CLIENTS: This past Friday morning, I fished with a very nice young couple, Jesse Wright and Layne Marr.  She’s a farm girl from Canada, and he’s a city kid from L.A. who made good via the military where, after leaving the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted man doing aircraft maintenance, he transitioned to the U.S. Army as a warrant officer in the Field Artillery branch.

DATE: Friday, 30 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 4, 5, 10-12 Sep.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Jesse and Layne executed three tactics very well and very consistently, and put together an 82-fish morning catch on Lake Belton.  The number of quality fish was enhanced this morning thanks to grey cloud cover extending the low-light period.

PHOTO CAPTION: Triple!  Jesse landed these three white bass simultaneously on a 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.  Downrigging served us well from about 7:15 to 8:30A as fish were active, but were also scattered and moving fast.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:    

We got a reprieve on the long string of bright, calm sky conditions today as clouds moved in from the east early, giving near 100% coverage with a thin grey cloud deck.  This extended the low-light time period during which we’ve been catching our quality fish from about 90 minutes to right at 120 minutes this morning.

We began the morning casting MAL Originals with chartreuse tails up shallow for fish in under 15′ and did well for about 15 minutes until the ambient light reached a certain level and drove these fish deeper and caused some scattering.

We pursued these fish using downriggers equipped with 3-armed umbrella rigs armed with #13 Pet Spoons.  The downrigger bite lasted until 8:30A and provided continuous action.

After this, we used sonar to search for concentrations of shad with gamefish mixed in, Spot-Locked atop these fish and worked MAL Originals vertically, aided by Garmin LiveScope.  This produced well for quality fish until around 9A.  The splasher was invaluable in drawing these fish to us and keeping them beneath us.

Around 9A, the now 2.5-hour long bite which had been very productive, began to wane.  From this point forward, most of the fish we found were on the small side.  We found them with sonar, consolidated them with the splasher, and caught them with the MAL Mini worked vertically

Remember, with these MAL Minis, if you don’t feel the blade spinning as you work it upwards, bend the shaft a bit at a time until it begins to “kick in”.  It is also helpful to start the smoking retrieve with the rod tip pointed downward toward the water, then, SIMULTANEOUSLY lift the rod sharply to the point where it parallel to the water’s AND begin turning the reel’s handle.  Done correctly, you’ll feel the spinner causing vibration, and you’ll see your rod tip get loaded by the resistance caused by the blade.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged with #12 & #13 Pet Spoons. We smoked and sawtoothed with MAL Originals for heavily schooled and fairly stationary fish.  We smoked MAL Minis in the latter half of the trip suspended fish drawn in by the splasher.   Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 82 fish caught and released, including 3 largemouth bass, 1 blue catfish,  and 78 white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Literally, just seconds of topwater action observed over about a 2 acre area around 10AM

2) Best quality fish came in the first 120 minutes; mainly smaller fish thereafter – the quality fish window ran longer today thanks to grey skies extending the low-light period.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:25 AM on Monday, August 26 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 0.72′ low and falling slowly with a 52 cfs flow; .04′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 87.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE3-4

Sky Condition: 100% light grey cloud coverage all morning helping to extend the low-light period and lengthen this morning’s bite for quality fish.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 19% illumination.

GT = 30

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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

CLIENTS: This Friday morning I fished with returning guests — the grandfather-grandson team of Charles Simmons and Caden Kimpel.  Charles resides in Salado, and Caden, whose dad works in the international petroleum industry, currently resides in Cairo, Egypt.  He won’t start school until early September, so, we got to enjoy a very uncrowded Lake Belton this morning.

DATE: Friday, 16 August 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 26-30Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Nine-year-old Caden Kimpel and his grandfather, Charles Simmons, landed 101 fish on an unbusy Lake Belton using a combination of tactics between first light and 10:30AM.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Triple!!  Caden landed these three “keeper” white bass simultaneously on his 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with #12 Pet Spoons which did a great job imitating the smallest shad in the system right now.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:   Fishing was pretty straightforward this morning.  With high pressure firmly in control of the weather, a light southerly breeze, and no boat traffic, the fish were ready to feed come first light, and stayed feeding for just shy of four hours.

We started the morning downrigging just to have baits in the water as I covered water with sonar to search for fishable concentrations of fish.  After finding fish, we quickly discovered they much preferred a horizontal presentation to a vertical one, so, we kept right on downrigging as long as the fish cooperated.  This accounted for 44 fish coming in as singles, doubles, and triples, all on #12 Pet Spoons behind 3-armed umbrella rigs.

Once this area quieted down, I found our next batch of fish in some timber, so, we smoked and cast MAL Originals through “lanes” in the timber working them sawtooth-style, as downrigging was not an option.  There was a bit of a learning curve to this, but, Charles and Caden added 8 more fish to the count before these fish lost interest.

By now, it was hot and bright and outside the “low-light” window which has produced quality fish both AM and PM.  We mostly smallish fish from this point forward, but, they were quite cooperative, responded well to the splasher, and provided lots of action.  These fish were taken by smoking MAL Minis vertically using Garmin LiveScope to gauge fish response.  Bending the shaft about 15-20 degrees on these tiny spinners  which imitate young-of-the-year shad is a great “tackle tip” if they don’t spin easily out of the package.

The trick on the “smoking” tactic in the summer, regardless of which MAL you choose, is getting the spinner going as close to the bottom as possible, and keeping the retrieve speed down thereafter.  Hence, I use 5.2:1 gear ratio reels for my clients.

Here is a tutorial on smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We downrigged as long as we were finding fish on clean bottoms with #12 Pet Spoons, then “smoked” MAL Minis and Originals for the latter portion of the trip, once the fish got lazy and pushed lower in the water column. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released, including 5 drum, 1 largemouth bass, and a 60/40 mix of short and keeper white bass.

OBSERVATIONS:

1) No topwater action observed.

2) Mainly undersized fish after ~8:30A.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6 AM on Friday, August 16 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:20A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 0.24′ low and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow; .04′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 88.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S8 all morning

Sky Condition: 25% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 86% illumination.

GT = 65

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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

CLIENTS: This past Tuesday evening I fished with returning guests — the father-and-son team of Oscar and Mateo Santiago.  Although many school districts got the 2024-2025 year kicked off today, Mateo didn’t head back until the following day, so, he and dad got in one last adventure together before the academic routine kicks in.

The fishing was so good that, after landing his share of the 118 fish they landed, Mateo told his dad that his hands hurt.  I suggested Mateo get a note for the first day of school letting the teacher know he would be physically unable to complete written assignments for a few days.

DATE: Tuesday, 13 August 2024 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  15 & 26-30Aug. (AM & PM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Oscar and Mateo Santiago with large, well-proportioned Lake Belton white bass taken between 7P and dark on MAL Original Lures with chartreuse tails. The father-and-son team landed 118 fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:  That 6:45P to 7P timeframe very consistently sees a real upshift in fish feeding behavior under this present high-pressure weather system.  Prior to that time, I’m finding only small fish which respond well, albeit briefly, to the splasher.  We managed to catch a few by smoking MAL Minis up through them, then they either leave, or grow used to the presence of the lures and turn off to them.

Then, around 6:45 to 7P, as the light level begins to drop and the air temperature begins to decrease, I’m finding much better quality fish consistently using the bottom in 16-24 feet of water (deeper earlier, moving shallower as sunset and dark approach).  These fish also respond well to the splasher and stick around for long whiles allowing for high catch numbers.  My best approach for these has been “smoking” the MAL Original with chartreuse tail up off bottom for 5-6 cranks.  These fish seem unwilling to travel any further upwards than the 10 feet level beneath the surface, so, bringing the lure any higher is just wasted effort.  Garmin LiveScope clearly illustrates this over and over again.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We “smoked” MAL Minis vertically until 7P for smaller fish, then used MAL Originals vertically for the remainder of the evening to wear out the keeper white bass. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 118 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:

1) As we hit 8:10P and the fish began to slow down, we found that targeting the highest fish in the water column from any given school outproduced just randomly reeling up through a school of fish.

2) Nothing but undersized fish at several areas through 7P, then quality fish thereafter; this is just the opposite of what I’m seeing in the mornings.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 5:50 AM on Friday, August 9 …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 5:40P

End Time: 8:40P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 100F

Elevation: 0.13′ low and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 88.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 all evening

Sky Condition: 25% white cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 59% illumination.

GT = 20

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

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

ABOARD THE BOAT TODAY:  This morning I was joined by returning guests Dwight Stone and his granddaughter, Jemma Rogers, in celebration of her 10th birthday.

DATE: 21 May 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: Wednesday, 22 May (AM), and Friday, 21 June (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Dwight Stone took his 10-year-old granddaughter, Jemma Rogers, out on Stillhouse Hollow for a morning of white bass catching.  The MAL Dense and MAL Heavy, both with silver body and chartreuse tail, did the trick once again.

PHOTO CAPTION:  This 3.5 pound “bonus bass” and one other just like it, along with a 6-pound drum, rounded out Jemma’s 105 fish birthday catch this morning as her grandfather, Dwight “Boom-Pa” Stone helped me help her, and cheered her on.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SHORT SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: The peak bite this morning ran from 8:30 to 10:00. Having seen this timing over my past three trips to Stillhouse, I put Jemma on some fast-biting sunfish up shallow beforehand, using bait and a slipfloat to land an even dozen bluegill, four of which we retained as largemouth bait once we got out into open water. Beginning around 8:30, we fished MAL Dense Lures (silver body/chartreuse tail) vertically with a smoking tactic until the fish lost interest, then, we switched over to a sawtooth tactic using MAL Heavy Lures (also w/silver body/chartreuse tail) to continue catching right on through 10:45AM.  During the latter half of this white bass bite, I set out the sunfish on a downline resulting in landing a pair of 3.5 pound fish, and one white bass on the four baits.

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We used the new MAL Dense with silver body (shown above) for vertical work, and the MAL Heavy with silver body and chartreuse tail for horizontal work today.  Find these lures at the Liberty Mart Exxon uphill from Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, or go here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TUTORIAL LINK FOR SAWTOOTH & SMOKING TACTICS:

Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ&t=89s

Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=56s

TALLY: 105 fish caught and released (2 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, & 102 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:

1) The lower third of Stillhouse was in good shape today with fairly clear water.   The water, although clear, resembled iced tea in color and clarity at mid-lake.

2) The lake fell 0.08′ in the last 24 hours

3) The flooded vegetation has made finding fish using side-imaging very tough.  We had to drive over most fish today with DI and/or 2D to get a bead on their location.

4) Due to decreasing flooding on the Brazos River’s main channel, USACE began releasing water from Stillhouse on the afternoon of 19 May 2024 at a rate of 808 CFS.  That increased to 1534 CFS by mid-afternoon that same day, and continued at that rate today.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: 

Measured with FishHawk TD device on 17 May…

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 10.11 feet high and slowly rising, with a 1534 CFS release.

Water Surface Temp: 77.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8-12 all morning

Sky Condition:100% light grey cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 5