CLIENTS:  This morning, Thursday, June 26, I fished with Mr. Ken Deweese and his nine-year-old grandson, Dane Deweese, who is visiting for a few weeks from Colorado, along with his two older sisters.

Ken now resides in the Salado area after retiring from 51 years of coaching basketball.  Dane calls him Pappadeaux.

TODAY’S DATE: Thursday, 26 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   Ken and 9-year-old Dane Deweese teamed up for a multi-species fishing trip which resulted in the catch of white bass, largemouth bass, and bluegill sunfish.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Dane captured our largest fish of the trip.  This largemouth bass was 17″ long and right at 3.00 pounds.  It was caught on a MAL Heavy Lure worked vertically with a “smoking” retrieve.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The summer heat and young of the year shad are heavily and negatively influencing the fishing now. I have begun to see this play out on both Belton and now on Stillhouse. The millions of young of the year shad ranging now in size from 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/4 inches in length are suspended just about everywhere. These little fish are slow and abundant and are so easily fed upon, game fish really need not be interested in anything else.

We put in our first 3 1/2 hours in pursuit of white bass this morning. We started off smoking MAL Lures, but, given the scenario I’ve just described, the fishing is quite technical with no guarantee even a well-placed, well-worked bait is going to get bit. Ken caught a few fish this way before I decided to switch us over to downrigging. The downrigged #12 Pet Spoons caught fish slowly but consistently, and provided us with good quality fish, as well.

After the area we were downrigging in failed to produce any longer, the next fish I found were in timber, so downrigging was not an option. We re-doubled our efforts at getting Dane working his MAL Lure very well when fished vertically, and both he and Ken added fish to our count, taking us to a total of 23 fish landed with about 30 minutes left in the trip. I wanted to leave Dane with some skills he would be able to use if he was not able to be in a boat, so we headed up shallow and closed out the fishing trip catching 8 bluegill sunfish on telescoping rods under floats using live bait. We wound up the trip with 31 fish boated.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Fishing is getting “summertime tough” with white bass suspending more than using bottom, and focused on young-of-the-year shad which are hard to imitate with live or artificial baits.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:30AM on Tuesday, 17 June…

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 10:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 1.56′ low’ high with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 81.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Under S6-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 40% white cloud cover on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 2% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 484 – 3 white bass smoking MAL Heavy 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

CLIENTS:  On Tuesday, June 24, I fished with a father and son team, first time guests Aaron Thompson, and his nine year old son, Captain. These fellows found themselves in bachelor status this week as Captain’s mom and sister headed to the Texas coast for Sea Camp focused on marine biology. Not to be outdone by the womenfolk, Aaron and Captain loaded up on beef jerky and decided to do a little adventuring out on the water of their own and went to their own “Fish Camp”.

TODAY’S DATE: Tuesday, 24 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  Downrigging with a pair of 3-armed umbrella rigs behind twin downriggers was the key to our success today after what has been very reliable topwater action failed to materialize this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION: In addition to white bass, we found both largemouth bass and hybrid striped bass, like this one, schooled up and suspended in and around the abundant young-of-the-year shad by using well-tuned 2D sonar.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Honestly, today was a bit of a letdown after the tremendous top water bite that has been taking place recently.  I anticipated using the trolling motor to get and keep Aaron and Captain within casting distance of frenzied white bass churning the lake’s surface as they fed on young of the year shad.  A few fish showed on the slick, calm water just as the sun was rising, but, after that … nothing.

Although the day’s weather forecast looked similar to previous day’s on paper, what actually transpired was far from it.  At sunrise, we had clear skies and calm winds versus grayed-over skies and a southeasterly breeze around that same time the previous day when the fish fed so ravenously. The winds stayed low and the skies stayed clear until around 9 AM, and by that time, it became obvious that no topwater action was going to materialize this morning.

Without the top water, Lake Belton’s summertime fishing is typically a pretty tough proposition, and that’s what we were left facing this morning. We wound up putting a total of 38 fish in the boat, including four hybrid striped bass, two largemouth bass, and 32 white bass. Every one of these fish was taken on a number 12 Pet Spoon fished behind a three-armed umbrella rig with a pair of downriggers working at all times, for a total of six baits in the water.

We caught these fish by keeping a very close eye on especially 2D sonar and the distinct arches it produces when sensing suspended fish.  Where concentrations of bait and gamefish showed, we plied that water over and over until it no longer produced, then moved on and did the same elsewhere.

I tried to keep an eagle eye out for top water action after experiencing a 9 AM to 10 AM bite one day last week, but the few schools that came up for just seconds at a time quit doing even that by about 8:50 AM.

Just a pretty tough morning all around.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Low winds and bright skies killed the great topwater bite this morning.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Lake Belton measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10:20AM on Wednesday, 18 June.  Also shown is dissolved oxygen down to ~65′.  This shows the thermocline developing around 30-35′, and demonstrates how oxygen-poor the water becomes below the thermocline in the summer….

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F

Elevation: 2.05′ high with a 0.21′ fall in the last 24 hours w/ a release rate of ~1,610 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Under S5 all morning

Sky Condition: Hazy, cloudless skies until 9:40, when white clouds started

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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: On Monday morning, 23 June, I fished with first time guest, Torres Carr. Torres is a veteran, having retired from the U.S. Army as a non-commissioned officer and having spent most of his time as a combat engineer. Torres continued on after retirement to work as a contractor, most recently returning from Croatia. He told me he had almost given up on fishing until this morning because, after around 10 attempts from May this year to present, he just hasn’t been able to really find or catch fish with consistency.

TODAY’S DATE: Monday, 23 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Wednesday, 09 July (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  U.S. Army veteran Torres Carr, originally from south Georgia, wore them out on topwater this morning, taking a total of 159 fish, 150 of which came on a Cork Rig fished aggressively on the surface for white bass which fed from ~6:35 to 9:10AM.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Today was one of those days which made it look easy to be a fishing guide. The fish were where I anticipated they would be, at the time I thought they’d be there, and eating what I thought they’d eat. We took a really hard look for top water action starting just a few minutes before sunrise. We spotted “nervous water“ soon thereafter, around 6:35 AM, and we’re able to stay on fish until about 9:10 AM when the white bass finally stopped feeding on mainly young of the year shad.

Over this span of time, we covered quite a bit of distance, keeping up with the white bass as they moved quickly across the surface. I ran the trolling motor as Torres sight cast to the nearest school of fish. I rigged Torres up with one of my custom-made Cork Rigs.  It casts long, stays tangle free, allows quick bait changeout when matching bait size, and features a single hook to make for quick releases so my clients can get casting again while the action lasts.

Up until the time the fish finally left the surface, he landed exactly 149 white bass and one largemouth bass. Although there were still a few fish on the surface here and there, I wanted to show Torres additional, effective summertime tactics.

We broke away from the white bass top water action, and I demonstrated downrigging, adding five more fish to our total.

After that, I demonstrated the smoking and sawtooth tactics using the MAL Heavy Lure. After Torres had the retrieves nailed down, we put the smoking retrieve to use in combination with the splasher and Garmin LiveScope to put a final three fish in the boat. By now we’ve been on the water four hours, and the fish were just about done.

Torres shared how his enthusiasm for fishing had been completely renewed based on what he saw and learned this morning. Our final tally was 159 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. Uninterrupted 2 hours and 35 minutes of topwater frenzy with light (<7 mph) SE breeze and full, but thin, grey cloud cover.  Most YOY shad being fed upon, but several classes of adult shad were present, as well.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the latest water temperature profile for Lake Belton measured with a FishHawk TD device around 10:20AM on Wednesday, 18 June.  Also shown is dissolved oxygen down to ~65′.  This shows the thermocline developing around 30-35′, and demonstrates how oxygen-poor the water becomes below the thermocline in the summer….

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 2.26′ high with a 0.10′ fall in the last 24 hours w/ a release rate of ~1,600 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between SE5-10 all morning

Sky Condition: Full, but thin, grey cloud cover, clearing beginning around 9:40A.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 4% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 morning I welcomed aboard the wife and children of U.S. Army Major Nicholas Spicocchi, an Infantry officer currently assigned to Fort Hood, but on deployment and therefore separated from his family.  Joining me were Mrs. Kiley Spicocchi and her kids, Brooke (age 5), Isabella (age 9), Kiley, and John (age 11).  This was the fifth Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2025 season.

ABOUT SKIFF:  SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009.  SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru.  S.K.I.F.F. provides kids of military members separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish.  SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member, and kids of bona fide disabled veterans.  I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411 to make your reservation.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 20 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Monday, 23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  From left: Brooke (age 5), Isabella (age 9), Kiley, and John (age 11) Spicocchi took part in the most recent Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip this past Friday on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir while their father, U.S. Army Major Nicholas Spicocchi, is deployed.  The kids landed ninety fish in just under three and a half hours.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Figuring out how to approach fishing with a 5, 9, and 11 year old in the crew was a bit tricky.  I considered the bite, the weather, and the kids and came up with a plan which worked today.

First, we downrigged, although it was not the kind of downrigging I’ve been doing for “mop up” later in the morning after a vertical bite begins to wane.  Rather, this morning, I ran the downrigger balls close to the bottom to tempt those same fish we’d otherwise be using a smoking tactic for vertically.  This was done so everyone would get to share in the action while keeping it age-appropriate.

The kids did great!  John helped greatly by setting the lines back out the proper distance after a fish was landed, and Brooke made sure the balls were brought up after a fish struck, so as to clear the water of any obstacles the hooked fish could get tangled on.  Kiley assisted little Isabella in reeling in her fish while Brooke and John worked independently on theirs.  In this way, the kids landed exactly 44 white bass and a largemouth bass as singles, doubles, and triples before the early morning bite died and it was time to move on.  All of these fish were taken on 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.

We totally changed it up at this point by moving into shallow cover and targeting sunfish with bait under slipfloats.  Again, John and Brooke got the hang of this immediately and Isabella landed a few of the 33 sunfish which came aboard with the help of her mom.

By the time the cover we were targeting ran out of willing sunfish, we had about 45 minutes remaining in this trip I’d planned to span 3.5 hours. Isabella was worn out to the point of being drowsy by this time, but Brooke and John were still ready for more.  We changed things up once again, and I searched windblown areas for suspended white bass using 2D sonar in hopes that we could consolidate them beneath us with the splasher in numbers great enough to create some competition and work MAL Heavy Lures through them with success.  This worked out well.  Although the morning feed was well on its way to ending, John and Brooke were persistent and wound up putting another 12 fish in the boat in this manner, taking our morning total to 90 fish.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. As the water warms, the fishing gets a bit tougher day by day.  Fewer fish are making use of the bottom, and the abundance of young-of-the-year shad is tough to compete with.
2. No bird activity witnessed.
3. No largemouth bass topwater activity wintessed.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.36′ low with a 0.01′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between S6-9 all morning

Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 29% illumination.

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 morning was a continuation of the 13-month-long study comparing sizes and weights of white bass taken from Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir and Lake Belton.  Joining me to help collect fish by catching them with rod and reel were a foursome of returning guests: Stiles and Sarah Parker, and their teenaged niece and nephew, Cassie (13) and Derek (16) Chasteen.  The researchers aboard this morning included Professor Jason Locklin and Caleb Fry from Temple College.

ABOUT THE WHITE BASS STUDY:
Through April of 2026, researchers will be measuring and weighing the white bass captured by my clients to consider establish a baseline of fish quality on both lakes.  If you come out fishing with me to help collect these fish, you will get $50 deducted from your fee in exchange for allowing researchers to accompany your party on my boat.  We have designated one sampling day per lake, per month through April of 2026. We will still be catching and releasing all fish.

REMAINING OPEN DATES:

There is at least one date remaining open from Aug. to Nov. 2025, and from Jan. to April 2026

DATE: Thursday, 19 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left:  Sarah and Stiles Parker, and their niece and nephew, Cassie and Derek Chasteen, took 101 fish during their 4-hour morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow, further assisting with data collection for the comparative study being conducted on white bass populations at Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow by Temple College researchers.

PHOTO CAPTION: Stiles is all smiles!!  That’s a 16.75″ white bass.  It fell for an MAL Heavy worked with a sawtooth method in just over 30 feet of water.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The high winds we’ve experienced since midday Tuesday finally relented overnight and we had winds S8-13 this morning which was just enough to keep the water rippled and keep everyone cool enough to enjoy this outing.

We saw the most aggressive feed over the course of our first hour on the water, but caught fish steadily for the entire four hour trip.

As we first got going, smoking MAL Heavy Lures vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope aided by a splasher got the job done well as we saw the fish moving rapidly along and parallel to the bottom.  Slowly this eased up and, as everyone else continued working vertically, I suggested to Stiles that he begin experimenting with a horizontal, sawtooth retrieve based on how I saw the fish beneath us behaving, and what I was observing on side-imaging.  He began to connect more routinely than the others, so, I then had everyone else join in fishing MAL Lures with the sawtooth method until the fishing at this area slowed further.  We then “mopped up” with downriggers by running 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons over isolated pods of fish until even that halted.

We moved on and essentially repeated this process at a similar area, only the overall duration of the bite here was shorter.  By the time these fish quit, we had about an hour left in our trip.

The final batch of fish I found was in some timber, so downrigging and the sawtooth method were off the table.  We exercised some patience, waiting for solid groups of fish to pass by so the competition factor amongst the individuals in those groups would kick in and provide opportunities to connect vertically with the smoking method.

This approach accounted for 101 fish this morning, including 98 white bass, 2 largemouth bass, and 1 freshwater drum for a grand total of 101 fish landed.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. As the water warms, the fishing gets a bit tougher day by day.  Fewer fish are making use of the bottom, and the abundance of young-of-the-year shad is tough to compete with.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.34′ low with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Between S8-13 all morning

Sky Condition: Light blue, cloudless skies all morning

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 40% illumination.

GT = 115

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 morning, Tuesday, June 17, I fished with first-time guests Ray & Violet Kivimaki who came in from Georgetown, TX, to celebrate Ray’s 78th birthday.  Both Ray and Violet ascribe to the “move it or lose it” philosophy of aging well, and with pickleball, walking, and line dancing in their weekly routines, are in great shape to continue enjoying their retirement and grandkids.

Ray, originally from Canada, retired from the oil and gas industry, and Violet, originally from Fort Worth, retired from nursing.  The two had many prior guided fishing experiences, from pursuing redfish on the Texas Gulf Coast to kokanee salmon in Lake Tahoe.

DATE: Tuesday, 17 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Ray and Violet Kivimaki grip four of the quality white bass they took using a variety of tactics on a day made difficult by brilliant blue skies starting right at sunrise.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

We took one step forward and another step back this morning so far as the weather was concerned.  We had ample wind at S12-15 all morning, but zero cloud cover.  The wind kept us comfortable despite the heat and humidity, but the brilliant skies did not help the fishing.

As compared with my observations from the day before, fish this morning were more reluctant to bite and were more scattered both vertically and horizontally.

We gave smoking with MAL Heavy Lures a shot, but the fish were so scattered that we rarely had more than two to four fish come beneath us (as viewed on Garmin LiveScope).  Larger schools generate competition amongst the individuals in those schools, goading individual fish to outrun others to get to the MAL Lure first.  We really did not have that factor working for us this morning.

After realizing this, I switched us over to sawtoothing horizontally with the MAL Heavy Lures.  This did better, putting 12 more fish in the boat, but I was still not satisfied that we were catching all we could even with the very bright skies overhead.

When experiencing conditions like this in summers past, I’ve found a horizontal presentation will often outperform vertical tactics, and this morning that proved to be so.

We caught a majority of our fish by way of downrigging.  Obviously, downrigged baits move horizontally, but, where to suspend those baits was not quite so obvious, as fish were found from bottom (in as much as 41 feet of water), all the way up to 25 feet below the surface.  Again, experience kicked in here and told me the fish highest in the water column tend to be the most aggressive, hence, I lowered the downrigger balls to between 25-28 feet.

Ray and Violet enjoyed multiple singles, doubles, and triples as the white bass overtook their #13 Pet Spoons time and time again.  In about two hours’ worth of downrigging, the couple took their tally up to 44 fish before the area we were working stopped producing.

I checked two areas without success before finding one final, fairly aggressive collection of fish on a south-facing slope being hit by the south wind.

We set up atop these fish and, in about a half hour’s time, added a final 16 white bass to the count to bring the morning’s grand total to 60 fish boated and released.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. Heavy winds killed any topwater action this morning.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 1.30′ low with a 0.01′ fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 84.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S12-15 all morning

Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright blue skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 62% illumination.

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 morning, Monday, June 16, I fished with returning guest, Mr. Bob Keith, accompanied by two of his grandsons – Keith and Ben Freeman, ages 11 and 9 respectively. The boys really look forward to spending as much time as they can with their grandpa when they are out of school over the summers, and this go-round, Bob drove up to Hamilton and picked these two up as they eagerly anticipated this morning’s fishing trip.

DATE: Monday, 16 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  23 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left:  Ben Freeman, Bob Keith, and Keith Freeman, each with hefty Stillhouse Hollow white bass.  That fish Bob is holding went 16.75″ and weighed 2.25 pounds.  It took an MAL Heavy worked with a horizontal “sawtooth” tactic just as the winds were going calm and the fishing began to get tougher.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The weather forecast for this morning looked great, although it did not fully realize the potential shown on paper. We did have some cloud cover, which was helpful, and, until about 8:30 or so there was a light south east wind (also helpful). Eventually, as the skies brightened and the clouds thinned, the winds which were forecast to strengthen actually went slack (not good).

We hit a tough patch for about a half an hour before changing over from aggressive vertical tactics to more bottom-oriented, horizontal tactics, and that afforded us a strong finish. During the early part of the day, we fished MAL Lures exclusively. We used the version with a chartreuse tail, silver body, and silver blade. While keeping a close eye on Garmin LiveScope, everyone worked their lures straight up and down with a “smoking“ tactic and did quite well. This accounted for our first 64 fish.

After the winds went calm, I hit several areas, but got a pretty cold reception, taking only one or two fish, and watching a lot of fish simply ignore our presentation, or just half-heartedly follow a short distance and then give up.

Around 10 AM, with about an hour left in the trip and conditions still bright and calm, I switched us over to downrigging using a pair of ‘riggers with three-armed umbrella riggs equipped with #13 Pet Spoons.

I started off with the balls kept just 3 or 4 feet up off the bottom and we began to catch fish with regularity. Soon thereafter, a nice southerly breeze kicked in completely rippling the surface, and the fish kicked it up a notch. In our final 40 minutes we enjoyed fast action as the rippled surface brought the fish up off the bottom to feed heavily on threadfin shad. At this point, I just kept the ball suspended about a foot or two above the highest fish seen on 2-D sonar, and we took our count up to a final tally of 108 fish. That catch consisted of 104 white bass, two largemouth bass, one channel catfish, and one freshwater drum.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. The season’s first summertime “schoolie” largemouth are beginning to show, but was minimal today due to calm winds.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Elevation: 1.29′ low with no rise or fall in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 82.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SE3-4 through 9:30, then going calm until 10:30

Sky Condition: Blue skies with 30% white cloud cover increasing to 65% coverage by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 72% illumination.

GT = 205

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 Friday, June 13, I fished with business partners Joshua Goodnight and Frank Ruiz.  Joshua and his wife, Paige, operate The Woodlands Property Tax Group, helping taxpayers reduce their property taxes by appealing assessments before local tax appraisal districts on their clients’ behalf  ( https://twptg.com/ ).

Both men were experienced anglers and very quickly got the hang of getting the blade of the MAL Lures spinning during their retrieve, so, with very little learning curve, we got right down to catching from our first drop at our first area, right through the four hour mark.

DATE: Friday, 13 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  18 June (AM) – Discounted by $50 as part of a 2-lake study on white bass population and quality

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Joshua Goodnight and Frank Ruiz just wore out the white bass this morning using MAL Heavy Lures both vertically (smoking) and horizontally (sawtoothing).  The largest fish Joshua is holding in this photo went exactly 17.75 inches.  Both men caught numerous 15 and 16″ fish over the course of this morning’s trip. This “magnum” took an MAL Heavy with chartreuse tail and silver body/blade just a few feet off bottom in 32 feet of water as he used the sawtooth method casting cross-wind to fish we saw on well-tuned side-imaging.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

With experienced aboard, my life was made simple.  I provided basic guidance on how to get the fish I’d found (primarily with side-imaging today) to bite consistently using the MAL Heavy Lure, and then I sat back, let Joshua and Frank catch fish while I kept a glove on my right hand to take their fish off with for four solid hours.

We fished four areas with the first area producing at a lower rate, but for a longer duration than the rest — over 70 minutes.  At this area, in about 32 feet of water, the bite was exclusively a vertical bite with 100% of the fish taken by “smoking” the MAL Heavy as described in the video link below.  They landed 28 fish.

Frank and Joshua fished the same way at our second stop, picking up another 25 fish — all vertically, all on the MAL Heavy.

At our third stop, the fish were a bit more reluctant to leave the bottom and many ignored the smoking tactic.  These fish were not just under us, but all around us, as witnessed on side-imaging while we were Spot-Locked.

Given all of this, I introduced the horizontal “sawtooth method”, and that really turned these fish on accounting for another 25 fish, including our largest white bass of the trip, a 17.75 inch magnum landed by Joshua.

As this area began to ease up, I could see scattered, small pods of white bass here, there, and everywhere, both on bottom and suspended.  This just screamed out for a downrigging presentation, so, I fired up one ‘rigger, showed the fellows how to rig them up and fish them, and we immediately started catching singles and doubles.

We then went with twin ‘riggers and managed four sets of triples, all on three-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons to match the bait we saw fish regurgitating.

This final push on downriggers netted my two man crew a final 42 fish, bringing the morning’s tally to exactly 120 fish landed.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. The season’s first summertime “schoolie” largemouth are beginning to show.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 1.36′ low with a 0.24′ rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 83.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SE5-6

Sky Condition: Blue skies with 30% white cloud cover increasing to 65% coverage by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 94% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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 Thursday, June 12, I welcomed aboard the father-and-son team of Maurice and Alaric Caudillo.  Maurice was right upfront with me letting me know he and his son had very limited prior experience, and that part of the goal of the trip was to learn more about the sport.  The two had landed  exactly one stingray together while fishing the Texas Gulf coast prior to this trip.

This transparency was super helpful to me in helping me decide what to do in order to help put them on fish.

Maurice is a U.S. Army veteran, having served in the Field Artillery Branch working with the Patriot Missile system, and is originally from a small town in Kansas.  Alaric attends public school in Killeen and enjoys playing basketball and video games.

DATE: Thursday, 12 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  18 June (AM) – Discounted by $50 as part of a 2-lake study on white bass population and quality

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:    Maurice Caudillo and his 9-year-old son, Alaric, landed 110 fish in four hours on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir under grey sky conditions.  They caught 100 white bass in the first 3.25 hours, then we went up shallow and worked for sunfish to close out the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

As I mentally prepped for this trip, I reminded myself to keep it simple and effective.  As I welcomed Maurice and Alaric aboard, I covered the fundamentals — how to hold a spinning rod, how to open the bail, how to reel smoothly with just 2 or 3 fingers on the reel’s handle, etc.  Slowly, after I saw they grasped the basics, I added more advanced concepts — how to interpret Garmin LiveScope, how to “lead” fish moving from one side of the screen to the other so as to get their baits right in front of the fish, how far to reel hooked fish in, how to listen for the drag being pulled, and more.

We experienced a “bell-shaped” feeding curve this morning which ramped up from 7 to 8A, peaked between 8A and 10A, then quickly tailed off by 10:15A.  By this time, the pair had worked (literally, as Alaric’s right wrist was aching by now!) to land exactly 100 fish, including several “schoolie” largemouth bass, and a whole lot of white bass working their MAL Heavy Lures vertically using a smoking tactic.

Once the white bass fishing slowed back to the levels we saw between 7 and 8A, I took the two up shallow to target sunfish.

One of the main reasons I did this was to show them a technique they could easily and inexpensively duplicate while fishing from the shoreline, be it at Lake Belton, Stillhouse, or any of the ponds on Fort Hood.  The other reason was to keep fish coming in over the side of the boat to ensure Alaric stayed engaged right until we finished up.

I searched out areas with a combination of rock, wood, and aquatic vegetation and had them present bait under light balsa slip floats.  Alaric quickly got the hang of the “roll cast” to place his bait where he wanted it, and the pair landed another 10 sunfish (all bluegills) in the time we had remaining.

Men oftentimes overestimate their abilities when communicating with me as a fishing guide which doesn’t do either of us any good.  Maurice was honest about his inexperience, and that helped me help them have a memorable, productive outing together.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. The season’s first summertime “schoolie” largemouth are beginning to show.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 1.60′ low with a 0.44′ rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 82.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SE5-6

Sky Condition: Grey skies with 100% light grey cloud coverage.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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:  Yesterday I reported on the multigenerational trip conducted with Joe Oliver and his son, Corey. This morning it was Joe‘s daughter, Amber Pugh, who joined me, along with two of her three kids – Beau and Addie –  as well as their Uncle Corey (Amber’s brother) putting a total of five rods in the water this morning.

DATE: Wednesday, 11 June 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  19 June (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:   Three generations aboard for a second straight day:  from left: Addie Pugh, her grandfather, Joe Oliver, Joe’s daughter, Amber Pugh, Beau Pugh, and Joe’s son, Corey Oliver.  This crew put together a 181-fish catch “smoking” MAL Heavy Lures straight up off the bottom.

PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Joe and I compared notes at 5:15 AM and noted that weather radar showed storms which dropped another third of an inch locally between 3 and 5 AM seemed to be clearing and headed northeast. We made plans to meet at Stillhouse at seven, and we’re thankful to get in a full, four hour trip.

We fished one lure one way and caught fish from start to finish with no lulls in the action at all.

I had everyone fishing an MAL Heavy with silver blade and chartreuse tail, using a smoking tactic by dropping the lure to bottom and cranking it up six times for those fish which presented themselves on bottom, or cranking it 2 to 3 cranks past the highest fish in a school whenever suspended fish were witnessed on the Garmin LiveScope monitor.

In this way, this crew landed exactly 181 fish including 6 drum and 175 white bass of which only four were short.

From time to time I saw “schoolie” sized largemouth bass chasing adult shad on the surface, but this was very short-lived in nature, and only involved a handful of fish at a time.  If history is any teacher, this schooling behavior will increase as the water warms into June and July.

OBSERVATIONS:

1. White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
2. The season’s first summertime “schoolie” largemouth are beginning to show.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.03′ low with a 0.04′ rise in the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 82.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SE5-6

Sky Condition: Grey skies with 100% light grey cloud coverage.

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 35

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

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