white bass fishing | Fishing Report

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SKIFF TRIP #5 w/ RYAN, MATTHEW, & CALEB — 100 FISH @ BELTON

May 3rd, 2020May 4th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Saturday, 02 May, I conducted the 5th Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2020 season. Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, I had this family on my SKIFF list, scheduled for Saturday, April 11^th. The boys, Matthew and Caleb were separated from their dad, Ryan, as he was on a temporary duty (TDY) assignment away from Fort Hood. Because Ryan’s assignment had concluded by this time, he was able to join his sons on the water.

ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge. S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. This program began in May of 2009. It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans. I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.

PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Ryan, Matthew, and Caleb with a sampling of their catch of 100 fish, which included 97 white bass and 3 freshwater drum.

WHEN WE FISHED: 02 May, 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fortunately, the weather cooperated this morning, complete with a stiff southerly breeze which kept some anglers home and other anglers off of the open water so the zoo-like weekend conditions often encountered on Belton did not materialize this morning.

Because I continued to scout baitfish and gamefish locations on my own during the shutdown, I was able to keep up with the movement and locations of both, and was able to put the fellows on fish from start to finish.

We fished 4 locations, all in deep, clear water, and found very willing white bass congregated in large schools at each. Using my white, ¾ oz. Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached, we fished vertically while the boat was held still by the Spot-Lock feature on my trolling motor.

Using the smoking tactic, we got the fish excited and kept them that way for an extended period at each of the places at which we stopped.

We began our trip at 7AM, and by 10AM had amassed a catch of 88 fish. Based on what I saw on sonar, I felt we still had a shot at hitting 100 fish, even though by this time the morning bite was definitely waning.

At this point, I changed up a bit (primarily to offer Caleb a bit of variety), and introduced the fellows to downrigging. Our first pass over a group of white bass holding near bottom in 40 feet of water yielded a triple – one fish on each of the 3 lures on the 3-armed umbrella rig we were downrigging with.

We stopped atop these fish and worked them until we landed our 100^th fish right at 10:30AM.

TALLY: 100 fish caught and released, including 97 white bass and 3 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS: High winds reduced heavy weekend boat traffic, particularly on open stretches of water. Shad spawn going full-throttle.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7A

End Time: 10:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 66F

Elevation: 0.80′ high, 0.03 foot 24-hour rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 68F

Wind Speed & Direction: S9 at trip’s start, tapering up to S17 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 20% high white haze on blue skies

GT =N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 677

**Area vic 2059

**Area vic 1743

**Area vic 472

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)

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow #BeltonFishingGuide #LakeBeltonFishingGuide

ALL ABOUT EATER CATFISH – 21 FISH @ BELTON

May 3rd, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday evening, May 1st, I welcomed returning guests Rick Powell and Ricardo Cisneros aboard. During the Coronavirus shutdown, I took my wife, Rebecca, and a handful of friends out fishing specifically for blue catfish on Lake Belton. Ricardo, who regularly follows my Facebook posts, saw this and hoped to duplicate the effort on occasions where he hoped to catch a few “eating-sized” catfish (12+ inches).

He requested I take he and his friend (and boss) Rick Powell out to show them what I’d learned.

No, I’m not starting to guide for catfish and don’t intend to do so in the future, but, as the fishery offers consistency and as the quality of these fish continue to improve on Lake Belton (due to zebra mussel consumption, I suspect), I will no doubt routinely mix in some catfishing in my multi-species trips. Additionally, my 100% C&R policy still pertains to this species.

PHOTO CAPTION: This is what the methods I’ve pieced together (with a good bit of help from Steve Webb) typically produce – smaller “eater-sized” blue catfish, two of which provide 4 fillets — just enough for a 1-person serving if kept and cleaned properly. Most fish are 12-15 inches, like this one held by Ricardo Cisneros.

WHEN WE FISHED: 01 May, 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED: First, I search for blue catfish concentrations on sonar. Next, I Spot-Lock and chum with range cubes, then get right down to fishing vertically with my “Catfish Plumb” bait holders tipped with fresh, dead shad or non-stink doughbait. To enhance things, I’ve brought Garmin LiveScope to bear, which allows slightly suspended fish to be targeted. Otherwise, the default bait position is just inches off bottom.

Concentration is a must, as the catfish typically take only one swipe at the bait, during which time a quick, hard hookset is a must.

In 3.5 hours’ time, some of which was set aside for Humminbird side-imaging explanation and Garmin LiveScope explanation, we put 22 blue cat over the side of the boat with just as many missed on the hookset.

TALLY: 22 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: As I searched for spawning shad, a definite, shallow-water and shad-oriented fishery is also ripe for picking, albeit short-lived with the action drying up about the time the direct sun peeks over the eastern horizon.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:00P

End Time: 7:30P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 82F

Elevation: 0.77′ high, 0.06 foot 24-hour rise, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 70F

Wind Speed & Direction: S17 at trip’s start, tapering to S14 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 30% high white haze on blue skies

GT =28

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0073C (fished it at start of trip and end of trip with 2 other non-productive stops in between)

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)

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

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

#fishingaddict #fishingpicoftheday #fishingtime #fishinggear #fishingday

207 FISH LANDED ON STILLHOUSE / BELTON COMBO TRIP

February 29th, 2020 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday I fished a full-day trip with Mike and Laurie Tomberlin from the north Austin area. Both are high school teachers in separate school districts and took the day off to spend outdoors with one another. The family owns a deckboat and Mike has his own fishing kayak. One of the main reasons Mike wanted to book the trip was to experience “off shore” fishing for freshwater pelagics wherein electronics must be relied upon for success. Mike grew up trout fishing in the West, and then became familiar with sight casting to shallow, visible cover, but knew there was another world of fishing in deeper water that he’d yet to tap into.

So as to do a “reality check” on both Belton and Stillhouse as potential kayak fishing destinations, I showed the couple, by land and by water, the majority of the kayak-friendly access points on both reservoirs.

We fished Stillhouse in the AM and Belton in the PM.

PHOTO CAPTION: For the relatively infertile waters of Central Texas, these fat egg- and milt-laden white bass are hard to beat quality-wise on Stillhouse this season.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mike took this deep-water largemouth on a slab. Like people when they spend time out of the sun for long periods of time, these fish get pale, and this fish was no exception.

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 28 February 2020, AM & PM

HOW WE FISHED: We fished Stillhouse from 7AM to 12:15P and then fished Belton from 2:35PM to 6:50PM.

Stillhouse summary – Thanks to a north wind (at a higher velocity than forecast) and clear skies, the bird action was cranked up a notch this morning. We found our first 3 groups of fish thanks to gull action, and found the white bass feeding in small packs up on mid-depth flats to be a bit more active than with winds from other directions. By the time the birds quit, we’d already landed over 50 fish, whereas over the past 2.5 weeks, a tally from the mid-teens to the low 30’s was where we typically stood at this point.

After the birds quit, we shifted our focus from flats to the channel and found two distinct congregations of fish right on the channel lip ready to feed. The first group yielded just shy of 30 fish, whereas the second congregation, which was deeper and much more densely packed together, gave up over 60 fish in our final 90 minutes on the water.

Every fish we landed, which included 1 largemouth and about a dozen drum in addition to all of the white bass, came on the 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with Stinger Hook attached. A very slow easing tactic was the go-to method save for when LiveScope revealed high, moving, suspended fish. At such times a slow smoking tactic was employed.

We caught fish from 32 to 48 feet deep. We fished up the morning with 138 fish caught and released.

Belton summary – We faced tougher conditions on Belton in the afternoon in that the N wind had shifted to the SE and lightened up. There was never a time all afternoon when there weren’t at least patches of calm water and just a very slight breeze rippling the remainder of the surface. We also had minimal cloud cover until the last hour when a low bank of thin clouds in the west obscured the sunset.

Fish came in spurts this afternoon as we found small, tight groups of fish, caught them, and then had to move to find more fish. Fish were considerably shallower than on Stillhouse, with most of our catch taken in 18-30 feet of water. Tapering bottoms were the common denominator this evening, with little going on along the segments of river channel I searched.

One promising sign at the end of the evening came when Mike and I were able to do a short stint of sight-casting to shallow white bass chasing shad to the surface. This was not wide-spread, and the fish did not remain on the surface, rather, only one or two would pop a shad now and then, but the fact that we found them in 2-6 feet of water and moving that quickly was a sign that winter is relenting.

Aside from this sightcasting with bladebaits for our final 10 or so fish, we landed all of our fish on the same 3/8 oz. white Hazy Eye Slab with Stinger Hook attached which served us so well on Stillhouse. 69 fish caught and released.

TALLY: 207 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: Shallow, aggressive fish taken on bladebaits at and just following sunset on Belton in 2-6′.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 38F

Elevation: 3.26 low, -0.01′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 51.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: N7 wind through 10A, then shifting quickly to the SE3, building to SE6, then tapering to SE2 with periods of calm through the midday period

Sky Conditions: No cloud cover

Start Time: 2:35P

End Time: 7:50P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation:1.55′ low, 0.03′ 24-hour change, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 56.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm to SE3 all afternoon

Sky Conditions: Clear until the last hour when a low bank of thin clouds in the west obscured the sunset.

GT = 0 (?!?)

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

STILLHOUSE

**Area 1512

**Area 1046/2013

**Area 339/1704

**Area 006/1715

**Area 1502

**Area SH0014G

BELTON

**Area 1077/1679

**Area B0003G

**Area vic 1882

**Area vic 1934

**Area 380/B0127C

**Area 172 – Blades 10-12′

**Area B0014G – Shallow blades

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)

REAL NICE FOLKS FROM MINNESOTA — 223 FISH @ BELTON

December 2nd, 2019December 2nd, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with 4 members of the Kovar family from just west of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Dale Kovar, his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Chelsea Rademacher, all flew down to Texas to see their son, Rhett, before he deploys to Iraq as a member of the Minnesota National Guard. Rhett only recently completed basic training and AIT, then got called up and has now been at Fort Hood living in the barracks since October. Two other siblings were unable to make the trip.

PHOTO CAPTION #1: From left, that’s Linda, Chelsea, Dale, and Rhett with a few of the 223 fish they landed under breezy, post-frontal conditions.

PHOTO CAPTION #2: Linda landed the top two fish of the trip this morning, including this nice hybrid and a freshwater drum which went 4.75 pounds.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 02 December 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Fishing was easy this morning. Birds started feeding and leading the way to fish just a few minutes after sunrise. The bird action was most intense in the first hour after sunrise, but did not quit entirely until around 10AM. We used two different methods this morning, depending on how the fish were presenting on sonar. If the fish were very active and chasing bait throughout the water column, we used a slow version of a smoking tactic to cover the water column; and, if the fish were less aggressive and holding on bottom, we used a slower, lower easing tactic. We used a stinger-hook equipped 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab in white color for both jobs.

While the birds worked, we made 4 stops under them as they moved about feeding, and typically began by using a smoking retrieve until the fish settled, then mopped up with an easing retrieve, and then moved to a new bunch of fish once the easing slowed down. We boated our first 100 fish by 9:19AM.

After the birds quit, we spent our final hour atop a school of white bass holding on a breakline. I layered in Garmin LiveScope at this point to help keep everyone engaged. These fish quit just a few minutes before 11AM. We finished up with 223 fish including white bass, hybrid striped bass, freshwater drum, and largemouth bass.

On two separate occasions the fish fed so aggressively that Rhett and Chelsea wound up catching two fish on their slabs at the same time — one fish on the treble, and one fish on the stinger hook.

Of course, when all was said and done, I directed them to the good care of Mr. Dirk over at Miller’s Smokehouse for lunch. I just wouldn’t be right to come all the way from Minnesota and not dine there.

TALLY: 223 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: I noted that in ~23 feet of water or less, even when birds were working fish and bait aggressively, my outboard would spook fish from directly beneath the boat. Therefore, I used side-imaging to find large concentrations of fish, then put my cursor on the H’bird Solix on those fish and let the i-Pilot Link system take us more stealthily to those fish instead of running over them with the outboard. It seemed that only those suspended fish were negatively impacted in this way.

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Elevation: 2.69 feet low, 0.01′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 57.4

Wind Speed & Direction: NW11 at sunrise and tapering off just a bit to NW8 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Post-frontal bluebird skies

GT = 70

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas B0153C, vic 1804, vic B0159C, B0197C – 4 stops along a line connecting these areas, all with bird-assist

**Area vic B0118C

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)

WE PASKO-TIZED ‘EM — 60 FISH @ BELTON

January 15th, 2019January 16th, 2019 by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, January 15th, I fished with long-time friend Bill Pasko on Lake Belton. Bill is a great multi-species fisherman originally from upstate New York, on the shores of Lake Ontario. After a short stint as a U.S. Army Infantry officer in Vietnam, Bill worked through age 55 putting his chemistry background to work for him and others. He’s now retired and fishes nearly as much as I do!!

The main focus today was to introduce Bill to many of the capabilities of the Garmin LIveScope technology. It also served as a scouting opportunity for me, as I’d not fished Belton since 04 Jan. when the lake flooded once again. Bill called me the day before after seeing my 11 Jan. 2019 post comparing the spread diameter of two kinds of cast nets at depth. His curiosity was piqued and so, off we went this morning in search of fish.

Long-time Lake Belton multi-species angler Bill Pasko with a pair of hybrid we caught over 50′ of water. These fish were suspended and on the move, but readily identified using the Garmin LiveScope technology. We used soft plastics on jigheads to seal the deal.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, January 15th, 2019

HOW WE FISHED: Today’s fishing was focused around the 34-37 foot mark and involved both snap-jigging with slabs for fish we saw on bottom and sniping with soft plastics on jigheads for fish which were suspended. The deeper the water, the better the fish responded to the thumper. The fish activity correlated with windspeed.

OBSERVATIONS: I was pleasantly surprised to see even smallish white bass eagerly strike Bill’s 4″ long soft plastics as we sniped for suspended fish. I’ve traditionally defaulted to smaller presentations. We experienced one episode of helpful bird action offered by ~8 terns over a short 10 minutes span, despite hundreds of ring-billed gulls sighted over open water.

TALLY: 60 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 42F

Water Surface Temp: 49.9 – 51.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm through about 9:30, then blew SSE6 for the remainder of the trip.

Sky Conditions: 100% coverage of light grey clouds

Water Level: 10.75′ high with 24-hour drop of 0.21 feet; slowly falling water flowing @ 2,984 CFS

GT = 0

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic B0107C – snap jigging

**Area vic B0110C – snap jigging

**Area B0117C to B0111C – slow smoking/sniping under minimal bird activity

**Area B0129C – sniping for suspended “thumped” fish

**Area 1291 – deep, slow smoking for “thumped” fish in 50′

Bob Maindelle, Belton Lake Fishing Guide

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

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

254.368.7411 (call or text)

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com