Fishing Report

CLIENTS: This morning I fished with first-time guest Bob Keith of Georgetown, TX, who chaperoned his two grandsons, Keith (11) and Ben Freeman (8), who live near Denton, TX.  Although Bob did not fish, but instead helped me help the boys be successful, he did closely observe how I made use of my Humminbird Apex networked to a Minn Kota Ulterra.  He has a similar Humminbird Solix which he admitted he is not getting the full potential out of.  We agreed an on-the-water-sonar training session is in order when the weather cools a bit.

DATE: Monday, 05 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  14 & 15 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Keith Freeman, Mr. Bob Keith, and Ben Freeman with 6 of the 64 fish the boys landed on Lake Belton as August turns hot and dry.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: This week started like last week ended thanks to a return to hot, dry, high pressure weather after a brief wrinkle passed over Saturday and Sunday in the form of a mild cold front bringing some cloud cover and a light northerly breeze.  The best fishing for quality fish took place in the first 80 minutes of daylight and came by covering lots of water with downriggers as these fish actively hunted in water from 12 to 26 feet deep.

After that, we found smaller, but abundant, white bass on an underwater spur in about 22 feet of water after striking out at two other locations.  The boys worked through the learning curve of getting their MAL Mini blades to spin as close to bottom as possible, and wound up boating another 24 fish this way.

The white bass fishing began to wane around 9:30, so we put in another 40 minutes up shallow in pursuit of panfish.  The boys used poles with bait and slipfloats to land another 14 panfish.  Their tally for the morning totaled 64 fish landed.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.  We fished MAL Minis vertically, and we live bait under slipfloats for panfish up shallow.  Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Two days of topwater actions occurred over the weekend, esp. on Saturday, as a very mild cold front moved over; there was an uptick in topwater action today as compared with last week, but not to the level of what took place over the weekend.

2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom and came in the first 80 minutes after first light.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 5:50 AM on August 5 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.10 feet high and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow, resulting in a 0.04′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 87.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable all morning, under 3mph

Sky Condition: Wispy white clouds at under 10% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 105

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This Friday morning I fished with Brad Massey (U.S. Army retired) and his adult daughter, Avery, who is making a go of it in the Central Texas real estate industry.  Both came out with me for the first time this spring to both catch fish AND to learn my approach to targeting hybrid striped bass using live shad.  It was Brad’s intention on this morning’s trip to see what summertime tactics are required for consistency in June, July, August, and into September.

DATE: 02 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  15 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:    Brad Massey and his daughter, Avery, caught and released 160 fish on the morning of August 2.  This was the best result my clients have enjoyed since the start of the flooding and the resulting recovery from it, going back to mid-May.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  Fishing continued to be pretty solid by summertime standards. There was a reliable downrigger bite from first light and for about an hour hence. During that time we landed 10 legal white bass in under 20 feet of water prior to sunrise.  As the sun rose, and shortly thereafter, we moved out to the 20 to 32 foot mark and continued downrigging, adding an additional 40 fish to the count. 12 of these were short.

After this dried up, we changed tactics and began to find bottom-oriented schools of fish which we could Spot-Lock on top of, keep consolidated with the splasher, and fish vertically for. We alternated presentations between MAL Minis and MAL Originals with chartreuse tails, depending on fish preference as observed on Garmin LiveScope.

We caught at three different areas in this manner, taking our count up to 103 fish. We made one final move and I was anticipating finding additional small fish, but we were pleasantly surprised that quality fish were using this area. I Spot-Locked in 26 feet of water and we had abundant fish out to our port side and beneath the boat. I directed Brad and Avery to use MAL Originals with a sawtooth method to catch those fish we saw within a cast length out to the port side of the boat as I kept an eye on Garmin LiveScope in downward mode. They did well fishing horizontally, adding bonus fish to our tally whenever a good group of fish moved under the boat. Those fish directly beneath the boat were caught with a smoking tactic.

Things begin to get pretty quiet around 10:30 AM. With 160 fish now landed, we called it a good morning and headed out.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.  We fished MAL Originals and MAL Minis vertically, and we used MAL Originals with a sawtooth method to fish horizontally for fish we saw staying put on side imaging.  Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Still not much topwater action observed.

2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 10:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.30 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.04′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 85.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S9-10 through 9:30, with an abrupt shift to SW9-10 thereafter

Sky Condition: Wispy white clouds at 15% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 4% illumination.

GT = 5

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: After fishing with Joe Oliver‘s oldest son, Corey, and his kids just after Lake Belton reopened in early July, we worked in this trip for Joe’s daughter, Amber Pugh, and her three kids, Ben, Beau, and Addie, just days before they head back to school in Academy, Texas.

DATE: 01 August 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  15 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Addie, Amber, & Beau Pugh, Joe Oliver, and Ben Pugh with a portion of their 48-fish haul taken in just two hours on a hot, dry July evening on Lake Belton, Texas.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: We kept this trip short, fishing only two hours from about 6:20 PM to 8:20 PM. We started later than usual because this is when the evening bite has been kicking in, thus we got right down to fish catching and avoided a hot, fishless wait by not starting any earlier than necessary. We did wrap up a bit earlier than I normally would, as Addie was starting to wane. Normally we’d have fished another 25 minutes or so until dark.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.  Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 48 fish caught and released, including: 42 legal white bass, 5 short white bass, and 1 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Still not much topwater action observed.

2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20P

End Time: 8:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 95F

Elevation: 0.34 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.05′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 87.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S10 all evening

Sky Condition: Wispy white clouds at 15% on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 9% illumination.

GT = 80

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This past Wednesday morning, July 31, I conducted the 2024 season’s 18th “SKIFF” (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip.  Joining me were Mrs. Brandy Klutse who chaperoned her own two children, Marianna (13) and Bryson (10), as well as Bryson’s friend, Dexter Daily (12).  According to Bryson, the boys met while playing outside one day when both families were stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  As fate would have it, the Army shipped both families to Fort Cavazos, and the boys were able to continue their friendship here.

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: 31 July 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  07 Aug. (AM), 15 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:   Marianna & Bryson Klutse, and Dexter Daily with a few of the Lake Belton white bass they caught as their summer vacation begins to wind down.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: Thanks to high pressure sitting atop Central Texas, we’ve had very stable, “cookie-cutter” weather for the past several days, hence, fish are now doing the same things, at the same times, in the same places day by day.  This is further enhanced by the lack of flow through the lake now that USACE has stopped releasing flood water from May’s heavy rains.  The kids caught fish via downrigging with #13 Pet Spoons early, then, after sunrise, we caught congregated fish in ~22-26 feet of water using a smoking tactic with the smallest MAL Lure I make — the MAL Mini.  The trick is ensuring the blade is spinning right from the very start of the retrieve, which can be a bit of a learning curve for those unfamiliar.  I’ve found the a very short snap of the rod tip done just as the spinning reel’s handle is starting to turn is a sure-fire way to get that blade spinning.  Being sure to remove all slack from the line also aids greatly.  T

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons. We fished MAL Minis vertically using a smoking tactic.  Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 110 fish caught and released, including: 108 white bass and 2 hybrid striped bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Wind and cloud cover kept low-light topwater action suppressed this morning.

2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.39 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.06′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 85.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-15 all morning

Sky Condition: Partly cloudy with 60% white-grey cloud cover on a white sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 16% illumination.

GT = N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: On Tuesday evening, July 30, I fished with long-time client Steve Niemeier, his daughter, Emily Haberer, and Emily’s daughter, Zoey Haberer, age 9 — three generations aboard.

DATE: 30 July 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Thursday, 01 Aug. (PM), 07 Aug. (AM), 15 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Emily and Zoey Haberer, and Zoey’s grandfather, Steve Niemeier with Lake Belton white bass taken exclusively via downrigging on this very windy and warm late July Texas evening.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  It was truly a “one trick pony” kind of night … downrigging accounted for every last one of the 86 fish Steve and his crew landed.  Although I saw three distinct schools of fish I felt might be good candidates for working a lure horizontally through, these fish were so mobile that by the time I could get the boat set, rods to everyone, and begin presentations, the fish were long gone.  Later, near dark (and well after sunset), some hard-to-see topwater action broke out in the heavy chop.  Unfortunately, this action was from very small white bass feeding on threadfin shad which were about 1 1/8″ long.  I opted to keep right on downrigging near bottom to continue to target larger fish.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 86 fish caught and released, including: 65 legal white bass, and 21 short white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Spare topwater action consisted of very small whites feeding on small baits.

2) Better quality fish were holding tight to bottom.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July; since then fish have been more likely to use bottom, and have begun using bottom at greater depths versus when a high flow was running.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15P

End Time: 8:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 96F

Elevation: 0.50 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.05′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 85.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S13-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Partly cloudy with 60% white-grey cloud cover on a white sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 25% illumination.

GT = 35

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, July 30, I fished with first-time guest Mr. Boyd Krcha, who came after being referred by Mr. Larry Brewer, both of whom are in the Austin area refrigeration business.  Boyd brought two grandsons for a kids-only trip — Brennan Cunningham (11) and Briggs Krcha (8).

DATE: 30 July 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Thursday, 01 Aug. (PM), 07 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Boyd and Briggs Krcha, and Brennan Cunningham with a mess of the white bass they “smoked” MAL Lures up off the bottom for.

PHOTO CAPTION: Briggs landed our largest fish this morning.  This 4.75 pound largemouth grabbed his MAL Original as Briggs worked it vertically with a “smoking” tactic in about 26 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  Pretty cut-and-dried report this morning:  Very little success downrigging under low-light conditions due to high winds and thick cloud cover before sunrise suppressing the bite.  After sunrise, we smoked MAL Originals (when fish were most aggressive) and then MAL Minis (once the fish settled back) for 104 of our 130 fish coming off just two locations.  We closed out the trip fishing slipfloats up shallow for sunfish, taking another 19 fish in that fashion.  We wrapped up by 9:50 as the heat started to rise.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  The majority of the white bass we caught today were caught vertically “smoking”, first using the MAL Original with chartreuse tail, then, when interest began to wane, switching over to the MAL Mini.  Downrigging produced very few fish under low-light conditions as high winds and thick clouds suppressed that bite.  Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 130 fish caught in released, including: 1 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, a mix of 19 sunfish, and 107 white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) No morning topwater due to high winds (13+ mph)

2) Young-of-the-year shad have grown sufficiently to use #13 Pet Spoons now.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding on 26 July.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 9:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 0.50 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.05′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S13-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Partly cloudy with 60% white-grey cloud cover on a white sky

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 25% illumination.

GT = 45

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: On the evening of July 28th, I welcomed back three youth anglers, Hudson & Townes Slimp of Salado, and their cousin, Cam Miller, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Only the boys fish on the “Kids Fish, Too!” package trip as Cam’s grandfather, Larry Miller came along for crowd control.  Everything was arranged for in advance by Don Bousquet of “Ragin’ Cajun” boat storage fame located just uphill from Temple Lake Park.

DATE: 28 July 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Thursday, 01 Aug. (PM), 07 Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Larry & Cam Miller, and Hudson and Townes (front) Slimp with a few of the Lake Belton white bass they landed in the last 2.5 hours of light.

PHOTO CAPTION: Cam Miller landed his “PB” smallmouth bass.  This 2.25 pound smallie fell for an MAL Lure

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  This 3.5 hour trip ran from 5:15 PM through 8:45 PM. There was a noticeable uptick in fish activity beginning right around 6:10 PM. At this time, schools of bottom oriented white bass, which had previously been present but expressed little interest in chasing, either vertically or horizontally, began to do both. This action continued to build right up until the fish quit at dark. Over this 2 1/2 hours worth of activity, the fish moved slowly shallower and moved higher up off of the bottom into the water column. The initial approach I took with the boys was to fish MAL Originals with chartreuse tails vertically while observing Garmin LiveScope for actively chasing fish. With Townes having somewhat limited experience in working with spinning gear, I felt that was going to diminish our overall chances, and so I decided we would strictly downrig from that point forward. The boys all enjoyed the downrigging, and it offered us a shot at doubles and triples. With three boys on the boat and two downriggers, I had one boy reeling in fish, one in the batters’ box, and the other rigging whichever rod most recently caught a fish, getting it set out and ready to catch another. All of our downrigged fish were caught on #12 pet spoons, as I have observed that young of the year shad have now grown out sufficiently to be best imitated by this size of spoon.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  The white bass we landed on downriggers all struck  #13 Pet Spoons attached to 3-armed umbrella rigs fished precisely with downriggers to control the depth they were presented at.  Fish taken horizontally with a sawtooth method and fish taken vertically with a smoking method all came on the MAL Original with chartreuse tail. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 86 fish caught and released, including 2 drum, 1 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, 1 bluegill, 4 short white bass, 77 legal white bass

OBSERVATIONS:

1) No evening topwater due to high winds (~12-13 mph)

2) Young-of-the-year shad have grown sufficiently to use #13 Pet Spoons now.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding last Friday.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:15P

End Time: 8:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 86F

Elevation: 0.55 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.03′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S15 at trip’s start, reducing to S12-13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Partly cloudy with 40% white cloud cover on a blue sky after a much cloudier morning and early afternoon

Moon Phase: Last quarter moon at 46% illumination.

GT = 760

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, July 26, I fished with a trio from the north Austin area.  Mr. Wes Stearns came along as a non-fishing parent to help me help his son, Knox, and Knox’s buddy, Mason Salas, be successful.  Wes and Knox have been out with me previously, but during the cool months, so, today’s hot weather tactics were new to them.

DATE: 26 July 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Monday, 29 Jul. (AM), and Thursday, 01 Aug. (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Wes Stearns, Mason Salas, and Knox Stearns with a few of the quality Lake Belton white bass we took early on in the trip as the boys sight-cast to fish feeding on the surface as just the lightest of breezes rippled the lake before sunrise.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  Ever since the flow of water through the dam was significantly reduced, the fishing has followed a very definite morning pattern, with quality fish moving briefly shallow to feed, occasionally doing so near or on the surface (especially before and after the full moon), then quitting within ~70 minutes of starting.  Getting going early (well before sunrise) has been the key to cashing in on this, mainly via downrigging to both cover water and to keep baits precisely positioned.

Today, now five days after the full moon, I began to see some topwater action here and there after it all but disappeared.  This morning, we downrigged and put nice legal white bass in the boat before some topwater action broke out.  The boys then sight-cast for about 40 minutes, adding 31 more legal fish to our count.

After the topwater died, we went right back to downrigging, albeit in deeper water, adding a final five legal whites to the count before these fish shut down.  From this point on, we found an abundance of fish, but all of them were short.  Regardless, the boys enjoyed “smoking” their MAL Mini lures up off bottom thru these fish and watching them respond on Garmin Live Scope.  They added 88 white bass, 1 short hybrid, and 1 freshwater drum to our tally before this bite died.

We wrapped up with one more brief round of downrigging, picking up a triple, before heading in at 10AM.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  The white bass we landed on downriggers all struck #12 & #13 Pet Spoons attached to 3-armed umbrella rigs fished precisely with downriggers to control the depth they were presented at.  Fish taken via sight-casting, and fish taken on the smoking tactic were all caught on MAL Minis. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 138 fish caught and released, including 136 white bass  (91 short, 45 legal), 1 short hybrid, and 1 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Topwater action bounced back today, 5 days after the full moon.

2) Early downrigged fish showed a preference for the #13 Pet Spoon, and those fish taken via sight-casting regurgitated shad closer in size to the #13 Pet Spoon.

3) USACE stopped running water through the dam for the first time since May’s flooding.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:15AM on July 25 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:10A

End Time: 10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 0.75 feet high and falling slowly with a 33cfs flow, resulting in a 0.04′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE breeze under 6mph all morning

Sky Condition: Light fog gave way to

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 68% illumination.

GT = 25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This past Wednesday morning I was joined by the Rowe family from Killeen.  Melvin and Leslie Rowe came as non-fishing participants while their sons, Elijah (11) and Braylon (15) fished.  This was actually our second attempt at making this come together.  With both local lakes flooded back in May, the Rowes agreed to meet me at Lake Georgetown, instead.  We no sooner started fishing than an unexpected rain, complete with cool wind gusts, pushed us back to the ramp and forced a reschedule.

DATE: 24 July 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Monday, 29 Jul. (AM), and Thursday, 01 Aug. (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Elijah and Brayton Rowe of Killeen with four fistfuls of white bass they worked for this July 24th morning on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  This morning’s trip broke down into three parts:  low-light downrigging for shallow fish, shallow water panfishing, and mid-morning downrigging for suspended fish.  For going on two weeks now, the best action for quality fish took place before and at sunrise; after that, the bite get beyond tough for “keeper” sized white bass.  Oh, about that “first time for everything” … well, Mr. Eli was the first client I had go over the side of my boat since I brought it home new from New Hampshire in January 2016.  One second he was sitting on the gunwale as we trolled along, the next second he was in the water after losing his balance.   As a guide, you never want this to happen, but, being prepared for when it does makes all the difference.  Eli’s life vest kept him afloat, the spare set of clothes and towel I keep aboard helped him get comfortable after drying off, and were were able to “continue the mission” unscathed, despite the mishap.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  The white bass we landed on downriggers all struck #12 Pet Spoons attached to 3-armed umbrella rigs fished precisely with downriggers to control the depth they were presented at.  Panfish were all taken under floats on bait. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released, including 31 white bass  (12 short, 19 legal), and 46 panfish

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Zero topwater action this morning, which wasn’t surprising given we had some fog following yesterday’s rains.

2) All fish were taken in under 21′.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10AM on July 17 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 0.83 feet high and falling slowly with a 325cfs flow, resulting in a 0.02′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NW breeze at <5 all morning

Sky Condition: Light fog gave way to

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 87% illumination.

GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

CLIENTS: This past Tuesday evening I was joined by the Winkel family from the Lake Palestine area.  They came so their 15 year old daughter could show livestock at the Cadence Bank Center.  Jordan and Kristina chaperoned their two younger kids, James (7), and Tony (6).  With an atypical low pressure weather system causing cool, wet weather, our plans to fish from dawn forward were rained out, so, we backed off about 3 hours from dusk and went fishing in the evening.

DATE: 23 July 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Monday, 29 Jul. (AM), and Thursday, 01 Aug. (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Kristina, James, Jordan, and Tony Winkel with a few of the white bass the boys caught on this evening trip rescheduled from the morning due to unusually cool, rainy weather in late July.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  With two recent evening trips now conducted in the last week, I’ve found the evening white bass bite is atypically longer than the morning bite.  We found quality fish schooled and willing to rise up off bottom and strike horizontally moving lures as early as 6:45P, right on through to dark (well after sunset).  We began this trip downrigging the mouth of a windblown cove (w/ wind from ENE) and landed 8 short white bass suspended around 21′.  We took a short break from downrigging to show Jordan how I rig up to catch panfish in shallow water, resulting in a catch of 8 fish.  From that point on, we stuck with the downrigging approach from 6:45 to 8:45, catching quality white bass consistently.   I did note that, on multiple occasions, I ran well-placed baits over active fish and got ignored, which has definitely not been the case up to now.  Don’t know if the full moon or low pressure, or both (or neither LOL!) might be driving that.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  The white bass we landed on downriggers all struck #12 Pet Spoons attached to 3-armed umbrella rigs fished precisely with downriggers to control the depth they were presented at.  Panfish were all taken under floats on bait. Find umbrella rigs and MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 67 fish caught and released, including 59 white bass  (8 short, 51 legal), and 8 panfish

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Very little topwater action materialized this evening as compared to what we had before entering into the full moon period.

2) All fish were taken in under 21′.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10AM on July 17 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:15P

End Time: 8:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation: 0.89 feet high and falling with a 325cfs flow, resulting in a 0.05′ fall over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ENE breeze at ~6 all evening

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all evening at 100% coverage.  A light, sporadic sprinkling of rain fell in the first half of the trip — not even enough to really feel.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 94% illumination.

GT = 45

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS: