08 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished a quick scouting trip this morning from 7:15 am to 9:45 am. The weather conditions were just right for some first-of-the-year topwater action with heavy, humid, grey, and fairly calm conditions. The air temperature was 66F and the water surface temp was 69-70F.

I first sampled Area 999, but, despite the conditions and the presence of shad, did not come up with a single white. I did manage one drum here up shallow on a blade bait.

Headed to Area 116 and found abundant white bass action with the first sizeable catch I’ve made thus far on other than a slab. Managed 24 white bass, all 10.5 to 11.5 inches on a blade bait in 11-18 feet of water. There was some very tentative topwater action here with 1, 2, or 3 white bass in small pods pursuing individual shad of ~2 inches in length to the surface and repeatedly popping at them.

With my topwater curiosity satisfied, I began to pack up when I noticed an osprey making repeated feeding dives down to the water. I quickly headed over to the commotion at Area 144 over 11 to 13 feet of water, and saw scattered small pods of white feeding on ~2 inch shad here as well.

Used a blade bait, fly rod, and jigging spoon to see what the fish would or would not respond to. I caught fish on all three. Added 10 fish to the count here and headed in.

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








07 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Lake Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished an evening scouting trip tonight just to stay in touch with fish movement prior to my next bookings. At launch time the air temp was 79 F and the water surface temp was 68.5F. The skies were fair and the wind was pushing 14-16 from the SSE putting a nice chop on the water.

I planned to make a run of areas that typically produce in a north wind as that is what is being called for on Friday when I have both AM and PM trips booked.

I stopped at Area 120 first in 22-26 feet of water. Things looked very good on sonar with plenty of fish on bottom and suspended both near bottom and in schools well off the bottom. As soon as I got a slab down among them they tore it up. Put 10 fish in the boat in less than 6 minutes and then left this group of fish alone. The ten fish included 8 barely keeper whites, a short black, and a healthy, spawned out largemouth going 6.00 pounds even on the certified Boga Grip (photo appears in Adult Gallery).

Moved to the NW and into 25-27 feet of water and worked over Area 142 after seeing nearly identical sonar reading there. Again, as soon as the slab went down, the fish just got all over it. 10 more fish were added in no time flat. I left these fish biting and went elsewhere looking for active fish.

Moved to Area 88 in a little deeper water (34-36 feet) and again found solid sonar reading with fish spread over a fair radius from the actual waypoint plotted here, all the way over to Area 129. All of these fish were tight to the bottom, and no bait was seen. Again, no problem at all quickly catching and releasing 10 more fish and moving on to check yet another area.

Moved to Area 87 in 27-28 feet of water and had to jig here a little while to coax the fish into a feed after seeing fewer fish on sonar here to start with. As soon as the fish fish was hooked, up came numerous schoolmates showing on sonar, and that little bit of action was enough to provoke the school into a feed. Again, in 15-20 minutes here I added another 10 fish to the count and moved on, this time uplake.

Gave Area 78 a try with nothing but single suspended fish showing on sonar. Didn’t expect much and didn’t catch anything here.

Got to Area 142 and slowly motored into the wind to really be able to watch sonar well. There was definitely bottom-hugging fish here, so down went the slab and up came two white bass. After the second one was played in, the rest of the fish became harder to tempt (I suspect the feeding window was closing – and the wind had begun to swing further east which never helps). I put on a smaller slab and was able to jig up 8 more fish for a total of 10 fish here, too.

That was where the winning streak ended. I tried two more locations further uplake (Areas 100 and 888) and zero’ed at both of them.

Finally, after sunset, I found a small school of whites in a shallow area near Area 116, and worked them over with a blade bait for 3 more whites and a redear sunfish.

TALLY = 54 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








05 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle


Fished a Kids Fish, Too! trip this morning with father and son Randy and Andrew J. of Killeen, and Andrew’s buddy, Xavier W. of Killeen. We fished a half day morning trip from 7:15am to 12:15pm. At launch time the air temp. was 50F following the passage of a wet cold front on the morning of the previous day. This morning was clear and cool with light and variable winds. The water surface temp. was 67-68F.

We had very tough conditions to deal with today – bright and windless. Nonetheless, the fact that the water temperature has increased fairly rapidly has the fishes’ metabolism on the go, and we were able to consistently stay on the fish for the entirety of the trip.

We began our trip up shallow in 10-16 feet in the vicinity of Areas 110 and 116 and used a slabbing approach to put a mixed bag of white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, and drum in the boat. We landed 30 fish this way in about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

We then mixed it up a little bit and let the kids stretch and snack while trolling in this same general are. We took our tally up to 39 fish in this manner, including a new TPWD Jr. Angler lake record white bass, measuring 15.50″ in length and weighing in at 1.75 pounds (certified).

By 10:30 we were looking at sonar and scouting out some deeper fish on 24-30 foot humps. We found one solid school of whites mixed with drum NW of Area 54 after making 3 separate stops at other areas nearby after seeing fish on sonar, but not seeing real concentrations of them until getting to this area. All three guests stayed hooked up consistently here over about a 45 minute span. When the slabbing action died here we’d boated a total of 62 fish.

Around 11:30, the already tough fishing was beginning to tail off. We returned to Area 110/116 and trolled up another trio of fish including 2 white bass and a short largemouth, and then called it a day.

TALLY = 65 FISH; all but 2 drum were caught and released in good condition.

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








03 APRIL 2008






Stillhouse Lake Fishing Report by Stillhouse Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today from 7:00am to 11:30am. Skies were heavily overcast the entire time with a wet, SW wind blowing from before obscured dawn at 8-12 mph.

The launch time air temp. was 69F and the water surface temp was 67-68F.

I began checking shallow water due to the water temperature (12 feet and shallower) and found reluctant juvenile whites on Area 999. I vertical jigged for about 30 minutes thinking the increasing light would cause the fish to get more active, but this wasn’t to be. I left that area and headed to some clearer water.

Headed to Area 110 and slowly ran sonar over the area. Saw suspended fish and fish on bottom in 14-18 feet all over this area. Stopped and vertical jigged for 40 fish, mostly small whites. I experimented with a blade bait and a horizontal retrieve, but they weren’t enthused about that. About 15% small keepers.

Left to sample other active areas while the bite was still on.

Checked Area 130 in 24-26 feet with no results.

Checked Area 54 in 24-26 feet. It was loaded with fish and these fish were aggressive. I caught 20 and left them alone. About 20% small keepers.

Checked Area 140 in 24-31 feet. There were fish here but they we not nearly as active as at Area 54 even given the similarities between the two areas. Caught 10 fish here and left them alone. All short fish.

Checked Area 141. There were fish holding to the W. side of the actual hump feature here, but they were unresponsive.

Moved to Area 104 at the high side in 27-29 feet and finished out the trip here with 20 fish, including several nice white bass and 5 solid drum. About 40% keepers with several 12+ inches.

Headed back to the stained water which now had some light on it and gave Areas 127 and 91 a try without any results.

TALLY = 93 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