Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:20a

Air Temp: 73F pre-dawn climbing to 92 by day’s end

Water Temp: 78.9F

Wind: S at 20 pre-dawn, building to 25 by trips end, and occasionally gusting to 35+ for the 3rd day in a row.

Skies: 80-100% grey cloud cover the entire trip

Fished a half-day Kids Fish, Too! trip with a dad (Brad) and three 4th Grade boys, Fritz, Eddie, and Reilly from Killeen. We met at dockside at 5:45am, went over the boat rules, did some basic casting instruction and we were off to the first spot of the day. None of these four guests had much fishing experience or luck on previous trips, and Reilly had never caught a fish before in his life.

We first stopped at Area 173 and, due to the very high winds, fished from an anchored position with the boys all casting (very well) from the portside quartering across and down-wind with shad-imitating in-line spinners and with blade baits. Action was moderate but steady right from the start with a mix of small largemouth and white bass which bordered within ½ inch either way of the 10 inch mark. We boated a total of 16 fish before the surface activity erupted.

Sunrise was obscured with nearly 100% cloud cover, and so the topwater got off to a later start, as well. At exactly 7:27a, I spotted the first school (although they could have started earlier and not have been detected on the heavy waves) of whites working the surface. We adjusted our boat position to get near them and again anchored. The boys caught fish after fish for about 45 minutes straight. After about 8:30a, the action began to slowly taper off as the clouds thinned and the skies brightened. By the time this shallow bite ended at around 10a, the boys had taken the tally up to 63 fish.

At this point we searched deeper water looking for schooled, deep fish which we could catch by vertical jigging with slabs. We got blown off Area 177. We attempted Areas 176 and 186 and found very sluggish, bottom oriented fish here. We managed one small white and one small crappie, but then moved on.

We hit Area 145 (about 30 yards to the NNW of it) and first started off slabbing with one small white going for that presentation. Sonar continued to show an abundance of scattered gamefish suspended just off the bottom over this entire area. So, we hooked up the downriggers and proceeded to downrig with Pet Spoons over this area in an elipse. The fish were very sluggish and all of the 3 fish we caught here on the downrigger came as we trolled into the wind with the spoons barely making headway. We landed 1 small bass, 1 small crappie, and one 11 inch white bass this way bringing our trip total to 69 fish.

With the winds building and the fishing really taking a nose-dive, we decided we’d quit while we were ahead and while all the boys were happy.

TALLY = 69 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 8:05a

Air Temp: 71F pre-dawn climbing to 92 by day’s end

Water Temp: 78.6F

Wind: S at 15 pre-dawn, building to 18 by trips end, and occasionally gusting to 28+ for later in the day (the first in a string of 3 very windy, dry days).

Skies: 10-20% white cloud cover the entire trip

Fished a quick morning scouting trip after having spent more time on Belton Lake than on Stillhouse lately. I headed first to Area 173 to see if the topwater action there was holding up, and it was! The first school of white bass mixed with small black bass broke the surface at 6:15 (actually unusually early) and fed for only about 20-25 minutes. Within 10 minutes after sunrise, they were done. Both species continued to remain in the area, and continued feeding, but not on the surface. I caught 34 fish with a popping cork and streamer up through 7:10. After that, all that remained active was juvenile black bass in shallow water.

I moved on over to between Area 177 and the shoreline and found a mix of whites and black feeding aggressively here. I continued fishing with the popping cork rig and managed another 10 fish here before they, too began to taper off.

I moved out to the breakline at Area 177, found fish holding on it, and slabbed up 3 large drum and four 11 to 12 inch white bass, all on a lift-drop technique. Once I established that a congregation of fish was there, I moved on.

I hit Areas 176 and 186 with sonar only and found what I guessed to be scattered small whites on and within 3 feet of bottom on the breakline over the entire length of the feature. Made a mental note of that and moved on.

Quickly hit the expanse between Area 135 and 148 and found much the same appearing on sonar as I say at 176/186. I dropped a slab down and immediately came up with a keeper schoolie white bass. Satisfied that I could put clients on fish for two trips later in the week, I packed up and headed home.

TALLY = 52 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