Fishing Report

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday afternoon, April 7th, I fished with first-time guest Nathan Young and his 6-year-old son, Rob.

Nathan works in real estate appraisal, and Rob does a combination of home-schooling and participation at Providence Preparatory School in Belton.

Although my preference is to fish mornings, as the bite is typically a bit longer and a bit stronger then versus afternoon’s, a combination of Nathan’s schedule and the incoming weather made the afternoon our best option today.

Nathan let me know ahead of time that he actively follows my fishing reports and very much wanted to witness first-hand the use of the various sonar technologies aboard my boat in a real-world find-and-catch scenario.

I was a bit concerned that accomplishing that while at the same time trying to keep a 6-year-old engaged would be a bit tough, but, as it turned out, Rob was quite advanced for his age in his ability to handle a spinning rod.  Further, he was quite articulate, grasped the whole sonar concept (especially Garmin LiveScope) very quickly, and contributed handsomely to our 100+ fish tally.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Nathan Young and his 6-year-old son, Rob, with a few of the early-afternoon deep-water fish we took on Lake Belton.  The father-son team would go on to land 104 fish on the evening.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (PM), 07 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

After another dark, murky morning which got uncomfortably humid and warm in the calm before the dry cold front moved in, we enjoyed favorable windspeed sufficient to move the water and motivate the fish all afternoon.

Due to the lack of cloud cover, we began our afternoon search deep and moved progressively shallower, catching fish well over the entire 4 hour span.

The slowest fishing occurred earliest in the afternoon.  We used 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs in 50+ feet of water to get quickly down to bottom-dwelling fish.  For every 15 or 20 fish we observed on LiveScope, we were able to get one or two to strike.  Once a fish was hooked, many nearby schoolmates would briefly fire up, thus allowing for doubles to be taken routinely.

The lower the sun got, the easier and shallower the fishing became.  We wound up having to fish only 4 distinct areas, making to “short hops” at the first three areas to fish them thoroughly, then “camping out” on top of an abundant school of white bass at our final stop without having to move at all.

By the time we got to our third area and found fish in ~34 feet of water, these fish were fired up enough to chase and overtake the MAL Lure, so, I switched Nathan over to that first and we could see the definite preference the fish had for that active bait versus the more reserved action of the slab Rob was still using.

Before long, we got Rob trained up on the MAL Lure and from that point on that was all we used.

We’d amassed a catch of 62 fish prior to moving to our last area around 6:50.  Over the next 40 minutes Rob and Nathan quickly landed another 40 fish after setting our sights on 100 fish by 7:30, the time by which I felt the fish would slack off significantly due to the setting of the sun.

With 102 fish in the boat right at 7:30, and given that Nathan had expressed interest earlier on my downriggers, I offered that we may be able to “strain out” another fish or two via downriggers, primarily just to show him how they worked.  We set a single 3-armed umbrella rig out behind us, armed with #13 Pet Spoons, and set the ball to run at 20 feet on our first pass and then at 35 feet on our second pass.  Both passes resulted in a hookup on a single white bass — enough for Nathan to connect all the dots and see how this form of controlled-depth trolling was very efficient and effective.

We headed on in with 104 fish landed and released.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: First trip fished in shorts and during which I “wet waded” for boat launching.  Just a handful of laughing gulls observed which offered no assistance in fish-finding. A majority of the deeper fish we took at our first two areas (717 & 150) were obviously spawned-out fish — very gaunt sides.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  3:30P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation:  0.81 feet low, .01 foot 24-hour rise, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.2 F

Wind Speed & Direction: NW13 with higher gusts during the first half of the afternoon, tapering down to NW7-8 by sunset

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 20% illum.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area V717

**Area V150

**Area B0009C thru B0003G

**Area B0080C

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, April 6th, I fished with first time guests Randy and Sherie Garrett of Temple.  This retired couple bought a gift certificate from me for Randy’s birthday last year and finally waited through COVID, etc., to redeem it today.

Randy will turn 70 this year, and the two will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2021, as well.

NOAA called for high winds today, so, we headed to Stillhouse to try to escape the worst of it.

For two lakes so near one another, Stillhouse and Belton certainly fish and produce fish very differently.  I’ve told clients for the last several years (if they have a preference) to choose Stillhouse for quality and Belton for quantity.

Today, despite very dark, murky skies, Stillhouse produced quality white bass for us.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Randy and Sherie Garrett accompanied me on Stillhouse Hollow this morning.  We heeded the NOAA wind forecast and fished Stillhouse instead of risking being denied access to areas I’d have fished if we had headed to Belton.  The quality of the white bass at Stillhouse is hard to beat in this part of the Hill Country.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 06 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

This morning was very “murky” grey.  There is a big difference when it comes to early morning fishing on light levels being reduced by cloud cover.  When I say “murky” I mean sufficiently dark that your eyes need not squint without sunglasses on to filter out light to a comfortable level.  This is usually not a good omen for a great start to a trip.  On the other hand, skies can be fully greyed over, yet with enough light still coming through to make you squint (or want to put on sunglasses) due to cloud cover thickness — such a light level is something to get excited about.

This morning, unfortunately, we endured the former and struggled in the first hour to put more than a handful of fish in the boat at any of the three stops we made.

The later and brighter it got (although still 100% greyed over), the better the bite got.  We found scattered schools of white bass on flats adjacent to the river channel and caught them on bladebaits by casting horizontally; we found tighter, larger groups in a few similar areas and worked MAL Lures through them vertically; and, we found a few small fish driving bait to the surface and visibly/audibly feeding on them there.  We cast Cork Rigs to these fish and did well during the short span during which that took place.

Our best fishing of the morning took place from 10:40A to 11:20A as we enjoyed the first, albeit brief, breaks in the clouds letting direct sun come though, accompanied by a sharp increase in the wind speed from ~12mph up to ~15-16mph.  During this time, fish appeared suspended at mid-depth in 23 feet of water and they were moving horizontally very rapidly.  Fish on bottom rocketed up off bottom to chase our MAL Lures, and we caught nearly as many fish in this window as we had for the entire balance of the morning.  By 11:30A these fish shut back down to the low energy level we’d seen most of the morning, and we called it a good morning right around 11:35 with 54 fish landed, including 52 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum.

The largest of our white bass stretched to 14+ inches and still were plump with spawn.  The Garretts had never fished for white bass before and their catch of 54 fish was the greatest number of fish they’d ever caught in a single trip.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Only 3 gulls spotted anywhere on Stillhouse today, and they were not feeding.  Cormorants, white pelicans, and ospreys were present.  Most of the coots have now moved on and the white herons are beginning to show up. Whippoorwills can be heard in the cedars before sunrise now — the first I heard was on 04 April.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation:  0.08 feet high, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 61.5 F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 through 10:40, then increasing sharply as some sun broke thru the clouds to SSE15-16

Sky Condition: Murky grey cloud cover for first 3 hours, with a few breaks beginning 10:40a

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 28% illum.

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0130C – low light action on fish under birds driving shad to surface and breaking surface routinely

**Area 764 – hesitant fish on blades

**Area 094 – light topwater on cork rigs

**Area SH0043G – best action on MAL Lures (S)

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, April 5th, I fished with returning guests Jered, Don, and Tyler Benedick, this time joined by first-time guest, Sandy Detherage.  Don and Sandy are Tyler’s paternal and maternal grandfathers.

Jered, Don, and Tyler’s last trip out with me was an evening trip back on June 5th of 2020.  We landed 70 fish with four aboard on that effort, so the talk at the dock as we met up was centered around hitting that 70 fish mark.

Jered works as a youth counselor, focused on kids with anxiety and depression, Don once worked for a major insurance company, then went into ministry up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, Sandy is a retired FAA air traffic controller, and Tyler is working his way through middle school where he enjoys playing golf and football.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Sandy Detherage, Jered, Tyler, and Don Benedick.  This crew wound up with 150 fish on their 4-hour morning trip on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 05 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

The morning started a bit darker and more dreary than we’ve encountered lately, and that thick, grey cloud cover hung on for about 3.5 of our 4 hours on the water.

We enjoyed a nice SSE breeze between 10-13 mph.  Thanks to heavy clouds all weekend and overnight air temperatures which were cooler than the water surface temperatures, we saw just a bit of a cooldown on the surface, which registered between 59-60 just about everywhere we fished this morning.

We started with MAL Lures this morning and used them to catch all except our final half-dozen fish.

We hit five areas this morning, with birds assisting us in finding fish at our first two locations, then we were on our own to use sonar to find everything else after ~9AM.

This morning’s feeding was definitely front-loaded.  We took our 100th fish at exactly 9:01AM, and ended the trip at 11:15A with 150 fish, thus, our catch rate decreased by 50% in the last half of the trip.

Fishing through 10:45A was pretty straight-forward:  I found fish with a combination of down-imaging, side-imaging, and colored sonar, then Spot-Locked atop them, tuned in the Garmin LiveScope, and let properly worked MAL Lures take care of the rest.

When I say “properly worked”, there is a lot to that.  I explain all of that here: USE IT RIGHT!

As we entered our fourth and final hour on the water, the fish really started to slow down.  As we screened what would be our final stop of the morning, we had boated 143 fish.

Because the MAL Lures would have to be moved too quickly off bottom to get the blade started for the mood these fish were in, I switch everyone over to 3/4 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks, given the 52′ water we found these fish in.

As Jered landed the 144th fish, it was right at 11A.  I challenged everyone to really work the fundamentals and scrutinize the LiveScope to try to hit that 150 fish mark by 11:15.  With about 90 seconds to spare, Ron came up with our 150th fish of the morning and we called it a solid trip and headed on in.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 150 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Two separate episodes of bird activity (including laughing gulls now in the mix) helped keep us on the fish this morning for our first two of five areas fish.  The fish really downshifted at 9A despite no obvious trigger.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation:  0.80 feet low, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 58.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9-14 all morning

Sky Condition: Thick grey cloud cover all trip with a few breaks beginning 10:30a

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 38% illum.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0130C – low light action on fish under birds driving shad to surface and breaking surface routinely

**Area 748 – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area 960 – aggressive action on MAL Lures at start, but fish really slowed down while we were here ~9A

**Area BG0015CH – moderate action on MAL Lures, and the last mid-depth area we would fish before going deeper to close out the trip

**Area 1403 – a 20-minute long, slow, tough bite on slabs to finish out the trip

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning, April 2nd, I welcomed aboard returning guests — the father-and-son team of Robin and Tyler O’Dell.  Joining them for the first time aboard my boat was Robin’s fiancee, Lori Ostberg, and Lori’s 15-year-old daughter, Leslie Ostberg.

Now, Robin and Tyler know how to fish.  In fact, they were two of a group of six which scored last year’s highest 1/2-day trip tally of 288 fish, back in November of 2020.  They have their own boat and do pretty well.

In addition to that, Lori (a volleyball coach and guidance counselor) and Leslie (a student athlete focused on volleyball) were both very coachable and had some prior fishing experience.  They got the hang of the essentials quickly, and willingly made the little fine-tuning adjustments to their technique necessary to maximize their results whenever I pointed things out to them.

Finally, everyone really stuck with it.  There was no snacking, no lounging, no sightseeing, and no bathroom breaks.  Everyone was focused on catching fish from start to finish.  All of these things, combined with good weather (wind speed, wind direction, and moderate cloud cover) and rising water temperature came together in a perfect storm of good results.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Tyler O’Dell, Lori Ostberg, Robin O’Dell, and Leslie Ostberg.  This crew amassed a catch of 333 fish in just a shade over 4 hours of fishing on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 02 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

With just-right wind and sky conditions, the fish got feeding right at sunrise, and kept feeding strong up until around 11:10 when things began to slow to a stop, which occurred right around 11:30.

In order to get everyone to master the fundamentals of effective lure movement, I started everyone off with my 3/4 oz., white Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook attached.  This helped everyone get the hang of feeling bottom and minimized wait time on the drop.  Everyone caught multiple fish this way right off the bat, thus bolstering their confidence and engaging each person.

Next, I layered in the use of Garmin LiveScope.  Now, everyone was able to more purposefully present their lures to fish seen in the water column, and time their presentation to correspond with the passage of fish in that vertical segment of water each was fishing in.

Finally, I changed each person over, one at a time, to using the MAL Lure which is quickly beginning to outperform slabs now that the water temperature is solidly at or above 58F.

We fished only five distinct areas this morning, with three courtesy of some bird assistance.  At each location, white bass first showed on bottom, but then quickly got aggressive and rose up into the water column up off bottom once we began working our lures, and once hooked fish began to be reeled up through the water column.  The higher in the water column fish appeared, the more likely they were to strike our presentations.

We used slabs only at our first and least productive area, then fished MAL Lures the balance of the trip.  My crew of 4 landed their 100th fish (with a 7:05 boarding time) by 9:07A.  By 10:57A we swung our 300th fish aboard.  We put a final 33 fish in the boat in the ~40 minutes which followed and as the bite was quickly tapering off.

Doing the math, that was 333 fish landed in 270 minutes, or 1.2 fish per minute over a 4.5 hour span.  I attribute this extended, aggressive feed to the slow but steady warmup we are enjoying this spring and to stable water conditions.  The “metabolism trumps all” factor I have mentioned, written about, and posted about is playing out now.  See my recent article on this topic here: Metabolism Trumps All Else

Since some will ask, my single best trip with clients aboard took place in early January many years ago.  Harker Heights resident Jerry Worley, owner of the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency, accompanied by two young men he had mentored in his role as assistant youth pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen, landed 354 fish on a full day trip (sunrise to sunset) just in advance of a major cold front.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 333 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Three separate episodes of bird activity (including laughing gulls now in the mix) helped keep us on the fish this morning.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:05A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.77 feet low, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.7 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light ENE winds around 6-8mph, save for the period from ~5-6P (our toughest window)

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 71% illum.

GT = 95

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1007 – low light action on least active and most bottom-oriented fish; slab bite

**Area 1871 – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0078G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0079G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

**Area B0080G – aggressive action on MAL Lures

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, April 1st, I fished with long-time client George Van Riper of Harker Heights, accompanied by first-time guest Jim Hantke, George’s brother-in-law from near Denver, CO.

George did me the great service of providing a pre-trip “bio” on his brother-in-law, letting me know Jim is 72 years old and a U.S. Air Force veteran.  Jim was a journeyman carpenter in Temple, TX before joining the Air Force.  He served as a Chinese linguist on active duty monitoring Chinese radio traffic from an airborne station flying off the coast of China. He is an Eagle Scout and still serves the Scouts as a mentor and ceremonial leader. He also “rescues” Eagle Scout Badges that he finds for sale and tries to return them to their rightful owners if he can.  If he cannot, he finds a way to get them to deserving current Eagle Scouts.

George is a retired U.S. Army aviator and Vietnam veteran.  He’s active in his church, fishes from his own stick-steer style panfish boat, loves his grandkids, and contributes routinely to the editorial segment of the Killeen Daily Herald.

PHOTO CAPTION: George Van Riper (left) and Jim Hantke caught and released 100 fish during their 4-hour outing, despite post-frontal conditions.  Check the girth of that white bass in George’s right hand!!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 01 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Of all of the weather forecast for this week, this morning’s weather had me the most concerned.  We were due to have light NE winds, zero cloud cover, and a very chilly start to the morning following the passage of yesterday’s blustery cold front.

The fishing was impacted by the post-frontal conditions, but, as I’ve alluded to a number of times recently, the “metabolism trumps all” factor saved our bacon this morning.

Any other time of year the conditions we faced today would have been enough to cause me to reschedule a trip or at least let clients know the fishing would be extremely tough if they chose to press on.

Now, if you actually read my reports in detail, you may note that we caught 100 fish in ~4 hours yesterday, just as we landed 100 fish in ~4 hours this morning, however, yesterday’s catch was taken by 2 anglers, whereas today it took the efforts of 3 anglers to match the prior morning’s results.  Hence, this was a tougher morning, and the post-frontal conditions were the driving force behind that.

We started our morning observing for any helpful bird activity.  At this time of year when most of the birds (gulls and terns) are migrating away from here, even brief activity by just a bird or two can be the only hint nature will offer of fish feeding beneath the surface.

Such was the case this morning when 3 ring-billed gulls just hesitated over a 100 yard patch of water long enough to indicate gamefish-driven bait was immediately below them.  We hopped on this opportunity and boated our first fish of the morning on horizontally worked bladebaits.

As the sun rose higher and the winds remained near calm, the fish moved deeper.  We positioned on two different areas which were similar in construct in that they were flat runs parallel to the Lampasas River channel.  In about 22 feet of water I Spot-Locked up atop a handful of fish seen on down-imaging and colored sonar.  As we began fishing vertically with MAL Lures, the commotion we created by working the baits and catching fish drew more and more fish in.

We three caught fish steadily right up through 11:15.  We called it a great morning as the 100th fish swung over the gunwale, as the sun began to beat down, and as the winds remained light to calm.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  After abundant topwater action in a heavy chop in yesterday’s north winds, there was next to zero topwater action this morning thanks to the clear, bright skies and cold (36F) overnight temps.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 36F

Elevation:  0.20 feet high, .03 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.9 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light NE under 3 to calm the entire morning.

Sky Condition: Cloudless skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 81% illum.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 745-713 – blade baits for scattered but active low-light whites

**Area  SH0075C – channel edge action on MAL Lures

**Area  SH0082C – channel edge action on MAL Lures

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, March 31st, I fished with returning guest Rick Miller of Belton, TX.

I first got to know Rick a few years ago after first meeting and fishing with his brother, Dirk Miller, co-owner of Miller’s Smokehouse  https://millerssmokehouse.com/  .

Rick and his wife, Karen, operate M&B Auto Repair ( http://www.mbautobelton.com/  ) over on Cori Drive in Belton.  Rick runs his own center-console and typically pursues white bass.

Much as I do on my vacations where I go out with other fishing guides not so much to catch fish but to observe and converse and learn, so Rick did on this day off of his.  Our main objective was to introduce Rick to fishing and catching with bladebaits, which we accomplished, thus adding another arrow to his quiver of tactics useful in the pursuit of temperate bass.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Rick Miller, owner of M&B Auto Repair in Belton, and an avid white bass angler, joined me on Stillhouse to ‘add a few arrows to his quiver’ resulting in a 100 fish morning.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 31 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We did not make a final weather call on this morning’s trip until 5:30AM with an intended start time of 7:15AM.  Reason being, we had a cold front moving in and most all forecasts called for winds in excess of 20 mph prior to sunrise, then increasing into mid-afternoon with gusts as high as 34 mph.

I rose at 5:15, checked a few forecasts and then compared that with what was actually happening on my back porch, and decided we could safely conduct this trip, and, that’s exactly what we did.

Rick arrived quite early, so, we had plenty of time to cover the “theory” of bladebaits, as well as to show him the modifications I made to the two versions I purchase to make them more effective.

Once “safe light” rolled around (with sunrise obscured by grey cloud cover which persisted for the duration of the trip), we began hunting for fish.

The action this morning began around 7:50A, slowly built to a peak around 10:20 to11:00A, then fell off sharply thereafter.

We fished only three areas today and never ventured into water more than 22 feet deep, due in part to the need to “hide” from the wind to some extent.

We threw bladebaits, both 1/2 and 3/4 oz. versions, until around 9A, until I noticed fish activity on the lake’s surface in the heavy chop caused by the wind.

White bass were forcing shad to the surface, trapping them there and feeding upon them aggressively.  We began using bladebaits for these fish by just counting them down anywhere from 4 to 7 seconds after they hit the water to target these suspended fish, but I felt we weren’t getting near the results we should for the number of fish I was observing.

This led me to switch over to a boisterous topwater approach using a rig of my own design which I call the “Cork Rig” – similar to a saltwater popping cork setup.  The fish really went for this big time, and Rick and I got to enjoy sight-casting on about every third cast or so, then watching the topwater strikes on each of the fish we caught this way.

We spent a short while using MAL’s in combination with Garmin LiveScope, mainly so Rick could see the LiveScope settings I’m using.  We were actually in a bit too shallow of water at the time to really do well with that tactic, so, we switched back to the Cork Rig and finished out the trip with our 100th fish swung over the gunwale by Rick at 11:18AM.

Our 100 fish take included 3 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 96 white bass, some of which were pre-spawn, and most of which were post-spawn.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released (3 largemouth bass, 1 drum, 96 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the first trip of the 2021 season in which we fished with topwater baits for fish which were feeding near the surface for a sustained period of time.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation:  0.23 feet high, .01 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Building from 17 mph to 20 mph from due N. from sunrise to around 11A, then increasing sharply to 24+ thereafter

Sky Condition: Grey skies the entire trip.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 90% illum. (3 days past full)

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 764

**Area SH0082G to 374

**Area 127 to 123

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, March 29th, I fished with returning guests Steve and Dave Wise.  The brothers fishing with me last in the autumn of 2017 when Dave drove down from Minnesota to visit Steve at his home in Georgetown, TX.

Dave is retired from the business of printer maintenance and repair, and Steve is still working developing software for a Silicon Valley-based company.

I don’t know if Dave will be returning to Minnesota this go-round, mainly because Steve took him to Miller’s Smokehouse after the trip … ’nuff said.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Dave and Steve Wise with a few of the 101 fish we took on this morning’s very “front-loaded” trip on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Steve Wise with our largest fish of the morning — a 3.25 pound largemouth mixed in with a school of white bass.  It struck the chartreuse version of the MAL Lure worked vertically.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 29 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite the overnight ambient air temperature dropping to 46F, the water surface temperature was between 60-61 this morning.

I expressed concern to Steve (who coordinated the trip) over the weekend about the lack of wind and cloud cover forecast for today.  As it turned out, that certainly did impact us negatively.

As we began the trip, the winds were light and variable from SE to S to SW basically just puffing.

Under the early morning, low-light conditions, the white bass fed well.  Thanks to the nearly-calm surface, we could see individual fish and small packs of fish push schools of shad to the surface routinely.

We worked MAL Lures exclusively this morning to catch 100% of our fish in about 26 feet of water.  We used the chartreuse version of the MAL lure in this instance, and worked them as I describe in my tutorial video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Thanks to the lack of wind and clouds, our results were heavily front-loaded.  We landed 93 fish in our first two hours on the water.  In our third hour, we landed only 4 more fish, then, in our final 75 minutes, we landed only 4 more fish.

Once that sun got to a certain point in the sky, and without cloud cover to diffuse it, the fish just quit.

The water’s surface was glassy, no birds were working, no bait was dimpling the surface, etc.  Although the wind did eventually begin to blow, it was a case of too little, too late.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released (2 largemouth bass, 99 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  In the near-calm conditions from sunrise and for about 90 minutes thereafter, we could see white bass pushing schools of shad to the surface and feed upon them aggressively (not quite ON the surface but NEAR the surface).

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:15A

End Time: 11:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Elevation:  0.26feet high, .02 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.7 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light & variable through 9:15A, then calm through 10:30, then quickly picking up through S9 thereafter

Sky Condition: Clear, bright skies.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous at 99% illum. (1 day past full)

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 554 – 93 fish in 2 hours without ever moving the boat

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, March 27th, I ran a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip focused specifically on making my three “junior anglers” successful.  Helping me accomplish that was Dr. David Clark of Belton.  We worked with his two kids, Jacob (8), and Bella (11), and his niece, McKenzie Killion (12) to use multiple tactics aimed at catching white bass.

In an effort to avoid the pressure and crowding of weekend fishing, I chose to no longer conduct adult trips on weekends during the peak fishing season from mid-March through the Labor Day weekend in September.  We managed to tuck away and find a nice bunch of fish to keep the kids engaged for the 3.5 hour duration my kid-specific trips last for.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Jacob Clark, McKenzie Killion, and Bella Clark, each with a mature white bass taken on bladebaits under low-light conditions early in our 3.5 hour trip. The kids went on to land 160 fish using MAL Lures and by flatline trolling crankbaits, as well.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  McKenzie Killion landed our single largest fish of the trip — a 3.50 pound largemouth taken from just over 30 feet of water on a chartreuse MAL Lure worked vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 27 March 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

After my usual safety talk, gear adjustment and prayer, I brushed the kids up on how to cast with spinning gear, as I suspected the warming water, grey skies, and light winds would allow for us to work bladebaits extensively for aggressive fish in water under 20 feet today.

This suspicion was very quickly confirmed when, on the very first “demo” cast I made at the first area we stopped to check out produced a white bass which I handed off to Jacob to reel in.  That definitely got the kids’ attention and they were chomping at the bit to cast and catch their own fish after that.

We worked bladebaits for a full two hours all the while seeing white bass occasionally pop shad on the surface around the boat, thus letting me know the fish were 1) present, 2) feeding, and 3) mobile — perfect conditions for using the blades.  We left that area around 9:30A as the skies brightened through the cloud cover and the fish moved downward in the water column and outward away from the bank.

The next area we fished was a bit deeper.  We saw only occasional evidence of the presence of fish on the surface, but sonar told a whole different story.  The fish were absolutely racing around in the lower third of the water column as clearly seen on Garmin LiveScope.  With the water at 60F, I brought out the MAL Lures once again (as I did for a short spell on Thursday’s trip on Lake Belton when we fished a “pocket” of warmer water).

The results were nothing short of phenomenal — the kids landed another 101 fish in the time span from 9:30 to 10:25!!   The fish were LITERALLY racing one another to get to the kids’ lures.  We used the chartreuse version of the MAL lure in this instance, and worked them as I describe in my tutorial video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

By 10:25 the kids were starting to flag on David and I — more snacking than fishing was going on, and there was talk of lunch and hurting wrists.  I suggest we close out the trip by doing a bit of flatline trolling with crankbaits.  This would allow us to continue to pluck the occasional fish while the kids would not have to be as attentive and could talk and snack and enjoy the boat ride and surroundings.

We trolled for another 25 minutes or so, picking up exactly 10 more white bass before calling it a great morning with 160 fish caught and released.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released (1 largemouth bass, 2 freshwater drum, 157 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse is about 2 degrees warmer than Lake Belton and the “metabolism trumps all else” factor has definitely kick in on Stillhouse in a big way.  Despite consistent topwater action, there was not much bird activity to match, as many of the gulls and terns have migrated away now.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:20A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.34 feet high, .04 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.8 F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were SE under 5 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey skies (with “squinting brightness” by 8:45A)

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 98% illum.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  SH0020G – bladebaits for 49 fish

**Area  684 – MAL Lures for 101 fish

**Area SH0067C to 684 – flatlining for 10 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) 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