Copperas Cove Vets Score Big — 101 Fish, Stillhouse

by Bob Maindelle

This  past Tuesday morning, 02 Feb., I fished with Gary Moore, his wife, Margaret, and their friend, Kirk Bateman, all U.S. Army veterans, all members of Eastside Baptist Church, and all residents of Copperas Cove.

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Margaret poured it on landing 2 at a time when we made our final push to boat 100 fish or more this trip.

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From left: Gary, Margaret, and Kirk.  The average white bass we’ve been catching on Stillhouse this winter has far exceeded the average size of the white bass we’d been catching over on Belton up until the week after Christmas.

During their time in the military, Gary served in various combat arms roles, Margaret served in positions involving chemical, biological and radiological weapons, and Kirk worked in the supply field.

I first got to meet Gary in person at the recent Central Texas Boat Show where he “trolled” by my booth.  He’s a regular reader of my “Guide Lines” newspaper column in the Sunday edition of the Killeen Daily Herald, and wanted to put a face with the name and talk fishing.  Since he, his wife, and friend Kirk are all retired with very flexible schedules, he asked that I just look for “fishy weather” and give him a call, preferably on a weekday.

When, on Saturday evening, I looked at the forecast from the National Weather Service and saw a wind shift in advance of a cold front scheduled for Tuesday, I liked what I saw, gave Gary a call, and we put the trip on the books.

The weather forecast held true and we awoke to a 54F, breezy morning.  The only drawback was the very clear skies instead of the preferred grey cloud cover, but this simply meant we’d have to fish deep this day.

There was very little early morning gull action.  In fact, our best fishing, which came from around 8:30 to 10:30a, came on a fish-laden structural feature we found strictly with sonar.  This one area, fished in four “short-hops”, gave up 70 fish.

We experienced a bit of a lull from 10:30 to 11:00 and were planning on wrapping up at 11:15, but, as the wind increased, a large flock of Forster’s terns began to feed over open water in 53-54′.  The fish were stacked from bottom, upwards to within 20 feet of bottom.  These fish were not very aggressive, so very slow, intentional jigging methods were required.  Once we zeroed in on what they preferred, we put another 31 fish in the boat over the next 75 minutes.

We wrapped up our trip around 12:30, about 5 minutes after the birds stopped working and the catch rate dropped to a point where we all realized the party was over.  The Cove crew boated exactly 101 fish on this trip, including 1 freshwater drum, 6 largemouth bass, and 94 white bass, of which all but about 4 were well beyond the legal minimum of 10 inches.  Our white bass averaged right at 12″ with several approaching 14″.

This cold-water period vertical jigging using a sonar-intensive approach for deep, heavily congregated fish will typically last until mid-March.  If this is “up your alley” give me a ring before then and we’ll get you on the water.

TALLY = 101 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  12:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  53.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  W7 at trip’s start, increasing to W12-13 by end

Sky Conditions:  Fair, cloudless skies.

Water Level: 622.67 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.07 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

Wx Snapshot:

02FEB16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1689 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds (~7 gulls)

**Area 1055 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar only

**Area  074 – vertical jigging for fish found under active flock of ~20 terns

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Hope is not a Strategy — 126 Fish, Stillhouse

by Bob Maindelle

This morning I fished with a real nice bunch of folks from all over Texas.  The trip organizer was Marshall Smith from University Park near Southern Methodist University, near Dallas.  Randy and Carly Lockhart hailed from Aledo, west of Ft. Worth, and Guillaume Smith drove up from Austin.  Their family owns a cabin near Temple Lake Park on Belton Lake, so they were able to overnight locally and avoid an early morning drive from a distance to make our 7:15 start time.

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As has been the case for the past 4 trips now on Stillhouse, some nice largemouth have shown up on our catch while targeting white bass.

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This shot was taken before 8:15am — and we didn’t leave the courtesy dock until 7:25.  The early morning breeze and helpful gull action put us right on the fish this morning.

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Closely observing bird activity helped us uncover this icing on the cake beginning around 10:15am!!.  The action lasted about 50 minutes.

The weather was balmy this morning for late January, and the wind blew the entire trip which helped us out tremendously.  Many anglers don’t like the wind because it makes boat control and line control more challenging, but, blowing wind turns fish on without a doubt.
We spent our first 25 minutes on the water looking for fish with sonar in the absence of bird activity, but, by the time the sun cleared the horizon by a few minutes, the trusty ringbill gulls were patrolling right along with us, and they found what they were after, thus helping us find what we were after.
These gulls typically look for large threadfin shad, gizzard shad, and (especially on Stillhouse) sunfish that are killed or stunned by marauding schools of white bass on the prowl.  When white bass get aggressive they’ll strike whatever moves, including, on occasion, things too big for them to swallow.  As these would-be snacks float to the surface, gulls dive down to dine and, in so doing, reveal the location of the fish that did the damage.
The gull action lasted right at an hour, and the action under them was slow but consistent, giving up a total of 18 fish in our first hour with lines in the water.  I told Marshall I was going to keep moving until we found fish, versus sitting in one spot and hoping fish would come to us.  It was then that he supportively declared, “Hope is not a strategy!”.
Our next stop came off the side of a deep hump near the old Lampasas River channel in about 42 feet of water.  These fish presented on sonar as a very tightly schooled mass.  No sooner did our slabs reach bottom then we started hooking and landing fish non-stop for another hour, taking our tally up into the 70’s.  Eventually, the school lost interest and the bite died down right at 10am.
Our final stop of the morning also came in 42 feet of water and over top of a large school of fish which we found by observing diving terns feeding on small threadfin shad forced to the surface by the white bass beneath them.  This action came as the winds reached their highest velocity of the morning — about 15mph.  This was really easy fishing for very aggressive fish.  Instead of jigging as was required the rest of the morning, we simply dropped our lures to the bottom and lifted them high up off bottom and through the heavily schooled fish we saw on sonar.
The fishing died hard right around 11:05a, as the terns very abruptly went to rest on the water’s surface and the sonar screen went white indicating no targets between the surface and the bottom.
When all was said and done, we’d boated 126 fish including 121 white bass and 5 largemouth.  Big fish honors went to Carly with a chunky largemouth that pulled the Boga Grip down to the 5.00 pound mark.

TALLY = 126 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Water Surface Temp:  52.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE6-7 for the first hour, then steadily shifting to S and increasing to 15.

Sky Conditions:  Fair, cloudless skies.

Water Level: 622.86 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.05 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 70

Wx Snapshot:

30JAN16

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1689 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds (~7 gulls)

**Area 1055 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar only

**Area  074 – vertical jigging for fish found under active flock of ~20 terns

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Happy Birthday, Dad … Happy Birthday, Son — 94 Fish, Stillhouse, 27 Jan.

by Bob Maindelle

This morning I fished with Jeff Wynn and his father, John Wynn.  Jeff is a firefighter on Fort Hood, and John retired from law enforcement and now serves as a municipal court bailiff. The two have birthdays on either side of this date they chose for the trip, although I do believe any excuse would have passed in order to allow for a day on the water.

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Most winter trips targeting deep white bass result in at least a few largemouth and drum caught, as well.  Here, John shows the largest of the two largemouth we took this morning.

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John and Jeff show a sampling of the 96 fish we caught this morning in deep, cool water, including multiple white bass exceeding 14″.

We saw a mild, dry cold front move through mid-day yesterday, so I was concerned about our weather this morning. Bright, cold, and windless conditions can be quite tough, however, the forecast indicated we were to have 10 to 11 mile-per-hour winds this morning. Fortunately, those winds did develop about 45 minutes after sunrise, and the fish responded accordingly. After downrigging during the windless 45 minutes following sunrise and catching nothing, we moved as the wind began to blow and spotted gull activity spurred on by the feeding fish beneath them. From roughly 8 AM to 10:45 AM we enjoyed nonstop action on deep, heavily congregated white bass, with an occasional largemouth bass and freshwater drum mixed in.

We caught fish on three distinct areas this morning. The first area was the shallowest at about 34 feet, the second area we fished was the deepest at 43 feet, and we wrapped up at a third productive area in 39 feet.

The quality of the white bass we caught today was exceptional. Only two of the 96 fish we caught today were below the 10 inch limit, and most were right at 13 to 13.5 inches.

Our go to lure today was the three-quarter ounce white Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 in the three-quarter ounce size, equipped with both a trouble hook and a Gamakatsu G–Stinger hook.

Neither John nor Jeff fish very often, perhaps 2 to 3 times per year. They really did not know what to expect, and like many people, thought that cold weather and cold water translated into slow fishing. They quickly realized that is not the case. Jeff commented, “Man, we would have been happy just catching 15 fish or so.” I am glad we were able to exceed his expectations.

The current five day forecast calls for unseasonably warm weather, which should result in a net warming of the surface temperature which this morning stood at 53.1 Fahrenheit.

If you’ve got cabin fever and want to get out and see how winter time fishing with sonar and jigging spoons is done, this is an excellent time to get on the water and learn. Give me a call anytime.

 

TALLY = 96 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:25a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F

Water Surface Temp:  53.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW7-8 for the first hour, then picking up to NNW9-10 for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Conditions:  Bluebird, post-frontal skies.

Water Level: 622.95 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.05 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1686- vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area 1687/1688 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area  1566/679 – vertical jigging for fish found solely with sonar after bird action had ended

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

SKIFF Program 2016 off to a solid start — 49 Fish for the Garcia’s

by Bob Maindelle

This Monday morning, January 25th, the kids of the Killeen Independent School District had the day off as their teachers did some learning of their own on a professional development day.  This freed up the schedule for the Garcia family of Killeen to come aboard for the 2016 season’s first SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip.

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From left: Sophia, Amanda, Isaiah, and Aubrey Garcia  — the family of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Garcia.

Accompanied by their mom, Amanda, were 14-year-old Isaiah, 8-year-old Aubrey, and 6-year-old Sophia.

The children’s father, U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Garcia, is currently in Egypt where he provides veterinary services to the military. The SKIFF program provides trips free-of-charge to children of the Ft. Hood community who are separated from their parents due to military duty, be it due to something as lengthy as a deployment, or something shorter, such as a temporary duty (TDY) assignment or attendance at a military school.

The weather was very mild for this time of year — 58F before sunrise — and it warmed up even more once the sun rose and the clouds cleared.

A mild cold front was due into the area later in the day, so, we were fortunate to have SW winds in advance of the front and the wind shift to the north that would accompany that front. The more strongly the wind blew this morning, the better the fishing got.

We found fish as shallow as 25 feet, and as deep as 37 feet, and we found fish both relating to bottom (which were settled in and feeding) and suspended (which were migrating slowly uplake in advance of the spawn. Accordingly, we alternated between jigging with slabs and downrigging to access fish in both locations.

Our first hour on the water was pretty quiet, the second hour spotty, the third hours saw building action, and the first 45 minutes of our final hour on the water brought the strongest bite of all.

By trip’s end the kids had landed a grand total of 49 fish, including 48 white bass and a single largemouth bass.

The stateside Garcia’s are hopeful their dad will return by spring break, but are cautious about getting their hopes up too soon.

A huge “thank you” to the Austin Fly Fishers and all the individuals and organizations who have given time, funds, and encouragement since May of 2009 to perpetuate the SKIFF program.

 

TALLY = 49 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:25a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Water Surface Temp:  53F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable first hour or so, then going SW7-8 and creeping up to WSW10-11 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  100% light grey at trip’s start, clearing as a mild cold front moved in, around 2:00pm after the trip’s conclusion

Water Level: 622.89 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.15 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1682 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds & downrigging

**Area 055-1319 – downrigging for suspended fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area  1683 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area  1203/1684 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

First Trip of 2016 — Rick & Ricardo Net 115 on Stillhouse

by Bob Maindelle

Sorry for the gap in fishing reports since the Thursday after Christmas.  After Rebecca and I headed to New Hampshire on 01 Jan. and returned on 06 Jan., I had much church work backlogged that needed attention, and could not take out clients until my new Yamaha 4-stroke outboard had gone through the break-in period.  We are in the clear now…

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Ricardo plucked this large, aging male largemouth out of 36 feet of water from amongst a school of white bass.

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Rick and Ricardo each picked up several white bass stretching beyond the 14″ mark on this morning’s trip.

We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. This year it was later — with water surface temperatures right at 60 degrees beyond Christmas, more seasonal weather then set in, dropping the surface temperatures steadily. We are now dealing with what is considered cold water for Texas. I measured 51-53 degrees this week on Stillhouse, and with the cold front that blew in around noon on Thursday, those temperatures will go even lower.

Anglers simply must remember that fish are cold-blooded, so their metabolism rises and falls with water temperature. Our Texas lakes are filled with warm-water species of fish which tend to get more sluggish, and which move less and feed less during the cold water period. This by no means creates a situation where fish are impossible to catch. Rather, anglers must adjust locations and tactics to be successful until lengthening days and warming trends start driving water temperatures back up again, typically in early March.

On Thursday, I fished with Belton anglers Rick Powell and Ricardo Cisneros on Stillhouse in search of white bass. Stillhouse is in great shape right now with clear, green water which stands right at the full-pool mark of 622 feet above sea level.

We had planned to meet at 7:15 a.m, but at 7:10 I received a text letting me know they were running late. My reply read, “OK, but don’t stop for coffee.” The three hours following sunrise tend to offer the best fishing of the day during the winter season. There are a number of reasons for this, but the main reason is that mornings tend to offer more bird activity. When light levels allow gulls and terns to be able to see well enough, they begin to patrol by air, looking for baitfish driven to the surface by gamefish. Looking for such activity can help avoid having to meticulously comb over acres of water with sonar in a much slower approach to fish-finding.

We were on our way by 7:25 a.m., and, just like clockwork, birds began to work over patches of water where I’d observed them working during my scouting trips late in the previous week and again on Monday. I slowly idled over the area these birds seemed interested in so as to verify the presence of gamefish with sonar.

During our first hour on the water, the conditions were near-calm with just a light southwest ripple on the water, but having studied the forecast, we knew more ideal, breezier conditions were ahead. The bite was a bit tentative during this period of calm winds. We caught fish both on jigging spoons (also known as slabs), and we caught fish on bladebaits worked horizontally.

Around 8:50 a.m. we spotted another concentration of bird activity about a mile away and headed over to investigate. Just as we arrived, the winds shifted from southwest to westerly and increased in velocity from near-calm to 10-12 mph. The fish responded positively and immediately. We sat in one area about 27 feet deep and caught 45 fish, including white bass, largemouth bass and a freshwater drum, in about as many minutes.

Once the bite at this area tapered off, we moved on to what would be our final stop of the morning. As often happens as the morning progresses and the skies brighten, the shallower groups of fish stop feeding as deeper groups of fish begin feeding. By starting shallow and ending deep, anglers can stay on fish for the full 3- to 4-hour window during winter mornings.

Once again, birds led the way to these fish which were holding on and just off the bottom in 36 feet of water. We used slow, intentional vertical jigging tactics with all-white ¾-ounce slabs equipped with stinger hooks to boat another 50-plus fish at this area in about 70 minutes.

By 10:45, the wind had continued to shift to the NNW, and the velocity was approaching 20 mph. As the gray clouds on the leading edge of the front gave way to clear skies behind it, the fishing began to drop off sharply.

Powell and Cisneros finished the day with 115 fish, including a number of white bass that stretched beyond the 14-inch mark, as well as several largemouth bass and a single gaspergou.

To recap, for winter success, keep an eye on the weather forecast for days with southerly winds or a wind shift in advance of a cold front, go early, observe for bird action, verify the presence of fish with sonar and then fish slowly and vertically for the fish you locate.

 

TALLY = 115 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:25a

End Time:  11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Water Surface Temp:  52-53F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light and variable first hour or so, then going W8-10, then steadily shifting and increasing through NW to NNW and from 12 to 17.

Sky Conditions:  100% light grey at trip’s start, clearing as a cold front moved in, around 10:30a

Water Level: 623.04 with 622.0 being full pool.  0.23 feet of water was released in the last 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  089 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area  702 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

**Area  1203 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar with initial assist by birds

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Window of Opportunity — 110 Fish, Belton Lake, 29 Dec.

by Bob Maindelle

This past Tuesday afternoon, December 29th, I fished Belton Lake with returning clients Jason and Morgan Tuggle from near Liberty Hill, TX.

Photo-bombed!  Morgan displays her discontent at Jason’s landing of our 100th fish after she worked hard for it, only to have it shake the hook loose with a headshake just as it broke the surface.  Jason holds a pair of white bass, each exceeding 14″, that came at our last stop of the evening out of 24 feet of water on silver 3/4 oz. slabs.

Morgan with yet another pair of 14″+ white bass from the last area, and most shallow area, we fished this evening.

Jason works in the printing industry, and Morgan, a two-time collegiate All-American volleyball player out of Trinity, both works for a yearbook company and coaches a girls’ club volleyball team.  The couple also raise exotic animals on their property, including blackbuck and oryx.  Jason and Morgan have taken some pretty neat fishing trips together, including an alligator gar trip on the Trinity River, and a jumbo blue catfishing trip on Lake Tawakoni.  This coming summer they’re heading to Alaska for a salmon/halibut run.

The Tuggle’s contacted me while I was out on the water last Saturday afternoon fishing in the pre-frontal conditions in advance of the hard, wet cold front that swept over Texas Saturday night through Monday morning.  As I quickly looked at the NOAA weather forecast at that time, I saw this afternoon’s “window” of opportunity as the only half-day time frame I could get excited about.  I suggested we nail that date and time down, and they gave me a thumbs-up.

NOAA called for a brief return to ESE winds, some grey cloud cover, and the highest afternoon temperatures of the entire week before the winds turned northerly once again on Wednesday.  We booked the trip and, as it turned out, NOAA was fairly accurate with their forecast, and we did enjoy good results and very fishable weather.

The cold front knocked about 3 degrees Fahrenheit off the water surface temperature — I left nearly 61F water on Saturday and returned to 57.8-58.3F water today as we moved from area to area.  This is still very warm water for this late in the year.

The fish were a bit tentative as we began our trip.  I found isolated patches of fish near only some of the areas that have been producing well lately, but the fish tended to be holding deeper in these locations — around 34-36 feet today while the sun was still bright during the first 2 hours on the water.  As we would begin jigging with slabs at a given area, I would watch on sonar as 5, 6, 7 or more fish would tentatively follow upwards after a slab without striking it.  When a fish bit, it would ignite a “mini-feed”, allowing us to catch 3-4 fish in a spurt, then the fish would settle down again very quickly and we’d have to work at it to generate the next spurt.

Then, at 3:30p, a thick blanket of grey clouds moved in, totally obscuring the sun, and lowering the light level.  The fish really turned on at this point and the catching got much easier.  I shifted us up out of the deep water we were in and into shallower 23-27 foot depths.

We put half of our 110 fish in the boat in the 3rd hour of the trip, right after that cloud cover moved in.  The cloud cover is a bit of a double-edged sword, however.  Although it helps the daytime bite, it also darkens the skies earlier near sunset, and, depending on how thick the clouds are, can trim as much as 30 minutes of the end of a trip  Today, by 5:25p, we caught our last fish and watched on sonar as the whole food chain just shut down in the failing light.

We wound up with exactly 110 fish for our efforts today, including mostly white bass with a few short hybrids sprinkled in, as well as 2 freshwater drum.

 

TALLY = 110 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:40p

End Time:  5:35p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Water Surface Temp:  57.8-58.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6-8

Sky Conditions:  Fair, nearly cloudless skies for the first 2 hours, then 100% grey cloud cover the last 2 hours

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1677 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1678 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1679 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1680 with a short hop to 1676 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1681 with a short hop up about 3′ shallower – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Pate’s One-Ton Great White — 120 Fish, Belton Lake

by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday afternoon, December 26th, I welcomed aboard a youthful crew of boys — nearly 9-year-old Pate Palomino, 10-year-old Kaden Lehrman, and 11-year-old Blayne Hoelscher.

From left: Blayne Hoelscher, Kaden Lehrman, and Pate Palomino, each with a nice white bass landed between storms in advance of a big cold front this past Saturday, 26 Dec.  We took this shot on shore as we waited for nearby storms to clear before returning to the water.

Pate not only caught the first fish of his life this afternoon, but also landed the largest fish of the trip — this Lake Belton hybrid striped bass, also known as a palmetto bass.  Fishing on the 26th of December in short sleeves!

Kaden was given a fishing gift certificate for Christmas by his grandparents, Don and Monica Mikeska of Temple. We had planned to conduct the trip during the week after Christmas, but, when I saw the duration and severity of the cold front forecast to enter the scene on Saturday night, I called to see if we could bump things up.

Kaden invited his two buddies, Pate and Blayne, along.  At 1:30p Pate and Kaden’s moms arrived with the three boys in tow and dropped them off at the boat ramp. We agreed to meet back at the same place four hours later.

I covered both safety and fishing basics and then we pushed off and got down to business.

Pate had never caught a fish before and, I quickly discovered, has a flair for the dramatic. So you can imagine, when that first fish hit his line and he connected to the life on the end of it, he about came unglued. He was shouting and panicking and rejoicing, all at the same time. I tried to coach him, but adrenaline drowned out anything I said. We captured that 10 inch white bass pretty smoothly, but you’d have thought a one-ton great white just came over the transom by all the commotion that ensued. That was fun!

The boys all got the hang of the necessary vertical jigging technique that would serve us well all afternoon. Their innate desire to compete with one another created an interesting dynamic. They all understood their technique had to be “spot-on” in order to catch fish, so, when one or both of the “other guys” was catching, the one who was not knew that he had to sharpen up on his presentation. This kept all 3 boys in check and fishing very effectively, as no one wanted to fall behind in the fish catching.

Over the 4 hours we were on the water, we caught fish the entire time, literally, from start to finish. The pre-frontal conditions that led me to invite the boys out early had kicked in and were goading these fish to feed hard.

There were 4 times when we had to stop fishing and go to ground on the shoreline due to the rumbling of thunder in the area as isolated, small storm cells quickly passed from south to north. Despite these brief interruptions, we were able to get right back onto active fish each time.

When all was said and done, the boys caught exactly 120 fish.

That first fish of Pate’s lifetime earned him a Texas Parks and Wildlife “First Fish Award”. That streak of beginner’s luck also helped young Pate to put the largest fish of the trip in the boat, as well — a barely 18″ hybrid striper.

We all got soaked to the bone, we all felt the chill that wet clothes make on your skin, we all caught fish, and we all had a really good time!

TALLY = 120 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Water Surface Temp:  60-61F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE15-16 at trip’s start; winds increased as storm cells passed nearby and eased after their passage

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip, with occasional downpours

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 30

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1659/1671 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1660/1673 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area triangulated by 1674/1620/1658  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

3 Generations – 104 Fish, Belton Lake

by Bob Maindelle

This past Saturday morning, December 26th, I fished with Steve Stewart of Georgetown, Steve’s son, Nick, Steve’s son-in-law, Brian Massey, and Brian’s son, Owen — three generations on my boat, all looking forward to catching fish.

Brian Massey and his son, Owen, with our very first fish of the day — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid from out of 24 feet of water.  It fell for a 3/8 oz. silver slab.

From left: Nick Stewart, Steve Stewart (to rear), Owen Massey (in foreground), and Brian Massey with 14″ class, beefy white bass caught on slabs under ideal conditions this morning.

Steve owns his own business in Georgetown, Nick works for the Dept. of Defense in Washington, D.C., Brian is a doctor working at Baylor-Scott & White in Round Rock, and Owen is working his way through elementary school.

I was very encouraged about the weather forecast we faced this morning; so encouraged, in fact, that I moved two trips that were scheduled for the following week up to this date.  What I saw was the final day of a long, stable warming trend, with abundant grey cloud cover, SE winds at a high but manageable velocity, and an approaching wet cold front.  All of these things, added to the still-warm 59-60F water temperature added up to a very promising day on the water.

As we departed the ramp area following straightforward instructions on the fairly simple jigging method we’d employ over the duration of the trip, we headed to our first fishing area.  The sonar lit up with bottom-hugging fish tightly schooled together in about 24 feet of water.  Owen took the first crack at these fish and came up with our largest fish of the trip right off the bat — a nice 5.25 pound hybrid.  This area would give up another 19 fish before it played out, sending us looking elsewhere.

One thing I noted today was how the fish did not really stay fired up very long after the first “icebreaker” fish was caught and the school it came from got active.  In fact, the greatest number of fish we caught on a given stop was 20.  We did a lot of “short hops”, in which I simply moved the boat a few yards from where we’d been previously in order to catch fish which refused to move over to the “commotion” we created by catching fish nearby.

As the trip began I left all of the fellows know that in every one of the past 11 trips conducted since the 8th of Dec. we’d boated over 100 fish.  As 11:00am rolled around, we were right at the 98 fish mark, but, as it often does late in the morning, the feed was tapering off quickly.  Everyone focused so we could take advantage of every one of the strikes we got so as to covert them into landed fish.  Steve hooked one and missed it, then Brian hooked one and it got off, then Steve had another one escape — we were just stuck at 98!  Finally, the 99th fish came in after a good bit of effort, and I think we were all really wondering if 100 was going to happen given all the effort we put into that last fish.  Well, young Owen put that wonder out of our minds as he exclaimed, “I’ve got one!”.  We all stopped and watched to see if the fish was going to stay on the hook and come over the gunwale, or not.  By now, Owen was an old pro landing his fair share of the 99 fish we’d boated, and that newfound expertise now shined through.  He put that 100th fish in the boat, and we all cheered and high-fived him for doing a great job!

Now, with the pressure off, the “big guys” all chipped in another fish or two and we ended up our great adventure with 104 fish landed this morning.

I’m concerned that with the strong, wet cold front due into Central Texas Saturday night into Sunday morning, and the “linger time” of the cold accompanying it, this may be the final day of this awesome run of fishing.  Only time will tell.

 

TALLY = 104 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE14 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE17-18 with higher gusts

Sky Conditions:  100% grey cloud cover the entire trip

Water Level: 4.30 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 20

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  778/1634 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar under low light conditions

**Area  1670 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1671  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1658-1619  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  327-1672  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

When Big Fish Eat Little Fish — 150 Fish, Lake Belton

by Bob Maindelle

This past Wednesday morning, December 23, I fished with Bryan Hefley and his two sons, nine-year-old Coen, and seven-year-old Brennan.

From left: Bryan and Coen Hefley with a pair of nice Belton Lake hybrid stripers taken in the closing minutes of our trip.

 

The above photo shows Brennan’s lure hooked into both the white bass and the largemouth bass that tried to swallow that white bass!

 

From left: Coen, Brennan, and Bryan Hefley with Brennan’s 3.75 pound largemouth which attempted to swallow a smaller white bass as Brennan was reeling it in.  Look closely and you can see the white bass still in the mouth of the largemouth bass!

Bryan works as the senior estimator at MW Builders in Temple, a construction firm focused on commercial, military, and industrial construction.  The boys, who live in Salado, are both homeschooled, with their homeschool education supplemented by coursework taken through Providence Preparatory School in Belton.

As we began our trip this morning, we encountered tough conditions nearly identical to those encountered yesterday – bright, cloudless skies and a lack of wind. We caught an even dozen fish via vertical jigging in about 25 feet of water after locating fish on sonar. We kept an eye out for helpful bird activity, but none was to be found. The birds simply respond to fish activity, so when there is little to no fish activity, the birds don’t feed either.

I decided to search out an entirely different population of fish than those that the birds had led me to of late, and at the first area we searched, I found ample, heavily congregated white bass of all sizes holding on a break line from 27 to 34 feet. We stayed in this general vicinity working that break line at several points along the same contour, each several boat lengths away from the other, and pulled over 100 fish in about 2.5 hours time. During this time the wind steadily built up to approximately 16 mph, and the fishing stayed solid throughout this time frame.

With about 30 minutes left in our trip, and with the boys attention flagging, I decided to make a move, primarily for variety’s sake. As we arrived, I issued a challenge to the boys to see if they could contribute 12 more fish to our fish count of 138 in order to make it an even 150 fish trip. They had roughly 25 minutes to accomplish this task. Things went very well all the way up to fish number 148. By this time, the once strong bite was beginning to wane significantly. Then, as it if someone turned off a switch, the bite just shut down. It was now approximately 11:15, the time I had planned to wrap up, but we were so close to our goal, and all three fellows were so set on catching 150, that we stayed on.

I began tidying things up and recording information from my sonar unit as to where we had been successful. Then, all of a sudden, both Coen and Bryan’s rods got bit. As I saw the bend in the rods all the way down into the butt section, I knew they both had nice fish on. As it turned out, when both of these fish came to net, they were 3 and 4 pound class hybrid stripers. We not only caught 150 fish, but we finished up the trip with a bang!

Not to be excluded from the big fish action, Brennan landed his own 3.75 pound largemouth today, also in the closing minutes of the trip. As he was fishing with a slab for white bass, a white bass struck the slab and was hooked on the treble hook, leaving the stinger hook free. As he reeled in the white bass, a largemouth decided to try to make a meal out of it. The largemouth attempted to swallow the white bass headfirst, and as it did, it got hooked on the inside of its own jaw with the stinger hook. Never a dull moment fishing with a kids!

Now we understood why those smaller white bass shut down.  The big boys moved in and spooked them off their turf!

We accomplished our goal of boating 150 fish (technically, 151 if you count the white bass that the largemouth nearly swallowed!), and then enjoyed a “refreshing” ride back to the boat ramp, complete with waves, whitecaps, swells, and lots of cool spray — just what a fishing guide with arthritic shoulders and knees looks forward to!!!

TALLY = 150 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15p

End Time:  11:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Water Surface Temp:  59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at dawn and for 1 hour thereafter, slowly increasing to SW15 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  Fair w/ no cloud cover

Water Level: 4.55 feet above full pool with 0.28 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 40

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1645 to 1648 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar under low light conditions

**Area  1666 to 618 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1624 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Warm Water Hot Streak — 120 Fish with the Burns Family

by Bob Maindelle

This past Tuesday evening, December 22, I fished with the Burns family of Killeen on Lake Belton in search of white bass and hybrid striped bass.

From left: Kelly, Kaden, and Sheila Burns “wore ’em out” this evening, boating 120 fish in under 4 hours.

Kelly Burns is currently assigned to a aviation unit on Fort Hood, and his wife, Sheila Burns is a judge advocate general (JAG) officer. The couple brought their soon-to-be-seven year old son Kaden, as well.

After a 103 fish morning in which all the fish were caught in the last two hours, I was quite hopeful about our chances this afternoon, given the stronger winds we now had, and the fact that those winds were from the southwest.

We got going around 1:30 PM, and after a short safety briefing and a bit of instruction on the jigging method we would be using, we were landing fish within our first 10 minutes on the water. The fish were in a somewhat positive feeding mode this afternoon, as evidenced by the fact that there was at least some activity at most every area we stopped and fished at, and by the fact that several fish regurgitated whole shad, indicating they were in the midst of a feed right then. The middle two hours of our trip definitely saw the best action, with the first and last hour a ramp up to, and a taper off from, that two hour peak.

As we wrapped up our trip today we managed to put exactly 120 fish in the boat. This catch consisted of a mix of white bass of all sizes up to 13.75 inches, with a few hybrid striped bass, and even fewer largemouth bass mixed in.  This “hot streak” has been brought about by unseasonably warm water and has allowed 100+ fish trips each week since early November. Although this time of year is great for numbers of fish, there is not a great variety to the techniques that are effective.

Although we caught fish from start to finish, little Kaden was truly engaged in the fishing for about the first 90 minutes, and after that we had to be sure to give him tasks to keep him engaged such as returning the fish to the water using my dip net, or snacking, or doing a headcount on the number of fish in the live well, etc.  As long as he had something to focus on, he did just fine for a young guy.

Just a note to parents: In my experience the fishing this time of year is ideal for kids ~10 and older who enjoy the fishing, but don’t require the variety driven by a shorter attention span.  The main reason we did this trip is because Kelly will be on orders taking him away from home for a good bit of time in the next year, so, we wanted to get in a good fishing trip while the conditions were just right to put a lot of fish in the boat and make some good memories while the opportunity was there.

TALLY = 120 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:30p

End Time:  5:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Water Surface Temp:  60F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9-10

Sky Conditions:  Fair w/10% cloud cover

Water Level: 5.1 feet above full pool with 0.29 feet of water released in the past 24 hours.

Other: GT= 10

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1623/1659 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1667-1669 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1624 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  788 (vicinity)  – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

**Area  1668 – vertical jigging for fish found on sonar

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

www.Facebook.com/bobmaindelle