends, Allen and Linda Kaiser, from Center Point, Texas near Kerrville. Rick and Allen were college buddies back in 1968.

Allen and Linda Kaiser with a pair of Lake Belton hybrid striped bass that struck simultaneously as the school they were a part of passed beneath the boat.

Sharon, who had fished live bait using circle hooks with me once before, did well in showing restraint in NOT attempting to ‘set the hook’ when big fish like this one moved off with her bait.
The cold front that entered Central Texas around 3:30 PM yesterday continued on with building high-pressure, north winds, and clear skies all day today.

Although we caught fish during all four hours of the trip, the last hour was certainly the best as is often the case during evening trips.

We dedicated the first half of the trip to vertical jigging deepwater schools of heavily congregated white bass in 35 to 42 feet of water. Although we found biting fish at each of the areas I searched, we would typically only catch a few upon first dropping our slabs down among them, then the school would lose interest and eventually dissipate after only giving up a handful of fish. This happened to us four or five times over.

The last half of the trip I dedicated to fishing live bait for hybrid striped bass. We wound up fishing two areas with the first only producing one hybrid and a mixed bag of other, smaller fish. The last area we fished (and fished longer than any other area) gave up mainly hybrid striped bass with a few largemouth and healthy, three-year-old white bass thrown in for good measure. I noted that these fish seemed to be more likely to be landed while I was using medium-sized shad, whereas the use of “jumbo” shad seem to attract hits, but often resulted in lost or missed fish.

By trip’s end at 8:20 PM, we had landed a total of 48 fish.

TOTAL = 48 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00p

End Time: 8:20p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Water Surface Temp: 73.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW14 at trip’s start, tapering off to NW 8 by sunset

Sky Conditions: Sparse white clouds, less than 10% on a fair blue sky

Water Level: 0.67 feet above full pool and falling; 1592 cfs release at Belton Dam

GT = 115

Wx SNAPSHOT:

04MAY17

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1936 – slabbing for whites

**Area 308 – slabbing for whites

**Area 1758/1920 – slabbing for whites

**Area 1658 – mixed bag largemouth, whites, hybrid on bait

**Area 1935 – sunset bite for all hybrid on bait

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)