FISH SATURDAY … GET MARRIED MONDAY — 40 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Saturday, July 11th, I fished with returning guest Shawn Leverington who has been out with me twice before.  Accompanying Shawn this go-round were his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Matt Todd, as well as his soon-to-be father-in-law, Mike Carroll.

Shawn is to be wed this coming Monday to his fiancee, Kelly, in an evening ceremony at the Dead Fish Grill on Lake Belton, so family from both sides have come to town for the event.  Sarah, a teacher, and Matt, a federal fire fighter, drove down from Wisconsin, and Mike, a estate planning attorney, came in from Austin.

Shawn is a U.S. Army Reservist working full-time at Fort Hood as commander of the Warrior Transition Unit there.  The WTU’s stated mission is to provide command and control, primary care, and case management for soldiers in transition to establish conditions for healing and to promote the timely return to the force or transition to continue serving the nation as a veteran in their community.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Sarah and Matt Todd, Mike Carroll, and Shawn Leverington

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!!  3 fish on the 3-armed umbrella rig simultaneously.

WHEN WE FISHED: 11 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: After experiencing just so-so fishing on Belton yesterday morning, and given that I expected a heavy weekend crowd there, I fished with Shawn and crew on Stillhouse today and was glad we made that call.

Summer fishing is always a challenge, but, thanks to some wind from the SSW, we did alright today.  The bite started just as the sun cleared the eastern horizon and went strong until around 8:15, after which fishing slowed dramatically.

As has been the case for the last few weeks, and will be the case for weeks to come, we found and caught fish on the downriggers, which allowed us to cover ground with sonar and to cash in on the occasional “patch” of bottom-hugging fish via vertical jigging with MAL lures.  The ‘riggers were equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs rigged with Pet Spoons.

We actually gave vertical work a try before our first downrigger run this morning, as I saw a nice 50-60 fish school right on bottom in water just over 45 feet, but, it was still pretty dark down there and we just couldn’t get them excited.  We stopped to work vertically about 5 times this morning, catching fish on two of those pauses.

We witnessed no topwater action today, which was not surprising, as there was next to zero cloud cover.

We finished our morning right around 10:30 with 39 white bass and 1 largemouth landed.

TALLY: 40 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  No clouds, no topwater action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:15A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.57′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  83F

Wind Speed & Direction: S7 +/- 1 mph all morning

Moon Phase: Last day of the waning gibbous, moving into the last quarter moon tomorrow.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0030G to SH0031G to SH0032G  – downrigging and vertical work

**Area vic 878 –  downrigging

 

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WE WORKED FOR ‘EM TODAY — 27 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Friday, July 10th, I fished Billy Champlin of Killeen, TX, and his father-in-law, Tom Estes, of Florence, TX.  Billy’s wife, Teri, put the trip together as a Fathers’ Day gift to the both of them.

Billy serves as a TPWD Lieutenant Game Warden here in Central Texas and has been in law enforcement off the pavement for over 20 years now.

Tom retired from the quarry/stone business and just this year began a post-retirement job of substitute teaching in Florence’s public schools.

Both fellows had fished a good bit previously.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Tom Estes and his son-in-law, Billy Champlin, with a few of the white bass we worked to catch from Lake Belton this morning.

WHEN WE FISHED: 10 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was tough today.  We had lightly whitecapping waves (w/ a ~13 mph wind) prior to sunrise and no cloud cover for about 90 minutes.  The wind relented a bit and broken white cloud cover built in as the morning progressed.  There was no topwater action in the areas I searched during the key topwater time right before, during, and just after sunrise.

We wound up covering a lot of water today with downriggers, encountering small schools of white bass with roughly 20-30 fish in each school.  These schools were typically 2-6 feet off bottom but were not carpeting the bottom, rather, they were “balled up” and appeared similar to shad when they form into bait balls, except the individual fish in the school were clearly visible, especially on Garmin DownVu.

On a number of occasions (probably 9 or 10) we saw excellent sonar returns, pulled the downrigging gear in quickly and circled back to Spot-Lock on top of the fish we’d seen, only to find them a) gone, b) present but in lower numbers than we first encountered, or c) unenthusiastic.  Over the course of our trip, we only landed 3 or 4 by fishing vertically.

Around 8:30 I noticed some light topwater action fueled by white bass chasing very large shad (4+ inches) over about a three-quarter acre area.  We tried pinning these fish down to fish for them, but they were in very small, splintered groups and moving quickly.  After failing to catch any by patiently waiting for a boil and sight-casting, we again tried a vertical approach resulting in 1 fish, and then went back to downrigging to cover water, and picked up another 4 fish this way.  Covering water was the key for these moving fish.

 

TALLY: 27 fish caught and released, including 26 white bass & 1 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS:  Only sporadic topwater action under a waning gibbous moon as we just passed full and are heading into the new moon which will occur on 20 July.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:15A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.05′ low, 0.02′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  82F

Wind Speed & Direction: S13 +/- 1 mph all morning

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0025G to B0026G – downrigged with some success after keying on sporadic, light topwater

**Area 1975 to 687 – downrigging

**Area vic  -1604 downrigging

 

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

HE’S A TEN — 54 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, July 7th, I fished yet again with Mr. Larry Brewer of Georgetown, accompanied by his life-long friend, Blake Hoekstra, and Larry’s 15-year-old grandson, Eymon McCormick.

Eymon heads into his sophomore year in high school at the end of the summer.  His visit with Larry and Mrs. Brewer has included varied activities, including driver’s education provided by Grandpa Larry.

When I asked Eymon where, on a scale of 1 to 10, he felt he currently fell in terms of his preparedness to drive, he promptly relied, “I’m a 10.”   Larry reminded him that Grandma Brewer still rated him at a minus 10, thus the average is zero.   Driver’s ed. continues …

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Larry Brewer, Larry’s grandson, 15-year-old Eymon McCormick, and Blake Hoekstra with a half-dozen of the 54 fish we managed on a morning made tough by turbulent weather.

WHEN WE FISHED:  07 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Bottom line this morning:  we had to work for ’em.  Thanks to very turbulent weather, we had all manner of sky conditions and light levels this morning see-sawing back and forth and never consistent for more than 20 minutes or so.

Our best run of fish came from 7:00 to 8:00 when, under completely grey skies, we downrigged and consistently pulled fish and, while doing so, noted three sizeable schools of white bass which came up on top and stayed put for perhaps 12 minutes, allowing us a quick 16 white bass, all eager to take a Hot Bite Gang Banger G2.

Around 8:15, a storm cell moved in from the west and dumped rain on the Ft. Hood training area to the west of Lake Belton, but only brought sprinkles our way.  During the entire, roughly 50-minute event with gloomy, dark skies and light drizzle, we managed only 2 fish.

Once the storm cell moved east, the skies got bright quickly, the atmosphere warmed, and we began to see signs of life again, included approximately 7 schools of white bass which fed at the surface just briefly within 100 yards of the area we’d chosen to downrig in.  We managed consistent downrigging action here, taking a number of singles and one double, before the wind picked up, the skies greyed again, and the fishing slumped once more.

From 10:20 to 11:15, yet another clearing, warming window occurred in advance of a significant line of storms which moved in from the north and dropped rain from 1 to 4 pm.  During this “window” of clearing, warming weather, we encountered another good feed, this time after most of the boats which showed this morning had already packed it up.

As we fished in ~26 feet of water after stopping in the area when Garmin down-imaging revealed a nice, bottom-oriented school of fish spread over a ~20 yard area, we took our fish count from 38 fish up to 54.  These fish were all 1- and 2-year fish and were all taken on MAL lures used with a smoking tactic.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released, including 52 white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 crappie

OBSERVATIONS:  As is typical for summertime fishing, we really had to hustle to get the boat positioned and lures down to the fish once we found some bottom-hugging whites, as these fish would not stay put very long.  Beating the water definitely aided in reigniting fish interest and in drawing and keeping them under the boat.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F and quite humid

Elevation:  0.42′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  82F

Wind Speed & Direction: S10 +/- 2 mph all morning

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1606 to 181 – early downrigging

**Area 1799 to 1702 to 1791 – downrigging leading to topwater action

**Area B0024G to 099 – downrigging with moderate success

**Area B0023G – MAL’s produced a final 15 fish from a bottom-hugging school in ~26-28′

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

ON THE EDGE OF TOPWATER TIME — 60 FISH

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Friday morning, July 3rd, I fished with first-time guests Todd Roach and Jason Walrath, both of Salado.  Todd works as a chiropractor in Killeen, and Jason, after recently retiring from the U.S. Army as an aviation officer, is now a pilot for United Airlines.

We pursued white bass on Stillhouse Hollow both because the fishing has been solid, and so as to avoid the holiday crowd on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Todd Roach (left) and Jason Walrath put 60 fish over the gunwales this past July 3rd via a combination of downrigging and vertical work.

WHEN WE FISHED:  03 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  With fairly stable wind, weather, and water conditions each day now for well over 2 weeks, the fishing has settled into a predictable summer pattern.  All the action is above the thermocline which is set up around 35 feet in the upper 2/3rds of the lake, and deeper in the main basin.

The tactic which put fish in the boat for us this morning was to find (and catch) fish with the downriggers and then stop atop strong groups of bottom-oriented fish to work vertically for them.

The action started early today, with the strongest bite and most active fish up off bottom and up ~4-5 feet in the water column between 6:40AM and 7:50AM.

We found that the cooperative schools of fish hugging bottom which responded to our vertical tactics did not stay put long.  Once the fish cleared sonar, we moved, as these fish did not hold in the area, nor did they circulate back underneath the boat, despite efforts at thumping and beating on the water to draw them in and keep them there.

I noted today that the fish we encountered also seemed to be in smaller, more splintered groups.  By 9:15, the fish were clearly already on their way to shutting down.  For every 4 or 5 schools of fish we encountered, each with 20-40 fish per school, we’d only get one school jazzed enough to pursue baits, and even then would only get 1-3 fish out of that school.

I used a combination of #12 and #13 Pet Spoons on my 3-armed umbrella rigs today, and the fish definitely showed a preference for the slightly larger #13s.  For the vertical work, we used MAL lures.

TALLY: 60 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Although not to the extent encountered on Wednesday under a better wind and cloud cover scenario, each location giving up white bass this morning also had, “schoolie” largemouth bass popping shad on the surface, as well.  I’m anticipating the topwater action to really come on strong over the next few weeks — very exciting!

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:20A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.22′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  82F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW5 increasing to SSW11 by trip’s end with occasional gusts to 13

GT = 22

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas v1423, v062, v1708, and v1146

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

FIRST, LARGEST, AND MOST — 54 FISH FOR ADI

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, July 1st, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip for Adi Zwern, the youngest granddaughter of Mr. & Mrs. Larry Brewer of Georgetown, TX.   Adi just got into town last night from Houston for about a week’s stay with her grandparents.  Adi’s sister, Finley, was treated to a similar trip last week, and the girls’ brother, Eymon, will get to go fishing next week, weather permitting.

Adi had never landed a fish before.  By the time 3 1/2 hours had passed, she’d not only landed her first fish, but (it goes without saying), the largest fish, and the most fish, as Pop Pop Larry and his buddy, Blake Hoekstra, both came along as able assistants helping me help Adi be successful.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  This is the first fish of Adi’s life!!!

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:   This is Adi’s current PB (personal best) — a 3 1/8 pound largemouth bass!!

 

WHEN WE FISHED:  01 July, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  Fishing was just right for having a youngster aboard today.  The fish cooperated for the entire time, thanks to a southerly wind and grey cloud cover, thus keeping fish coming over the side from start to finish, and helping Adi stay engaged.

We began our trip by probing with downriggers to which we’d attached 3-armed umbrella rigs rigged with Pet Spoons.  We caught singles and doubles steadily, most of which were suspended 3-5 feet up off bottom.  I believe these fish were up off bottom making use of the light there.  As the sun continued to climb and brightened the sky thru the thick, grey cloud cover, more and more bottom-hugging fish showed on sonar.  I believe the light was sufficient at that point to allow them to feed well at that greater depth.  Once I saw fish on sonar holding on bottom, we used a vertical tactic with MAL lures to the greatest extent possible.  The fish were mainly 2-year class fish with 1-year and 3-year fish sprinkled in.  These 2-year fish put up a good fight, especially when you’re 7 and weigh about 45 pounds!!  From time to time Adi’s arms got tired and we switched back over to downrigging until she gave us the thumbs-up that she’d recovered sufficiently to “go vertical” again.

We wound up with 37 white bass and 2 largemouth, including a nice 3 1/8-pounder before the fish started to slow down around 9:15.

At this point, we invested the rest of the trip into the pursuit of sunfish up shallow.  Adi landed 15 sunfish, including longears, redears, and bluegill.  We caught these on bait under slipfloats.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Due to clouds/Saharan dust since Sunday, water surface temperature has dropped to 80 F.  Noted topwater largemouth feeding on 1.25″ shad from 1960 to SH0033C in open water.  Temperature profile was taken on Fish Hawk TD.  Note the 8 degree change in a matter of 5 vertical feet from 35 to 40 feet:

0 feet 82.1
5 feet 82.1
10 feet 82.1
15 feet 82.1
20 feet 82.1
25 feet 82.1
30 feet 81.9
35 feet 81.1
40 feet 73.0
45 feet 68.1
50 feet 63.9
55 feet 62.3
60 feet 60.9
65 feet 60.1

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.16′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  80F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 at sunrise, tapering steadily up to S13-14.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  vic 517 thru 853 to 1395 – white bass on MAL’s fished vertically after finding fish with downriggers; 39 fish

**Area 1948 – 15 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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

3 FIRST FISH AWARDS — 78 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Saturday, June 27th, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip for sisters Sophia (age 9), Hannah (age 8), and Emmelia (age 6), accompanied by their father, Ken Staples, of Belton, TX.

Back on May 23rd, I conducted a similar trip for James and Andrea Beaver and their four kids.  The Staples saw the summary of the trip on Facebook and contacted me about doing something similar for their girls.  Today was the day we made that happen.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  That’s Ken in the background, and, from left, Emmelia, Sophia, and Hannah, each with the first fish of their lives!!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:  Sophia landed our first largemouth bass of the morning.  It went 3.75 pounds. This was a beautifully marked fish showing strong Florida-strain coloration in the black blotches down its sides.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3:  Not to be outdone by her older sister, Hannah hauled in this 5.50 pound largemouth about 30 minutes later.

 

WHEN WE FISHED:  27 June, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  As I welcomed everyone aboard this morning, I quickly learned that the girls had never caught fish before, so, we were literally starting from “Square 1” with the fundamentals of how to hold the gear, how to use the gear, etc.   The girls father, Ken, was a great help, but also had limited prior experience, and so was limited as to the extent of aid he could lend.  In the end, all turned out well.

Ken understood my rationale in pursuing the toughest fish requiring the most patience and attention (white bass) first, while the girls were all keen to fish, and then taking on easier, more abundant, but smaller, fish (sunfish) toward the end when their enthusiasm had waned a bit.

We put about 2.5 hours of effort into white bass fishing.  We were fortunate to find active, bottom-oriented fish right off the bat this morning before putting downriggers in, so, we set up over top of these fish and worked MAL lures vertically for them, putting 17 fish in the boat before they moved on.

We then turned to downrigging.  This transition came at a good time, as the girls were starting to lose focus on the pretty exacting technique the vertical work required.  We landed singles, two doubles, and a triple on the downriggers and found two more schools of white bass hunkered down on bottom which allowed us to work vertically for them. We used one 3-armed rig and one 3-armed rig with a “tailgunner” — 7 baits in all.

By 9AM, we’d amassed a catch of 51 white bass and 3 legal (14″+) largemouth bass.  The bite was starting to fade, so, we moved on to our final adventure — sunfishing.

We made two stops in the shallows fishing bait beneath small, sensitive floats, landing bluegill, longear, and green sunfish — 2 dozen of them, to be exact.

By 10:15, our second area was petering out and the time had come to wrap up.  All of the girls thanked me (without prompting by their dad), expressed that they had fun, and asked dad when they could go again.

Each of the girls earned her TPWD “First Fish Award” with the first three white bass we landed this morning.

TALLY: 78 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Saharan dust once again obscured the sun today and is forecast to linger for some weeks to come.  Despite the cloud cover and wind, some minor, open water surface feeding by largemouth blitzing shad was visible in the chop.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:30A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.01′ low, 0.04′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  82F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 at sunrise, tapering steadily up to S13-14.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1395 – white bass on MAL’s fished vertically and via downrigging from 6:45 to 7:45

**Area vic SH0058C – white bass on downriggers leading to vertical work through 9A

**Areas 238 and 1572 – 24 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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

ONE GRANDKID AT A TIME – 50 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Friday, June 26th, I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip for almost-9-year-old Finley Zwern of Houston, the granddaughter of Mr. Larry Brewer of Georgetown, TX.

Larry first got the idea of taking his grandkids out fishing as they visit with he and his wife one at a time this summer as he himself fished with me back in May when he was invited along by Mr. Dwight Stone, a long-time friend of his.

Finley was the first grandchild to visit for the week this week.  She excitedly told me all about making a cake, snickerdoodle cookies, and DIY Play-Doh.   I suspect these three activities were not organized by Grandpa Larry.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Larry Brewer and his granddaughter, Finley Zwern, with a pair of white bass taken on Stillhouse Lake.  Finley landed 50 fish this morning.

 

WHEN WE FISHED:  26 June, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: We devoted about the first 2/3rds of the trip to the pursuit of white bass, then left time at the end for fishing for sunfish up shallow.

We struck out at the first location we searched out for white bass, although it was grey and murky with the newly risen sun obscured by cloud cover at this time.  We then found fish in deeper, clearer water spread over a wide area with small packs of 10-15 fish each glued to the bottom as the sun cleared the clouds in the eastern sky and it began to brighten up.  By running the downrigger within 5-8 feet of the bottom we got these fish to peel away from bottom and expose themselves to sonar.  We picked up a lot of singles today among the 27 white bass we landed, with only one double  — this was testament to the sluggish mood the fish were in.

When one particularly large group of bottom-hugging fish were seen on sonar (which produced one caught fish on the downriggers), we stopped atop these fish and really worked them with MAL lures with excellent results, right up until Finley complained of wrist pain from catching the 2- and 3-year class white bass we’d found.  So, we returned to downrigging, landed another couple of fish bringing our tally up to 27 white bass, at which time we switched over to shallow-water sunfish.

The sunfishing was simple and resulted in 23 fish, including bluegill, green sunfish, and longear sunfish, all landed on bait fished beneath a float.

We hit two potential areas on our final ride back to the ramp, but to no avail.  The white bass had turned off by this time.

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Saharan dust obscured the sun today and is forecast to linger for some weeks to come.  I laid off fishing Tue.- Thu. this week due to unstable weather, incl. N. winds and rain, and did sonar training instead.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:15A

End Time: 10:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:  0.03′ high, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  82F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 from sunrise to 9:15, then spiking up to S13-14, and then blowing harder and gusting just as I pulled out of the water at trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies all morning.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1395 – 27 white bass – downrigged to find, worked MAL’s vertically to capitalize

**Area 1256 – 23 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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

SUMMER SOLSTICE — 70 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Monday, June 22nd, I fished with Mr. John Clawson, his wife, Mrs. Natalie Clawson, and their youngest daughter, 15-year-old Lena Clawson, of Gatesville, TX.

The Clawson learned of me through a Facebook post of one of my most regular clients, Mr. Steve Niemeier, whom Natalie once worked with as an accountant.

John has served as both a music minister at their church in Gatesville, as well as the assistant superintendent of the Mullin school district, a small town out near Goldthwaite, TX.

Lena is working her way through high school in Gatesville where she participates in powerlifting.

PHOTO CAPTION: This might top the list of oddities I’ve seen while on the water.  Here “mom and pop” are, out for a ride in their baby blue “bar (boat-car)?”  or is that a “coat” (car-boat)?  They were several hundred yards out from where they’d launched this morning.  After a bit of “Googling”, I think this was a 1960’s “Amphicar” in really good shape.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Lena, Natalie, and John Clawson with a catch we certainly labored for.

WHEN WE FISHED:  22 June, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  As much as Saturday’s weather helped, this morning’s weather hindered.  Despite a NOAA forecast calling for SE winds all morning, I faced a stiff NE breeze through 9AM, then a storm blew through at 9:30A, with 20mph gusts, briefly dropping air temperature, and a wind shift to the NW.  We actually took shelter outside one of the Corps of Engineers’ structures along the shoreline for about 20 minutes as the worst blew over.

After that cleared, the NE wind returned.  All this time fishing was just slow and tough.  The few fish we landed came on downriggers spread over multiple locations, with very little consistency.

By 10:30A (already 4 hours into our 4 hour trip) we’d landed only 17 fish.

Because at this time the wind shifted to the SE, I asked the Clawsons if they were okay extending the trip.  I observed how improving weather really jazzed the fish on Saturday, and saw that a similar scenario was now developing.  I got the thumbs-up, so, we redoubled our efforts.

Long story short, from 10:55 through 12:15, we landed 53 additional fish.  We found these fish tight to the bottom and willing to swim off bottom upwards 4-6 feet from a depth of ~28′ to inspect the downrigger balls as they passed overhead, and then were active enough to pursue and overtake the baits we had trailing behind the balls.  After two passes over the same area, each with a very positive result, we Spot-Locked on these fish and worked MAL lures vertically for them until they quit.

Persistence definitely paid off today, as did being observant in regards to wind direction.

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  This was the longest day of the year.  From this point on, day length grows shorter until the winter solstice on Dec. 22nd.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:30A

End Time: 12:20P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 77F

Elevation:  0.08′ low, 0.05′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  81F

Wind Speed & Direction: NE12 through ~9:30A, then a storm front shifted winds to NW20 briefly with some brief cooling.  After the front and light rain passed, the winds slowly shifted NE to E to SE7-8.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies all morning.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 017 – sparse low-light action

**Area vic  – 709 to B0177C – post-storm downrigging for still-reluctant fish

**Area vic B0021G – 53 fish in 80 minutes’ time right after windshift to SE for first time all morning

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WACKY WEATHER WOWS WHITES – 162 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Saturday morning, June 20th, I fished with Brandon Griffith and Eli Schlabach.  The two men are co-workers at Real Star Property Management with offices in Temple and Killeen, and have fished with me previously on several occasions.

As I rose just before 4AM, I thought I needed to adjust one of the sprinkler heads which waters my lawn, as there was water pelting my bedroom windows.  As I went to let our dog, Pumpkin, out, I realized it was raining – actually, pouring.  There was a steady downpour for over an hour which dropped 1.2 inches of rain on us.

Since there was only a minimal chance of rain overnight, I quickly checked the updated forecast and the weather radar to see what the morning prognosis now looked like.  The storm cell which was dumping rain was due to pass just before sunrise, so I contacted Brandon and Eli, letting them know all was still a go.

The rain tapered off to a sprinkle, and then finally ended around 5:50AM.  As we launched, the weather was still turbulent with 14mph SE winds, thick clouds, and a rain-cooled atmosphere at 66F. There was actually “sea smoke” on the water thanks to the cool air chilling the lake’s surface and creating this low layer of fog just above the water’s surface.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Brandon Griffith and Eli Schlabach used sight casting, downrigging, and vertical tactics to put 162 fish in the boat during their 4-hour morning trip after passing storms left white bass in a feeding mode.

WHEN WE FISHED:  20 June, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As we got going just before sunrise, the weather’s impact on fishing pressure was immediately evident.  The normal sunrise rush of boats at the boat ramps was a fraction of what is normally present on a Saturday morning.

With thick, grey clouds obscuring sunrise and a very turbulent atmosphere left in the wake of the rain event, the fishing got off to a slower-than-normal start from 6:15 to 7:00AM.  We picked up 10 white bass spread across two locations but it was clear the fish were off due to weather.

Around 7AM, a noticeable brightening of the skies took place, accompanied by a lessening of the winds down to S8-9, as well as a change from grey cloud cover to white cloud cover.

As this happened, and as I continued looking for fish at a third area, I spotted several small schools of white bass forcing shad to the surface and feeding on them aggressively.  These shad were mature, 2.75 to 3+ inch long forage fish.  The changing, clearing weather was definitely energizing these fish.

Although the boat traffic slowly increased, we had these fish to ourselves the entire time they fed on the surface, which is a rarity on a summer Saturday.  Part of this was because there was a chop on the water making the fish hard to see.

I chose Gangbanger spoons with my own tandem stinger hooks attached in order to match the forage size and give Eli and Brandon enough weight in the lures to cover the distance they needed to cast in order to maintain a standoff distance from the fish so as not to spook them and drive them from the surface.  We went through 60+ fish before the thinning clouds and brightening sky conditions drove these fish down.

Our next stop came in a decidedly more crowded area; we picked up another 30 fish downrigging and working MAL lures vertically once well-congregated fish were located, then getting right back on the ‘riggers once the school we were working vertically moved on.  We noted that boats strictly fishing vertically were not faring well at all.

We moved on to our final stop of the morning a few minutes before 10AM.  A bottom-oriented school of white bass was holding on a gentle slope.  These were mostly 2- and 3-year class fish, and allowed us to close out the trip on a good note with a final 50+ fish landed in our final 30 minutes on the water.  The fish were taken vertically from the lower 1/3 of the water column.

In all, we landed 162 fish this morning including 1 largemouth bass and 161 white bass in the 1-, 2-, and 3-year class.

TALLY: 162 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  The white bass we caught regurgitated shad routinely, whereas those we took on downriggers and via vertical jigging did not.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:10A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation:  Lake was at full pool following a , 0.08′ overnight rise, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  79.5

Wind Speed & Direction: SE14 following storms, backing off to SE9-10 thereafter

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies following the storms, tapering to 75% white cloud cover on a blue sky thereafter

GT =

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 811- sparse whites on downriggers under turbulent conditions

**Area vic 1081 – sight casting to topwater feeding whites blitzing ~3” shad for 60 fish

**Area vic 687 – downrigging with multiple, short, productive stops for vertical work

**Area B0020G – vertical work for a final 50 fish in 30 minutes

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WHITE BASS & BRISKET JAM — 80 FISH @ BELTON

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Friday morning, June 19th, I fished with a crew of 4 spanning three generations, all from near Crawford, TX.  Mr. Trent Huey was presented with a Fathers’ Day gift certificate last year and redeemed it today.  With him were his son, Jackson Huey, age 10, Trent’s brother-in-law, Jake Weaver, and Jackson’s grandpa, Roy Westerfield (Trent and Jake married Roy’s daughters).

Roy is a retired farmer and rancher who recently got into the floral/gift shop business with his wife.  Trent works with Mr. Electric franchisees, Jake is in auto sales, and Jackson is working his way through elementary school.

As we got to talking at one point, I shared my plans to take Rebecca to a few different places in Waco for our 25th anniversary coming up soon.  I hit Trent and crew up for suggestions on where to go for dine-in BBQ.  Their go-to spot is Guess Family BBQ.  As soon as that topic came up, so did the topic of one of the restaurant’s trademark appetizers:  deviled eggs with pimento cheese and brisket jam.  When I heard about that, I just wanted to wrap the trip up early and trailer the boat up to Waco to pick up a dozen of those!  Can’t wait for my anniversary to roll around now!!

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jake Weaver, Trent Huey, Jackson Huey, and Roy Westerfield.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Jake nabbed this healthy hybrid, literally, within 50 yards of, and about 45 seconds away from, the place at which I’d already announced to everyone we’d be wrapping up our trip. It was the largest of our 80 fish landed this morning.

WHEN WE FISHED:  19 June, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: As summer progresses, all fish life is now found above the thermocline.  These fish are located either suspended above the thermocline or on bottom in depths shallower than that at which the thermocline is set up.  The thermocline is now right around 32 feet in the areas I’ve been fishing on Belton.

If I can summarize our approach it would be: downrig to find ’em; then go vertical to capitalize on what you’ve found.

By and large, white bass are much less interested in vertically moving lures than in horizontally moving lures at this point in the season.  Vertical tactics work well when fish are really bunched up tightly and are aggressively feeding and competing with one another, which is a minority of the time; otherwise, going horizontal is the theme for the summer.

We followed this plan from start to finish today and put fish in the boat from start to finish.  The vast majority of our fish came on the downriggers using 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.  On the several occasions where sonar revealed congregated fish tight to bottom, we used a smoking tactic with MAL lures and capitalized on those fish, as well.

Of the 80 fish landed, 79 were white bass and 1 was a legal hybrid striper.  The age distribution on the white bass was roughly equally spread across the 1-, 2-, and 3-year classes.

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Only one of the 80 fish we landed regurgitated shad.  There was a mix of sizes of shad among those that one fish burped up.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  6:10A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:  0.09′ low, 0.05′ fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  81.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SE10-14

Sky Conditions: 75% white cloud cover on a blue sky

GT =  55

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1646 – downrigging only

**Area vic 1606 – downrigging with a few stops for vertical work; majority of our fish landed here; lots of bait present.

**Area vic 1611 – downrigging for sparse fish at trip’s end

 

 

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)

 

#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

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaind