WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, September 5th (Labor Day), I fished with first time guests Dennis Donohoe and Lance Lundquist. The men first got acquainted through their employer, Fedex, where they both work as delivery drivers out of the Belton/Temple location.

Dennis received the trip as a gift from a relative, and, after rescheduling twice, we finally got cooperative weather and calendar “windows” and made it happen today.

My next open date will be on the morning of September 14th.

Here is how the fishing went …

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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Lance Lundquist and Dennis Donohoe with a pair of white bass caught simultaneously. We release 100% of our catch, and since these fish taken from cooler, deep water will perish very quickly if not released immediately, we do not hold them in the livewell until we get a bunch of large fish to take photos of … we show it like it is for conservation’s sake!

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday, 05 September 2022

HOW WE FISHED:

I once again chose Stillhouse for today’s trip because lately the only thing producing well for white bass on Lake Belton has been topwater action, and it is unreliable at best, and so much more so when the weather is turbulent. I felt it would be a bit of an “all or nothing” proposition if I’d chosen to go there. Then, since it was a holiday weekend, if the topwater did develop, the potential for that to turn into a ‘boat show’ was there, so I went with the sure bet over at Stillhouse.

We caught quality fish in relative solitude.

The fishing was moderately paced and consistent this morning. We found fish at two distinct locations. The bite at the first location lasted a full 2 hours and produced 38 fish. We then experienced a lull as the sun shone intensely and the wind ceased. Once the wind picked back up out of the west, the bite resumed, and we fished our final area, doing 2 short “hops” in the same area, and picked up a final 20 fish at that location.

At both areas, we took our fish vertically upon arrival, and then “mopped up” using a sawtooth method after the vertical interest died off. 100% of our catch today came on the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail. This is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lures, and is useful for these fish coming out of ~40-45 feet of water.

TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

Our tally of 58 fish consisted of all legal-sized white bass.

TALLY: 58 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS: The largemouth schooling action seems to have subsided. I am now consistently spotting small flocks of teal beginning to migrate south.

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:00A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Elevation: 8.50 feet low, 0.02′ rise in last 24 hours, 2 CFS flow (0.40′ rise overall due to Tuesday flooding)

Water Surface Temp: 81.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light SE breeze under 4 thru 9:15, then about an hour of calm, followed by a breeze at W6.

Sky Condition: ~20% white clouds on a blue sky.

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 70% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:






AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic SH0227G/SH0209G – 38 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz.

Area SH0228G – 20 fish working MAL Dense vert. and horiz. (2 short hops)



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

Nice post and fish. Good job.