Fishing Report | Holding The Line Guide Service

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide #BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing #bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport #fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday #Fitec

NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN — 103 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

December 6th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, December 6th, I fished with first-time guests Rusty Nicholls and his friends Bill and Sandy Sager.

Rusty is a retired nurse, and Bill and Sandy, though retired, are still involved in ministry. Bill was both a military chaplain and then served in a local church, as well.

Although everyone certainly wanted to catch fish, Rusty was keen on learning the approach I am taking to finding and catching winter white bass.

My next weekday opening is on 12 Dec. My next weekend opening is Sat., 31 Dec. (New Year’s Eve)

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Rusty Nicholls and Sandy and Bill Sager with a sampling of the white bass which fell for their Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: If we’d have been in a bass tournament, we’d have fared pretty well today. Our by-catch included 8 “keeper” largemouth like this chunky one. All these gamefish eat shad, and the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab is just a dead-on imitation of a threadfin.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Since Rusty booked the trip and expressed his interest in learning upfront, I tried to give detailed explanations of how and why we were doing what we were doing this morning, especially when it came to the use of sonar and the trolling motor.

Although fairly light and limited in duration today, the birds (both gulls and a few terns) worked in such a manner as to aid me in finding fish for the 15th consecutive trip.

This kind of “ho-hum” bird action is typical when we are in a weather lull between fronts.

We enjoyed bird action right at the start of the trip, around 7:30 to 8:00 and then then popped up again for another 40 minutes or so beginning around 8:40.

As will likely continue to be the case until the water temperature drops below 50F or so (if it even does so), we used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hooks (white, 5/8 oz.) all morning using a “slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

The biggest key to this is to keep right on reeling without breaking cadence when

Since I’ve have a number of folks ask about what gear I use while fishing these lures in this manner, I’ve put together the details here for you:

Reel: Florida Fishing Products Osprey CE 2500 Ultralight Saltwater Spinning Reel with 5.2:1 gear ratio
Link: FFP Osprey Reel

Rod: 8′ Russ Bailey Signature Series Spinning Rod by B ‘n’ M Poles, Model CWRB82 (2-piece)
Link: 8-foot Rod

Braid: 15 pound test Sufix 832 Advanced Superline in Coastal Camo color (alternating blue and white coloration)
Link: 15 Pound Sufix Braid

Swivel: 25 pound test Invisaswivel tied to main line and leader with improved clinch knots
Link: Invisaswivel Fluorocarbon Swivel

Leader: 25 pound test Sufix Invisaline fluorocarbon leader
Link: Sufix Fluorocarbon Leader

Terminal Connection: Tactical Anglers Micro Power Clip in 25 pound test secured with Palomar knot
Link: Micro Power Clip

Lures: Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook in 3/8 oz., 5/8 oz., and 3/4 oz.
Link: Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

When all was said and done, we landed 103 fish including 3 short hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 8 largemouth bass, and 89 white bass, of which 8 were “short” white bass.

TALLY: 103 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) This was the 15th consecutive trip with helpful bird activity.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 12.99 feet low, 0.00 change in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE6 at sunrise, increasing to SSE10 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 60% white cloud cover on blue sky until 9A, then gully greyed sky thereafter.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 97% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 181 – 5 fish

Area B0196C – 16 fish

Area 086 – 14 fish

Area 098 – 14 fish

Area 1152 – 9 fish

Area vic 1483 – 30 fish

Area B0063G – 15 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

LOW AND SLOW — 67 FISH @ BELTON W/ THE MILLERS

December 3rd, 2022December 3rd, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, December 3rd, I fished with father-and-son team Clay & Riley Miller of Morgan’s Point, TX.

Clay is the owner of Miller Custom Leather Tool Co. in Temple (https://www.millercustomleathertoolco.com/). Even if you have no interest in leatherworking, you should look at the beautiful work in his photo gallery!

Riley is 18 and one of a set of triplets, with his siblings both being girls. They are all seniors at Lake Belton High School and will be in the first graduating class which spent all four years at that new school. Riley has his sights set on college.

This trip was rescheduled from an earlier date when thunderstorms forced a postponement.

My next weekday opening is on 12 Dec. My next weekend opening is Sat., 31 Dec. (New Year’s Eve)

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Riley Miller and his dad, Clay Miller, with a few of the 67 fish they landed on Lake Belton after a cold front pushed into Central Texas overnight.

PHOTO CAPTION: As we target white bass, other species often strike our shad-imitating baits, as well. This morning our “bycatch” consisted of 2 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass landed, with another 2 largemouth bass which threw the hook on the jump before making it into the boat. Is it just me, or does Clay look cold?

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday, 03 December 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was a bit tough this morning. We got on the “backside” of the cold front which pushed in overnight, and, as a result, we encountered decreasing wind speeds the entire morning, starting around 17 mph, and dropping down to 12-13 mph by trip’s end.

The best of the best “frontal” fishing, as we encountered on Wednesday this week, takes place when the winds are shifting from west to north and the wind velocity is increasing. When that takes place during daylight hours, excellent fishing will be normally be encountered.

Although we missed out on that window today, we still found fish routinely, but they took a lot of convincing to bite. One of the beauties of Garmin LiveScope is that it shows everything there is to see wherever you point it. So, we saw a lot of follows not resulting in strikes, a lot of refusals, and a lot of fish moving very slowly this morning. Although some would be disappointed at this, it is all still better than not seeing it at all. By seeing this, we were able to adapt the speed of our presentations to what the fish were doing and still enjoy solid results. That speed was “low and slow”.

Although we didn’t knock the ball out of the park today, Clay and Riley landed a full, 2-man limit of white bass (50 fish over the 10″ minimum), as well as a few short whites and a few other species which came along as bycatch.

Of the 67 fish they landed, 63 came on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, and the other 4 came on the MAL Dense worked with a sawtooth method when we saw a large school of bottom-oriented white bass moving into the wind on the starboard side of the boat and cast out to them.

As was the case on Thursday, although gulls were present and helpful, they were focused on what turned out to be very small schools of mobile, feeding fish near the surface. They rarely led us to large collections of fish holding on bottom which we could sit on and catch for long whiles. Eventually, we left the birds to go use sonar to find less mobile fish.

When all was said and done, we landed 67 fish including 2 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 10 short white bass, and 52 keeper white bass.

TALLY: 67 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) This was the 14th consecutive trip with helpful bird activity. Birds were active from 8A-10:30A. Birds have begun to work over loons and cormorants, not just gamefish.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 54F (with temp. falling to ~51F before bouncing back up due to incoming cold front).

Elevation: 12.95 feet low, 0.01 fall in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW16-17 at trip’s start, backing off to NNW 13-14 starting around 9:50A

Sky Condition: Fully greyed sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 79% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0202C – 6 fish

Area B0171G, (3 hops) – 33 fish

Area vic 2038 – 8 fish

Area B0005C – 12 fish

Area B0063G – 8 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

TFF WHITE BASS WORKSHOP — 110 FISH @ BELTON

December 1st, 2022December 1st, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, December 1st, I fished with Dennis Christian and Cliff H. who goes by the “handle” Cliffshot on the Texas Fishing Forum.

If you aren’t familiar with the Texas Fishing Forum (TFF is found at texasfishingforum.com), you’ll find it is a wealth of information, especially if you are a new or less experienced angler, as it is a place where many experienced folks freely share information about catching all manner of fish.

I met Dennis and Cliff through the TFF some time ago, but, today was the first time we had a chance to meet in person.

We had much in common in that each of us are followers of Christ, each of us is retired/semi-retired, and each of us love figuring out the white bass puzzle through the changes in seasons and weather.

Both men are excellent white bass anglers, so, instead of being the guide today, I got to just settle in and be comfortable amongst peers.

My next weekday opening is on 7 Dec. My next weekend opening is Sat., 31 Dec. (New Year’s Eve)

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Cliff H. and Dennis Christian with typical Lake Belton white bass. We took all of our fish in 28-42 feet of water this morning with a majority of our catch coming on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hooks.

PHOTO CAPTION: I got a rare chance to be on the front side of the camera today as Cliff took this snapshot of me with our only keeper hybrid of the morning. It, too, came on a Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 01 December 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Wow! Where to start? I kicked off our trip this morning trying to nail down what would make Dennis and Cliff’s 2+ hour drive from the Malakoff/Athens area worth their while. They expressed an interest in 1) seeing how I was using side-imaging to find white bass in deep water, 2) how I used the i-Pilot Link interface between my Minn Kota trolling motor and my Humminbird Solix to position on fish, 3) how I used spinning gear to fish the Mepps MAL Lure (as both men primarily use casting gear), 4) seeing Garmin LiveScope applied to white bass fishing scenarios, and 5) seeing the bite shut down around the 4-hour mark as it typically does on both Belton and Stillhouse.

The fishing today was pretty average. We endured a short span of classic post-frontal conditions with light wind, clear skies, and cold temperatures, but, the residual north wind from yesterday’s front turned quickly through the east then southeast. Some light grey cloud cover kicked in and the fish got in a biting mood by around 8A, and stayed interested through around 11:30A.

The gulls assisted us in finding fish today for about 2 hours, but, that was a double-edged sword. The fish the birds helped us find were in fairly small groups and those groups were really on the move, so, we caught a few fish under each group of birds we chased, but no more. Finally, I decided to leave the birds alone and to seek out fish in larger schools holding on bottom topography. As it turned out, even though this was not just incredibly productive, we were able to catch more fish and for longer whiles as we did this, thus ignoring the bird action.

The majority of our 110 fish catch consisted of legal-sized white bass (89 in all). Cliff and I worked side-by-side using my go-to bait for this time of year, which is my white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. I guess you could say Cliff and I were the “control” in this experiment. Dennis tried various presentations including multiple Mepps Aglia baits and a Little Cleo-style spoon (different from a slab), so, I guess you could say he was the “variable”.

We fished until just after 12:30. As for the objectives we hoped to accomplish, we thoroughly covered all of the sonar-related topics simply as a by-product of finding and catching fish. Both fellows gave the spinning gear a fair shot and felt there were pros and cons to using it. As for the bite going soft in the fourth hour after sunrise, I felt there was both subtle and some not-so-subtle evidence of that, but left it to Dennis and Cliff to make their own conclusions.

I had two valuable “take-aways” of my own today. The first was a neat tactic Dennis uses once action dries up at a spot he’s been fishing. That tactic was to take the trolling motor off of Spot-Lock, turn the motor ~90 degrees to the keel, and then spin the boat in a 360 using the trolling motor while observing side imaging in order to inspect the surrounding area for additional, nearby fish before taking off to hunt fish elsewhere.

The second take-away for me was finding out what Dennis like to do when he gets a strike which does not result in a hookup while using his version of what I call the sawtooth method. Back when I used to use bladebaits, I would always kill my retrieve after missing a strike, thus allowing the lure to return to bottom. Dennis said he has found that continuing his retrieve will bring about a better result.

What a great day on the water to exchange ideas and opinions and to solicit some advice for all concerned!

When all was said and done, we landed 110 fish including 1 legal hybrid, 5 short hybrid striped bass, 4 freshwater drum, 1 largemouth bass, 10 short white bass, and 89 keeper white bass.

TALLY: 110 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) This was the 13th consecutive trip with helpful bird activity. Birds active from 8A-10:20A. Bird action was less intense, more widely dispersed, and more mobile than over the past few days. Here is the water temperature profile taken this morning:

0 feet 59.2F
5 feet 59.2F
10 feet 59.2F
15 feet 59.4F
20 feet 59.4F
25 feet 59.4F
30 feet 59.4F
35 feet 59.4F
40 feet 59.4F
45 feet59.4F
50 feet 59.2F
55 feet 59.2F
60 feet 59.2F
65 feet 59.2F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 34F

Elevation: 12.91 feet low, 0.03 fall in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW0-4 for ~40 minutes, then swinging thru E to SE at 7-9 for the remainder of the trip

Sky Condition: Clear, cloudless, “bluebird” skies at sunrise, quickly clouding over to fully grey by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 60% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: We had winds from 3 of the 4 compass directions today!

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS: N/A

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

ALL BIRDS, ALL MORNING — 170 FISH ON BLADED HAZY EYE SLABS

November 30th, 2022November 30th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, November 30th, I fished with first-time guests Jason Soliz and his sons, Rowdy and Rawley Soliz, of Belton, TX.

Rowdy and Rawley’s grandmother, Connie Stermer, got them a fishing gift certificate last Christmas and today was the day they decided to redeem it.

Jason has been with the same drywall company based in Round Rock, TX, for many years, Rowdy, age 20, is a student at Blynn College, and Rawley, age 16, is a student at Lake Belton High School.

My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 31 Dec. (New Year’s Eve)

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: Rowdy Soliz with our largest fish of the morning, a 5.75-pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass which fell for a white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked under birds.

PHOTO CAPTION: This was typical of what I found under the birds this morning — a limestone lake bottom just crawling with well-organized, highly mobile groups of gamefish (mainly white bass and hybrid stripers) patrolling hard after threadfin shad. This screenshot came from my Humminbird Solix 15.

PHOTO CAPTION: Rawley Soliz came up with the 5.125-pound hybrid working the same white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab which accounted for all 170 of our fish this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: Not to be outdone by his boys, Jason Soliz anteed up with a 4-pound class hybrid of his own.

PHOTO CAPTION: The most remarkable thing to me about this morning’s catch was the size of the white bass. Of 170 fish caught, 132 were white bass. Of those 132 white bass, only six fish were “short” (under 10″) during a time of year when small fish are often the norm.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 30 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning was a fishing guide’s dream in that 1) the birds worked for a full 4-hours showing me right where to go to find fish without having to slowly search with sonar, and 2) there was not another soul on the water to take advantage of it.

A dry cold front pushed into Central Texas around 1AM with high, gusty winds through around 5AM. Those winds then plateaued around 16 mph (straight line), thus making it safe to venture out in a boat the size of mine.

The fishing on the lead edge of these fronts is usually spectacular up until the wind velocity begins to decrease, and with it the intensity of the bite. The winds did not let up this morning, nor did the fish, nor the birds responding to those fish. Hundreds of gulls were working multiple active schools of fish and bait at any given time.

We kept it simple and effective this morning using white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs to do 100% of our catching. This bait combines the fast sink-rate of a lead slab with the spinning blade (borrowed from MAL Lure technology) to produce a very effective, shad-imitating bait which can be both seen and felt by fish. We worked this bait vertically for fish which were both on bottom and suspended, aided by Garmin LiveScope.

The fish were quite mobile this morning, hence, we moved a lot, albeit only short distances, in order to keep up with the most aggressive activity. We may well have been able to move less and “sit and wait” for fish to pass beneath us, but, when for just a bit more effort we could enjoy a “gimme”, why not do it?

When all was said and done, the Soliz clan landed 170 fish including 9 legal hybrid, 17 short hybrid striped bass, 7 freshwater drum, 5 largemouth bass, and 132 white bass with just 6 short fish in that catch of 132 whites.

TALLY: 170 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 12th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active from 7:30A-11:20A. This was the most intense bird action involving the greatest number of birds I’ve observed so far this fall.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation: 12.88 feet low, 0.03 rise in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 58.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW16 all morning; winds began to lighten right at ~11:25 as fish and birds began to shut down.

Sky Condition: Clear, cloudless, “bluebird” skies

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 49% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: Dry front moved through overnight and left awesome fishing in its wake this morning…

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1177 — 28 fish under birds

Area 1292 — 12 fish under birds

Area 1482 — 15 fish under birds

Area 841 — 7 fish under birds

Area 1750 — 6 fish under birds

Area 1390 — 8 fish under birds

Area B0052G — 19 fish under birds

Area vic 213 — 20 fish under birds

Area 2038 — 20 fish under birds

Area 682 — 35 fish under birds

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

2 1/4 HOURS OF ACTION UNDER BIRDS — 113 FISH

November 29th, 2022November 29th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, November 29th, I fished with first-time guests Ron Moore of Georgetown, TX, and his grandson, Will Hensley, from near Katy, TX.

After graduating from Texas A&M “way back when”, Ron retired from architecture and now brings his expertise to bear with his church’s building committee as a volunteer. Will has talents in welding, ranching, and electrical work and, at age 17, is young enough to pursue any or all of them if he puts his mind to it.

My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 24 Dec. (Christmas Eve)

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: When Humminbird Side-Imaging revealed a large school of fish to our portside, I had Ron Moore and his grandson, Will, quickly stowed their slab rods and begin throwing MAL Dense Lures with a sawtooth method out to them. We caught just five fish before the school wandered away, but this 5.75# hybrid was one of them.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook (5/8 oz. white) accounted for 108 of our 113 fish this morning. Adjusting speed to fish activity level was very important.

PHOTO CAPTION: It is good to see some “keeper” sized hybrid just over the 18″ mark like this one back in the catch this fall on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION: Ron and Will worked through exactly 90 white bass this morning. Incredibly, only 2 of those fish were “short” (under 10″)!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 29 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

We had warm, humid air in place overnight with cloud cover which retained yesterday’s heat, thus, the overnight air temperature only fell to 60F making for a very balmy morning in advance of a strong, dry cold front due in tonight.

We enjoyed the longest run of bird activity I’ve seen since the birds (gulls) first arrived this fall. This morning’s bird activity stretched to 2.25 hours, from 7:35 to ~9:50, with multiple flocks working multiple schools of fish in multiple areas during that span of time.

We had our best success by using the birds as an indicator of where active fish were, then allowed sonar to help us find the “spot-on-the-spot”. Once we Spot-Locked, we dialed in the down-view of Garmin LiveScope to help us keep a visual on our presentations 100% of the time in real-time.

We caught most of our fish on the white 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook, although our largest fish (a 5.75 pound hybrid) and four other fish came on a MAL Dense with chartreuse tail worked with a sawtooth method when I spotted a large, wandering school of fish out to our portside and we worked them over with horizontal casts while they lingered within casting distance.

The vertical work with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs required some experimentation with retrieve speed. The fishes’ preference on speed varied — a faster retrieve was appropriate for the first 2 hours while the fish were most aggressive. Once the bird action died down, and the swimming speed of the fish scaled back (as witnessed on Garmin LiveScope), we scaled our speed down and continued to do very well.

Once the fish under the birds quit, the bite died pretty hard. After a 100 fish run through 10A, we landed only 13 additional fish in the 1.25 hours which followed.

When all was said and done, this grandfather-and-grandson team landed 113 fish including 6 legal hybrid, 15 short hybrid striped bass, 1 blue catfish, 1 largemouth bass, and 90 white bass with only 2 short fish in that take of 90 whites.

TALLY: 113 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 11th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active from 7:35A-9:50A.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F

Elevation: 12.91 feet low, 0.03 rise in last 24 hours, 41 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8 at trip’s start, slowly increasing to SSE12 by 10A, then shifting SSW and ramping up sharply to 15-16 with higher gusts just after 10A.

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 37% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT: Prefrontal warming today; cold front moving in around 1AM Wednesday…

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1293 – 25 fish under birds

Area 1275/151 – 17 fish under birds

Area vic 1144/1142 – 6 fish under birds

Area B0181G – 40 fish under birds

Area B0182G- 12 fish under birds; bird activity ended here

Area vic 472 – 3 fish

Area 0006 – 7 fish

Area vic 151 – 3 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

THE NOVELTY WORE OFF QUICKLY — 100 FISH @ BELTON

November 28th, 2022November 28th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 28th, I fished with returning guest U.S. Army Major General (retired) George Harmeyer and his son, Will Harmeyer, who, along with his wife, was down visiting his dad and mom from Wilmington, North Carolina, where he works in the telecommunications industry.

My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 10 Dec.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: George Harmeyer (left) and his son, Will Harmeyer, spent the morning with me in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton, then the lunch hour in pursuit of some really good BBQ over at Miller’s Smokehouse!

PHOTO CAPTION: Although white bass were our target species, we welcomed all comers! In addition to 80 white bass, the Harmeyers also landed 4 legal hybrid, 10 short hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, & 1 smallmouth bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 28 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With classic post-frontal conditions continuing this morning (cold, calm, & clear), we picked up today where we left off yesterday … we took advantage of whatever bird activity we could, then settled in and went to work thereafter, finding fish solely with sonar and moving frequent once the “novelty” of our presentations wore off. We only got about a hour’s worth of assistance from the birds, from 8A to 9A, then they quit.

As was the case yesterday, when we found fish this morning after the birds settled, the fish would get somewhat interested for a few minutes, then lose their enthusiasm. So, we found, caught, moved, and repeated as many times as we needed to.

We used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, with stinger hooks) to catch 100% of our fish, and we used a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope 100% of the time.

By the four-hour mark, our count stood at 91 fish, so, we pressed on to just one more location in hopes of hitting the century mark. About 25 minutes later we had accomplished that feat and called it a great day, pointing the fellows over to Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton before Will headed back home to the Northeast where the only BBQ ribs the make come off a pig!

When all was said and done, this father-and-son team landed 100 fish including 4 legal hybrid, 10 short hybrid striped bass, 3 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, and 80 white bass.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 10th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active from 8A-9A. Hundreds of migrating Sandhill cranes were seen and heard today. The cold, wet conditions on the Fri. and Sat. following Thanksgiving also brought in great numbers of gulls.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation: 12.94 feet low, 0.04 rise in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 59.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 9:45A, then SE ramping up from nil to 12mph over a 2 hour span.

Sky Condition: Cloudless, “bluebird” skies

Moon Phase: Waxing moon at 27% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1280 – 35 fish

Area 1749/1378 – 7 fish

Area vic 1389 – 16 fish

Area vic B0171G – 3 fish

Area 354 – 6 fish

Area B0173G – 5 fish

Area 1482 – 8 fish

Area B0075C – 9 fish

Area B0081C – 2 fish

Area B0059C – 9 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

FIND, CATCH, MOVE, REPEAT … — 92 FISH @ BELTON

November 27th, 2022November 27th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This afternoon, Sunday, November 27th, I fished with the Breyfogle family from the Georgetown, TX, area.

Aboard were Mrs. Becki Breyfogle and Forrest Breyfogle III, Forrest Breyfogle IV (who goes by Wes), and Forrest Breyfogle V (age 16).

I normally never run trips on Sundays, but, the Breyfogles had been with me before and I found them to be likeable folks, and Becki had shared with me how tough schedules were to coordinate in order to get three generations aboard. Well, it just so happened that my church did a single morning service today anticipating a low turnout on the holiday weekend, so, I was able to worship and serve and still be available to conduct an afternoon trip, so we made it all come together nicely.

My next openings are the mornings of 5, 6, 7, and 8 Dec. Next weekend opening is Sat., 10 Dec.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Forrest Breyfogle III, Forrest Breyfogle V, Becki Breyfogle, and Forrest Breyfogle IV (a.k.a. Wes) with a sampling of our evening catch from Lake Belton as we pursued white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Sunday, 27 November 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The name of the game tonight was “move, catch, move, catch”. We had post-frontal conditions with clear skies, light winds, and high pressure which always work to make the fishing tough. When we found fish, they would get somewhat interested for a few minutes, then lose their enthusiasm. So, we found, caught, moved, and repeated as many times as we needed to.

We averaged just 8.3 fish caught at each of the 11 stops we made tonight.

We used Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white, with stinger hooks) to catch 100% of our fish, and we used a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope 100% of the time.

Some of the most common mistakes folks make with this tactic are failing to maintain a smooth retrieve once they see a fish chasing them via LiveScope, failing to set the hook once a bite happens, and reeling a fish in too far once it is at boatside. The Breyfogles worked through all of these well, and their results showed it. They had a solid catch under tough weather conditions.

Although weather over the Thanksgiving holiday was generally wet and cool, we reversed two trends. The first was concerning air temperature. Today was the first day since Veterans’ Day (11 Nov.) during which the air temperature exceeded the water temperature for some part of the day. This weekend we also reversed the trend of falling water levels. Before the rains fell on Friday night, Nov. 25, Belton stood at ~13.43′ low. Today, the water level was at 12.97′ low, hence, a 0.46′ rise with the water still rising slowly.

When all was said and done, this crew landed 92 fish including 10 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, 3 largemouth bass, and 78 white bass.

TALLY: 92 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 9th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active only from 4:30-4:50P today.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:15P

End Time: 5:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 12.97 feet low, 0.14 rise in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 60.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW1-4

Sky Condition: Cloudless, “bluebird” skies

Moon Phase: Waxing moon at 17% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area B0082C (9 fish)

Second hop (6 fish)

Area vic 346 (15 fish)

Area vic B0158G (9 fish)

Area 1944 (12 fish)

Area vic 1152 (5 fish)

Area vic 1483 (4 fish)

Area vic 301 (26 fish) under birds for ~20 minutes

Area vic 1548, 3 hops, (6 fish)

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

TOP TEN HYBRID IN 17 YEARS — SEE PHOTO!! — 102 FISH

November 25th, 2022November 25th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, 23 November, I fished with returning guests Steve Niemeier, his adult daughter, Emily Haberer, and Emily’s daughter, seven-year-old Zoey Haberer, all from right here in Central Texas.

Steve is a real plan-ahead guy who understands how the fishing ebbs and flows through the seasons. He always books well ahead for the peak fishing from late March to late May, and again for the autumn peak, normally from late October to mid-December.

We had two trips booked for Steve for this past Monday so he could accommodate as many grandkids as possible during their Thanksgiving break, but the weather turned wet and cold, so, we wound up doing just one trip today.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Mrs. Emily Haberer and her daughter, 7-year-old Zoey Haberer, hoist Zoey’s 7.75-pound Lake Belton hybrid striped bass. This fish was taken on a white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook. It is one of the top 10 heaviest hybrid I’ve had clients land in 17 years of guiding.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Emily & Zoey Haberer and Steve “Babu” Niemeier with a few of the solid white bass we caught in our take of 102 fish this afternoon.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 23 November 2022 (PM)

HOW WE FISHED:

As I mentioned in my previous report, our lengthy downward trend on water temperature continued today, making it an unheard of 13 consecutive days over which at no time did the air temperature exceed the water temperature. This has led to one of the fastest lake cooldowns I’ve seen in my 30 years on Central Texas reservoirs.

Although the weather (big picture) is far from stable, this afternoon’s weather (small picture) was not as crazy as this morning’s was, and the fish did feed throughout the afternoon. It was not a very aggressive feed, and we wound up moving pretty frequently as we observed that the fish would not stay “fired up” very long, but were were able to put together a solid catch.

Thanks to the quickly dropping water temperature, I’ve re-rigged my primary rod/reel combos with the Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached. This is a lure of my own making, incorporating the time-tested features of a slab with the fish-attracting flash of a spinning blade which has makes the Mepps MAL Lure so effective.

We used a “slow-smoking” tactic to work this bait up through the fish we saw suspended on sonar, as well as to draw fish up off the bottom. This kind of fishing can be tedious and demanding when done correctly, so I was very impressed at how well Zoey did. She stayed focused, adjusted her technique when need be, and was rewarded routinely for her efforts.

When all was said and done, this crew landed 102 fish including 2 legal hybrid (one @ 7.75 pounds), 8 short hybrid striped bass, 4 freshwater drum, 2 largemouth bass, and 86 white bass.

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 8th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active 3:50-5:00P today. Water temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 61.5F
5 feet 61.2F
10 feet 61.1F
15 feet 60.9F
20 feet 60.9F
25 feet 60.3F
30 feet 59.0F
35 feet 57.5F
40 feet 57.1F
45 feet 56.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 1:15P

End Time: 5:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 60F

Elevation: 13.43 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 61.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE4-6

Sky Condition: Solid grey sky all afternoon.

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1942/B0155G – slabbing for 4 fish

Area B0012C/B0119C – slabbing for 29 fish

Area vic 1141- slabbing for 26 fish

Area 1548 w/ 2 hops – slabbing for 27 fish

Area B0043G – slabbing for 16 fish

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

THEY KEPT THE CADENCE — 51 FISH

November 24th, 2022 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning, 23 November, Mr. John Matthews and his wife, Retta, treated three of their grandkids, all sisters from Humble, TX, to a fishing trip on Lake Belton.

This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip just for kids, hence, it was both a bit shorter and a good bit less expensive than a standard adult trip.

Joining their grandparents were Eva (age 14), and twins Madison and Bradie Smith (age 11). Two of the girls had never fished before.

We faced an uncertain weather forecast and, when all was said and done, experienced just about all manner of weather, short of frozen precipitation and a tornado, but, the girls were troopers and just kept smiling, talking, and catching fish through it all.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Eva, Madison, and Bradie Smith with a few of the white bass they worked Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically to catch.

PHOTO CAPTION: John Matthews gives his grandaughter, Madison Smith, a hand hoisting the 6.50 pound blue catfish she took from out of a school of white bass feeding on bottom in about 31 feet of water.

PHOTO CAPTION: Everyone celebrated Eva’s catch of our largest of three legal (18″ minimum) hybrid striped bass. This one took a downrigged Pet Spoon worked about 3′ off bottom; it weighed 4.25 pounds.

PHOTO CAPTION: Madison also landed both of the morning’s “triples”, catching three fish at the same time on each of the three Pet Spoons used on the 3-armed umbrella rigs were were downrigging with on occasion over well-scattered fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 23 November 2022 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

Our lengthy downward trend on water temperature continued today, making it an unheard of 13 consecutive days over which at no time did the air temperature exceed the water temperature. This has led to one of the fastest lake cooldowns I’ve seen in my 30 years on Central Texas reservoirs.

Cold-blooded creatures just don’t take well to being chilled quickly — it’s like tossing a snake in a refrigerator and leaving him in there for a few days straight — he won’t come out near as lively as he went in!!

As I waited for my crew to arrive, I saw some very light topwater action on the calm, pre-dawn surface and mentally marked the general area where I’d seen that. As we got going, I ran sonar over the area and found roving schools of white and small hybrids cruising around and eating shad. I set us up with twin downriggers, each equipped with a 3-armed umbrella rigged outfitted with #13 Pet Spoons in a mix of white and yellow feathered tails. We got right down to catching, with singles, doubles and one triple taken as the girls went through three rounds of downrigger releases each, accounting for a total of 16 fish in our first 45 minutes.

No sooner did this action die down than some bird activity cropped up about a mile away leading us to our next round of catching. These birds were few in number (perhaps 20 gulls) and they were widely spread. This typically means fish which are also well spread and mobile. Sonar confirmed such was the case, so, after a short, fairly unsuccessful stab at vertical jigging, we went right back to downrigging and took another 9 fish fairly quickly. As we were in the midst of this, a short-lived rain shower moved through and once it cleared, it was as if someone turned off the switch. The birds disappeared, and the fish got harder to find and much harder to catch. Even when we found great concentrations of fish and got on top of them, they were still hard to catch.

My water temperature profiling (see details below) indicated that we’ve finally broken that critical 60F mark at depth, so, for the first time since the early spring, I relied on other than the MAL Lure to do my vertical work, choosing the 21 gram (~5/8 oz.) white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook to catch our fish.

For the remainder of the trip we relied on this bait worked with a “slow smoking” retrieve to tempt the very reluctant fish we found.

Fortunately, all of the girls have a background in dance and so when I used the word “cadence” and demonstrated how to effectively move the bait upward off the bottom smoothly and steadily to a “count” or “beat”, they immediately picked up on what I meant.

This served them well and allowed for a steady catch of fish right up to the 11 o’clock hour when the fish voted that they were done.

When all was said and done, this crew landed 51 fish including 3 legal hybrid, 9 short hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, 1 blue catfish, and 37 white bass.

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released

Find Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with Stinger Hook here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: 1) 7th consecutive trip helpful bird activity. Birds active 8:30 – 9:20A today. Water temperature profile was as follows:

0 feet 61.5F
5 feet 61.2F
10 feet 61.1F
15 feet 60.9F
20 feet 60.9F
25 feet 60.3F
30 feet 59.0F
35 feet 57.5F
40 feet 57.1F
45 feet 56.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:20A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F

Elevation: 13.43 feet low, 0.01′ fall in last 24 hours, 40 CFS flow.

Water Surface Temp: 61.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable, never more than 4mph

Sky Condition: Solid grey sky all morning with light fog and occasional brief rain all morning.

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1404/472 – downrigging

Area 0006/086 – downrigging

Area vic B0166G – downrigging

Area vic 1469 with multiple short hops – slabbing

Area vic 1280 – slabbing

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