Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

That’s Why They Call it Catching, Not Fishing — 308 Fish

May 5th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, “Cinco de Mayo”, I fished with a great group of four from the Fellowship of Christian Sportsmen, including Jim McGee, Flint Deshazo, Paul Irwin, and Peter Hutnick. Jim is a retired missionary from Campus Crusade for Christ, Flint is a family medicine doctor, Paul works with a company providing a network of support to gun ranges, and Peter is U.S. Army Viet Nam veteran retired from the computer industry.

DATE: Monday, 05 May 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 23 May (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 24 May (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jim McGee, Flint Deshazo, Peter Hutnick, and Paul Irwin with a few of the 308 fish they landed in a truly action-packed four hours of fishing. That “magnum” held by Jim is being held in the same plane with the other three fish (which were all quality fish exceeding 13″). It was just shy of 17″ and released in excellent condition.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

A stiff easterly breeze blew all morning, starting around 8mph, and increasing to 13+ mph by trip’s end. This largely drove which side of underwater topographies we visited and searched with sonar.

There was no shad spawn this morning thanks to the lingering effects of this past weekend’s cold front forcing air temps this morning into the high 50’s.

With no shad spawn, I was none too confident that we’d find fish shallow (under 15′), and, after two quick checks up shallow under low light conditions, that was verified.

We spent the remainder of the trip in 23 to 31 feet of water fishing for bottom-oriented white bass which I initially found on side-imaging, then parked on top of using the i-Pilot Link connection between sonar and trolling motor.

The MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail and silver blade was the sole tool necessary to get the job done this morning. My crew used it vertically with a smoking tactic at every one of the seven stops we made to put together our catch. At one of these locations we also used the sawtooth tactic horizontally.

The fish fed hard in advance of incoming storms (which hit around 1:30pm) for a full 4 hours, then shut down hard right at the 4-hours-past-sunrise mark.

RESULTS: 308 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn was interrupted by a late spring cold front.
No helpful bird activity.
Fish enthusiastically pursued MAL Lures both vertically and horizontally for a full 4 hours.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the previous water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 11:15AM, Friday, 02 May…

0 feet 75.3F

5 feet 75.3F

10 feet 75.3F

15 feet 74.9F

20 feet 74.8F

25 feet 73.0F

30 feet 68.5F

35 feet 65.5F

40 feet 62.8F

45 feet 60.4F

50 feet 59.4F

55 feet 58.9F

60 feet 58.3F

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 3.30′ low (a 0.08′ rise in 24 hours)

Water Surface Temp: 72.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: E8 at trip’s start, and increasing to E13+ mph by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 80% to 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 108/143 – 140 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically & sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures fished horizontally

Area 108/1048 – 25 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 1048 – 68 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 746 – 16 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 104 – 7 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 131 – 52 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically (2 short hops)

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Cherry, You’re Off the Charts!! – 110 Fish with the Davids

May 2nd, 2025May 2nd, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, May 2, I fished with husband-and-wife team Kevin and Cherry David for what was an early Fathers’ Day gift from Cherry and her son and daughter to Kevin. The pair recently retired from public education and moved from the Houston area to near Lake Belton.

Cherry saw my truck parked at the boat ramp area at Temple’s Lake Park at Lake Belton recently, took a photo, gave me a call, and bought a gift certificate.

Due to a full spring schedule, we planned on an October trip, but, an unexpected cancellation allowed us to get this trip in earlier, and with good results!!

DATE: Friday, 02 May 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 23 May (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 24 May (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Husband-and-wife team Kevin and Cherry David joined me for the first time this morning as we pursued white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

PHOTO CAPTION: Cherry pulled up an eleventh-hour catch taking this nice largemouth from out of 33 feet of water as we spent the last portion of our trip fishing live shad after the white bass bite shut down around 10:25AM.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We fished a lull between storms today, threading the eye of the needle after violent thunderstorms, wind, hail, and at least two tornados hit Bell County last night, and before another round of severe thunderstorms were due to hit around 2PM today.

The morning dawned calm and overcast with an air temperature around 62F. As the sun rose a bit higher, the clouds (around 80% coverage at this point) thinned and a light SW breeze just rippled the water. A solid shad spawn event took place on the north shoreline this morning, and the white bass were keyed in on this shallow bait.

Kevin and Cherry cast MAL Heavy Lures (silver blade, chartreuse tail) in 12-14 feet of water in an area where we could see small pods of white bass occasionally pin shad against the surface. This action was near the surface, so, the simply cast, closed their bails by hand as soon as the lure hit the water, and began retrieving.

This lasted about an hour and accounted for 68 fish. The last fifteen minutes or so of this bite required a “sawtooth” retrieve as the fish pushed down closer to bottom with the calming winds and brightening sky.

When the winds went slack, the bite died. Fortunately, the wind picked up again about 20 minutes later, this time from just north of east at about 5 mph, then built over the next two hours to ENE12 as the cloud cover increased to 100% and thickened.

We went on to fish three additional areas with action slowly decreasing and the duration of the bite shortening with each stop we made. The first two of these three stops allowed for 38 additional fish to be caught using the vertical “smoking” tactic with the same MAL Heavy Lures. We had a little chuckle as Cherry was getting used to visually tracking the rise and fall of her lure on Garmin LiveScope. At one point, she opened the bail of her reel and the lure dropped downward and at an angle back toward the stern as she faced out the starboard side. The lure disappeared from the LiveScope screen and Cherry said, “Oh, no! I’m off the chart!!”.

At the last stop (and our deepest), the fish barely reacted to the MAL, so, with some live bait on board for just such a possibility, we put two downlines down with live shad as bait and enjoyed variety and slower, but steady, action right up until 11AM when we called it a great morning as Cherry connected with our largest fish of the trip — a healthy, hungry 4.25-pound largemouth bass.

RESULTS: 110 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Fish enthusiastically pursued MAL Lures both vertically and horizontally; live bait put fish in the boat in the final hour as the bite got tough.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the previous water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 11:15AM, Friday, 02 May…

0 feet 75.3F

5 feet 75.3F

10 feet 75.3F

15 feet 74.9F

20 feet 74.8F

25 feet 73.0F

30 feet 68.5F

35 feet 65.5F

40 feet 62.8F

45 feet 60.4F

50 feet 59.4F

55 feet 58.9F

60 feet 58.3F

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 3.52′ low (a 0.74′ rise in 24 hours)

Water Surface Temp: 75.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable, from SW2-3 to calm to ENE6-12

Sky Condition: 80% cloud cover on a hazy sky for ~90 minutes, then clouding up to 100% grey thereafter

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 535 – 68 fish on MAL Heavy Lures fished horizontally

Area 767 – 27 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 530 -11 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically

Area 778 – 4 fish on live shad

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

A Much Better Disposition Today — 121 Fish

April 30th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, April 30, I fished with returning guest, Mr. John Gossard of Temple, Texas a U.S. Air Force Viet Nam veteran. Joining him were his adult sons, James, a firefighter from Leander, and John, a maintenance man from Texas City.

DATE: Wednesday, 30 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This morning’s crew, from left: James, John, and John Gossard with a few of the 121 fish they landed, primarily working MAL Heavy lures vertically with a “smoking” retrieve.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

High winds for a fourth consecutive day forced us to change from our first choice of launch locations. In hindsight, I’m glad we did that, as the winds got up every bit as high as they were forecast to.

The skies were completely grayed over save for a roughly a 15 minute span around 11:00-11:15 AM. Otherwise, the skies were so gray, squinting was unnecessary.

Having seen fish give a cold shoulder to even live bait yesterday, I re-doubled my efforts at finding and catching fish with artificials, and committed to simply cover water until sonar revealed what I knew would be schools of fish aggressive enough to chase the MAL Lures we presented.

Fortunately, the fish had a much better disposition today, and we were able to catch fish from start to finish. The peak of this morning‘s activity came from 8:50 to 9:40. During that time, I was going from one client to the next, simply taking off fish continuously.

We used the MAL Heavy with silver blade and chartreuse tail exclusively for the first 107 fish we landed. 90% of those were taken fishing the lure vertically using a smoking tactic. The balance were taken using a sawtooth method when I saw an abundance of fish on the port or starboard side, using side imaging as we fished from a Spot-Locked position. The vertical work was greatly enhanced by LiveScope which everyone very much enjoyed using.

At 10:50 AM, a small storm cell moving from southeast to northwest produced thunder and lightning close enough that we decided it prudent to head back to the dock, thus getting off of open water while the storm passed. After a roughly 10 minute delay, we went right back to catching fish using the MAL Heavy vertically. From 10:30 to 11:25 we changed things up and fished live bait after I presented that option to my crew in hope of nabbing a keeper hybrid striper or two. We landed our final 14 fish on bait, including five of the eight hybrid which came aboard today, as well as two blue cat and additional white bass. We wrapped it up at 11:25 AM with exactly 121 fish landed.

RESULTS: 121 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Fish enthusiastically pursued MAL Lures both vertically and horizontally; live bait put fish in the boat in the final hour as the bite got tough.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 3.11′ low (a 0.10′ rise in 24 hours)

Water Surface Temp: 72.0F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Variable SSE winds from 6 to 16 all morning

Sky Condition: Moderately overcast grey skies all morning with 100% coverage

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171C – 4 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail

Area vic 788 – 18 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail

Area vic B0172C – 14 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail

Area vic 328 – 65 fish on smoked & sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail

Area vic B0006G – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tail

Area vic B0173C – 14 fish on live shad

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

In a Word: Tough — 51 Fish

April 29th, 2025April 29th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, April 29, I fish with a crew of five – a combination of members of the Fellowship Of Christian Sportsmen and the Austin Woods and Water‘s Club. Joining me were Kevin McConnell, John Pickens, Ron Prince, Ray Brown, and Flint Deshazo.

DATE: Tuesday, 29 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This morning’s crew, from left: Kevin McConnell, John Pickens, Ron Prince, Ray Brown, and Flint Deshazo

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was tough this morning. The skies stayed gray and murky for fully half of the morning, and, once again, the wind prevented us from getting to some of the areas which typically produce fish this time of year.

Even so, live bait still put fish in the boat when the fishing was difficult. We once again enjoyed a multi-species catch consisting of white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, freshwater drum, white crappie, and blue catfish.

As I searched for fish with sonar this morning, only twice did I see fish schooled tightly enough on the bottom that I felt they would afford us a chance to present artificials. Even when we did so, the fish did not fire up and chase artificials upwards off the bottom. Even as I watched 2D and DI sonar with baits down, the fish showed a reluctance to move up off bottom to grab/chase the live baits.

When all was said and done, a combination of four area areas produced all of our fish with none of these four seeing fish really turn on to any great extent nor for any great length of time.

My crew landed a total of 51 fish today. In a word: tough.

RESULTS: 51 fish, all caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Live bait had an edge over artificials once again today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 3.23′ low

Water Surface Temp: 71.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13-16 through 10:50, then settling back to SSE14 thereafter

Sky Condition: Moderately overcast grey skies all morning with 100% coverage

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 5% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 363 – 16 fish on live shad

Area B0246G- 14 fish on live shad

Area vic 147 – 9 fish on live shad

Area vic 1624 – 12 fish on live shad

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

My Ears Are Still Ringing From the Roar – 89 Fish

April 28th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, April 28, I fished with a crew of five including Jack Oliver, Jack’s grandson, Roy Martin, Roy’s friend, Vayle Steele, and two of Jack’s friends, Mel Bowman and Hank Lewis, both retired from missionary work.

DATE: Monday, 28 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: This morning’s crew, from left: Mel Bowman, Hank Lewis, Jack Oliver, Vayle Steele, and Roy Martin all with post-spawn white bass which continue to increase in numbers in deep water by the day.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: A 15.00-pound yellow cat, a 4.25-pound hybrid, and a 3.75-pound blue cat were a few of the 8 species of fish my crew landed on live shad this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Wind was a significant consideration this morning, so much so that we had a primary and secondary meeting point established in case the wind turned out higher than forecast. As I write this report, five hours after the trip, my ears are still, literally, ringing from the constant roar of the wind this morning (and the tinnitus from the military and a lifetime of hunting contributes, as well, I’m sure!).

Picking up where fishing left off last week, I continued with presenting live bait, which I felt had a significant edge over artificials thanks to the shad spawn now at peak condition.

We were able to fish where we wanted in the first two hours as the wind simmered at around 13 mph occasionally white capping and occasionally not. By around 9:25, the wind began to ramp up steadily, and by the time it hit 16 mph, the swells were too great to effectively fish live bait in the open water I preferred to be in. We finished out the trip in areas which were more protected – not calm, but still wind-blown, only without swells.

The live bait we fished on tight downlines with rods in rod holders accounted for an 89 fish tally including at least one specimen of 8 different species of fish: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, white crappie, freshwater drum, blue catfish, and yellow catfish.

By the time we came off the water, conditions were such that there were no longer areas I suspected would hold fish that were safely accessible. We wrapped up at 11:30 sharp.

RESULTS: 89 fish, all caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Live bait had a distinctive edge over artificials today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 3.20′ low

Water Surface Temp: 71.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-13 through 9:30, then ramping up to SSE16-17 with higher gusts

Sky Condition: Moderately overcast grey skies all morning with 100% coverage

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1606 – 16 fish on live shad

Area 187 – 13 fish on live shad

Area vic B0235G/187 – 44 fish on live shad

Area vic 651 – 16 fish on live shad

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

Fishing with The King’s Men — 78 Fish

April 25th, 2025April 26th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, April 25, I fished with a crew of four – all first time guests. These four men had both a work connection and a spiritual connection. They all work at a Round Rock-based manufacturer of flea and tick preventative products for pets (Wondercide), and they are all part of a Christian men’s group called The King’s Men led by Tim Beaird.

Tim organized this trip and invited along Jose Navarrete, CJ Skinner, and Phil Lewis.

DATE: Friday, 25 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phil Lewis, CJ Skinner, Jose Navarrete, and Tim Beaird with a representative sample of the mixed bag of species they landed using live shad on Lake Belton this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phil Lewis, CJ Skinner, Jose Navarrete, and Tim Beaird with a few of the better white bass that went for the large shad they were offered.

PHOTO CAPTION: The King’s Men logo representing that there is one King that stands above all kings; His name is Jesus.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Storms moved in from the west around 4:30 PM yesterday, dropping about an inch of rain area wide . This led to a very thin fog this morning and, combined with the gray cloud cover, made for fairly dim morning right on through our quitting time around 11:30 AM. Fishing was very straightforward this morning. We caught our first 54 fish at a single location in an area impacted overnight by winds. Those winds brought spawning shad to the area, and the fish we caught were holding just offshore still feeding on these shad as they came back off the bank once the skies brightened.

A nice mixed bag of fish was landed here, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, hybrid stripers, white bass, and blue catfish.

100% of our fish today were caught on live shad , using tight lines fished straight down in rod holders.

After the bite dried up in this fairly shallow, roughly 20-foot deep water, we moved out deeper to around 36′ and found another group of fish. This area produced a final 24 fish, including a mix of white bass, hybrid, striped bass, and blue cat.

We finished up with exactly 78 fish landed. The potential was certainly there for a higher catch, but none of these fellows had fished this way before, so there was a learning curve to get through mainly involving timing of the hookset just right to correspond with the fish pulling downward enough & long enough to keep the rod tip loaded.

RESULTS: 78 fish, all caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Live bait had a distinctive edge over artificials today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Elevation: 3.20′ low

Water Surface Temp: 71.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-8 through 10:50, then quickly tapering to calm

Sky Condition: Moderately overcast grey skies all morning with 100% coverage

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 7% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0021G – 54 fish on live shad

Area vic 1012 – 24 fish on live shad

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

There was No Debate About Bait – 71 Fish

April 24th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, April 24, I welcomed aboard returning guest, Max Schultz, and a longtime coworker and friend of his, Mikey Keim.

Max is looking forward to retiring soon from his family-owned appliance repair business, Tri City Service, which specializes in all manner of home appliance repairs. Mikey maintains a large apartment complex in Temple, TX, managed by Max’s wife

DATE: Thursday, 24 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Max Schultz and Mikey Keim with a few of the hybrid striped bass which showed a strong preference for live (and cut) bait this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing got off to a slow, late start thanks to very heavy, dark, gray cloud cover. This is the third consecutive day in which I struggled in the first 60 to 90 minutes following sunrise. Until the murk thinned out and the skies brightened up, we put only a handful of fish in the boat with a combination of artificial and live bait Around 8:40 AM, the southeast wind picked up a few miles per hour and the clouds thinned allowing the skies to brighten. This almost instantly triggered the fish.

We were able to spend the remainder of this 4.25 hour long trip on just one area .

We fished only live bait and cut bait. Each fellow had one rod with a live shad and one rod with a cut shad, and the pace of the bites we were getting was enough to keep them busy continuously.

The live bait produced a variety of fish, including numerous blue catfish, white bass, and hybrid striped bass, as well as a single freshwater drum.

As has been the case over the last several days, the bite began to soften just after 11AM, and was done by 11:30.

RESULTS: 71 fish, all caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Live bait had a distinctive edge over artificials today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:40AM on Thursday, 24 April

0 feet 71.7F

5 feet 71.7F

10 feet 71.7F

15 feet 71.3F

20 feet 69.9F

25 feet 68.4F

30 feet 66.9F

35 feet 65.0F

40 feet 63.3F

45 feet61.5F

50 feet 60.3F

55 feet 59.2F

60 feet 59.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 3.13′ low

Water Surface Temp: 71.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE12-13 at trip’s start, then settling back to SE9-11 thereafter.

Sky Condition: Heavily overcast, dark grey skies through 8:40A, then brightening through a 100% grey clouded sky.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1012 – 71 fish on live shad

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

White Bass Research Project – Trip #2 of 26 — 67 Fish @ Lake Belton

April 23rd, 2025April 23rd, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, April 23, I fished the second of 26 special fisheries research trips taking place between now and April 2026. These trips are aimed at collecting white bass so they can be measured, weighed, and released in support of a study conducted by students and faculty at Temple College comparing the populations of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir and Lake Belton.

Doing the catching this morning was returning guest Matt Laakso, and doing the research was Dr. Jason Locklin, Caleb Fry, and Mervin Narito.

If you would like to be a part of this effort, and get a $50 discount for the (very) minor inconvenience of having researchers aboard, please consider the following dates and contact me ASAP…

June 2025:18^th Wednesday Belton – OPEN OR 19^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

July 2025:16^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 17^th Wednesday – Stillhouse – OPEN

August 2025:14^th Thursday – Belton – OPEN OR 15^th Friday – Stillhouse – OPEN

September 2025: 20^th Saturday – Belton – Open OR 27^th Saturday – Stillhouse – FILLED

October 2025: 18^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 25^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

November 2025: 8^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 15^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

December 2025: 06^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 13^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

January 2026: 17^thSaturday – Belton – OPEN OR 24^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

February 2026: 14^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 21 Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

March 2026: 11^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 12^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

April 2026: 15^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 16^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

DATE: Wednesday, 23 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Matt Laakso enjoyed a multi-species catch this morning as just about every species in Lake Belton which eats shad visited his hook. Not shown are the blue catfish and freshwater drum that Matt also added to his catch — 67 fish in all.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We had some turbulent weather pass through between 3 and 5 AM this morning. This came in the form of a line of thunderstorms from the west. After the storms cleared, it was humid, balmy, gray, and with light southwesterly winds. As I picked my crew up at the dock, I felt encourage by the conditions, but, on our way to our first area, all of that moved off to the east, and we were left with high-pressure conditions with just the lightest ripple on the water from the east-northeast. We struggled to even find fish to fish for for about 90 minutes until the winds picked up and shifted just south of east. From that point on, we managed to catch consistently.

Once again, while things were tough (as the bite was starting and again as it was tapering off), fish would not stay excited very long about chasing artificial baits, yet, when live baits were presented, these same fish hit without reluctance. Once the bite really turned on, and fish begin to move up off the bottom, then artificial baits caught fish just fine.

Matt really enjoyed the variety of fish he caught – – one of the benefits of fishing live bait. Over our 4+ hours on the water we landed white bass, hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, blue catfish, and freshwater drum. By the time the morning by started to shut down around 11:20, we’d put 67 fish in the boat. Once 11:30 arrived, the fish were completely shut down, not even responding to live bait.

RESULTS: 67 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO THE “SMOKING” RETRIEVE: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: Silver, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Just as fish were first turning on, they quickly got excited and just as quickly lost interest in artificials; live bait was the key to continuing to catch fish during this time

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:20AM on Thursday, 10 April…

0 feet 62.9F

5 feet 63.1F

10 feet 62.9F

15 feet 62.9F

20 feet 62.9F

25 feet 68.2F

30 feet 62.6F

35 feet 61.4F

40 feet 60.6F

45 feet 59.4F

50 feet 59.4F

55 feet 59.0F

60 feet 58.0 F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F

Elevation: 4.24′ low

Water Surface Temp: 66.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for first 90 minutes, then ESE5-6 thereafter

Sky Condition: Thin, grey cloud cover for just 15 minutes then quickly cleared to

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 23% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1798 – 14 fish initially on smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs, then on live shad

Area vic 1614 – 30 fish – initially on bait, then bite improved as wind got stronger, and switched over to smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0237G/1012 – 23 fish on smoked Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs while bite was still strong, then closed out with live shad as morning bite died.

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

White Bass Research by Temple College Kicks Off @ Stillhouse — 107 Fish

April 22nd, 2025April 22nd, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, April 22, I fished the first of 26 special fisheries research trips taking place between now and April 2026. These trips are aimed at collecting white bass so they can be measured, weighed, and released in support of a study conducted by students and faculty at Temple College comparing the populations of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir and Lake Belton. This morning my anglers were returning guests Pastor PJ Condit and Pastor Scott Smith. The researchers aboard this morning included Professor Jason Locklin, Caroline Vanderburg, and Yessenia Edgecomb.

If you would like to be a part of this effort, and get a $50 discount for the (very) minor inconvenience of having researchers aboard, please consider the following dates and contact me ASAP…

June 2025:

18^th Wednesday Belton – OPEN OR 19^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

July 2025:

16^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 17^th Wednesday – Stillhouse – OPEN

August 2025:

14^th Thursday – Belton – OPEN OR 15^th Friday – Stillhouse – OPEN

September 2025:

20^th Saturday – Belton – Open OR 27^th Saturday – Stillhouse – FILLED

October 2025:

18^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 25^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

November 2025

8^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 15^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

December 2025

06^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 13^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

January 2026

17^thSaturday – Belton – OPEN OR 24^th Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

February 2026

14^th Saturday – Belton – OPEN OR 21 Saturday – Stillhouse – OPEN

March 2026

11^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 12^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

April 2026

15^th Wednesday – Belton – OPEN OR 16^th Thursday – Stillhouse – OPEN

DATE: Tuesday, 22 April 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: PJ serves the Community Christian Church in Round Rock, and Scott serves at Crestview Christian Church in Copperas Cove. They were serving up MALs and Hazy Eye Slabs to white bass this morning, though!!

PHOTO CAPTION: With calm winds in our first hour, we made our own luck putting live shad down after a quick white bass bite turned off. This resulted in the catch of multiple drum and this 11 pound blue cat.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Temple College fisheries research team from left foreground: Yessenia Edgecomb, Caroline Vanderburg, and Dr. Jason Locklin.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Although we had cloud cover all morning, the southerly wind, which had come up at a nice velocity before sunrise, died for about an hour and during that first hour of effort we had trouble finding fish, and caught none.

By 8 AM, a southeasterly ripple had begun in more exposed areas on the lake , and it was around this time we begin to find and catch fish. The first group of fish we encountered behaved much like those I have recently reported on at Lake Belton. These fish get fired up very briefly, go crazy hitting artificials for all of two or three minutes and then settle down very very quickly.

I have found that following the artificial bite up with bait will help sustain a bite, so that is exactly what we had to do this morning at our first stop. After that, the wind and sky conditions improved, the fishing improved, and we had no problems catching fish on artificials from that point forward.

When I found smaller, isolated groups, fish, I parked on top of them and we worked silver, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically with a smoking tactic. If the fish were spread over a greater area horizontally, I put the boat upwind or crosswind from them and had Scott and PJ cast MAL Heavies out to them using a sawtooth method.

When all was said and done, we had landed 107 fish, including white bass, one largemouth bass, several freshwater drum, one blue catfish, and one bluegill sunfish.

RESULTS: 107 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO THE “SMOKING” RETRIEVE: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: Silver, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & MAL Heavy Lures. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

Threadfin shad spawn continues.
No helpful bird activity.
Just as fish were first turning on, they quickly got excited and just as quickly lost interest in artificials; live bait was the key to continuing to catch fish during this time

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:55AM on Tuesday, 15 April…

0 feet 68.4F

5 feet 68.4F

10 feet 67.4F

15 feet 65.9F

20 feet 65.1F

25 feet 64.3F

30 feet 63.5F

35 feet 62.6F

40 feet 61.9F

45 feet 60.0F

50 feet 59.2F

55 feet 58.2F

60 feet 58.0F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:20AM on Thursday, 10 April…

0 feet 62.9F

5 feet 63.1F

10 feet 62.9F

15 feet 62.9F

20 feet 62.9F

25 feet 68.2F

30 feet 62.6F

35 feet 61.4F

40 feet 60.6F

45 feet 59.4F

50 feet 59.4F

55 feet 59.0F

60 feet 58.0 F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 4.25′ low

Water Surface Temp: 66.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for first hour, then SSE5-6 thereafter

Sky Condition: Thin, but complete, grey cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 33% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 549 – 24 fish initially on smoked MAL Heavy Lures, then on live shad

Area vic 754 – 28 fish on sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 140 – 12 fish on sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 2079 – 14 fish on smoked Bladed Hazy Eye slabs

Area vic B0021G – 22 fish on sawtoothed MAL Heavy Lures

Area vic 755 – 7 fish on smoked Bladed Hazy Eye slabs

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