Stillhouse Fishing Report by Temple Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle
Date: 21 FEB 2008
Time: 1/2 day morning trip; 7:00am to 12:30pm
Air Temp: 63F, falling to 54F over a short time span around 8:00am
Water Temp: 57F
Winds: Calm, then beginning out of the NW and turning N to 10 mph
Fished today with Justin M. and Renzo F. of Killeen. At launch time, a heavy fog blanketed the lake accompanied by dead calm winds. The entire lake area smelled of shad. As I waited for my guests, I netted shad for a KIDS FISH, TOO! trip this Saturday, and noted abundant schools of surface feeding shad scattering each time the cast net splashed down.
When my guests arrived, we slowly headed out in a thick fog, guided only by GPS to the west of Area 110, and around to the N. of Area 117 to test the waters with crankbaits on a flatline troll, given that the overnight hours as well as the past few days have been fairly warm. We managed 2 largemouth bass (one at 3.0 pounds) and a white bass in the first 30 minutes and continued trolling while trying to stay amongst baitfish. No sooner did it look like we had something going than the wind came up out of the NW very suddenly, the air temp. dropped like a rock, and the fog completely lifted…new ballgame!
The shallow bite dried up immediately, and there was no bird activity to speak of. So, we headed deep and looked over the entire Area 54 complex with little seen on sonar save some un-bunched shad clearly not being pursued by gamefish. We managed to pick up 3 whites out of small, suspended schools on slabs. Surprisingly, these fish were fairly active and responsive to the jigged slabs. I mentally noted that the only fish we saw were suspended fish.
We then changed plans and split the difference between shallow and deep and went back to the flatline trolling in slightly deeper water than we had been in at the trip’s start, thinking we could capitalize on these suspended fish in areas where bait had concentrated before the weather change. This turned out to be a good approach, as we steadily took the fish count up to 21 over the next 90 minutes over Areas 117 and 999.
Slowly, the winds swung around to due N. and became steady at 10mph, the skies brightened through the still 100% gray cloud cover, and the air began to warm back up. Around this same time (~11:00 am) we returned to check around Areas 110 and 117 and found fish feeding in suspended schools over 24-25 feet of water around Area 117. As we slowly eased into the wind to follow the grade up shallower, we also found fish on bottom in 16-18 feet and were able to catch fish on the slabs consistently for 45 minutes. This, if anything, was the peak activity window, and during that time we managed 14 more fish, all nice, slab whites coming in at 13-14 inches and very fat with both shad and eggs. At 12:30 we wrapped it up as the skies began to fully clear and the fishing fell off sharply.
Our mixed bag consisted of 25 whites bass of mixed sizes, 6 largemouth bass, and 1 drum.
TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released
Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing