MAL Lure

THE WHITE BASS BROTHERS — 200 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Tuesday, 24 May 2022, I fished with long-time clients Joe, Jack, and Jamie Oliver, all brothers who grew up around Lake Belton.

Joe is a retired coach and school district superintendent, Jack owns an electrical contracting business near Marble Falls and dabbles in real estate, and Jamie just recently retired from counseling and moved back to the Belton/Temple area.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 12th – 14th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Joe, Jack, & Jamie Oliver took fish after fish today for a final tally of 200 caught and released.  The grey skies and wind had the fish cranked up pretty good until around 10AM.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: We used the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail in deep water exclusively today as higher winds at sunrise eliminated any visible, shallow topwater action.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday (AM), 24 May 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing was solid this morning, albeit a bit one-dimensional.  Thanks to a stiff pre-dawn breeze out of the ENE around 12 mph, there was no topwater action to be found as was the case yesterday morning under balmier conditions.

So, after about 20 minutes spent looking for topwater action, we headed out deep, found fish consistently, and fished effectively with MAL Dense Lures used vertically with a “smoking” tactic.

I continue to have the MAL Dense with chartreuse tails tied on to match the vivid yellow tails of the spawning threadfin shad.  On that topic, the spawn has now just about run its course, with only dribs and drabs of fish hitting the shoreline to spawn — gone are the 45 to 60 minute-long, unbroken waves of fish which were commonplace just a few days ago.

With a cold front on the way and storms due to spark up as it passes through, we kept a wary eye on weather radar for the entire trip, but, never had a drop of rain fall on us over the full 4-hour duration.

The fish bit well through ~9:55AM, then downshifted to nil over the following hour.

By 9:55, we’d landed 181 fish.  We were only able to muster an additional 19 fish in that final hour from 9:55 to 10:50 to bring our final count to 200 fish, with fooling the last 6 fish being quite the feat as the whites got very lethargic very quickly.

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our 200 fish catch included exactly 198 white bass, 1 sub-legal hybrid striped bass, and 1 largemouth bass.  Once again, fewer than 20 of our white bass were short.

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY:  200 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:  Water temperature profile comparing this morning with last Thursday (on 19 May, prior to the arrival of our current cold front on Saturday, 21 May:

24-May 19-May
0 feet 77.9 0 feet 78. 8
5 feet 78.1 5 feet 78. 8
10 feet 78.1 10 feet 78. 6
15 feet 78.1 15 feet 78.4
20 feet 78.1 20 feet 78.1
25 feet 77.9 25 feet 77. 9
30 feet 76.7 30 feet 76. 8
35 feet 72.2 35 feet 72.2
40 feet 67.4 40 feet 68.2
45 feet 66.0 45 feet 64.5
50 feet 63.8 50 feet 62.2
55 feet 61.7 55 and 61.8

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time:  10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F

Elevation: 4.37 feet low, 0.05’ fall in last 24 hours, 32 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 77.9F

Wind Speed & Direction:  ENE12 at trip’s start, slowly shifting toward the S and building to ESE14 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Fully greyed skies all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 32% illumination.

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1012/1552 (46 fish), 150/1298 (114 fish), B0042G (53 fish), 1489/B0005C (21 fish), vic 835 (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)

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 #mepps

THANKS, BOSS!! — 201 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Thursday, 19 May 2022, I fished with Aaron Martin, owner of A.M. Designs.

A.M. Designs makes “props” of all sizes out of foam for high school bands, theater companies, businesses, churches, and more.

Aaron brought with him three current employees and one former employee on a half-day morning fishing trip in pursuit of white bass.

Joining Aaron was Mason Stuart, Travis Reynolds, Coey Malina, and Jesus Suarez.

If you are a boss and would like to treat your employees to something like this, just give me a call!

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next openings will be on July 7th and 12th.  Weekday mornings are always best.  Saturdays are available for on-the-water sonar training sessions (only) until after Labor Day when I’ll again offer Saturday morning fishing trips (until mid-March 2023).

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Travis Reynolds, Mason Stuart, Jesus Suarez, Aaron Martin, and Coey Malina with but a few of the 201 fish haul these fellows caught and released this morning on Lake Belton.

PHOTO CAPTION:  The MAL Dense worked like a charm today.  All 201 fish were landed on this bait worked vertically with a “smoking” tactic.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (AM), 19 May 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

For the second consecutive day I had to adjust my launch location due to the forecast for high winds due to ramp up in the latter half of the morning.

With five anglers aboard, I decided to do a quick “demo” of the smoking tactic with the MAL Dense Lure and the Garmin LiveScope before we got out on top of fish, so that I could help reduce the learning curve a bit and avoid missing fish due to avoidable technique issues.

I get a little ribbing sometimes for having four gunwale-mounted sonar units on the boat, but, when I have a crew of 5 or 6 anglers and everyone has a clear view of the underwater world beneath them, including seeing exactly what their lure is doing as well as fish response to that lure, well, it is beyond worth it at that time.

Such was the case this morning.  I had two men looking together at the aft starboard Garmin unit, one man solo, looking at the forward starboard monitor, and another pair of men looking together at the port side aft Garmin unit (hence, the port side forward unit remained turned off).  Everyone had plenty of elbow room and everyone could see their bait rise and fall 100% of the time.

We fished four areas this morning.  The fishing was best from 7:25 through 9:30, then tapered off quickly from 9:30 through 10:15, and, by 10:30 the fish were done.

I observed very little in the way of spawning shad and I saw no signs of schooling white bass feeding on the surface.

All of our fish was done in 34 to 49 feet of water using the smoking tactic.

A complete description of the vertical “smoking:” method is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Our 201 fish catch included exactly 200 white bass, and 1 sub-legal hybrid striped bass.  Of the 200 white bass, only 6 were “short” (under the legal length of 10 inches).

The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY:  201 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: For a third day in a row, the shad spawn was present, but much weaker than in the last 2-3 weeks.  We are definitely on the downhill slope of the ‘bell curve’.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:45A

End Time:  10:50A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 4.19 feet low, 0.04’ fall in last 24 hours, 36 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 78.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S9 at trip’s start, building gradually to S16-17 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: A thin, grey cloud layer kept the sun’s heat off all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 84% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Areas 1012/1259, vic B0037C, B0042G, 835 (2 hops), 1209

 

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 #mepps

WINDY, WITH A CHANCE OF WIND AND MORE WIND – 115 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  Yesterday morning, Wednesday, November 17th, I fished with returning guest John Gossard of Morgan’s Point Resort, TX.

John and his wife moved to this area in August of 2020 and he’s been out with me three times now this year, with our first two trips conducted on Stillhouse over the summer months.

Here is how the fishing went …

______________

My next three openings will be on 15, 16, and 22 December.  Weekday mornings are always best.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Although we caught white bass from multiple year classes at each area we fished this morning, the first area we hit under low light and with bird activity produced the greatest ratio of 13+ inch fish.  John Gossard holds two such fish he took on the MAL Heavy Lure worked horizontally in 22-24 feet of water.  Yes, his hat reads, “humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa“, the name of Hawaii’s state fish, the reef triggerfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday (AM), 17 November 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We had a little too much of a good thing today.  The south wind which was so welcome on Monday and Tuesday as it blew manageably today gusted over 20 all morning, with straight-line winds at 14-17 the entire time, limiting the areas we could practically fish.

Today’s fish activity closely mimicked yesterday’s as far as location and activity level.  The fish did the same things in the same places and at the same times as they did yesterday, thus allowing us to skip searching in unproductive water and drive from one group of biting fish to the next.

We fished five areas today.  The fishing was pretty much “cookie cutter” at the last 4, with the action coming entirely on vertical presentations using the MAL Heavy Lure (white blade, chartreuse tail).  The first area, under low light and birds, fished a bit differently in that we had a lot of mobile fish just under the surface driving bait into the wind, thus allowing (actually, requiring) a horizontal presentation (sawtooth-style).

I observed that the fish seemed much more likely to rise far up in the water column after we created commotion by Spot-Locking and catching fish this morning that over the past two trips.  I suspect this was because the high winds significantly reduced the amount of light penetrating the surface due to heavy wave action.

Once again we took 3 largemouth bass in over 25 feet of water as a bycatch; we also continued to see the hybrid  striped bass stocked in 2020 make up 5-8% of the total catch.  I’m really hopeful that 2023 will be a great year for that fishery.

When all was said and done, we landed 115 fish, including 3 largemouth bass, 5 juvenile hybrid striped bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 106 white bass.

MAL Lure fishing tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViVz6D91brM

Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs and MAL Lures found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 115 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: 1) As is typical for this time of year, the largemouth bass bycatch has begun to take place.  We took 3 largemouth today (second consecutive day). 2) Next front is due in in the early morning hours of Thursday, 18 Nov.; the initial wind shift is due ~9P tonight.

Here is the pre-frontal water temperature profile down to 60 feet:

0 feet 68.6
5 feet 68.6
10 feet 68.6
15 feet 68.6
20 feet 68.6
25 feet 68.6
30 feet 68.5
35 feet 68.2
40 feet 68.1
45 feet 68.1
50 feet 68.1
55 feet 67.4
60 feet 67.9

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:10A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  68F

Elevation: 1.64 feet low, 0.02 fall, 42CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE9 at trip’s start increasing steadily to SSE13 by the 3 hour mark, then quickly going SSE17 in our final hour

Sky Condition: Fully clouded grey skies with enough light filtering thru to making it “squinting bright”

Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 93% illumination.

GT = 25

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1188 to B0100G to 1789 – 23 fish with multiple short hops under low-light conditions and with bird assistance; MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail worked horizontally

**Area 1075 – 14 fish; all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area vic B0103G – 21 fish;  all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 376  – 7 fish;  all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area 1815  – 35 fish;  all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

**Area B0066G – 15 fish; ;  all on MAL Heavy w/ white blade, chartreuse tail fished vertically

 

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 #mepps

PAYBACK IS HEAVEN — 160 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Thursday afternoon, April 8th, I fished with brothers Jeffrey (age 14) and Jacob (age 11) Long, accompanied by their neighbor, Mr. Brad Phillips who came not to fish, but to help me help the boys be successful.

Brad runs a local home inspection business and has fished with me previously, which is what led him to call on me to show the boys he brought out a good time.

Mr. Phillips had a water line to an icemaker break during the “big freeze” of ’21, which, in turn caused much ceiling damage.  Well, despite the cold and the messy work, the boys (and their dad who is in construction) hauled over tools and materials sufficient to make the house useable and livable until a permanent repair could be effected.

Today’s trip was Mr. Phillips’ way of repaying the boys for their help and kindness.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Jeffrey Long (age 14) and his brother, Jacob (age 11) wore the white bass out this evening with the fishing greatly enhanced by approaching storms.  Check out that grey sky in the background.  The MAL Lures they used put 160 fish in the boat in just under 3.5 hours.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday (PM), 08 April 2021

HOW WE FISHED:

We started our hunt for fish this afternoon under light blue skies with a high, thin, white haze and SSE winds at 13-14 — not “made to order” weather, but decent.  As the afternoon moved on, we got more wind (up to 16 straight-line with brief, higher gusts), and, more importantly, we had some turbulent weather move in on us from the north and west in the form of a storm cell which would later drop damaging hail on Belfalls, Westphalia, and other nearby communities.

As most afternoon trips do, this trip began a bit slowly.  We found fish without much problem, but we had to present to quite a number of fish to get just one or two to perk up and strike.  Add to this the fact that the boys were new to the tactics we were employing, and, as a result, we did just okay during our first 70 minutes or so.  We fished three “short hops” at one vicinity and pulled 36 fish.  By the time we left, the fish were beginning to perk up, and the skies were getting greyer by the minute.  It was fixin’ to get good!

Our next stop saw the boys, now much more experienced and making none of the rookie mistakes they were making at the beginning of the trip, take another 73 white bass from one Spot-Lock position.  The weather was definitely causing the fish to stir.  It was still prior to 6P, and already the fish were beginning to rise up off the bottom, well up into the water column, and were beginning to chase shad swiftly.

Once this area’s productivity began to fade, I moved us right away (not waiting for the action to grind to a halt) as I knew we could find and catch fish more quickly elsewhere.  We checked two more areas.  The first was a bust.  The second was a gold mine.

We set up over about 36 feet of water.  The white bass were 2.5 to 3 feet thick on bottom, and more active fish were just swarming throughout the lower half of the water column.  As I got us set up with Spot-Lock and got the Garmin LiveScope aimed well, we could hear the distant rumbling of thunder to the NW.  Hamilton Co. was under a thunderstorm warning. The weather was turning these fish on, but the threat of being driven off the lake by that very same weather became a very real concern.

At 6:50P, the boys let their MAL Lures down into the feeding frenzy and the fish literally swam upwards to meet their falling baits.  The boya landed fish after fish after fish, most 12-13 inches, for 35 minutes straight, taking our tally from 109 to a final count of 160.  That’s 51 fish in 35 minutes;  I couldn’t keep up taking fish off the hook — I handed Brad a pair of curved-tip forceps and he backed me up!

We’d planned to stay until 7:30 at the latest, but, at 7:26, the wind suddenly shifted 180-degrees and picked up speed, and, the temperature begin to drop sharply.  We hauled in all the gear and made a beeline back to the boat ramp.

We never did see a bolt of lightning nor have a drop of rain fall on us, but, a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Bell Co. between the time I dropped my crew off and the time I got my boat on the trailer.

What an evening of fishing!!  We finished up with exactly 160 fish, including 157 white bass, 1 smallmouth bass, and 2 freshwater drum.  100% of these fish were caught on my MAL Lure retrieved with a moderate cadence.

Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/

TALLY: 160 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: No bird assistance this afternoon.  Fish activity was spurred on by turbulent weather.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  4:00P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation:  0.80 feet low, .04 foot 24-hour fall, 26 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 66.2 F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE13-14, increasing to SSE15-16, then turning NW suddenly around 7:30 in advance of storms

Sky Condition: Cloudless for first hour with high, thin haze, then grey skies slowly sliding in and thickening over the remainder of the trip.

Moon Phase: Waning crescent at 12% illum.

GT = 45

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area V0153 – 3 short hops for 36 fish; MAL Lures

**Area B0064G – one stop for 73 fish; MAL Lures

**Area 564 – one stop for 51 fish; MAL 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

#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

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