MAL Lure

DO YOU HAVE A LICENSE, & DID YOU WATCH THE VIDEO?? — 173 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 07 Dec., I was joined by a whole boatful of returning clients.  I had a contingent from Bates Nissan in Killeen, including David Vahrenkamp, who coordinated the trip, and brothers Clay and Robin O’Dell.  They invited along Jerry Worley, owner of the Jerry Worley Insurance Agency in Harker Heights.

My first question to everyone this morning was, “Do you have your license on you, and did you watch the video?” referring to the MAL Lure tutorial video I put together.

I’ve begun including that video in my pre-trip communication to clients so they have at least seen the basics on working this lure for white bass in a vertical “smoking”-style retrieve.

Everyone gave me a thumbs-up, so, off we went.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From right: Clay and Robin O’Dell, David Vahrenkamp, and Jerry Worley. Can you tell it was a bit chilly out there?!?

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 07 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

As was the case this past Saturday, we caught the majority of our fish today in the last 2 hours, whereas up until this point (since turnover), the best bite has been in the middle 2 hours following sunrise.

Although there was some sunrise bird activity, these birds were really only after bait on the surface, not bait forced to the surface by fish feeding from below, so, we left these alone and went to find fish with sonar while most other boats I saw were distracted by the birds.

We found three groups of fish large enough to make me want to stop the boat and put lines in the water, all within an eighth of a mile from one another.  These groups all behaved in the same manner, characteristic of fish just beginning to feed — the vast majority were glued to the bottom and most would not give our lures a sniff, but, when one reacted, a few others would come along for a look as well.  Slowly these fish got a bit more aggressive and we began to take fish slowly, but steadily.  This went on for about 90 minutes, over which time we put 38 fish in the boat.

We then encountered some real bird action — action fueled by feeding fish.  In the 35 minutes or so during which this lasted, we put another 30 fish in the boat.  When the gulls rested, we departed this area.

We hit two areas along a lip dropping from 35′ down into deeper water and picked up about 10 fish at each stop, but nothing to keep me from leaving to look for greener pastures.  It was now around 11AM, and we had 87 fish in the boat.

I decided to check an area where we’d found fish earlier in the morning, but passed on them because they were so tightly holding on bottom, I could tell they weren’t going to cooperate.  The sonar returns here could not have looked better — fish up to 2.5 feet off bottom already feeding.  Then, when we dropped our MAL Lures down, a few aggressive individuals swam upwards to meet them — another excellent sign.  Long story short, we fished these fish for about 50 minutes and added a final 86 fish to our tally as these fish just lit up before shutting down for the morning once and for all.

We landed a total of 173 fish, of which 172 were white bass, with a solo largemouth mixed in.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 173 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Brief gull activity at mid-morning which lasted for about 30 minutes — gulls and terns.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:40A

End Time: 11:55A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.94 low with a 0.04’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 59.43F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NW7-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illumination

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 151 with 3 short hops; 38 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 2038; 30 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic B0050G with 2 short hops; 19 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1489; 86 on MAL Lures (SP)

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

DAD, I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!! — 126 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, Dec. 2nd, I fished with Brian Linford of El Paso, TX, and his “homeless” father, Larry Linford, who is weighing his options after selling his home in Idaho Falls, ID, and is considering becoming at least a winter-Texas given that his adult kids all live down this way.

The two were visiting relatives in the Belton area and decided to give Lake Belton a try.  Larry hadn’t done much white bass fishing before, and Brian was eager to see how I put sonar, in particular the GARMIN LiveScope, into practice in a “real-world” fish-finding scenario.

After seeing what he saw, but knowing his wife would not be wild about the possibility of another sonar purchase, Brian considered his alternatives and informed Larry, “Dad, I know what I want for Christmas.”   Larry just laughed.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   From right: Larry and Brian Linford with a few of the 3-year class fish from our haul of 126 fish taken from Lake Belton on MAL Lures this morning in advance of a dry cold front which came in around 1PM.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 02 December 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

It was a pretty crazy weather day today which resulting in me having to postpone my afternoon outing due to forecast high winds.

We had a mild, dry cold front approaching from the NW, but this morning’s trip did not coincide with the pre-frontal wind shift in advance of that front, so, we had enjoyable conditions, but pretty average fishing.  We were aided by light, grey cloud cover, but hindered by a lack of wind.

When the wind blew, the activity level of the fish rose noticeably, but, the opposite was also true.

We put our 100th fish in the boat today right at 11:20, the, because I had already made a call to postpone the afternoon trip and was under no time constraints, we hit an area I haven’t fished in a while to scout it out a bit.  I found fish in about 35′ on bottom, and we fished them until they quit, putting a “bonus” 26 fish in the boat and taking our final tally to 126 fish.

In that mix was 1 freshwater drum, 2 smallmouth bass, 8 largemouth bass, and 115 white bass.  No hybrid striped bass in the mix this morning.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 126 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No gull activity today after a 4-day run of solid bird action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation:  0.87 low with a 0.01’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 60.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Light SE breeze at trip’s start, then just short stints of light breezes from the SW thereafter in the hours immediately preceding the arrival of yet another mild, dry cold front which started with a northerly wind around 1P, and which led to the postponement of this afternoon’s trip due to high forecast winds (18, gusting 25)

Sky Condition: Grey skies all morning with occasional mist, as well as occasional, brief breaks of sun through the clouds.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 96% illumination

GT = 60

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1483; 15 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 1489; 21 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 354; 34 on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic B0051G; 31 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area vic 579; 25 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

‘TWAS NAUTICAL — 152 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, November 30th, I fished with returning guest Shawn DeJournett and his father-in-law, Darryl Kaczmarczyk.

Shawn serves in law enforcement and is a U.S. Army veteran.  Darryl works as a nurse at one of our local hospitals and is also a veteran of the U.S. Army.

I actually texted Shawn at the close of my trip on Saturday to let him know the extended forecast did not look good for today.  Aside from the cold, which can be twarted by dressing well, we were due to have straight-line winds in excess of 18 mph with higher gusts.  Fortunately, as the next 36 hours unfolded, the wind speed forecast reduced and the overnight low temperature increased.

As we met at the ramp this morning, it was 37F with a pretty good wind chill factor generated by a NNW wind at 16 mph   — uncomfortable, but fishable, so, off we went!  The conditions were “nautical” — high winds, cold temps, big waves and spray, but, life is short so we fished on!

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  Shawn DeJournett with one of six hybrid striped bass we landed as we targeted abundant, aggressive white bass feeding heavily in open water this morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Darryl Kaczmarczyk with another open water hybrid.  This fish was already dripping milt.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 30 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

The fishing stayed strong today as the cold-front induced northwest winds reached a peak, plateaued, and then began to taper during our time on the water this morning.  The fish were so active, in fact, that they were hard to pin down until late morning when they stopped moving as quickly as they did in the first 2.5 hours of the morning.

We were blessed to have helpful gull activity all morning, with the first terns showing up in the fish-eating bird mix for the first time this fall.

We found high numbers of mature white bass in three distinct areas this morning, each covering perhaps a football-field-sized area (about 1 1/3 acres), with each group moving generally into the wind at a slow pace.

Although I did bring some magnum Sassy Shad baits just for hybrid, the strong winds made me keep them idle and opt for the vertical presentation made with my MAL Lure rods, which accounted for 100% of our fish this morning.

We used Garmin LiveScope in conjunction with the MAL Lures to capitalize on both bottom-hugging and suspended fish using a smoking tactic.  No adjustment to the standard tactic was called for due to the minor water surface temperature drop experienced since Saturday.

Our tally of 152 fish included 6 hybrid striped bass, 3 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 142 white bass.  Very few white bass (under 12 total), were below the legal length of 10″.  This represented the greatest percentage of legal white bass as a percentage of the whole white bass catch I’ve seen thus far since turnover.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 152 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   Once again, the gulls fed hard for 4 solid hours, pointing the way to fish all morning.  The fish were moving actively and rapidly, necessitating “spot-hopping” routinely in the first 2.5 hours.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Elevation:  0.83 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour drop and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 62.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW16 at trip’s start, slowly tapering to NNW13 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Bluebird skies as cold front was passing through

Moon Phase: Full moon

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area triangulated by B0042G/B0098C/B0026C; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1205 through 152; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0040G thru BG0026; ; all fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

50F IS SHORTS-WEATHER, RIGHT? – 155 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Monday morning, November 23rd, I fished with returning guest Rick Snelgrooes of Liberty Hill, TX, his son Sean, Sean’s buddy from Orange Co., CA, Grant King, and Rick’s nephew-in-law, Tim Webster, from Ft. Collins, CO.

As I watched my crew make their way from the parking lot to the courtesy dock, my first comment was (only half-jokingly), “It looks like someone didn’t get the email.”

It was 50F and cloudy with a northeasterly breeze blowing, and Tim was wearing shorts and a hoodie.  I had on 5 layers on my torso.  I expressed my concerns but, Tim insisted he’d be okay, sharing that he occasionally golfs with snow falling up in Colorado.

With that, we headed out to hunt for fish.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   This was Monday morning’s crew, from left: Rick & Sean Snelgrooes, Grant King, and Tim “The Man in Shorts” Webster.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Tim took this nice 8-pound bluecat in ~47 feet of water.  Most of Tim’s prior experience has been fishing in saltwater on the Texas coast, or pursuing trout in Colorado and Wyoming streams.  He was a quick-study and picked up on the MAL Lure tactics easily.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #3: Sean came up with a deep-water smallmouth from the same area where we picked up the bluecat.  An abundance of shad had all sorts of fish pulled into this area.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday (AM), 23 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

Despite having fished my entire life, I still get excited when we get a combination of grey cloud cover and wind, just knowing that feeding fish are out there to be found.  This morning, although the winds had an easterly component, it was still moving the water, and the grey cloud cover stuck around all morning.

Since I’ve fished nearly every day but Sundays and Thursdays since returning from Alaska in mid-September, I was able to compare/contrast today’s fishing which was influenced by an easterly wind, with the fishing on days with wind from other directions.  I found that although the fish were willing to bite, they would “flare up” soon after we got our presentations down to them, go strong for a short while, then cool off more quickly than with a southerly or westerly wind.  Thus, in today’s 4-hour trip, we moved a bit more (6 stops in all), whereas I’ve been able to put together a solid 4-hour trip with just 3-5 stops under more favorable wind conditions.

I also noted that we had more fish “pass” on our lures as they cruised by, thus having to “work” harder to catch a given number of fish.

Once again, 100% of our catch was taken on the MAL Lure this morning, in fact, I didn’t even bring any other rods as I was very certain that without a major change in weather and with the water temperature remaining stable, the fishes’ interest in the MAL Lure would continue.

In all, we landed 155 fish by using a smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.  Once everyone got the fundamentals of the MAL Lure retrieve down, I then introduced LiveScope to make them more efficient by seeing/knowing when to retrieve short and when to retrieve long, based on fish reactions to their presentations.

It was a good day and, to my surprise, Tim’s lips did not have a notably blue tint to them by the time he was ready to wrap them around some Miller’s Smokehouse fare following the trip.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 155 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F

Elevation:  0.80 low with a 0.03’ 24-hour fall, and 30 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NE5-6 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous at 63% illumination

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0103C, 55  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 717, 14 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0053G, 24  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0057G, 12  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 606,19  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 1945, 31  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

FORMULA ONE FISHING – 151 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle
WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I conducted a father-and-sons trip on Lake Belton.  Due to his employment with a certain government agency, that father requested that his photo and all of the names be kept out of social media.  We’ll just call him Mr. R.
The boys, ages 10 and 12, had fished with me previously on a Kids Fish, Too! trip back in the summer of 2019, during which time their dad helped me help them. Given the extra year of maturity, and the prior experience the boys now had under their belts, dad fished right alongside the boys this go-round and ramped up the level of competition.
Somewhere around 9:30AM (and fish number 90 or so), we discovered we had a common interest in Formula One racing.  I’ve never done more than watch races on YouTube, but Mr. R. has been to about 50 races in person through the years, including several at the F1 track in Austin.
Just to put it in perspective for me, Mr. R explained how the entire cost of a NASCAR car (call it $100,000) would perhaps buy the braking system on an F1 car (valued at around $10.5 million).
Mr. R thought once to groom his sons to be F1 drivers, but, unfortunately, they got their build from their dad and it soon became clear they would quickly outgrow the small driver’s seat made for the thin F1 drivers.  But, hey, both boys fit very nicely in my center-console — just sayin’!

 

PHOTO CAPTION #1:  With grey cloud cover and enough wind to ripple the surface, Saturday’s bite was on.  We landed white bass, largemouth, and even one smallmouth buffalofish.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Little brother … big fish!

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 21 November 2020

HOW WE FISHED:

If you follow my reports, you know that grey skies and wind are my “confidence conditions”.  I just know when these two atmospheric conditions mix, it’s gonna be good.

Despite the cloud cover preventing a sudden brightening of the skies as we would have on a less cloudy day, the fish got right to feeding this morning and fed until abruptly stopping right around 11:10A.

During our 4 hours on the water, we fished just four areas, catching  30 fish at our first stop, another 27 fish at our second stop, 71 fish at our third stop, and a final 23 fish at our last stop.

Fishing was exactly the same at each location:  get MAL Lures to the bottom once the boat was in a steady hover atop fish we’d found via sonar, and work those lures upwards with a “smoking” tactic (with speed modified for the mid-60 degree water temperature).  At our second stop, I layered in the Garmin LiveScope and my crew went from being “hunters” to being “snipers”, actually singling out individual fish and working them until they either fell for the lure or turned away.

We landed exactly 151 fish this morning, including 1 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth buffalo, and 149 white bass.

See the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/

See tutorial video on how to work the MAL Lure here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=239s

TALLY: 151 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   No helpful bird activity witnessed today.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  7:30A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation:  0.79 low with a 0.0’ 24-hour change and 34 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 64.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were SSE5-6 all morning

Sky Condition: 100% grey cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 43% illumination

GT = 20

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0054G, 30  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area 305, 27 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0050G, 71 fish on MAL Lures (SP)

**Area B0052G, 23  fish on MAL Lures (SP)

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

#BeltonLakeFishingGuide #stripers #stripedbassfishing #rockfish #sandbass #freshwaterfishing #fishing

#bass #bassfishing #whitebass #panfish #crappie #fishingonaboat #fishingtackle #fishinglife #fishingsport

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#Fitec

FALL FISHING BEGINS – 50 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday, 29 September, I fished with Pollyanna Casey of Belton in pursuit of white bass on Lake Belton.

Polly was introduced to fishing by an aunt in Arizona at age 11.  Equipped with an old Orvis bamboo flyrod and some mismatched flies and tackle, Polly slowly but surely figured things out.  More recently she’s become a part of a bass fishing club in Copperas Cove and has added spinning and casting gear to her arsenal.

Today was about getting out and doing a kind of fishing she’d never done before.  She told me in the still-dark parking lot before we got going, “If I can catch just one fish, I’ll be happy.”    We then got in the boat and proceeded to exceed those expectations…

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Although it has been a while since I had one come aboard, one of the 50 fish Polly landed this morning was a “pygmy” hybrid striped bass.  This one launched off bottom in 46′ of water to chase this lure about 15 feet upwards as we watched the whole chase scene on Garmin LiveScope.
 

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday morning, 29 September 2020

HOW WE FISHED: After sitting out a day yesterday due to a mild, dry cold front’s passage which had straight-line winds at 21-22 with gusts to 30 all day yesterday, I was pleased to see a NW wind was still forecast to be blowing today before post-frontal, calm, bright conditions settled in.  This typically means good fishing in the fall.

As I prepared the boat for Polly’s arrival, I checked the temperature profile down to 60 feet and found the thermocline has disappeared a bit earlier than normal.  This is a major development which very few anglers will recognize or respond to.  This opens the gates to fall fishing and fish that can locate just about anywhere in the water column and at any depth, thanks to complete oxygenation of the lake.  

We began covering water this morning by downrigging under low-light conditions and found active white bass in ~35 feet of water feeding throughout the lower half of the water column.  We worked these fish over trying to “make hay while the sun shines”, suspecting that, due to the cloudless skies, the fish would shut down once the direct sun hit the water for any length of time (and they did).  We landed 12 fish before moving on.

There was a bit of a lull between leaving this first population of fish and finding another willing school to fish for.  Our next run of success came in ~40 feet of water on a barren bottom with a gentle slope.  I spotted the white bass heavily congregated on the bottom, and carpeting the bottom for about 3 boat lengths as I idled over them.  We Spot-Locked on ’em, got the MAL Lures going to work for us and boated another 32 fish in about a 75 minute span — not on fire, but not having to pull teeth, either.

Once these fish shut down around 10AM, the wind was letting up and we moved into more classic post-frontal conditions.  In our final hour on the water, I looked over 4 distinct areas (all deep, given the clear, bright skies and nearly calm surface), finding fish at only one of them, and working to land our final 6 fish of the morning to top us off right at 50 fish for the morning

TALLY: 50 fish caught and released (1 hybrid, 2 freshwater drum, 47 white bass)

OBSERVATIONS:  Temperature profile indicating the thermocline is nearly dissipated…

0 feet 76.3

5 feet 76.4

10 feet 76.4

15 feet 76.4

20 feet 76.4

25 feet 76.4

30 feet 76.4

35 feet 76.4

40feet 76.4

45 feet 76.4

50 feet 76.6

55 feet 76.6

60 feet 76.4

65 feet 71.6
 
 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F

Elevation:  0.50′ high with a 0.24′ 24-hour drop and 1,670 CFS flow thru the dam

Water Surface Temp: 76.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW breeze at 8 at sunrise, increasing thru 10 A to NNW13, then slacking off the NNW 6 by trip’s end.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 95% illumination

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 085 to 488 – low light downrigging for 12 fish

**Area B0078C – vertical MAL Lure work for 32 fish

**Area  B0043G – vertical MAL Lure work for 6 fish  

 

Bob Maindelle

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text) Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

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LABOR DAY 2020 WITH THE REED BOYS – 54 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, September 7th, 2020, I fished with retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant Bryan Reed and his 3 sons — Evan (age 12), Colin (age 10), and Carson (age 8).

After retiring from the military police, Bryan trained and hired on with Edward Jones and hopes to open his own office after spending some time at the office in Killeen, TX.

The boys, who came out with me on a SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip 2 years ago, all go to school in the Killeen Independent School District, and are involved in karate.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:    The Reed boys in 2020, from left, Colin, Evan, Carson, and Bryan.

 

PHOTO CAPTION #2:    The Reed boys in 2018, from left, Carson, Colin, and Evan.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was a bit laborious on this Labor Day Monday.   Thankfully, due to flooding and the fact that public school cranks back up again tomorrow, the crowds were fairly light, in fact, lighter than on a “normal” summer weekend.

We went nearly an hour working to get our first bite, and, even when it came it wasn’t like the floodgates opened and we kept right on catching them from that point on.  The fish were just in a negative mood until about 8AM, then things started happening right up until around 10:15.  

Around 8AM, we began to see larger schools of white bass forming (10-15 fish vs. 3-5 fish earlier on).  The shad began to ball up and suspend versus blanketing the bottom earlier on.  Nearby largemouth began to surface feed versus no surface action earlier on. And, best of all, a little resident flock of terns began to point out the most active pods of fish spread over quite an expanse of open water.

We alternated between downrigging and vertical MAL Lure work to keep fish coming in the boat.  Although the fish were feeding, it was not an aggressive, hard feed.  Only a few times did I find fish in a posture where I felt the MAL Lures would shine, and, when we worked them, the fish only stayed interested briefly, thus necessitating that we return to horizontal work with the downriggers.

By the time the bite in the vicinity of Area 062 began to taper off around 9AM, we’d gone from a tally of 1 to a tally of 38.

We moved on as the action was waning, but before it completely shut down in hopes of finding another population of fish which started their feeding cycle a bit later.  

We were able to relocate fish, this time in the vicinity of Area 453.  We downrigged to find these fish and caught a few on the downriggers, but really made money by using MAL Lures for suspended fish holding in a vertical band from 24-29 feet deep over a deeper bottom.

Once the fish quit the MAL Lure bite, they were about done altogether.  We only landed 2 more thereafter in ~25 more minutes of downrigging effort covering quite a  span of water.

To summarize, we fished a full four hours with the span from 8AM to 10:15 producing all of the fish.  We downrigged about 70% of our time today, with the balance consisting of MAL Lure vertical work.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released (52 white bass and 2 largemouth bass)

OBSERVATIONS:   A low intensity feed took place today from 8:00 – 10:15A.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:40A

End Time: 10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation:  1.22′ high, +0.20′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow (up 4.18 feet after ~4.50″ began fell on Wednesday – Friday, 02-03 Sep.)

Water Surface Temp:  81.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW11 at sunrise, decreasing to SW7 by 8AM, and leveling off there

Sky Condition: Cloudless blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous with 84% illumination 

GT =25

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 062 – downrigging and vertical MAL Lure work for 38 white bass by 9A

**Area vic453 – downrigging and vertical MAL Lure work for 16 white bass from 9A to 11A (with only 2 fish after 10:25)

 

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

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HAIL TO THE CHIEF — 70 FISH CPR’d @ STILLHOUSE; MAL LURE GETS A WORKOUT

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, September 1st, I fished with first-time guest Chuck Kimble, the Chief of Police for the City of Killeen. Chief Kimble celebrated his third anniversary in that position today.

Aside from Chuck’s current status as a public servant, he is also a U.S. Army veteran, as is his wife. The Kimbles came to Central Texas a few years ago from Fayetteville, NC, just outside the gates of Ft. Bragg.

Chuck recently bought a pre-owned Bayliner and is slowly getting into fishing as time allows, so, he came not only to catch fish, but to learn new approaches to catching fish this morning.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Chuck Kimble with some mature white bass we took in deep water on MAL Lures.  Chartreuse did the trick today under 100% grey cloud cover.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

HOW WE FISHED:  Today the weather “wrinkled” on us a bit versus the “cookie-cutter” weather we’ve enjoyed since the passage of last week’s hurricane-influenced weather.  The winds were up early and strong this morning, and we dealt with 100% grey cloud cover all morning, as well.

The fish were still generally in the same pattern, but the topwater feeding activity was much reduced today as the winds and cloud cover made the surface more difficult for gamefish to pin bait against. Generally, we downrigged from 6:50 until about 8:00, then found white bass heavily schooled both on bottom and suspended and worked MAL Lures through them until around 9:20. 

We then moved to an area I’d not fished yet this summer and alternated between downrigging and using MAL Lures to close out the trip with exactly 70 white bass landed.

The use of Garmin LiveScope in downward mode absolutely helped put more fish in the boat as we were able to very precisely time the rise of our lures through horizontally moving schools of white bass.  We were also able to track the rise and fall of our lures 100% of the time, thus allowing us to continue retrieving when we saw we were getting followed, and, on the other hand, stop a retrieve short and allow it to return to bottom once we saw no fish expressed interest.

TALLY: 70 white bass caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   About 20 terns were helpful in finding active fish between 8:00 and 9:15.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES: 

Start Time:  6:25A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation:  2.95′ low, -0.06′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  83.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: S12 prior to sunrise, slowly increasing to SSW 15 by 9:15, then gusting higher thereafter.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 99% illumination (full moon -1)

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 853 – low light downrigging

**Area 062 to 071 – MAL Lures worked vertically for bottom-hugging and suspended fish

**Area vic 912/1133 – MAL Lures worked vertically for bottom-hugging and suspended fish

**Area 1222 to 668  – alternated between MAL Lure vertical work and downrigging horizontal work

 

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

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TECHNIQUE IS EVERYTHING — 51 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 31st, I fished with first-time guest Mark Kieckhafer who brought his 2 sons, Zach (17) and Connor (16), and his girlfriend’s 2 sons, Mason Severn (14), and Griffin Severn (12).

Mark, who has worked for Wilsonart, a decorative laminate manufacturer, in Temple, for over 20 years now, came in a support role to help me help the boys be successful.

PHOTO CAPTION #1:   Zach Kieckhafer, Connor Kieckhafer, Mason Severn, and Griffin Severn with a portion of our 51 fish take this morning on Stillhouse.    

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

HOW WE FISHED:   Given the boys’ ages, their prior fishing experience, and how the fishing went this past weekend, I thought we’d be better off at Stillhouse today in pursuit of quality white bass.  

TALLY: 51 fish caught and released (50 white bass, 1 freshwater drum)

OBSERVATIONS:  Largemouth on top, white bass on bottom for middle 2 hours of the trip.  A flock of ~6-7 terns helped us stay on fish in the choppy water, complete with occasional whitecaps.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:  I could basically cut-and-paste Saturday’s notes here with little variation.  Thanks to stable weather, the fish did the same things at the same times and in the same places as they did over the weekend again today.

We began downrigging for suspended fish found in splintered wolfpacks through about 7:50, taking those fish on twin 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons worked at 27-30 feet.  

By 7:50, there was enough light on the water to get the deep bite going on bottom, and abundant shad schools began to show there, as well.

We used MAL Lures in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope to “zig when we needed to zig” — as the LiveScope certainly helps the angler in correctly timing the rise of his bait off bottom so as to intersect with fish moving horizontally.  It seemed the chartreuse MAL Lure had a bit of an edge over the white, perhaps due to the grey cloud cover which was in greater abundance today than over the weekend.

I emphasized over and over to the boys that, when working vertically for white bass, technique is everything.  I provided examples and gentle reminders about using the proper cadence, about how to start the MAL Lure’s blade spinning, how to keep fish from dropping off at the boat, and more.  By the last half of the trip all four boys were remaining tangle-free and landing just about every fish that hit.

The bite weakened around 9:45  — it took us nearly 25 minutes via downrigging to land our last two fish (which turned into 3 fish) as we tried to get our tally to 50 before wrapping up, as the vertical bite completely fell apart by then.

Start Time:  6:30A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation:  2.89′ low, -0.04′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  83.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8 prior to sunrise, slowly increasing to SSW 13, then gusting .

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 97% illumination

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 854 – SH0058C – low light downrigging

**Area 062-194 – vertical work with MAL Lures for whites under largemouth

**Area 1427 – vertical work with MAL Lures for whites under largemouth

**Area 258 – last 2 fish caught here on the slope from among a larger, disinterested group

  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

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MY SWEET LITTLE BROTHER … THE POTLICKER!!! — 103 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday evening, August 29th, I fished for a second time with the entire Olds family from the Austin area.  Joining me this evening were Brian, Tasha, Katelyn (age 12) and Connor (age 8).  They previously came out with me back in November of 2016.

Both Brian and Tasha work in the computer industry, and 2020 has been a very busy one for them thus far. 

They got to squeeze in a few vacation days for the first time in a long time last week, and wanted to do this fishing trip together before the busyness of the new school years with sports-filled weekends, etc. kicks in.  

PHOTO CAPTION #1: The Olds Family — August 2020

PHOTO CAPTION #2: The Olds Family — November 2016  

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

HOW WE FISHED:   As I thought ahead on how to conduct this trip and keep the kids engaged, my chief concern was the combination of very hot weather and the possibility of slow action in the first half of the trip, leaving the kids too worn out to enjoy the typically solid action from white bass about 1.5 to 2 hours prior to sunset.

Since the kids fished with me previously in November, and since that was 4 years ago, I thought doing something different on this trip would keep them engaged, so, I chose a few shaded areas where I felt our chances at catching sunfish would be strong.  Sunfish typically fall out of my catch by mid-October, but, the hotter the water, the better they bite. We hit two shallow water areas using bream poles and, with Brian’s capable assistance, we kept both Connor and Katelyn on the fish for a full 2+ hours, landed bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, and 1 longear sunfish.

As the kids fished, I noted that Connor had a “tendency” to flip his rig right into the same spot Katelyn had just pulled a sunfish from instead of fishing with confidence in his own areas.  I chuckled when I saw this and told the kids that in the fishing world, this is called “potlicking” and that a person engaged in potlicking is called a potlicker. 

Defined, a potlicker is someone who, instead of having the confidence in their own abilities to find and catch fish, simply looks for others who have found fish and then horns in, uninvited, on top of the person who has already put the work.  After introducing the term, as siblings will, each accused the other fairly routinely of potlicking for the remainder of our trip. Potlicking aside, the kids boated 62 sunfish.

Around 6:30-6:45 we shifted gears and changed our focus to hunting white bass in open water using downriggers.  The fishing was pretty straightforward as we used 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.  We got right into fish after setting the balls to depth, and the frequency of our hookups increased as dark approached.  We took singles, doubles and two sets of triples right up until dark, putting 41 white bass in the boat. 

You can bet the sibs were quite competitive on the downrigging fish count, as well!!  

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released (69 white bass, 1 largemouth bass)

OBSERVATIONS: No observed topwater action.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  4:30PM

End Time: 8:30PM

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 100F

Elevation:  2.75′ low, -0.05′ 24-hour change, 51 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:  86.0F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous with 86% illumination

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area B0032G and B0036G 62 sunfish in first 2 hours

**Area 085 – center of mass for evening downrigging for white bass.  Fished out deeper than this area up to around 7:50, then moved on the shallow side of this area for the last minutes of light.    

 

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

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