Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

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SHAD NETTING FUNDAMENTALS – 106 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

June 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Wednesday, May 31, I fished with returning guests, Dr. Jason Locklin and his two oldest kids, Ava, age 17, and Morgan, age 15.

Jason is a professor at Temple College, and the two of us have not only fished together previously, but also had the opportunity to work together on a study comparing zebra mussel populations in Stillhouse Hollow and Lake Belton.

For sometime now, Jason has wanted to understand what it takes to both capture live shad, and then use them as bait for hybrid striped bass. This season, I chose not to pursue hybrid, both due to low numbers of legal size fish present as our Lake Belton hybrid program is rebuilding, and because I injured my left rotator cuff, thus making throwing a cast net impossible during the early part of the season.

Here is how the fishing went.…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Ava and Morgan Locklin with a few of the white bass they landed by sight-casting to surface feeding white bass with MAL Heavies, and by tightlining live shad off bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ava Locklin with our best fish of the trip. This bluecat fell for a piece of cut live shad we fished amongst a spread of 5 other rods with live gizzards and threadfins.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 31 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Regardless of the whole shoulder thing, I told Jason I would try to figure out a way to at least show him the ropes this season. Unfortunately we had to wait for the kids to be done with school and, as a result, our shad spawn has since ended, so that meant capturing shad the hard way. We met up at 4:45 AM with both a traditional net and a tape net, and proceeded to collect enough bait before sunrise to see us through that portion of our trip dedicated to the pursuit of hybrid.

I covered topics I felt were critical for catching and keeping shad:

Cast net styles
Shad tank fundamentals (aeration, filtration, circulation, and insulation)
Water treatments
Sorting/transfer bucket use
Throwing methods
Deep water throwing vs. shallow water throwing
Bait net use
Filter material and cleaning

With a mix of threadfin and gizzard shad now in the bait tank, we got lines in the water just after first light around 6:25 AM.

We hit three areas getting set up and then allowing the baits and splasher to work their magic for about 25 minutes at each location. Although we drew strikes and landed two white bass, neither the strikes, nor the sonar signatures I saw led me to believe we were dealing with hybrid.

The night before this trip, suspecting that the shad and/or the hybrid might be difficult to come by at this point in the season, I asked Jason what he would like to do if we struggled in either regard, and he was open to pursuing other species in other ways.

As we headed to a fourth area to search for hybrid, I spotted some widespread surface activity and was pleased to see that the white bass were feeding on adult threadfin shad. I say “pleased”, because when these fish are feeding on young of the year shad, they are much more difficult to fool, as it is hard to find a lure small enough to imitate these tiny fish.

For about 45 minutes, Morgan, Ava, and Jason sight-cast on one side of the boat or the other, as I maneuvered the boat to keep them with in casting range of the surface feeding fish.

This trio put 68 fish in the boat and made quick work of it. The time was now 9:20 AM, and we had planned to wrap up around 10:20 AM, so we agreed to put in our final hour in pursuit of hybrid once again.

I surveyed a windblown point with sonar, saw activity, and got baits down quickly as everyone was now very familiar with the routine. We fished this area until the bait ran out and wound up with 36 additional fish, including 33 white bass, two blue catfish, and one largemouth bass .

Our grand total for the morning was 106 fish with 68 taken on the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail sight-cast and/or counted down, and an additional 38 fish taken on live threadfin and gizzard shad using essentially a Carolina rig, suspended vertically off the bottom terminated with a Kahle style hook.

We did not land a single hybrid, but still got to cover the approach to fishing live shad including:

Shad size
Shad location
Shad species
Hook choice
Hook positioning
Hook mono tags
Tightline setups
Rod holder positions
Bite detection
Bait clicker functions
Chumming

TALLY: 106 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: With two consecutive days without spawning shad activity despite ideal conditions, I believe “Shad Spawn 2023” is now complete; and, by the looks of the numbers of juvenile shad now showing up, it looks as if it was quite successful.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:45A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.63 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.04′ fall over the past 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~78.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE6-8 until ~9:20, then dropping to SE4-5

Sky Condition: Blue skies with under 10% cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 85% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1556 – 2 whites on live shad

Area vic 1519 – 68 white sight-casting to fish feeding on adult shad with MAL Heavies (all legal)

Area 297 – 38 fish on live shad (2 blue catfish, 1 largemouth bass, 35 white bass (all legal)

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 VERY SHORT WINDOW — 64 FISH @ LAKE BELTON (PM)

June 1st, 2023June 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday evening, May 30, I fished with the 10-year-old grandson of Dr. Bill Johnston, a retired Scott and White anesthesiologist.

Webb Johnston had a very short window to fish with me during his visit with his grandparents and all I had available during that window was an evening trip, which I normally do not offer this time of year.

Summertime evening bites tend to be very short (but intense), taking place in the last 75 minutes or so of light. It is difficult to have (kids, especially) out in high heat for 2.75 hours catching very little before the good fishing kicks in. Fortunately, a nice breeze helped tame the heat.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Webb Johnston with a nice 4.75 pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass taken on an MAL Heavy raced from the bottom toward the surface while observing LiveScope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Bill Johnston treated his grandson, Webb, to an evening fishing trip on Lake Belton. Webb landed a total of 64 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 30 May 2023 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The plan was for Webb to do all the fishing today as Bill took photos, videos, and helped me help Webb be successful. I explain to Webb that on most evenings on Lake Belton, the vast majority of the fish activity takes place in the last hour or so before dark.

This evening was no exception.

Since this was a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip, it was scheduled for 3.5 hours. After about two hours, we had managed 17 fish, primarily by downrigging for suspended white bass which were locked in on young of the year shad.

Around 7:35, as the winds, which came up very suddenly around 4:45 PM as a thunderstorm to the northeast fell apart, died down we began to see many schools of white bass churning the surface chasing primarily after young of the year shad.

Using the new MAL Mini Rig to more closely imitate these small shad than the standard MAL Lure does, Webb proceeded to wear out the white bass, taking our final count up to 64 fish landed as the final fish came in the boat at 8:58 PM.

We got into a good rhythm where Webb stood next to me on my boat’s front casting deck; he would cast to a pod of fish, retrieve quickly to keep his lure up high in the water column, hook and land a fish, then hand that rod — with fish still attached — to me as I handed him an identical rod with the bail already centered and the bait hanging an appropriate distance below the rod tip, absolutely ready for casting.

I would unhook the fish, prepare the second rod, and wait on Webb to hook and land another, and so it went as the two of us worked very efficiently to keep him hooking and landing fish. As fun as this action was, and as appropriate as it was for a young man his age, most of these fish were yearling fish, many of which have already surpassed the 10″ minimum legal size. Perhaps 1 in every 8 or so was 12″ or better.

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 4:45P

End Time: 9P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 85F

Elevation: 12.59 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.30′ increase over the long Memorial Day weekend

Water Surface Temp: ~79F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE16 at trip’s start thanks to collapsing thunderstorms to the NE; then tapering back to SE6 by dark

Sky Condition: Blue skies with under 10% cloud cover all evening.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0019G – downrigging

Area 1766 to 1641 – topwater sightcasting

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 HUMAN RAIN DELAY –64 FISH @ LAKE BELTON (AM)

May 30th, 2023June 1st, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, May 30, I fished with returning guests Marcus Mitchell, and Robert Butts, accompanied by a friend of theirs from church, Steve Wilson.

With the long Memorial Day weekend now passed, the lake traffic this morning was minimal and the weather pretty comfortable for late May, at least until late morning.

As conversation drifted from topic to topic, we discovered Steve was boyhood friends with Mike Hargrove. After announcing this, Steve then “teased us” by letting us know Hargrove became known in the sports world as the “human rain delay”. I’ll likewise tease you … look up “human rain delay” on YouTube!

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 28, & July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Robert Butts, Marcus Mitchell, and Steve Wilson with a few of the Lake Belton white bass they caught and released. The fishing was pretty easy in the first hour as fish popped shad on the surface under low light conditions, but got much tougher thanks to a lack of wind once the sun rose and brightened.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 25 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

I made our meeting time a bit earlier to account for the lack of cloud cover which was forecast today, and increasing day length. We met up around 6:20 and got right into fish forcing shad to the surface.

There was a mixture of young of the year shad and adult shed in this area. When presented with an option, I went with those schools pursuing adult shad, as that forage is much easier to imitate with lures. We kept up with the movement of the schools of fish for about an hour until the sun had risen high enough to sufficiently brighten the sky and pushed the fish down for good.

After that, fishing got pretty tough thanks to a lack of wind, or , at best, a light ESE breeze. We found pockets of fish here and there, most of which were suspended and chasing after young of the year shad. Although we did find a few collections of fish solid enough to stop and work vertically or horizontally for, most of the remainder of our catch of 64 fish came via downriggers.

After observing fish reaction to the downriggers wherein we passed numerous schools of fish with the downrigger balls set appropriately and still did not come up with fish, I decided to downsize from the #13 Pet Spoons I have been relying on thus far this spring to the smaller #12 Pet Spoon.

Our final tally of 64 fish consisted of 56 white bass and 8 hybrid, stripers, all of which were short.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.59 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.30′ increase over the long Memorial Day weekend

Water Surface Temp: ~78.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Puffing from the ESE at 0-4 all morning

Sky Condition: Blue skies with under 10% cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 76% illumination.

GT = 155

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area BG0020CH to 1073 to B0169G – 33 fish on MAL Heavies sight-cast & counted down

Area vic B0030G – 12 fish via downrigging to find them, then capitalizing on the find via smoking MAL Heavies

Area vic B0093G – 3 fish smoking MAL Heavies, then 6 more fish using downriggers to “mop up” after fish lost interest; these fish were suspended at 20-25 over a deeper bottom.

Area vic 1404 – 10 fish via downrigging to find them, then capitalizing on the find via smoking MAL Heavies (2 separate visits)

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

KIDS ARE CLIENTS, TOO! — 73 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 25th, 2023May 25th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, May 25, I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!“ trip with two young, returning guests, Koa Hanson, and his buddy, Jack Jereb, both of whom just ended their school year at the Belton Independent School District.

Both boys’ dads accompanied them. Jeremy Hanson and Michael Jereb helped me help the boys be successful by running crowd control, setting downriggers to depth, untangling lines, and unhooking any fish I couldn’t get to.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 28, & July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Koa, front left, and Jack, front right, used a variety of tactics this morning to put together their 73 fish catch. They sight-cast, downrigged, worked MALs vertically, and worked MALs horizontally.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Jack landed our first triple of the morning about 50 minutes into the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Hanson closed us out with a triple of his own about 10 minutes before we wrapped up.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 25 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We got going right at 6:30 this morning anticipating some early, shallow sight fishing, which has been present the last two mornings. This action did, indeed, materialize, but it did not last long, thanks to very limited cloud cover, permitting the skies to brighten very quickly this morning.

Although the fish did not push bait all the way to the surface very long, gamefish were still very much present and within 100 yards of the shoreline. We ran twin downriggers and kept the boys’ rods bent, and their dads constantly re-rigging to keep the boys in the action.

This chapter lasted a full two hours and allowed us our first 51 fish which included singles, doubles, and one triple for Jack as the boys landed a roughly 70/30 mix of white bass/short hybrid stripers.

Our go-to rig on both downriggers was a weightless, three-armed umbrella rig equipped with a trio of #13 Pet Spoons with color patterns which matched the spawning adult shad.

The last two hours was a good bit slower than the first two, thanks to brightening skies and fairly light winds. I found a small patch of fish on bottom in about 30 feet of water, but they showed little interest in a smoking tactic, so I switched the boys over to the sawtooth method, and had their dads make the long cast, then hand the rods over to the boys to execute the sawtooth retrieve. This put a few more fish in the boat where the smoking tactic had fallen short, as well as the first six fish from the final area we would try this morning.

This final area held fish, but the fish were far from enthusiastic. After the boys thoroughly covered the area with the sawtooth method, I decided to wrap up with a few downrigger runs over this area. During this time, Koa was able to land a triple of his own, and additional singles and doubles helped bring our final count up to 73 fish by the 3.5 hour mark at which I wrap up these child-oriented trips.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 73 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Strong threadfin shad spawning was observed this morning by 6:20A. “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance. The Franklin’s gulls are all but gone now.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.86 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.10′ increase over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~75.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: E5 for the first two hours, then backing off to E2-3 thereafter

Sky Condition: Blue skies with ~30% cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area BG0020CH to 1073 to B0169G – 4 fish on MAL Heavies sight-cast & counted down, 46 fish downrigged

Area vic B0042G – 4 fish sawtoothing MAL Dense Lures

Area 1411 to 1403 – 6 fish sawtoothing MAL Dense Lures, 13 fish on downriggers

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

DADDY-DAUGHTER DATE DAY! — 86 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 24th, 2023May 24th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, May 24, I fished with the daddy-daughter team of Daniel and Brynn Jeanes of Temple, Texas.

Brynn‘s folks originally got a fishing gift certificate for her last Christmas and planned to fish over the holiday, but we encountered bad weather and had to put it off. It all worked out pretty well, as Brynn, now almost 12, recently completed her school year at Providence Preparatory School in Belton so her schedule was free, and, her dad was able to work some “banker’s hours” and join her for the fishing.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 28, & July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Brynn and Daniel Jeanes with a few of the white bass they caught. The two sight-cast early, did some downrigging after that, then worked MAL Heavies vertically mid-morning, and wrapped up with some “sawtoothing” with MAL Dense Lures to put together their 86 fish catch.

PHOTO CAPTION: When you fish with a shad-imitating bait, there is no telling what you’ll catch. This 10.00-pound blue cat hit Daniel’s MAL Heavy on the fly!

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!! Brynn landed three fish at once as we downrigged for aggressive whites and hybrid after they pulled off the bank and slowly headed for deeper water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 24 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We got going around 6:40 AM and headed right to some visible topwater action. Various year classes of white bass and some 13 to 14 inch hybrid striper had shad pinned into the rear of a cove and were working them over aggressively.

Brynn and Daniel sight-cast to these fish as long as they were on the surface, then, when they sounded, they continued casting and catching by using a countdown method, all with MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails.

After the fish moved offshore a bit more with the increasing ambient light level, I could see that they were pretty well scattered and suspended from 14 to 17 feet. We switched over quickly to downrigging and put singles, doubles, and a triple in the boat taking our count from 22 fish taken by sight-casting up to 39 fish.

During the middle two hours from roughly 8 AM to 10 AM I focused on what had produced well for us on Monday and Tuesday around the same point in the morning, and that was finding suspended fish in open water, getting them to congregate under the boat by using the splasher to create commotion, and then fishing them by racing MAL Heavy Lures through them using the smoking tactic.

Although this certainly produced for us again today, we did not see the fish school as densely nor react as aggressively as they had on Monday and Tuesday. When the most productive school we had drawn in with this approach gave up on us, we had a total of 63 fish in the boat.

With about 45 minutes left in the trip, I found an abundantschool of smaller white bass on a sloped bottom in about 23 feet of water. These would be the only fish we found on bottom all day. I have noted in the past that Lake Belton white bass often leave the bottom during periods of rising water, and I suspect we are seeing some of that behavior currently.

As we got Spot-Locked on top of these fish on bottom, they responded aggressively to a smoking tactic but quickly cooled off after we had boated the first three fish. Seeing this, I quickly switched Daniel and Brynn over to MAL Dense Lures and had them work sawtooth-style to put our final 23 fish in the boat by 10:55 AM.

Our final count this morning was 86 fish, including three blue catfish and a 50-50 mix of white bass and short hybrid striper. Eight of the white bass we landed today were undersized.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 86 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Moderate threadfin shad spawning was observed this morning ending around 6:50A, the, in an unusual occurrence, I spotted shad spawning around 11A along a ~200 yard stretch of shoreline. “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance. The Franklin’s gulls are all but gone now.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 10:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.76 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.14′ increase over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~74.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: E6 most of the morning, shifting and increasing to ENE8 around 10A

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% most of the morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 179 to B0019G – 39 fish on MAL Heavies sight-cast & counted down

Area B0224G – 173 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies

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

AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS IT GETS — 212 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 23rd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, May 23, I’ve fished with returning guests, Joe Oliver, Larry Haines, and Larry Latimer, all joined by first-time guest, Brent Burkes from the Admissions Department at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX.

Joe and Brent first got to know one another when Joe coached Brent in high school football up in Hillsborough, Texas. Joe, Larry, and Larry are buds from “way back” — from well before written records were common 😉

A little wrinkle in the weather overnight really gave the fishing a bump today.

Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 28, & July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Larry Lattimer, Joe Oliver, Brent Burkes, and Larry Haines teamed up for a 212-fish morning on Lake Belton

PHOTO CAPTION: The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s own Brent Burkes landed this aggressive blue catfish. We stood side-by-side and watched this fish surge about 3 feet forward and upward toward Brent’s MAL Lure which at that time was rising through about the 20′ level over a 40+ foot bottom. This was one of three bluecats which went for our moving baits this morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 23 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was about as straightforward as it gets this morning. Bottom line: this foursome put 212 fish in the boat in four hours flat and did it while fishing just one lure at each of two locations.

Under low light conditions, I spotted a mix of white bass and short hybrid stripers busting shad on the surface within about 100 yards of the shoreline along a slow, tapering bank. I believe these gamefish picked up on the shad as they left the bank after spawning as the slowly brightening sky brought the spawn to a close this morning.

I put all four men abreast of one another on either the starboard or port side of the boat for safety’s sake, and then had them cast perpendicular to that side of the boat straight out to the fish which were routinely churning the surface, forcing adult shad to skip out of the water regularly.

Although many anglers would have chosen to throw a topwater, I have discovered these fish breaking the surface are but the tip of the iceberg. For every one white bass on the surface, I assume there are 15 to 20 or more beneath the surface. For this reason, I had everyone throw MAL Heavy Lures with chartreuse tails to match the size & appearance of these spawning adult shad. Depending on what I was seeing on the surface and on sonar, I would let the fellows know whether to retrieve the lure immediately after it hit the surface, or to do a four-count or six-count, just letting the lure sink a little bit deeper before beginning the retrieve.

We boated a total of 39 fish before the sun got up high enough to push these fish downward in the water column, and outward from the shoreline, thus killing this bite.

After this nearshore bite wrapped up, I spent about 20 minutes doing some looking on the slightly rippled surface under significant cloud cover for any sort of natural sign giving away fish location. After not seeing much, I went to investigate the general area where I’ve finished up yesterday’s morning trip.

I encountered fairly well congregated fish suspended up off the bottom and to within 20 feet of the surface over about a 40 foot bottom. These fish were within about 200 yards of where I had last contacted the fish yesterday.

From around 7:40 to 10:40, we sat on one spot and landed the balance of our 212 fish using MAL Heavies with the vertical “smoking“ tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. Of the 173 fish we took here, one was a largemouth bass, three were blue catfish, and the remainder were white bass, of which only 11 were short.

As the light ripple on the surface died down and the cloud cover began to clear simultaneously, our bite began to drop off right around 10 AM. We called it a good morning before the action completely died at 10:40, but were still pulling fish now and then even at that time.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 212 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Light threadfin shad spawning was observed this morning, ending about 25 minutes before sunrise. “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance. Here was the water temperature profile taken on 22 May:

0 feet, 76.3F
5 feet, 77.1F
10 feet, 77.4F
15 feet, 77.4F
20 feet, 76.6F
25 feet, 73.8F
30 feet, 71.2F
35 feet, 68.4F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.0F
50 feet, 63.9F
55 feet, 62.4F
60 feet, 61.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 12.90 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.06′ increase over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~76.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW at 5-6 most of the morning, then slacking off as the sky brightened beginning around 10A

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% gradually brightening to 30% white clouds on blue sky by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 14% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 179 to B0019G – 39 fish on MAL Heavies sight-cast & counted down

Area B0224G – 173 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies

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

WE WAITED ON THE WIND — 64 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 22nd, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 22 May, I fished with first-time guests David and Pam Byer from the Little River – Academy community just outside Temple, TX.

David and Pam have run a lawn cutting and landscaping business for over 20 years and raised 5 kids doing it. Those kids, now adults, are spread from Texas to South Carolina to Florida, and have blessed David and Pam with 10 grandchildren.

Here is how the fishing went…
—————————————————————————————————–

Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 28, & July 5, 6, 10 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: David and Pam waited out the wind and, once it started to blow, cashed in on the enhanced fishing it brought with it. They used MAL Heavy lures to take 55 of the 64 fish they boated this morning. That long white bass in Pam’s right hand went over 15″ — a “magnum” white bass!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 22 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We’ve been plagued by more than our fair share of calm days so far this May, and this morning was one of them. A good wind and a good white bass bite often go hand-in-hand.

We caught a few fish under low-light conditions just after we got underway this morning, but then struggled while the surface was slick, catching just a few fish here and there.

During this calm period, we could routinely see nomadic schools of white bass slurping young-of-the-year shad at the surface. A fast, well placed cast MIGHT goad one into striking, but these fish were pretty locked onto that tiny forage size.

Finally, around 9:50A, a decent 6-7 mph ESE wind kicked in and stayed blowing through about 11:30A.

During this time, we took our fish count which was only at 15, up to 57 as we found an active school of fish over a 40′ bottom. These fish were suspended from bottom up to the 20′ mark, with the most active fish being those nearest the surface.

Since David and Pam had plenty of “practice” under their belt from using the smoking tactic all morning up to this point, they were primed and ready to catch these fish with their technique which was spot-on.

We used the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail as a near exact match for the spawning adult threadfin shad these white bass were consuming.

Once the winds began to die back after about 70 minutes of catching, we “mopped up” with a single downrigger running a 3-armed umbrella rig outfitted with #13 Pet Spoons. This produced a triple, a double, and 2 singles, adding a final 7 fish to our tally, and bringing the Byers’ total catch up to 64 fish on the morning.

This catch included 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 62 white bass, of which 6 were short.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: “Offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance. Here was the water temperature profile:

0 feet, 76.3F
5 feet, 77.1F
10 feet, 77.4F
15 feet, 77.4F
20 feet, 76.6F
25 feet, 73.8F
30 feet, 71.2F
35 feet, 68.4F
40 feet, 66.4F
45 feet, 65.0F
50 feet, 63.9F
55 feet, 62.4F
60 feet, 61.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:30A

End Time: 11:350A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 12.94 feet low, 24 CFS flow, a 0.40′ change over the last 72 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~76.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at sunrise thru 10:50, with an ESE wind picking up to 6 for ~70 minutes thereafter

Sky Condition: Bright blue skies with ~20% white cloud cover increasing to ~50% by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 8% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0096C – 7 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0084CG – 8 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0090G/B0088G – 42 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies, then 7 final fish downrigged from the same area

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

I TOOK A PICTURE OF THE PICTURE — 110 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 18th, 2023May 18th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, May 18, I fished with longtime clients Tom and Tracie Byrd of Weir, Texas, and Tom’s sister, Patty Williams, who lives out west of San Antonio.

As they have for many years now, this crew came out in celebration of Traci‘s birthday. This was her 74th!

Before we launched, Tom asked me to join him at the trunk of his car. He opened the trunk and revealed a painting Tracie had made for me. It took her about an hour a day for three weeks to draw the picture in charcoal and then paint it with some input from her painting coach. What a nice thing to do!!

Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are June 21, 22, 27, & 28 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tom and Tracie Byrd and Tom’s sister, Patty Williams, each with one of the solid white bass we got into this morning using MAL Heavy Lures fished vertically.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple! After wearing the fish out fishing MAL Lures vertically, they finally gave up around 10:15. We ran downriggers to “mop up”, and Patty wound up with three at a time.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was the original artwork Tracie presented me with this morning. I’ve got awesome clients!!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 18 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

There were both positive and negative factors at work when one considered today’s weather. On the positive side, this was the first day of a returning south wind, and we were due to have at least a bit of wind, which actually did materialize. On the negative side, there was no cloud cover at sunrise leaving bright skies to contend with.

Thanks to a lack of wind overnight, there was also very little shad spawning activity this morning, hence, there was not a strong draw bringing gamefish shallow after this forage.

As we got going, I, idled along parallel to a productive bank in 18 to 22 feet of water looking on down imaging, colored sonar, and that side of side-imaging aimed towards the bank, looking for signs of shad and/or white bass. The first group we came across was scattered, but fish were definitely present.

I first tried getting everyone going on a horizontal sawtooth tactic. That did not do too well with the fairly short casts the ladies were making, so, we went vertical instead, and wound up putting all our first five fish in the boat and, more importantly, working all of the kinks out of this “smoking“ tactic early on, which would serve us well the remainder of the trip.

Seeing that shallow water was likely not going to produce all that well this morning, I shifted out to deeper water and found a very large, active school of fish in just over 40 feet of water. This school produced 37 fish for us, every one of which was taken using a smoking tactic with an MAL Heavy Lure with chartreuse tail. After this school lost interest, I moved about 100 or so feet away, found another, similarly active and large school of fish. We sat on these fish for a full two hours and took our fish count up to 104, again, using the smoking tactic and the MAL Heavy.

These fish finally gave up around 10:15 AM. Since Patty had expressed an interest in understanding how the downriggers worked, I suggested that we finish out the trip using the downriggers. I explained how they help cover ground and put baits in front of a lot of disinterested fish, helping us to weed out the few still active fish from among them.

We spent our last 30 minutes or so downrigging and picked up a single, a double, and a triple adding a final six fish to our count and finishing up the morning a bit early with 110 fish landed and the birthday girl just about worn smooth out.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 110 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The first “offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 13.33 feet low, 24 CFS flow, no change over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~76.7F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at sunrise, with a SE wind picking up to 6 as the morning went on

Sky Condition: Bright blue skies with ~20% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0182C – 5 fish on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0222G – 36 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies

Area B0223G – 63 fish on on smoked MAL Heavies, then 6 final fish downrigged from the same area

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

TRANSITION UNDERWAY — 100 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

May 17th, 2023May 17th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, May 17, I fished with long-time client, Dwight Stone, a well-traveled sportsman and retired restaurateur from Georgetown, Texas.

There is a subtle transition taking place as the threadfin shad spawn comes within two weeks or so of wrapping up. Those young of the year shad spawned early on, back in April, are now growing out with some reaching about 1/2″ in length now. Additionally, spawned out shad are beginning to use the upper portion of the water column as sun and warmth cause algae to bloom there. More fish are now found suspended than there has been up to this point in the season.

Here is how the fishing went…
—————————————————————————————————–

Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are May 22, June 21, 22, 27, & 28 (all AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Dwight Stone enjoyed a 1-man, 100-fish outing this morning. He worked MAL Heavy lures both vertically and horizontally to put this sizeable catch together.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 17 May 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

After seeing topwater action increasing in frequency and abundance on my trips earlier this week, I had Dwight meet me a tad earlier today as the cloud coverage was to be much reduced versus Monday and Tuesday.

Unfortunately, we had very little cloud cover, and very little wind, so the exciting sight casting we were both hoping for did not materialize to a great extent, however, there was enough action to help us get to where the fish were and work our baits according to the fishes’ position relative to the bottom and in the water column.

Under low light conditions, while the sun was still low in the morning sky, we found fish in shallow water and in the middle third of the water column in under 22 feet of water. These fish lent themselves well to horizontally casting with the MAL Heavy Lure, and counting it down to a two-, four-, or six-count, depending on what we were observing.

We put just over 30 fish in the boat this way before the wind slacked off, the cloud cover was at its low point for the morning, and the sky began to brighten. From this point on, we found fish with sonar, typically in the lower 4 feet of the water column, and typically with side-by-side down-imaging and traditional sonar.

As frequently happens on Lake Belton due to a rise in the lake’s elevation (this time caused by locally heavy rains over the weekend and on Monday), the fish tend not to hold tightly to the bottom in large schools, but rather use the space just up off the bottom as they hunt under bright conditions.

By moving whenever the bite got quiet, by taking full advantage of Garmin LiveScope, and employing the MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail using a smoking tactic, we were able to land exactly 100 fish by 11:20 this morning.

On occasion, when things got slow for Dwight as he worked the MAL, heavy vertically, I would cast an MAL Dense out horizontally and work it back with a sawtooth method. Whenever we were on fish responding to a vertical tactic, the sawtooth method did not fail to produce additional fish.

Our catch included one freshwater drum, and an 80/20 mix of white bass and short hybrid striped bass. Additionally, under the low light conditions early in the morning, I brought and tested a Cork Rig with a streamer selected to match the size of the threadfin shad we watched fish feeding on.

Even though fish were not feeding heavily on the surface, the Cork Rig drew fish upward, and this rig was able to produce, as well.

One important observation I have shared over the past few days is that of the presence of young of the year shad are now found here, there, and everywhere out in open water. Schools of primarily smaller white bass are definitely keying in on these juvenile shad. When we found this to be the case, lures imitating adult shad get largely ignored. For this reason, I went prepared this morning, with some very small baits to fish behind a Cork Rig, as well. Unfortunately, we did not get a real good chance to try this out. More on that end in next week’s reports, I’m sure.

Here is a video I put together on the Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

And, here is a video I put together on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

Find the entire family of MAL Lures & Cork Rigs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: The first “offshore” schools of nomadic white bass feeding on the tiny young-of-the-year shad continues to increase in frequency and abundance.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 13.33 feet low, 24 CFS flow, 0.01′ rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: ~76F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW2-4 until around 8A, then going calm for the remainder of the morning

Sky Condition: Bright blue skies with ~20% white cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 5% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0109G – 7 fish on MAL Heavy w/ countdown

Area B0221G – 25 fish on MAL Heavy w/ countdown

Area 150 – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavy

Area B0081C – 6 fish on smoked MAL Heavy

Area B0042G – 28 fish on smoked MAL Heavy

Area vic B0017G – 28 fish on smoked MAL Heavy

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