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E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Good Golly, Miss Molly!! — 111 Fish

March 30th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Friday afternoon, March 28, I fished a mother – son trip with Molly and Michael Chandler.

One of Molly‘s coworkers presented her with a to redeem it in celebration of Michael’s 12th birthday happening on March 29.

We were originally scheduled to go this morning, but nearly 2 inches of sorely needed rain Fell right up until we launched, after which the weather cleared nicely to about 30% cloud cover and cooling, drying conditions.

DATE: Friday, 28 March 2025 (PM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 08, 10, 22 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: Molly Chandler and her 12-year-old son, Michael, waited out the rain this past Friday and made an evening trip out with me on Lake Belton. They used 3/4-oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (white color) to land 111 fish including this 19.25″ hybrid striped bass.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lots of mature white bass, some spawned-out, and others yet to spawn, were in the 111-fish catch, as well.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was pretty straightforward this afternoon as Molly and Michael enjoyed the best quality catch I’ve seen come out of Belton since I began fishing it early this month. The adult fish they landed consisted of both spawned-out fish and fish which have yet to spawn.

The pair used only one lure with one technique to land 111 fish this evening. That was the white, 3/4 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab used with a slow-smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope. I initially used the thumper in order to help Molly and Michael with the correct retrieve speed as the thumper doubled as a metronome. After they got the hang of retrieving at the correct speed, I switched over to the splasher, because I have begun to observe spawning shad activity which frequently brings fish up off the bottom more routinely than during the winter months.

I normally default to the 5/8-ounce slab through the winter months, but, with fish now increasingly willing to chase, and after observing multiple fish this week with large threadfin shad tails protruding from their gullets, I decided to upsize, and that choice worked out well.

Included in their 111-fish catch were 3 largemouth bass, 3 short hybrid, 1 legal hybrid, and 104 white bass up to 14.5 inches.

RESULTS: 111 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 & 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

Two instances of helpful bird activity this evening.
Best catch made on Belton YTD so far as quality is concerned.
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 3:10P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.88′ low (slight rise)

Water Surface Temp: 65.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE8-10 all afternoon

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover w/ lite rain at start of trip, steadily clearing to 30% clouds by trip’s end

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 1% illumination.

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0022C – 55 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1286/B0152G – 8 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 714 – 14 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 098/150 – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1012 – 13 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 0150 – 10 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Storm’s a-Brewin’ in the Background- 67 Fish

March 27th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Thursday, March 27, I fished a multi-generational trip for four. Joining me was John Krska, his son-in-law, Leo Estramadura, and Leo’s two kids, Liz (age 17), and Cameron (turning 12 tomorrow). The Estramaduras were in visiting from California.

John bid on a gift certificate I had donated at the request of Mrs. Shirley Stephenson with the Salado Area Republican Women’s organization some time ago.

Although the forecast for rain this morning was present, I checked multiple forecasts and felt we would be able to get a full four-hour trip in and not get soaked in the meantime. We (pretty much) did.

DATE: Thursday, 27 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: John Krska, Liz, Leo, and Cameron Estramadura with sunshine ahead of them and a storm a-brewin’ in the background. Fishing peaked just as the light rain began this morning around 10:30AM. We scooted as what you see in the background began to develop around 11:40.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s fishing was a lot like yesterday’s in that the fishing was negatively impacted by heavy gray cloud cover in the first 90 minutes following sunrise. It has been during this time that a shallow water bite had reliably been taken place, but that was not the case these past two days. I saw some scattered fish in shallow water early and we cast MAL Originals to them, landing a total of five before I set that aside and continued on with the rest of the trip out in deep water fishing vertically.

Liz was not feeling all that well and only grabbed a rod for a short periods, so John, Leo, and Cameron were doing the bulk of the fishing and catching. I had them all use white, 5/8 ounce, Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs. I used my thumping device to draw fish in and also used it as a metronome to help them retrieve at an appropriate cadence as they brought their lures up off the bottom. Garmin LiveScope played an important part as well, letting them know when their lures were getting chased so they could continue reeling upwards.

Although the vertical fishing provided us with a steady catch, there was a definite spike of activity just before and during a light rainfall event of ~20 minutes in length, beginning around 10:30A.

When all was said and done, my three (and a half!) anglers wound up with 67 fish, including four short hybrid stripers, one blue cat, and 62 white bass.

RESULTS: 67 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and the MAL Original with chartreuse tail to catch our fish this trip. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
I saw the first spawning threadfin shad this morning.
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.94′ low (slight rise)

Water Surface Temp: 66.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-9 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning w/ ~20 minutes of light rain beginning ~10:30A

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 100

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0171C – 5 fish sawtoothing MAL Originals

Area vic 412 – 9 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1675 – 2 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0391G (two hops) – 33 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 082 – 7 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0082G – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

A Boatful of Army Brats — 62 Fish on Hazy Eye Slabs

March 26th, 2025 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, March 26, I fished with first-time guests Max Schultz and Eddie Cleveland. Both now reside in the Belton area and both, like me, are “Army brats” and experienced the moving from place to place that goes along with that life. Eddie retired from the computer industry, and Max is looking forward to retiring soon from his family-owned appliance repair business, Tri City Service, which specializes in all manner of home appliance repairs.

DATE: Wednesday, 26 March 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 04, 08, 10 April (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 05 April (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Eddie Cleveland and Max Schultz used LiveScope for the first time to put 62 fish in the boat using a “Slow-Smoking” tactic with white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs on what started out as a tough morning thanks to heavy, grey cloud cover.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing took a bit of a dip this morning thanks to thick, grey cloud cover preventing the sudden brightening of the skies right at sunrise which has served as a feeding trigger for white bass on the recent run of cloudless days I’ve fished Lake Belton.

I found no significant shallow water bite this morning, and any deep fish I found were very hard to get to bite, requiring a pretty technical presentation wherein a slab needed to be move right in front of a forward-moving, suspended white bass in order to elicit a chase which might result in a strike. We approached the 2 hour mark with only a handful of fish taken this way. This was Max and Eddie’s first experience with forward facing sonar, so, they struggled at times to keep track of their lure’s location and attempting to intersect the path of fish with it.

As the third hour approached, the winds picked up a bit, and the skies, although still 100% greyed over, brightened, and the fish finally began to feed.

We pressed on with slow-smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs with the help of LiveScope and the fish-attracting sound of our thumper in order to make up for some lost time. We hit four areas at which side-imaging revealed fish, and caught fish at a steady clip at each one. The bite was typically best as soon as we got lures down to the fish, then slowly decayed until all the fish would do is budge slightly off the bottom, but not chase any further.

I noted we lost an unusually great number of hooked fish this morning; I attribute that to the fish pursuing reluctantly and just nipping at the bait, getting hooked just barely in the lip and then getting away after pulling hard a time or two, as both fellows had prior fishing experience, were not setting the hook inappropriately, nor attempting to reel the fish in too quickly.

Max and Eddie wound up with 62 fish, including 1 blue cat, 8 short hybrid, and 53 white bass.

RESULTS: 62 fish, all caught and released

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

No helpful bird activity this morning.
Ratio of mature fish continues to rise with each passing day.
I anticipate the annual threadfin shad spawn to begin within a few days
We saw the greatest 1-week temperature jump of the spring YTD this past week, with surface temps going from 60.1 to 67.2.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This is the most up-to-date water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Wednesday, 26 March…

0 feet 67.2F

5 feet 67.2F

10 feet 66.3F

15 feet 63.1F

20 feet 61.2F

25 feet 60.1F

30 feet 59.4F

35 feet 58.9F

40 feet 58.6F

45 feet 57.8F

50 feet 57.4F

55 feet 57.2F

This was the previous water temperature profile for Lake Belton, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10AM on Friday, 21 March…

0 feet 60.1F

5 feet 60.3F

10 feet 60.1F

15 feet 59.4F

20 feet 58.9F

25 feet 58.6F

30 feet 58.2F

35 feet 57.8F

40 feet 57.5F

45 feet 57.1F

50 feet 56.3F

55 feet 56.0F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F

Elevation: 2.97′ low

Water Surface Temp: 67.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SE4-5 for first half; SE8-10 for second half

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover all morning

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 11% illumination.

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic B0185C – 4 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1177 – 25 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0119C – 20 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic B0009C – 11 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

Area vic 1943 – 2 fish slow smoking Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Find, Consolidate, Catch — 82 Fish

September 3rd, 2024September 3rd, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

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 …

0 feet 87.2F

5 feet 87.6F

10 feet 87.9F

15 feet 87.9F

20 feet 87.9F

25 feet 87.9F

30 feet 87.2F

35 feet 85.6F

40 feet 84.2F

45 feet 83.3F

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

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1431 – sawtoothing MAL Originals, then downrigging #12 Pets for 47 fish by 8:30

Area B0273G — smoking MAL Originals for 16 fish by 9A

Area vic 1077 to 1362 – smoking MAL Minis for a final 19 fish

Bob Maindelle

Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

#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 #austinsubaru

That School Bell Has Yet to Ring in Cairo — 101 Fish

August 16th, 2024August 16th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

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 …

0 feet 88.2F

5 feet 88.6F

10 feet 88.8F

15 feet 88.8F

20 feet 88.5F

25 feet 87.9F

30 feet 86.7F

35 feet 85.5F

40 feet 84.8F

45 feet 83.8F

50 feet 82.1F

55 feet 80.5F

60 feet 79.7F

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

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1126 thru B0170C – 44 fish on downriggers

Area B0170C – 8 white bass on sawtoothed & smoked MAL Original

Area vic 565 – 49 fish on smoked MAL Minis

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Cherry Pickin’ with Cowboys — 105 Fish

August 15th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This past Wednesday evening I fished with returning guest Dustin Marsh, a large animal veterinarian based in the Bryan/College Station area who specializes in dairy herd care. Coming with Dustin for the first time aboard my boat was James Becker who makes a living doing all things cattle, including international export.

Based on my observations over the past few weeks, I knew fishing for quality fish was not going to really kick in until after 6:30, so, we met up and “cherry picked” fished in just the final two hours before dark.

DATE: Wednesday, 14 August 2024 (PM)

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

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: James Becker and Dustin Marsh with a few of the 105 fish they picked off using Garmin LiveScope and MAL Originals “smoked” vertically on Lake Belton.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: With just two hours to make it happen, I went with a “high percentage” option as far as fish location was concerned, and that turned out well. We essentially drove right to the fish, Spot-Locked atop of them in ~26 feet of water and landed 63 until the dimming light pushed the fish shallower. We bumped up into 20′, Spot-Locked again, and finished out the trip on this second anchorage, taking our tally up to 105 fish, all caught and released. The only tactic necessary was “smoking” vertically with the MAL Original. This was certainly enhanced by Garmin LiveScope, but that technology was only icing on the cake.

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

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We “smoked” MAL Originals vertically for the entire evening to wear out the keeper white bass. Find all MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 105 fish caught and released, including 2 drum, 1 largemouth bass, 5 short white bass, and 97 legal white bass with several exceeding 14″.

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 …

0 feet 87.6F

5 feet 88.2F

10 feet 88.5F

15 feet 87.2F

20 feet 86.2F

25 feet 85.6F

30 feet 85.3F

35 feet 85.0F

40 feet 84.5F

45 feet 83.7F

50 feet 81.9F

55 feet 80.7F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35P

End Time: 8:35P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 100F

Elevation: 0.2′ low and falling slowly with a 33 cfs flow; .04′ fall in last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 88.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: S10 all evening

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

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 68% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 164 – 63 fish on smoked MAL Originals

Area vic 2037 – 42 fish on smoked MAL Originals

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Caught ’em Until His Hands Hurt — 118 Fish

August 15th, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

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 …

0 feet 87.6F

5 feet 88.2F

10 feet 88.5F

15 feet 87.2F

20 feet 86.2F

25 feet 85.6F

30 feet 85.3F

35 feet 85.0F

40 feet 84.5F

45 feet 83.7F

50 feet 81.9F

55 feet 80.7F

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

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 0142 – 7 short whites on smoked MAL Minis

Area vic B0238G – 4 short whites on smoked MAL Minis

Area 1822 – 107 white bass on smoked MAL Originals

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Fueled by Adrenaline and String Cheese — 105 Fish, MAL Heavy & MAL Dense Lures, 21 May,

May 21st, 2024May 21st, 2024 by Bob Maindelle

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…

0 feet 74.8F

5 feet 74.9F

10 feet 74.9F

15 feet 74.9F

20 feet 74.9F

25 feet 74.8F

30 feet 73.8F

35 feet 71.7F

40 feet 70.3F

45 feet 69.9F

50 feet 68.8F

55 feet 68.5F

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

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 239 for sunfish

Areas SHFL24015 and SHFL24013 – produced all of our white bass

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER — 132 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

November 26th, 2023 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday morning, November 25, I fished with first time guests, Maurice and Galen Hall, a father and son team.

Maurice lives out in Oglesby, Texas, and works in the maintenance field for a company in Killeen. Galen recently left the US Army where he served as an infantryman, and now works in chemical manufacturing down south of Houston.

Galen brought his wife and 14 month old child in for the weekend in order to treat his dad to this fishing trip for his 63rd birthday. Here is how the fishing went…

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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are Nov. 27 – 30

PHOTO CAPTION: Maurice Hall, left, was treated to a fishing trip for his 63rd birthday by his son, Galen, who drove in from League City the night before to make this trip happen. The pair landed 132 fish during their 4-hour morning trip.

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: 25 Nov. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

With consistently cloudy skies and a consistent wind, we enjoyed consistent action from start to finish today. In fact, I dare say this was one of the most consistent bites I’ve seen yet this fall in terms of the fish activity being spread well over the trip’s four hour duration.

Our middle two hours of the morning definitely saw more aggressive action both by fish and birds, but the first and last hour also produced well. During our second hour of the trip from about 8 to 9 AM, the birds and the fish were so active that I had Galen and Maurice use MAL Dense Lures with a sawtooth tactic to put 33 fish in the boat. This call was made easier when I observed that the fish and birds were both feeding on shad, roughly 3.5 inches in length.

In the time leading up to that aggressive activity, and again as the fish begin to tone down thereafter, we relied on my fall standby tactic of smoking the 5/8 ounce, white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab used in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

We hit only five areas today with the first four being fairly near one another thanks to the fish staying bunched up and active, and responding well to the splasher.

By the time 11:20 had rolled around, the bite had just about fizzled. The 132 fish Galen and Maurice caught consisted of a mix of 2 hybrid, striped bass, 4 largemouth bass, and 126 white bass, of which, approximately 85% were legal with a solid number of three year-old fish in the mix going right at 13 inches.

Here is a tutorial on the smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 162 fish caught and released.

OBSERVATIONS: The water temperature profile measured on 20 Nov., was:

0 feet, 65.9F
5 feet, 65.6F
10 feet, 65.6F
15 feet, 65.6F
20 feet, 65.6F
25 feet, 65.5F
30 feet, 65.5F
35 feet, 65.5F
40 feet, 65.5F
45 feet, 65.5F
50 feet, 65.5F
55 feet, 65.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:10A

End Time: 11:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation: 15.38 feet low, 47 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 62.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSE9 to 13 all morning

Sky Condition: 15-30% thin white cloud cover on a blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 96% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas:

958 – 35 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

B0237G – 43 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

1945/1552 – 20 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

1290 – 3 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

B0242G – 31 fish smoking Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs

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)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com