Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Saturday, September 25, I fished with returning guests Dr. Josh Good and his 14-year-old son Jacob.  Also joining us were two first-time guests — Josh’s wife, Jamie, and Josh’s father-in-law, Jim, from the Shreveport/Bossier City, LA, area.

The trip was in celebration of Fathers’ Day for Jim, however, Jacob also turns 15 tomorrow, so, we had to treat him well, too!!

Josh is an anesthesiologist with Baylor Scott & White, Jim retired from working at the airport in Shreveport, Jacob is a freshman at Central Texas Christian School in Belton, and Jamie works to make Josh, Jacob, and his 13-year-old sister, Jenna, successful.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Josh, Jamie, Jacob, and Jim.

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Josh and his son, Jacob, in 2018, and today.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 25 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Today was one of those days that make you glad you’re a fishing guide.  The fish were where they ought to be for the conditions we had, and they bit for a full 4 hours.  My clients were willing to be coached, and, as a result, they caught fish from start to finish with a handsome final result.

We began our day up shallow, anticipating a low-light bite with the returning south winds following Tuesday/Wednesday’s first significant cold front of the autumn.  Side-imaging revealed plenty of fish with hardly a boat in sight, which, on a Saturday, is nothing short of miraculout.  We cast MAL Heavy Lures with white blades/chartreuse tails on light braid horizontally and worked them back to the boat with a sawtooth retrieve which I’d coached everyone on before we left the launch site.  We put 17 fish in the boat, including 16 white bass and one hybrid striper before the sun rose, and then followed the fish back offshore as they moved,.

As the fish retreated to deeper water, they scattered, so, we used twin downriggers to present Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs very precisely 2-4 feet above the level at which these fish were holding — out into as much as 40 feet of water.  We took singles and doubles for about an hour’s time before these fish quit.  The downriggers produced 31 additional fish.

What we experienced next is where the “measurable improvement” comes in.  Thanks to the recent cold front, and the several nights with lows in the 50’s which followed, the thermal stratification which has existed all summer has begun to break down (see temperature profile under the Observations segment below).  For the first time since late May/early June, I found congregated fish on bottom in more than 40 feet of water, and these fish were ready to eat.

We spent a full 90 minutes at the first of two such deepwater areas, putting another 54 fish in the boat by working MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and white tails vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.  We milked this area until the fish quit, as I was not sure if this was now going to be the rule, or an early fall exception.  Once the bite here quit, though, it was time to find out.

I went to another ~40-foot deep area, combed it over well with sonar, and, sure enough, more congregated fish on bottom.  We put a final 20 fish in the boat on two “short hops” in this area and, with the family’s previous trip tally of 120 fish now bested by 2 fish, called it a good morning as the bite finally died.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 122 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The temperature profile as detected from the surface to 60 feet this morning using a FishHawk TD device was as follows:

0 feet 81.2F
5 feet 81.5F
10 feet 81.5F
15 feet 81.5F
20 feet 81.5F
25 feet 81.5F
30 feet 81.5F
35 feet 81.5F
40 feet 81.5F
45 feet 81.5F
50 feet 81.3F
55 feet 81.3F
60 feet 81.1F

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  60F

Elevation: 0.97 feet low, .04 foot fall, 71 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW5-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Skies were under 15% white cloud cover on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 81% illumination.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1802 up to 813 – 17 fish on horizontal MAL Heavy Lures

**Area 1933 to 834 to 840 – 31 fish on downrigged 3-armed umb. rigs

**Area 098 –  Vertical MAL Heavy work w/ LiveScope; 54 fish

**Area 214/vic 905 –  Vertical MAL Heavy work w/ LiveScope; final tally 122

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Tuesday morning, September 21st, I fished with brothers-in-law Stacey Meeks and Robert Anderson both from here in Central Texas.

Stacey, who operates his own small business as a welder, coordinated the trip and let me know in advance that he would arrive with a hundred questions as he tries to sharpen his own skills at finding and catching white bass.  Robert is an internal medicine physician at one of our local hospitals.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Robert Anderson and Stacey Meeks with a pair of white bass we took under low-light conditions around sunrise using the MAL Heavy Lure with white blade and chartreuse tail.

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 21 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The big unknown this morning as we started out was whether or not the incoming cold front would cause a wind shift while we were on the water, thus allowing us to take advantage of some pre-frontal activity as this first significant cold front of the season moved in.

As it turned out, the front arrived later than initially forecast, and the only help we got from the atmospheric scenario came as the north wind just began to ripple the water around 11am.

With the southerly winds blowing either side of sunrise, we first looked up shallow for low-light feeders.  I’d fished the previous evening and witnessed no low-light topwater action, which is common a few days either side of the full moon.  There was once again no low-light topwater action this morning, but, fish did come up shallow in under 22 feet of water to feed.

After finding fish on side-imaging, I positioned us cross-wind from them and we cast MAL Heavy Lures with white blades and chartreuse tails using a sawtooth retrieve.  We landed 15 fish in short order before the light level increased and drove the fish deeper.

Because Stacey expressed an interest in downrigging, we next pursued these fish as they moved deeper with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons, landing just two and deciding to move on to greener pastures.

By now, the wind from the SSE had subsided and went light and variable.  After a short spell of calm winds, a ripple developed and as it did so, we noted two schools of whites driving shad to the surface, about a hundred yards apart from one another.  The action didn’t last long, but we were able to both take fish from these schools, and work the area over for a few more fish after they sounded.  The winds went calm again and the action here died.

We checked a slow-tapering area out and sonar lit up with bait and small schools of suspended white bass over a roughly 2-acre area.   I suspected these might be small, and, as we ran the downriggers once again to quickly cover water, these suspicions were confirmed.  We put 6 shorts in the boat very quickly and, with the wind now blowing again, returned to the previous area, this time fishing it vertically and more thoroughly.

There were fish present, but they were definitely not enthusiastic.  We added three fish to our count and had to move on.   Our tally now stood at 31 fish and the time was 10:40.

After making sure the fellows were both okay with extending the trip a bit to allow us time to look over a few more areas, we covered water until two distant, simultaneous bursts of water spray caught my eye.  I took us off plane and just watched and continued to see additional bursts of spray.  I felt this was likely either white bass, largemouth bass, or both, so, we closed in to investigate.

We found yet another roughly 2-acre patch of water with multiple surface-oriented schools of white bass present from bottom in 36 feet of water up to about 28 feet of water, and with the fish spread throughout the water column.  We used MAL Heavy Lures with silver blades and white tails (with the sun now shining) to catch white bass by sight-casting, by working these lures vertically when Garmin LiveScope showed fish beneath us, and by working these lures with a sawtooth method when the fish were not visible on the surface nor on LiveScope.  In the 55 minutes that followed, we more than doubled our catch of 31 to a final tally of 64 fish.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 12 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  78F

Elevation: 0.81 feet low, .05 foot fall, 41 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 81.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE4-5 for the first hour, light and variable for the middle 3 hours, then NNW3-4 from 11A to Noon

Sky Condition: Skies were mostly cloudy and grey at 60-80% with some fine precipitation for just a few minutes falling around 9:30A.  As the wind shifted to the NNW, the skies cleared and the sun shone intensely.

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  813 – low-light action

**Area 817 – moderate action tipped off by 2 short bursts of topwater feeding (2 stops)

**Area  B0128C thru 725 – downrigging for shorts

**Area 215 to 905 to 188 – aggressive action in conjunction with the wind shift

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  Yesterday afternoon, Monday, 20 September 2021, I fished with Jackie Holmes and her son, Pete Isgett.  Jackie was in for a quick visit from the East Coast with her son and daughter-in-law who live in Killeen.  She’d not been on the water in quite some time and, fish or no fish, wanted to leave land behind for a few hours.

My schedule was already full for this week, but, I worked the two in for a shortened 3-hour evening trip so the two could fish together before Jackie’s return flight on Thursday.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Jackie Holmes and her son, Pete Isgett, with 2 of the 39 fish they landed in the 3 hours prior to sunset this past Monday on Lake Belton.  Downrigged Pet Spoons caught our fish early, then MAL Heavy Lures landed the final 24 fish.

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (PM), 20 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

As is my custom on evening trips conducted from June through the summer months, I told Pete and Jackie, “We’ll likely catch as many fish in the last 45 minutes as we do in the two-and-a-quarter hours prior.”

Summertime afternoon fish activity is typically squeezed into a short window just before and after sunset.  This pattern certainly held true today.

We set out around 5pm, looked at 4 areas with sonar, and fished two of them by downrigging after seeing bait and some suspended fish present.  By 6pm, we’d landed 7 fish.  At 6:15pm, while downrigging, we encountered the first organized, bottom-oriented school of white bass we’d seen to that point (all others had been suspended).  We witnessed several fish come up off the bottom and chase after our downrigger weights from out of this school.  As the 3-armed umbrella rigs passed by seconds later, they got hit, producing a double.  At this point I stopped the boat and Pete and I began working MAL Heavy Lures horizontally in the vicinity of the school to see if they were yet excited enough to chase and strike.  They were not.

Back to downrigging.  Two more fish caught out of a similar scenario.  No response as we cast to them.  Back to downrigging.  Two more fish caught out of a similar scenario.  No response as we cast to them. Back to downrigging.  Two more fish caught out of a similar scenario. This time, we hit paydirt as we “probed” with casting.  The sun had dimmed enough to trip some internal trigger in those white basses’ brains that told them to start eating.  It was now 6:55 and we had 15 fish in the boat.

Pete did all the heavy lifting because, true to her word, Jackie pretty much just sat in the front of the boat relaxing after reeling in a handful of the fish we’d tempted with the downriggers early on.

Over the next 55 minutes the action got steadily better and moved shallower until our last strike at 7:50 pm.  In those closing minutes, we landed a final 24 fish, more than doubling the tally from the first 2 hours.  All of our fish taken by casting were taken using the sawtooth method with an MAL Heavy Lure with white blade and chartreuse tail.  I have really come to prefer this white blade in low-light conditions.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 39 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  With two mild cold fronts having already passed this month and another strong front on its way tomorrow afternoon, I’m already starting to see migratory bird species increase in numbers, namely teal and osprey.

Start Time: 5P

End Time: 7:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  99F

Elevation: 0.77 feet low, .03 foot fall, 41 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-13 at trip’s start, tapering off slowly to S6-7

Sky Condition: Bright skies w/ ~10% cloud cover in combination with compressional warming from prefrontal atmospheric conditions

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 812, from the actual waypoint, and toward deeper, 34′ water for downrigging and the first few fish landed via the sawtooth method

**Area 1070 to 1746 via the sawtooth method as the fish moved shallower with the failing light.

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning I fished with a crew of five from the U.S. Air Force’s 3rd Air Support Operations Group (ASOG), headquartered at Fort Hood.

Included in the crew were Mike Stock, who coordinated the trip, D.V. Dvareckas, Chaplain Steve Kim, Matt Getz, and Julian Rey.

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Chaplain Steve Kim, Julian “Doohickey” Rey, Mike Stock, Matt Getz, and D.V. Dvareckas, all of the USAF’s 3rd Air Support Operations Group

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 15 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Due in part to yet another marginal wind forecast (I was concerned about winds too high to be out in open water on either Belton or Stillhouse today with forecasts for 15mph straight-line, gusting 22), and good success on Lake Belton yesterday, I opted to run this morning’s trip on Lake Belton so I’d have some options on protected water.

We got right onto fish this morning, doing the same things in the same places as yesterday morning, thanks to near-identical weather.  These low-light fish were up in about 24 feet of water, grouped tightly, and ready to feed.  Four of my five fellows had prior experience with spinning rods, so the casting accuracy and distance required to reach out horizontally to these fish was not an issue as we employed the “sawtooth method” using MAL Heavy Lures with white blade/chartreuse tail.  The gusts of wind were a bit of a challenge at times as I had all 5 men abreast of one another casting straight out in front of themselves.  In this situation, the wind would blow a belly of slack downwind into the next guy’s “lane”, but, for 4+ hours of casting, we had relatively few tangles.

We landed 18 fish very quickly before that early surge of activity died down.  The cloud cover thickened up at that point, and it actually got darker out.  The fish did not respond well to that, and we went about 35 minutes before contacting fish again.   When we did, they were in ~35 feet, still grouped tightly, albeit a bit less aggressive.  It was at this point that I introduced the vertical tactics we would alternate to over the course of the morning, making use of MAL Heavy Lures (with white tail) seen clearly on Garmin LiveScope used in downward mode to monitor both fish and baits.  We added another 18 fish to our count by working vertically, taking our tally to 36 fish by 9 a.m. as we saw this bite taper off.

Watching 5 active duty airmen acting like kids in a candy store over the Garmin LiveScope was a comical thing to hear to behold.  As Julian reeled his MAL Lure up off the bottom and timed its rise to intersect a school of white bass moving parallel to the bottom and up about 4 feet off of it, he watched the red signature of his lure and the red signature of the fish merge into one as his rod loaded under the weight of the fish he just hooked.  He (literally) yelled (and quite loudly), “YES, I GOT A FISH ON THE DOOHICKEY MACHINE!!  I GOT A FISH ON THE DOOHICKEY MACHINE!!”.

It was around this same time (just after 9 a.m.) yesterday that we made a move which set us up for a very productive final two hours, so, I made that same move today, and once again it paid off.

We found fish using side-imaging, positioned the boat cross-wind from them and within a cast’s distance, then barraged these fish with MAL Heavy Lures cast horizontally and worked back to the boat using a sawtooth tactic.  Since the men already had exposure to, and success with, the Garmin LiveScope, I left the transducers in the water and three units turned on so everyone could monitor the water column beneath them.  Whenever a “pack” of fish moved under the boat, they’d change over to a vertical presentation, then return to a horizontal presentation once these fish directly beneath the boat had moved on.

Over the next 2 hours we worked our tally up to 89 fish by 11 a.m.   Since we’d gotten off to a bit of a later start than I’d hoped for, I told the fellows we’d stay until 11:25 or 100 fish, whichever came first.

By 11:18 we saw the morning’s 100th fish swing over the side, then, just for good measure, we landed 2 more as I was prepping the boat for travel back to the dock.  Our catch consisted of 100% white bass today.

The horizontal fishing was accomplished using the MAL Heavy Lure with a white blade and with a “sawtooth method” which I describe in detail here:

SAWTOOTH METHOD LINK

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 102 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The major weather-maker, Hurricane Nicholas, has moved inland north and east of Louisiana; we saw the last of the outer bands of cloud cover through around 10:45, then rapid clearing and brightening took place.

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:   0.60′ low, .03′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 41cfs

Water Surface Temp: 81.4

Wind Speed & Direction: NE8-12 all morning thanks to counter-clockwise rotation off of Hurricane Nicholas which is NE of Louisiana

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cover at trip’s start, alternating from 60-80% thereafter as bands of clouds off of Hurricane Nicholas passed overhead; the final bands of clouds cleared by 10:45; skies brightened quickly thereafter

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 68% illumination.

GT = 38

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 813

**Area vic 1933/B0132C

**Area 171/788

**Area B0116C

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH:  Due to a marginal wind forecast (I was concerned about winds too high to be out in open water on either Belton or Stillhouse today with forecasts for 15mph straight-line, gusting 22), I opted to run this morning’s trip on Lake Belton so I’d have some options on protected water.

I fished this morning with U.S. Army Major Jon Austin and his wife, Lauren.  As a man directly involved in his unit’s operations, MAJ Austin’s schedule is full all the time.  When he earned some much-needed downtime, he and Lauren dropped their 6-year-old twin boys off at school and came and joined me for a little time spent together and away from life’s pressures for a few hours.

PHOTO CAPTION:   U.S. Army Major Jon Austin and his wife, Lauren, on their first-ever white bass fishing trip.  The couple used vertical and horizontal tactics to catch the lion’s share of their fish, with a bit of exposure to downrigging and topwater sight-casting, as well.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 14 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This trip allowed me to compare and contrast Belton versus Stillhouse under similar weather conditions.  In general, the bite was better in the latter part of the morning on both lakes, but we caught fish steadily in the first two hours on Belton, whereas Stillhouse was shut down tight for the first two hours after sunrise yesterday.  Generally, there were more, but smaller, fish to be had on Belton, with much better quality over on Stillhouse.  Finally, the ratio of fish caught on a vertical presentation versus a horizontal presentation was roughly 1 to 5 in favor of the horizontal (or “sawtooth”) retrieve on both lakes.

We encountered fish in three distinct areas this morning, catching 28 fish in our first two hours of fishing in 30-38 feet of water after spotting loosely assembled white bass on or near bottom, Spot-Locking close to them, fishing very quickly with a vertical presentation (aided by Garmin LiveScope) until the fish turned off to that, then immediately transitioning over to the sawtooth method.

Same went for our second area which we fished in the third and fourth hours of the trip, only our fish count went way up as the fish seemed to get more aggressive as the wind and light level rose (through 100% grey skies).  In the second two hours we landed 78 more fish through 12:05 p.m.

After we had essentially packed it in and were heading back to the boat ramp, I spotted multiple schools of white bass which had forced shad to the surface and were feeding on them there.  Even in the chop created by the 11-12 mph N. wind, the white spray from these primarily 2-year class fish could be see fairly easily.

We eased in with the trolling motor in advance of their direction of travel and caught them as they came to us, as surrounded us, and as they moved beyond us.

We added a final 30 fish to our tally in an unplanned additional 15-20 minutes throwing MAL Heavy Lures in white to these fish.  Most fish regurgitated multiple young of the year shad between 1 1/8 and 1 3/4 inches in length.

The horizontal fishing was accomplished using the MAL Heavy Lure with a white blade and with a “sawtooth method” which I describe in detail here:

SAWTOOTH METHOD LINK

We landed 128 white bass, 7 undersized hybrid stripers, and 1 largemouth bass.  As it turned out, the wind never really would have been an issue, but, better safe than sorry in this business!

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 136 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The major weather-maker right now and for the next 2 days is Hurricane Nicholas, which made landfall early this morning.

Start Time: 8:00A

End Time: 12:45P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:   0.57′ low, .02′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 41cfs

Water Surface Temp: 81.8

Wind Speed & Direction: N8-12 all morning thanks to counter-clockwise rotation off of Hurricane Nicholas which is in the Gulf north of Galveston

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cover at trip’s start, alternating from 20-80% thereafter as bands of clouds off of Hurricane Nicholas passed overhead.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 57% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1933 to 1791 – 28 fish at a slow, but steady pace in our first 2 hours

**Area vic 691 – 78 fish at a strong pace for our final 2 hours

**Area 1562 – strong topwater feed from mouth to mid-point

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: After a lengthy break from fishing our local waters, I returned to Texas Saturday, and guided my party of three this morning on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

I’d spent a week vacationing with my wife in Oregon last week, and, due to bright, calm conditions forecast for the entire week prior to that, I only conducted sonar training at that time, so, I’d not actually wet a line on Stillhouse since Aug. 26th.

This morning, I fished with a trio of returning guests.  Shawn Leverington, a U.S. Army officer working out of North Fort Hood booked the trip while his dad, John Leverington, a soon-to-retire missionary, would be in Texas for a visit.  Shawn also invited his friend, Jerry Saikley, who works with military contractors on West Fort Hood, along for the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left, John and Shawn Leverington, and Jerry Saikley with white bass they took on the MAL Heavy with white blade using a sawtooth tactic.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 13 September 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Generally speaking, the fishing is just so-so right now, and will likely continue to be that way until cooler fall weather arrives and the water temperature begins to trend downward.  The bite today, as it had been for most of the latter half of August, was a late morning bite, with nearly all of our action coming in the last 2+ hours.

Although we found fish in the first two hours, these fish were moving slowly if at all, they were tight to the bottom, and they were very reluctant to chase.  After a 7:15 a.m. start, we’d only landed 2 fish and missed a third by 9:00 a.m.

The window of time from 9:15 a.m. through 10:35 a.m. produced best for us this morning.  During this time the fish became much more active, rising 3-5 feet off bottom to patrol aggressively for shad.  The fish responded to both vertical and horizontal presentations.  The horizontal fishing was accomplished using a “sawtooth method” which I describe in detail here:

SAWTOOTH METHOD LINK

A big key to the sawtooth method is knowing which side of the boat the greatest number of active fish are on, and about how far from the boat they are located.  This is all gauged via very well-tuned side-imaging sonar (I’m using my H’bird Solix 15 for this task).

The go-to bait for the sawtooth fishing this morning was the MAL Heavy with white blade and chartreuse tail.

Between 10:45 and 11:45 we saw a slow taper from post-peak to nil, and wrapped up at 11:45.

After landing his fair share of the fish, and as we fished our last area of the morning, John hooked up with three fish in quick succession.  He “lamented” at that point, “Man, my wrist is really sore,” to which I replied, “Well, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

We landed 66 white bass.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 66 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The major weather-maker right now and for the next 3 days will be Tropical Storm Nicholas which is now in the Gulf between the Tex/Mex border and may strengthen to a Cat. 1 hurricane overnight.

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:   0.18′ low, .03′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 1cfs

Water Surface Temp: 81.7

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE6-11 all morning thanks to counter-clockwise rotation off of Tropical Storm Nicholas which is in the Gulf between the Tex/Mex border.

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cover at trip’s start, alternating from 20-80% thereafter as bands of clouds off of Tropical Storm Nicholas passed overhead.

Moon Phase: First quarter at 46% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 251-SH0066G – 23 of our first 25 fish landed here, starting around 9:15.

**Area 828 – 25 white bass here, mostly via sawtooth method

198/SH0057C – final 16 fish landed here from 10:40 to 11:45 (at a slower catch rate than previous two areas as the bite tapered off).

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, August 28th, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip wherein we focused specifically on the success of my two child anglers, 8-year-old Charlotte Scott, and her brother, 6-year-old Oliver Scott.

The kids’ father, John Scott, and uncle, Matt Laakso, were present to help me help the kids be successful.  Matt has fished with me numerous times before, and came prepared with a license in his possession so he could be very “hand on” in aiding his niece and nephew.

I chose Lake Belton for this morning’s effort for a number of reasons, despite not having fished it much of late.  First, the fishing at Stillhouse for white bass, though consistent, was going to be too technical for young kids.  Second, the unprecedented hydrilla growth at Stillhouse has choked the shallows, thus preventing me from putting the kids on sunfish there as I have in years past.  Since I knew we’d fish for sunfish at some point this morning for variety’s sake, Belton got the nod today.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Charlotte’s sea monster … a 5.25 pound Lake Belton largemouth!

PHOTO CAPTION:   Poor Oliver did his best to open his eyes and smile in that cloudless, bright sun this morning as we tried to capture his white bass on film.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 28 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The NW wind which greeted us pre-sunrise this morning pretty much guaranteed we would not enjoy any extended topwater action this morning, so, I focused on sub-surface fish by using downriggers.

We saw very few well-organized schools of fish during the first 45 minutes of the trip when the downriggers typically shine.  During that time we landed a single white bass and a really nice 5.25 pound largemouth (way to go, Charlotte!).

After looking unsuccessfully in a number of areas, and after observing that any topwater action occurring on the steadily calming surface was very brief in nature, I decided to focus on sunfish early, gauge the kids’ interest in that, and go from there.

As it turns out, the sunfishing was a hit, allowing the kids to fish fairly independently and enjoy continuous success.  We coupled that with moving from place to place as soon as the fishing in an area began to fade, and made a morning of landing bluegill, longear, and green sunfish up in shallow water using poles and floats.

The kids have access to a pond which holds sunfish back where they live near Houston, and those sunfish had largely eluded capture thus far.  Armed with new-found skills from this morning’s trip, John went away well-equipped to help the kids be successful upon their return home.

As with all of my kids’ trips, we wrapped up at the 3.5 hour mark (versus 4+ hours for adult trips).  Given the lack of wind and increasing heat, the kids were ready to head on in as we wrapped up just shy of 10:30.

TALLY: 55 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:   0.06′ low, .01′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 24cfs

Water Surface Temp: 84.3

Wind Speed & Direction: NW5 before sunrise, tapering to near calm by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Zero cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 67% illumination

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas 1583, B0163C, B0035G, and 492 all gave up ample sunfish

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, August 26th, I fished with two first-time guests, James Wilson and Austen Barnes, both of Morgan’s Point, Texas.

I originally had another gentleman booked, but, due to airline flight complications, he was not able to make it, so, I posted a “last minute” opening note on Facebook and James contacted me as a result.

James runs his own HVAC business (https://www.facebook.com/performanceclimate/) and needed a day off.  Austen, who, with his wife, runs a housekeeping service, was invited along by James, his neighbor.

I offered the trip at a discount versus having the date go unclaimed, so, it was a win-win in that I was able to operate today while James and Austen got to catch fish and save a bit of cash doing it.

PHOTO CAPTION:  James Wilson, left, and Austen Barnes with a pair of quality Stillhouse white bass which fell for MAL Heavy Lures in deep water worked both vertically and horizontally.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 26 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

For the second trip in a row, this morning was a pretty typical late summer trip.  We found fish and they were either really “on” or they were really “off”, and there wasn’t much in between.

In our first two hours on the water, we landed 4 fish.  In our final two hours on the water, we landed 73 fish.

During those first two, slow hours, I had no problem finding fish — in fact, I found fish at three distinct locations, but, for every 50 or 60 fish we saw on LiveScope, only a handful would perk up and chase, and even fewer would commit and bite.

That all began to change around 9AM when the very first small ripple began to develop from out of the NE.  Although the breeze never exceeded 5mph, it also never let up until just after 11AM.

During that span of time, we sat on one area and fished both vertically and horizontally using MAL Heavy Lures, catching solid white bass one or two at a time.

We caught our first 60 fish on the MAL Heavy with silver blade and white tail, then, for variety’s sake, we threw the MAL Heavy with white blade and chartreuse tail, landing our last 17 fish on them.

The horizontal fishing was accomplished using a “sawtooth method” which I describe in detail here:

SAWTOOTH METHOD LINK

We landed 77 fish, including 1 largemouth bass, 3 channel catfish, and 73 white bass.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  1) Light topwater activity by largemouth feeding on shad was observed this morning –  when high pressure combines with light (but still present) winds, topwater has been predicatable.  2) Approx. 13 terns were helpfully working some patches of open water.

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:   0.26′ high, .01′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 1cfs

Water Surface Temp: 86.4

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through 9A, then light and variable under 4-5mph for the balance of the trip

Sky Condition: Zero cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 83% illumination

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 070/883  – 73 of 77 fish landed here

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

#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 #mepps

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 23rd, I fished with returning guest John Gossard, this go-round accompanied by his son-in-law, Richard Green, visiting from Harrisburg, PA.

John is retired now and resides in Morgan’s Point. Richard has leadership responsibility for a lawn and garden tool manufacturing company in the Northeast.  Most of Richard’s fishing experience of late has been on the many streams of Pennsylvania stalking trout.

PHOTO CAPTION:   For the sake of ensuring survival of the fish we release, I try not to hold fish in the livewell for photos, so, we take photos quickly whenever everyone aboard catches fish simultaneously.  Here, around 8:10AM, both John and Richard landed fish seconds apart.  Richard’s fish is a yearling, and John’s is a 3-year class fish, however, all of our fish this morning were of legal size, attesting to the outstanding growth rate on Stillhouse fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 23 August 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning was a pretty typical late summer trip.  We found fish and they were either “on” or they were “off”, and there wasn’t much in between.  By “on”, I mean moving and patrolling aggressively and willing to chase and strike.  By “off”, I mean lethargic and unwilling to move any distance for a presentation.

Our middle two hours, from 8 to 10 A were the best, with our first hour being slow (although we found fish, they were tough to elicit a strike from), and our final hour seeing a slow “fade to black”.

We landed only one fish on downriggers during the low light period, so, going forward, I’m going to start my trips a bit later and forego the downrigging, going instead right to the more effective vertical MAL work.

Once the fish perked up a bit, we were able to use both vertical and horizontal (sawtooth) presentations to tempt our fish.  Given the brilliant sun and clear water, we used MAL Heavy Lures with white tails and silver blades.

The Garmin LiveScope certainly enhanced our success, letting us know when fish were present and in a feeding posture (up off bottom and moving parallel to bottom with intentionality).

Likewise, the Humminbird Side Imaging which I had playing simultaneously let us know when pods of fish were found to the port and/or starboard side.  When they showed, we’d fire casts out in their direction, switching back and forth between vertical and horizontal as sonar dictated.

We landed 44 white bass.

MAL Lures are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 44 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  1) Light topwater activity was observed this morning –  when high pressure combines with light (but still present) winds, topwater has been predicatable.  2) the first terns of the season showed up, with a small flock of about 9 birds helpfully working some patches of open water.

Start Time: 6:50A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:   0.32′ high, .02′ 24-hour fall, and a flow of 1cfs

Water Surface Temp: 85.0

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW5-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Zero cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination ( 1 day past full)

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0063G through SH0065G

**Area 193 through 1229

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

#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 #mepps