United States Fishing Guide

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT “ASSUME” – 101 FISH @ LAKE BELTON

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, July 13th, I fished with a crew of four returning guests, including Mr. Larry Brewer, his good friend, Blake Hoekstra, Larry’s son-in-law, Chris Zwern, and Larry‘s grandson, Eymon McCormick.

Larry is a living legend in the Austin area HVAC world, Blake retired from accounting, Chris works for a medical imaging company, and Eymon is employed at a video gaming company after recently graduating from high school.

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 2 (AM)

PHOTO CAPTION:  From the left, that’s Larry Brewer, Blake Hoekstra, Eymon McCormick, and Chris Zwern.  That white bass Chris is holding went 15 3/8″ and was in great shape.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 13 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

As I sat on the bow of my boat awaiting my crew’s arrival, I was elated that the 14 to 15 mph southwest wind forecast to blow all day today had not yet materialized.  Rather, the wind was only blowing at about 8 to 10. Assuming that the white bass we’re going to feed aggressively on topwater under low light conditions once again (at they did like clockwork for the last several days), I just knew that they would be much easier to spot than in yesterday’s wind-blown tempest.

Well, you know what they say about ass-u-me…

Despite ideal spotting conditions, there was very little topwater action this morning, and what action did materialize was both weak, and short-lived.

By 7:30 AM, when over the past few days we’d had 20 or 30 fish in the boat already, we had landed only five at that point this morning.

Around 7:45 AM, the situation began to improve. I spotted a handful of white bass feeding on the surface atop an underwater anomaly. I swung in for a better look, and sonar really lit up.

I positioned the boat so that Spot-Lock would hold us about a cast’s length away from, and parallel to, the fish I found. I then put everyone on the starboard side, equipped with MAL Heavy Lures with white tails, and had them cast long and work these baits back with a sawtooth method.

Whenever the fishing got slow, I would move us a cast’s length into the wind, thus allowing us to cover this underwater feature very thoroughly.

After this area slacked off, I went to another, similar area, found fish there, positioned the boat in similar fashion, and continued working MALs with a sawtooth tactic. By the time these fish quit our tally was up to 88 fish and the time was 9:45 AM.

Having observed over the last two days how the fishing really began to tail off around this time of the morning, I told my crew that if we were going to hit 100 fish around the 4-hour mark, I felt we would need to downrig for them. Downrigging allows for a lot of ground to be covered very efficiently, thus weeding out the few still active fish amongst a majority of inactive fish.

We got both downriggers working, both equipped with three armed umbrella rigs. I ran #12 Pet Spoons with silver bodies and white feather tails on one downrigger, and #13 Pet Spoons with silver prismatic bodies and yellow feather tails on the other.

We scoured an area which sonar showed had quite a number of both suspended and bottom-oriented white bass present. After several rounds of singles and doubles, fish numbers 100 and 101 came aboard as a double which Eymon reeled in to close out this successful trip at exactly 10:25 AM.

Of the 101 fish landed today, we had 1 legal hybrid, 6 short hybrid, 4 freshwater drum, 1 smallmouth bass, and 89 white bass, of which only 2 were short.

TALLY: 101 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 taken the morning of  12 July:

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: 6:25A

End Time: 10:35A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Elevation: 14.22 feet low, 56 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 84.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW9-10 thru 8:30, then slowing tapering up to SSW13

Sky Condition: <10% white cloud cover

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 17% illumination.

GT = 50

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area vic 1937 – very light topwater activity through 7:30 – 5 fish

Area vic 1591 – consistent action on sawtoothed MALs

Area vic B0030G – consistent action on sawtoothed MAL’s, with ‘rigging to “mop up” as fish got reluctant

 

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…

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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 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

PLEASE BRING THE LIMO AROUND — 100 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, July 3, I fished with returning guests Larry Miller, his grandson, Cameron (Cam) Miller, and two grandsons of Larry’s brother-in-law, Don Bousquet — Hudson and Townes Slimp. Cam and his grandfather traveled in from Louisiana, and the Slimp boys reside in Salado.

This entire crew has fished with me previously, but this was the first hot weather trip we’ve done together.

I tried to keep this crew posted on our progress by announcing every tenth fish we landed.  As an incentive, Larry told the boys that if they hit a certain number, and if he hit the lottery, he’d get them whatever car they wanted.  Well, Hudson wanted a Corvette, and then a Lamborghini was mentioned, but, when it came to little Townes, he said he wanted a limo.  I told him that was very good “out of the box” thinking  — whereas the older boys wanted fancy cars they’d have to drive and fuel up themselves, he requested a car which would come with a driver to do all the work for him!!!

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 24 & 31 (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Hudson Slimp, Cam Miller, Townes Slimp, and Larry Miller.  This crew landed exactly 100 fish during their 4-hour morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Cam Miller qualified for a TPWD “Big Fish” Award by landing this white bass which exceeded 15″ in length.  The actual measurement on this fish was 16.75″ and it was in great shape with a very girthy body.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 03 July 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

This morning, I chose to move things over to Stillhouse, anticipating a real holiday zoo over on Lake Belton. Although there were plenty of anglers out on the water, the vast majority were after largemouth bass up shallow, so, I was still able to get to the areas I wanted to get to with my clients.

We used downrigging as a tool to find fish, catch them, and gauge their activity level, then when we found abundant, aggressive fish, we switched over and used vertical (“smoking”) tactics and horizontal (“sawtooth”) MAL Lure tactics to take advantage of what we’d found.

As the morning moved on, everyone got better at transitioning from one tactic to the other and back again so we had very little downtime between discovering active fish with a downriggers and presenting to them with a MAL Lures.

On the downriggers, I was running three-armed umbrella rigs equipped with #12 Pet Spoons. The MAL Lures I chose today were MAL Heavies with white tails now that the spawn is over and threadfin shad coloration is beginning to fade.

I had told the Slimp’s dad, Guy, that we would be back between 10:30 and 10:45. At exactly 10:20 AM, we had 90 fish landed. I told everyone we would give it until 10:30 or 100 fish which ever came first.

With a little time pressure now on them, the boys buckled down and really paid attention to their technique and to the sonar screens. At exactly 10:30 AM, our 100th fish came over the gunwale. Of those 100 fish landed, 99 were white bass, all of which were legal, in addition to one largemouth bass.

Two of the fish landed today earned the boys TPWD Big Fish certificates which will count toward Elite Angler status in the future. Cam took a 16.75 inch white bass, and Townes caught a 16.125 inch white bass. These were very impressive and healthy looking magnum whites.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released.

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

OBSERVATIONS:  Next to no schooling largemouth bass activity observed.  Here is the temperature profile measured on Stillhouse on 03 July:

0 feet, 85.9F
5 feet, 86.2F
10 feet, 86.4F
15 feet, 86.4F
20 feet, 86.4F
25 feet, 85.9F
30 feet, 79.4F
35 feet, 72.7F
40 feet, 69.0F
45 feet, 66.3F
50 feet, 64.7F
55 feet, 62.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:25A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Elevation: 14.19 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 85.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S6-8 all morning

Sky Condition: Light blue skies with 30% white cloud cover

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 105

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Downrigging from vic 1423 thru SH0033G with stops atop concentrations of fish mixed in

Areas vic 1423, SH0031G, 889, vic 867, & vic SH0033G – Smoked for whites w/ MAL Heavy w/ white tails

 

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