Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Christmas Week — Check Out This Screenshot!! — 116 Fish

December 25th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Christmas Day 2024, I fished with two returning guests — Dwight Stone of Georgetown, TX, and his son-in-law, Ryan Renfrow, in visiting from Virginia.

The Stones’ Christmas celebration was going to kick off around 1:30P, and my own small family gathering wasn’t scheduled until 12:30P, so, we wiggled in a fishing trip on deserted Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with great results.

DATE: Wednesday, 25 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 1, 3, & 6 January (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This is what awaited us under what I believe is the most underrated set of weather conditions in all of freshwater fishing — that time after a cold front passes as the north wind’s velocity is still increasing. Fish, loons, and gulls fed hard for 2.75 hours this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight Stone and Ryan Renfrow with a few of the white bass they took on MAL Dense Lures this morning. That fish on the far left went 15 3/8″ and was a truly thick fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was very straightforward this morning. Once the cloudy, grey skies brightened sufficiently, the fish began feeding, drawing the attention of gulls. The gulls, in turn, were pretty easy to spot on the grey sky, and lead us to two of the three productive areas. Once in these areas, well-tuned side-imaging helped close the deal.

Once we set up over the fish, the splasher kept the fish under us, and the ideal conditions with a steadily increasing northwest wind following the passage of a mild cold front last night kept the fish interested right up until around 10:25.

Dwight and Ryan did just one thing, and they did it well — dropping their MAL Dense Lures (silver bodies with chartreuse tails) to bottom and cranking them upwards so as to cover the lower third of the water column. The “trick” was getting the blade spinning as close as possible to bottom, then cranking as slow as possible while still keeping the blade spinning.

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: 116 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 this morning’s first light being the first daytime conditions with a northerly wind following the passage of a mild cold front last night, all of nature was moving this morning — deer all over the place, birds at the feeders, and gulls, loons, and fish working aggressively above and below the waterline on the lake. Birds worked a full 2.75 hours this morning.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Monday, 23 Dec …

0 feet 60.4F

5 feet 60.4F

10 feet 60.4F

15 feet 60.4F

20 feet 60.4F

25 feet 60.4F

30 feet 60.4F

35 feet 60.4F

40 feet 60.3F

45 feet 60.3F

50 feet 60.1F

55 feet 60.0F

60 feet 59.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F

Elevation: 2.20′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW7-10 all morning

Sky Condition: Light grey skies at 100% coverage all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 25% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 779 – 12 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 2015 – 18 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 931 – 86 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

Christmas Week – Applegate Girls – Final SKIFF Trip of 2024 – 51 Fish

December 24th, 2024December 24th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Christmas Eve 2024, I fished with Serenity and Rose Applegate from Copperas Cove on what was the final SKIFF trip of 2024. The girls’ mom, Emerald, is a disabled veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 6 years in an administrative military occupational specialty (MOS).

Over the course of 2024, we conducted 24 SKIFF trips, putting 49 kids on the water. Those kids landed a total of 1,661 fish, or an average of just over 33 fish per child.

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: Tuesday, 24 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 1, 3, & 6 January (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Rose and Serenity Applegate, each with a pair of healthy Stillhouse Hollow white bass they took “smoking” MAL Dense Lures up off the bottom in as much as 49 feet of water on a bit of a soggy Christmas Eve morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Rose Applegate took our largest fish of the trip. This white bass measured 15.25 inches and came out of 34 feet of water on an MAL Dense Lure with silver body.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s weather hindered the bite quite a bit as we experienced thick, dark cloud cover, accompanied by intermittent, light rain over most of the first 2.5 hours of the trip. Although fish were not all that difficult to find, they were less than enthusiastic.

We’d typically find a small school of fish on side-imaging, Spot Lock on them, then present MAL Dense Lures vertically. The fish would respond aggressively for perhaps the first 3 or 4 vertical retrieves the girls made through the fish, but then they would quickly lose that enthusiasm and chase only half-heartedly, following the lures upward, but not overtaking them. A few minutes thereafter, the fish would lose interest altogether. After seeing this repeat itself twice, I just began moving us much more frequently to experience that “novelty bite”. In our final hour on the water, we hit several areas where we could not get a rise out of the fish at all and wound of leaving quickly without catching any fish.

All of the fish we did catch came on the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail, and most of the fish were taken as they followed the lure up off the bottom and overtook it (not by racing the lure past fish which were suspended).

The girls, despite their lack of prior experience with this method, adjusted “on the fly” very well whenever I asked them to modify their technique based on what I was interpreting on Garmin LiveScope. As a result, they enjoyed their best day on the water ever!

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: 51 fish, all caught and released

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

OBSERVATIONS:

1) The thick, dark grey cloud cover we experience in the first 2.5 hours of this trip hindered the bite. Fish would get excited only briefly, then settle back down. We have to move routinely to encounter fish aggressive enough to match the girls’ experience level.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Monday, 23 Dec …

0 feet 60.4F

5 feet 60.4F

10 feet 60.4F

15 feet 60.4F

20 feet 60.4F

25 feet 60.4F

30 feet 60.4F

35 feet 60.4F

40 feet 60.3F

45 feet 60.3F

50 feet 60.1F

55 feet 60.0F

60 feet 59.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F

Elevation: 2.18′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE4-7 all morning

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% coverage all morning with intermittent light rain in most of the first 2 hours

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 33% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 2 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 878 – 10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0033G – 6 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 881 – 5 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0244G -6 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 1395 – 6 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 785 – 16 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

Christmas Week Fishing – Florence Crew – 163 Fish on MAL Dense Lures

December 23rd, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, Dec. 23rd, I fished with returning guest Jay Florence, accompanied by his sons and my first-time guests, Austin and Wyatt. The boys are 15-year-old twins living in the Odessa area.

Balmy weather actually caused a bit of an uptick in the water temperature, and, with the entire water column above 60 feet at above 60F, the fish were still hunting shad and chasing & hitting baits hard.

DATE: Monday, 23 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 1 & 3 January (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: The Florence crew, from left — Wyatt, Jay, and Austin with some of the beefy white bass they landed today on MAL Dense Lures. The four largest shown here all went at least 15.00 inches with the largest at 15.625″.

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s 10.75 pounds of largemouth between the twins — man, were they excited!!

PHOTO CAPTION: This big male white bass was oozing milt already. I sure hope there is flow in the Lampasas River so a big spawn can happen this spring!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

I could not have custom-ordered a better set of weather conditions than those we enjoyed this morning. Balmy temperatures for late December, starting at 55F before sunrise, were accompanied by light, grey cloud cover and a manageable SSE breeze between 10-13mph.

We caught fish from start to finish this morning, with the bite from 7:30 to 8:20 a bit tougher and more technical than the rest due to low light causing fish to suspend as they fed right after sunrise. But, after the rising sun illuminated the sky better, the depths became more well-lit, and the fishing picked up.

All but 11 of the Florence crew’s fish came on the MAL Dense with silver body and chartreuse tail worked with a smoking tactic this morning, with the balance coming on the 3/4 oz. White Tornado worked with a sawtooth method. We fished from 25 to 51 feet over the course of the morning, catching the fish on the White Tornado in 31′.

One minor adjustment to the ‘smoking’ tactic was necessary due to the water temperature nipping at the 50 degree range — that was reeling the MAL as slowly as possible while still keeping the blade spinning so as to help the lure spend as much time as possible in the 5-6 foot band of water up off the bottom. Bottom-oriented fish would be reluctant to chase much further than that. The way we accomplished this was by removing all slack from the main line before beginning the retrieve while still keeping the lure laying on the bottom. Then, a SINGLE hard, fast handle turn (at most!) was used to get the blade spinning, then, without pausing from making that first hard turn, 4 or 5 additional, slower handle turns were made to raise the lure up and away from the bottom at a slow pace.

Birds (gulls) were helpful in identifying just one of the seven areas we fished; and that one area was identified around 9:50A; otherwise, all other areas were ferreted out with well-tuned sonar.

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: 163 fish, all caught and released (6 largemouth, 157 white bass)

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

OBSERVATIONS:

1) We landed the 2nd white bass of the winter which was already oozing milt. Both males were taken on Stillhouse within the last week (17-23 Dec.)

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Monday, 23 Dec …

0 feet 60.4F

5 feet 60.4F

10 feet 60.4F

15 feet 60.4F

20 feet 60.4F

25 feet 60.4F

30 feet 60.4F

35 feet 60.4F

40 feet 60.3F

45 feet 60.3F

50 feet 60.1F

55 feet 60.0F

60 feet 59.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Elevation: 2.16′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.43F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-13 all morning

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% coverage all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 42% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 19 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 0317 – 4 fish smoking MAL Dense Lure

Area vic 772 – 20 fish – 1/2 smoking MAL Dense Lures, 1/2 sawtoothing White Tornados

Area vic SH0302G – 7 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0218G/662 – 11 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 881/878 – 20 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 867 – 72 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

That Was a Wannabe Cold Front — 101 Fish

December 17th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 17th, I fished with first-time guests Royce Roberts and Teri Muse.

A very weak cold front moved through Central Texas overnight, leaving some questions as to what this morning’s fishing was going to be like. Ultimately, the bite followed the wind, and we wound up having a memorable morning on the water.

DATE: Tuesday, 17 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 19-20, 23-28 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Royce Roberts and Teri Muse landed 101 fish working MAL Dense Lures vertically up off bottom for both bottom-hugging and suspended fish this morning on Stillhouse Hollow.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After the passage of last night’s VERY mild cold front (hardly noticeable temperature drop or wind shift), this morning began still balmy at 62F, and with grey cloud cover, but, we had no wind to speak of until 90 minutes into the trip.

During this time of calm, all of the fish we caught were suspended fish moving horizontally with most drawn in to us by the work of the splasher.

So, Royce and Teri had to learn quickly how to execute the most technical sort of fishing we’d do all morning. The trick was to time the rise of their lures (MAL Dense Lures w/ silver bodies) to intersect with the suspended fishes’ direction of travel AND to do so very near the fish (ideally within 2 feet or so).

There was a bit of a learning curve, and Royce’s prior fishing experience actually worked contrary to preventing him from trying to set the hook when the spinner’s blade spin was interrupted, but, we worked through all of that and put together a good day.

Once the wind began to blow, the fishing got easier and more productive as fish hugging bottom now began to respond well to Royce and Teri’s presentations. Our best run of fish came from 10:30 to 11:20 as the S. wind peaked at 13 mph and kept blowing at that speed over that entire timespan.

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: 101 fish, all caught and released (5 largemouth, 96 white bass)

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) Only very light bird activity existed in the second hour following sunrise; although it was widespread, it still helped us be at the right place at the right time. These birds were working over loons which were feeding on the same shad with the white bass were.

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, and at 7:00A on Monday, 16 Dec ….

9-Dec	16-Dec
0 feet 60.8F	0 feet 63.2F
5 feet 60.9F	5 feet 62.6F
10 feet 61.1F	10 feet 62.3F
15 feet 61.1F	15 feet 61.5F
20 feet 61.1F	20 feet 61.1F
25 feet 61.1F	25 feet 60.8F
30 feet 61.1F	30 feet 60.3F
35 feet 61.1F	35 feet 59.8F
40 feet 60.9F	40 feet 59.2F
45 feet 60.6F	45 feet 58.4F
50 feet 60.6F	50 feet 58.2F
55 feet 60.4F	55 feet 58.0F
60 feet 60.4F	60 feet 57.6F
65 feet 60.4F	65 feet 57.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 2.01′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 90 min., then slowly building from the S up to 13mph by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% coverage all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1517 – 10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 1691 – 37 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (3 short hops)

Area 195 – 23 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (2 short hops)

Area vic SH0041C – 6 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0290G/SH0292G – 25 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

The Balm(y) Before the Storm — 88 Fish

December 16th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, Dec. 16th, I fished with long-time client and excellent angler Dwight Stone, a retired restaurateur from the Georgetown, TX, area.

A run of sonar training engagements took the place of fishing engagements since last Tuesday, but, this morning we hit Stillhouse after fish and did well, enjoying what may be the last balmy temperatures for some time to come.

DATE: Monday, 16 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 19-20, 23-28 December (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Girthy white bass were common this morning as the water temperatures hover at either side of 60F, depending on depth.

PHOTO CAPTION: Dwight Stone with a deep-water largemouth which rocketed up off bottom to overtake his MAL Dense lure as we fished in over 30′ of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning was warm and overcast with about 45 minutes of calm before the SE breeze begin to slowly build to 12 mph by trip’s end.

With grey, cloud-darkened skies, I fished the shallowest areas on my mental checklist first, then quickly moved to the deeper water which I had much more confidence in once the sun rose higher and illuminated the sky through the cloud cover.

Over the course of the morning, we hit seven areas, with the two we hit between 8:30 and 10AM producing the lion’s share of the fish. These areas were in ~51 feet of water and the fish at these areas were bottom-hugging. We scanned a lot of desolate acreage to find these fish, but, when we found them, they were present in force and were ready to feed.

Before Dwight’s arrival I collected the temperature readings at depth (shown below) and was concerned that fish this deep might be too sluggish to chase the MAL Dense which they have done so reliably of late. That was not the case. All but one of our fish caught today came on an MAL Dense raced upwards off the bottom using a “smoking” tactic.

I can’t overstate how important well-tuned sonar is to success. If your side-imaging is not reading crystal clear to its furthest-reaching extend, you are leaving money on the table!

The fish definitely downshifted at around 10:10A, and catching thereafter became much tougher as the fish would simply not follow as far nor as aggressively as they had in the 2 hours prior.

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: 88 fish, all caught and released (1 largemouth, 1 crappie, 86 white bass)

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) No bird activity helpful to fish finding occurred this morning.

2) I observed the first male white bass oozing milt so far this season. Of the 88 fish landed, only one did so.

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, and at 7:00A on Monday, 16 Dec ….

9-Dec	16-Dec
0 feet 60.8F	0 feet 63.2F
5 feet 60.9F	5 feet 62.6F
10 feet 61.1F	10 feet 62.3F
15 feet 61.1F	15 feet 61.5F
20 feet 61.1F	20 feet 61.1F
25 feet 61.1F	25 feet 60.8F
30 feet 61.1F	30 feet 60.3F
35 feet 61.1F	35 feet 59.8F
40 feet 60.9F	40 feet 59.2F
45 feet 60.6F	45 feet 58.4F
50 feet 60.6F	50 feet 58.2F
55 feet 60.4F	55 feet 58.0F
60 feet 60.4F	60 feet 57.6F
65 feet 60.4F	65 feet 57.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 2.00′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 45 min., then slowly building from the SE up to 12mph by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% coverage all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 034 – 10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 0317 – 31 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 879/880 – 24 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 196 – 2 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 0vic SH0298G – 5 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 779 – 14 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 0305 – 2 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

Scouting Belton Provides Confirmations

December 10th, 2024December 10th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 10, I fished with returning guests Jerry Saikley and Jeff Burns. Back on Nov. 23 when I reported about moving operations from Lake Belton to Stillhouse Hollow and conducting a scouting trip in advance of taking clients there, Jerry expressed interest in being part of such a scouting effort.

Since I’ve had no reason to fish Lake Belton since that time, and since most of the fish I was doing on Belton was confined to only one part of the lake, we scouted an area that Jerry and Jeff were not all that familiar with, and which I had not fished in quite a white.

DATE: Tuesday, 10 December 2024 (AM)

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

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jerry Saikley and Jeff Burns hoist a pair of hybrid striped bass taken moments apart from a fast-moving school of fish chasing shad in just under 30 feet of water. The fish both fell for white, 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados during a morning scouting effort.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Essentially, the point of scouting is to find fish and catch a few in a number of places, versus a fishing trip where, once fish are found, we stay put until we have caught all the fish an area will produce.

This give me options as a guide, instead of running clients around to areas which may not have proven to hold fish lately.

This morning’s trip was bitter-sweet. It confirmed that Lake Belton’s fishing has gotten tougher as the water temperatures have fallen. It confirmed that fish are in areas where we suspected them to be. It confirmed that Stillhouse is definitely producing better at this point in the season. However, we really only found one solid location in the segment of the lake we scouted which would be worth returning to.

Whenever I scout, I like to do so during the same timeframe during which I will have clients aboard, and I like to time these efforts with good fishing weather, as even marginal areas will produce at least a few fish with favorable weather.

Despite not finding a multitude of fish-holding areas, Jerry and Jeff were able to pick my brain and watch my approach to fish-finding, especially when it came to the use of topographic mapping, side-imaging interpretation, and the i-Pilot Link function allowing a user to pinpoint an object (like fish) on the bottom and then direct the trolling motor to that object quickly and accurately — a feature Jerry has on his own boat but was not really taking advantage of.

We wound up finding fish in two areas — one with white bass only, and the other with a mix of whites and hybrid. The white bass came up off bottom to strike smoked MAL Dense Lures early in the trip, and the mix of whites and hybrids came near trip’s end and were taken on 1 1/8 oz. White Tornados worked with a sawtooth method.

The men also took one suspended fish in an area where lots of bait was holding, but that was more the exception than the rule, so we dismissed that as an area with future potential.

We fished each location until we’d taken 5 fish, then packed up and moved on so as to cover as much water as possible.

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: 11 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) and White Tornados (white, 1 1/8 oz.) to make our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) A very hard cold front with high winds built in today. Overnight lows around 33F (the lowest since last spring) are expected. This will likely push water temps into the high 50s and further slow the fishing.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Tuesday, 10+ Dec….

0 feet 62.2F

5 feet 62.6F

10 feet 62.8F

15 feet 62.8F

20 feet 62.8F

25 feet 62.8F

30 feet 62.8F

35 feet 62.8F

40 feet 62.8F

45 feet 62.6F

50 feet 62.4F

55 feet 62.4F

60 feet 62.3F

65 feet 60.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:25A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation: 2.12′ low and falling slowly

Water Surface Temp: 62.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW12 at trip’s start, increasing to NNW18 with higher gusts thru the morning

Sky Condition: Grey skies until 11A, then quickly clearing from W to E.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 73% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 029 – 5 white bass smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area B0197C – mix of 5 white bass and hybrid stripers sawtoothing White Tornados

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

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.

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