MAL Mini

Nobody On The Road … Nobody on the Beach — 57 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: Yep, it was like the Don Henley classic out there this morning …  this morning, Thursday, August 31, I fished a “Beat the Heat“ special trip with returning guests, Jim Wood and George Vanriper — and company was quite scarce!

My “Beat the Heat“ trips are three hours in length with the fee prorated accordingly (versus 4+ hours for a standard trip).   These trips are focused on topwater action in that low-light portion of the morning when such activity is most likely.

I’m offering these through Sept. 14 if anyone else is interested.

Jim, a retired surgeon, and George, a retired army aviator, used this occasion to meet one another in person for the first time after George asked me to suggest others he might occasionally pair up with to fish lakes Belton and Stillhouse. Both men are boat owners and are pretty good largemouth bass anglers in their own right, so , I helped put them in touch with one another.

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 Sept. 5-7 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  Retired U.S. Army aviator George VanRiper and retired surgeon Dr. Jim Wood with some handsome whites taken on early morning topwater on an all-but-deserted Lake Belton.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Jim and George’s catch of 57 fish included 3 hybrid, of which only this guy was a keeper (and was released).  52 of the 54 white bass were of legal size.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This was the view of the parking lot at the boat ramp this morning.  I love this time of year!!  Kids are back to school, summer vacation is over, football is kicking in, and hunting cranks up tomorrow  … all these factors equate to less and less pressure on the fish and freedom to pursue fish without being followed or crowded.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED:  Thursday, 31 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED: 

We were originally scheduled to fish yesterday, but, with a pretty stiff north wind still blowing after Sunday’s cold front moved through, I did not feel confident about topwater action materializing. We put off the trip until this morning when the north winds were due to let up and south winds were due to return once again.

This turned out to be a good decision.

Around 10:05, the winds went nearly slack prior to the forthcoming wind shift, and the heat really started pouring on. We wrapped up at that time with exactly 57 fish boated. As is often the case, this time of year, the lake was nearly deserted.

Although there was not the amount, nor the intensity, of topwater action this morning as compared to before the cold front’s arrival, we were able to get into about 90 minutes’ worth of action during which my two anglers were able to boat exactly 44 fish using Cork Rigs.

Cork Rigs, which I make by hand and sell on my website, couple a popping cork with a shad-sized streamer, and allow for a light bait to be presented at long distances.

Once the topwater action died down at 8:15, the job of putting fish in the boat immediately got much tougher.

We pressed on until about 10:05 and put a final 13 additional fish in the boat, including three hybrid, and, our only two short white bass.  All of these fish were taken using downriggers with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.

TALLY: 57 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the Cork Rig here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile taken this morning:

0 feet, 86.8F
5 feet, 86.8F
10 feet, 86.8F
15 feet, 86.8F
20 feet, 86.8F
25 feet, 86.2F
30 feet, 83.3F
35 feet, 75.6F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.5F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:05A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Elevation: 17.11 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  WNW6 at trip’s start, slowly fading to calm by trip’s end as a forthcoming windshift was underway

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Full super blue moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 75

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area 1055 to 1545 – 43 legal white bass & 1 short hybrid by 8:15A

Area B0084G thru B0085G, and Area 1223 – singles, doubles, and a triple for a total of 14 fish by downrigging Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs.

 

 

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

WORKING OUT THE KINKS — 80 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, August 7th, I fished with Mr. Gary Jones of Temple, Texas.

I first got to know Gary when I took him and a group of his buddies out fishing after he had bid on a gift certificate I had donated to a fundraiser for the Ralph Wilson Youth Club in Temple.

Gary really enjoyed my electronics-intensive approach to the pursuit of white bass, and booked a number of trips with me thereafter.  He also took me to lunch at one point, letting me know the purpose of that lunch was to nail down all of the customized features of my boat so he could put together such a boat for himself.

One thing led to another, and, about a year ago, he purchased a well-appointed Boston Whaler Montauk 19-foot center console rigged nearly identically to my own boat.  Ongoing COVID-related supply chain issues kept the boat from being completed in a timely manner.

This morning, I guided Gary, but did it aboard his own boat so I could show him some of the tricks of the trade to catching fish in the summer months. Along the way, we also kept checklist of things that needed to be tweaked on the boat to make it more efficient.

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 August 21 – 24 (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Gary holds the Pflueger Arbor reel with its distinctive large diameter spool and low gear ratio.  The large diameter spool allowed for long casts with the lightweight MAL Mini.  Of course, any spinning reel must be fully filled with line to provide maximum casting distance.  This reel was matched to a St. Croix 8-foot, PFS80LMF2 spinning rod to further enhance casting distance.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: This was the first set of two sets of triples Gary landed as we downrigged through areas where topwater feeding recently occurred but then ended.  We used 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons for this task.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 07 August 2023

HOW WE FISHED: 

Despite a 12-13 mph wind and the accompanying chop it produced, I still wanted to keep an eye out for low-light topwater action before sunrise this morning. If topwater action is going to be sustained in the summer months, it will typically be just before sunrise, and just after sunset on Lake Belton.

Despite the chop and occasional white capping on the water, we were able to spot a large group of fish which had pinned shad to the surface in open water, and which was staying put. We motored to within about 80 yards, then closed the final distance with the trolling motor so as not to spook these fish.  We then began throwing MAL Heavies with white tails to start the catching.

Although there were mature shad being chased, we noted that the size of the shad the fish we caught were regurgitating were generally smaller shad. We switched over to the MAL Mini, and our catch rate improved significantly.

I knew that if conditions allowed for the MAL Mini to be used this morning, that we would try to stick with it based on this observation.

After these fish pushed down from the surface as the sun rose, we were able to keep right on catching them as we downrigged in a roughly 1500‘ x 1500‘ area in the vicinity where these first cropped up. As the downrigging was beginning to play out, I noticed the glint of water droplets being thrown into the air by white bass feeding over a mile away. We quickly brought in the downrigging gear and made a beeline to this action. While still about an eighth of a mile away, we slowed down to an idle and begin to observe to try to appreciate the big picture.

We recognized three district schools of white bass all forcing shad to the surface and feeding briefly then disappearing before emerging again on the surface, typically just yards away. This action was consistent enough for us to make a go of it by sight-casting.

As the wind and distance to the fish allowed, we stuck with long, 8-foot, St. Croix Panfish Series rods, coupled with Pflueger Arbor spinning reels and light, 10-pound, Suffix 832 braid to launch the MAL Minis as far as possible.

If the fish were churning on the surface as we made our casts, we began to retrieve immediately. If the fish were not visible as we cast, we would count the MAL Minis down to an 8 or 10 count before beginning our retrieve. We continued in this manner right up until about 9:45 AM when the last of the surface action died. We picked right back up downrigging at the scene of the last topwater action and put a final seven fish in the boat including one triple and four singles.

Along the way as we used Gary’s boat in a real-world scenario, we found we needed to correct a number of things which I summarized and sent to him as a checklist to use following our trip.

In right at four hours’ time, we landed a total of 80 fish, including 79 white bass, all of which were of legal size, and a single largemouth bass, which was approximately 15 inches in length.

TALLY: 80 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures  here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile down to 50′ (Lake Belton, Monday, 07 Aug. 2023):

0 feet, 86.4F
5 feet, 86.5F
10 feet, 86.7F
15 feet, 86.7F
20 feet, 86.7F
25 feet, 84.7f
30 feet, 77.9F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 68.2F
45 feet, 65.6F
50 feet, 64.3F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:35A

End Time: 10:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 16.08 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 86.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S12-13 at trip’s start, slowly scaling back to S7 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a slightly hazy blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 60% illumination.

GT = 225

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic B0181G – topwater, transitioning to downrigging after fish left the surface

Area B0227G – topwater on MAL Minis

Area 1191 to B0029G – topwater on MAL Minis, transitioning to downrigging as fish finished feeding for the morning

 

 

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

AN EXTREME CASE OF BEGINNER’S LUCK — 44 FISH @ BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, July 17, I fished with mother-daughter team Julee and Claire Manley .

This trip was a Mother’s Day gift from Claire to her mom.
 
Both ladies are local folks, having grown up here in Central Texas. Claire recently began working in the medical field as a certified physician’s assistant after graduation from Texas A&M, and Julee, a University of Mary Hardin-Baylor grad, has been an educator for many years now, now serving as a public school principal
 
Neither lady had ever fished before nor had any prior experience with baitcasting gear nor spinning gear, so job number one was to get them trained up.
 
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 July 31 & August 21 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION: That’s Julee Manley and her daughter, Claire Manley, cashing in Julee’s most recent Mother’s Day present — a fishing trip with her daughter the day before Julee heads back to work as a public school principal.

PHOTO CAPTION: Claire experienced an extreme case of beginner’s luck this morning landing three sets of triples — three fish at the same time on a single 3-armed umbrella rig!

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 17 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

Overall, the fishing this morning was a good bit tougher than that which I experienced on Belton last week. There was no lowlight/sunrise topwater action, and very little such action at any other point in the morning.

The topwater action, although inconsistent, sure does make things easier, as you know both exactly where the fish are, and that they are aggressively feeding.

Lacking that, we had to more slowly comb over areas using sonar. When I found fish, we either downrigged for them if they appeared scattered, or Spot-Locked and began using a sawtooth method with white-tailed MAL Heavy Lures if they were more tightly grouped and on or near bottom.

We managed to put together a fair catch by constantly alternating between the downrigging technique and the sawtooth method. By the time the fish began to shut down around 10:10, the ladies had landed a total of 44 fish, including 3 hybrid striped bass (all short), 2 freshwater drum, and 39 white bass, all of which were of legal size.

TALLY: 44 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures  here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS: Much reduced topwater activity this morning, with next to no activity right at first light/sunrise, all in stark comparison with the first half of last week.

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Elevation: 14.45 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW8-9 thru 9A, then bumping up to SSW11-13

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover cover

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT:   That brown, flat line at 0% in the third segment down in the graph below is our chance of precipitation; unfortunately, it stays flat until midday Sunday.

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 814 – downrigging for scattered, small schools of white bass in low-light conditions with fish at 16′ deep and balls set at 10-13.

Area vic B0030G – downrigging w/5′ bottom tracking in 20-30′ leading to use of sawtooth method to capitalize on what we’d found

Area vic B0031G – downrigging w/5′ bottom tracking in 20-30′ leading to use of sawtooth method to capitalize on what we’d found

 

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

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING – 100 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Wednesday, July 12th, I fished with first time guests Jon and Jayden Stilley from Belton, Texas.

This father and son team had been anticipating this fishing trip since last October when Jayden received a fishing gift certificate from his parents for his 14th birthday.

Although wind and white bass fishing typically go hand-in-hand, this morning, we had a little too much of a good thing (and it wasn’t the white bass!).

Here is how the fishing went…
—————————————————————————————————–

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

Next available dates are July 31 & August 2 (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Despite wind and whitecaps, father and son team Jayden and Jon Stilley stuck with it for a full four hours and landed exactly 100 fish this morning using a combination of sight-casting, downrigging, and horizontal casting tactics.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday, 12 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

We got going at 6:15 AM, and, after explaining our approach for the morning, we began closely studying the lake’s windblown surface for any evidence of topwater feeding. To see white bass as they feed on the young of the year shad in a strong wind is difficult, at best. Even with a trained eye, I struggled to see what I was looking for. Although we found fish on topwater, I’m sure there was much more out there that went undetected as the winds were right at 13 mph with small whitecaps making the task of spotting fish that much more difficult.

We encountered two distinct groups of topwater feeding fish both within about a half mile of each other, and, by 7:30 when the topwater feed in this area quit, Jon and Jayden had landed 27 fish.

Although mature shad could be seen leaping from the water on occasion, the vast majority of these white basses’ diet was much smaller, young of the year shad. We verified this by observing what the fish we landed were regurgitating. Although the MAL Mini would have been my first choice for both fellows this morning, the wind made this light lure very difficult to throw.

John stuck with the MAL Mini a majority of the time, while Jayden used the MAL Heavy with white tail to gain the distance he needed to get to the white bass as they showed themselves on the surface.

After this area settled down, I spotted white bass relating solely to shad in deep, open water (60+ feet”. This particular group was feeding on larger shad, roughly 2.25 inches in length. This made our job of fooling these fish much simpler. Both Jon and Jayden took fish consistently on the MAL Heavy with white tail until these fish gave up at around 8:37 AM. Our count now stood at 64 fish.

For the final leg of the trip, with topwater action now completely done, I began using downriggers to find fish, either suspended or near bottom, with the intention of smoking for them, and\or using a sawtooth method for them, if they showed in great enough numbers, and were aggressive toward the downrigged baits.

This approach actually worked out perfectly. After two consecutive, successful passes over an area about 24 feet deep, the white bass numbers and activity level convinced me these could be caught more efficiently with a sawtooth method.

We quickly retooled, and with the boat now on Spot-Lock, I had Jon and Jayden cast perpendicular to the starboard side and work their lures back to the boat using a sawtooth method. They ran our tally up to 97 fish by 9:55 AM. With plans to wrap up around the four-hour mark, I told them that if we did not hit 100 fish by 10:05 AM, we would begin downrigging once again until we’d hit 100 fish.

10:05 AM came and went with no more fish landed, so, we put the downriggers back out and came up with a single for Jayden, then a single for Jon, followed by a final single for Jon. We put the 100th fish in the boat right at 10:19 AM and called it a great morning right then.

Of our 100 fish catch, 5 were undersized hybrid striper, 3 were just-legal largemouth bass, and the remaining 92 fish were all white bass with just a handful of those being short.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Find the entire family of MAL Lures  here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:  Topwater action ended at 8:37AM.  Here was the water temperature profile this morning:

0 feet, 84.5F
5 feet, 85.5F
10 feet, 85.5F
15 feet, 85.6F
20 feet, 85.5F
25 feet, 83.8F
30 feet, 76.1F
35 feet, 72.1F
40 feet, 68.8F
45 feet, 66.3F
50 feet, 65.0F
55 feet, 64.3F
60 feet, 63.1F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 14.16 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW12-14 all morning

Sky Condition: <10% white cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 25% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic B0153G – topwater sightcasting for 1.25 hours to very finnicky, fast-moving fish — covered 1/2 mile during this time. 27 fish

Area vic B0206G – open water sightcasting to white feeding on mature shad. 33 fish

Area vic 1974 – downrigging leading to sawtoothing with MAL Heavies, then back to downrigging. 40 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

OLD SALTS HIT FRESHWATER — 104 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, July 11th, I fished with first time guests Rob Pasichnyk, and his friend, Ralph Owen.

Both men have lived in this area for many years, and first got acquainted when Ralph was working as a contractor renovating a facility in where Rob was employed.

With both men having previous saltwater fishing experience and being capable casters, I chose to take them to Lake Belton, hoping they could put those casting skills to work on fish feeding on top water.

Here’s how the fishing went…

—————————————————————————————————–

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

Next available dates are July 31 & August 2 (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Ralph Owen and Rob Pasichnyk pulled out the full summer arsenal to capture a total of 104 fish this morning: sight-casting, smoking, sawtoothing, and downrigging.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 10 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

By the time our four hours had come and gone, Rob and Ralph employed every summertime trick in the book to put their 104 fish catch together. We sight-cast to fish on top, we downrigged for suspended fish, we used MAL Lures with a smoking retrieve for heavily congregated, suspended fish, and we cast horizontally using MAL Lures with a sawtooth tactic to catch fish which were spread horizontally on and near the bottom.

I was a bit concerned about this morning’s wind velocity as it was blowing hard around 4:15 AM when I woke up to prep for the trip. As forecast by NOAA, however, the wind speed cut back significantly to just 8 or 9 mph and stayed there for the first two hours or so after sunrise.

We caught our first 37 fish this morning in under an hour as large schools of white bass forced young of the year shad to the surface and fed on them in a number of locations. The “nervous water“ they produced when feeding like this was the giveaway to their locations.

Given that these fish were feeding on such small bait, I equipped both Rob and Ralph with long, light action, St. Croix Panfish Series rods, coupled with large arbor reels and light braid to be able to maximize casting distance on standalone MAL Mini Lures.

When the top water died at this location, we moved to yet another area where topwater action was still going on. We fished these fish in much the same way, except that when they left the surface, we retooled with MAL Heavy Lures and continued picking up fish using a sawtooth method.

Once this top water action dried up for good, we switched back-and-forth between downrigging to find fish, and then taking advantage of what we’d found by either smoking or sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope.

As we wrapped up at 10:15, it was still quite comfortable out thanks to some high, gray cloud cover which had moved into the area right after the topwater action died, and thanks to a now 10 to 12 mph breeze blowing from the SSW.

Of the 104 fish caught today, four were short hybrid stripers, one was an 18-inch, 3-pound hybrid striper, two were freshwater drum, and the balance were white bass with the five largest approaching the 14 inch mark.

TALLY: 104 fish caught and released.

See a tutorial on the smoking tactic here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Find the entire family of MAL Lures  here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:  Topwater action ended at 8:10AM.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:15A

End Time: 10:20A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation: 14.1 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW6-12 all morning

Sky Condition: Thin, grey cloud cover made the latter half of the trip bearable

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 35% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 814 – 37 fish via sightcasting with MAL Minis

Area vic 483 – 23 fish via sightcasting Minis, then sawtoothing MAL Heavies once the fish left the surface

Area vic 1738 – downrigging leading to smoking

Area 1608 thru B0030G – downrigging leading to smoking/sawtoothing

 

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