Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 9:45a

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start, and 91 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 85F

Wind: Light from the NE at 5-7 pre-dawn, increasing suddenly from N at 14-16 at 8:15a.

Skies: Fair skies all day.

REPORT:

Fished a quick, solo 3 hour trip this morning before the recreations crowd got on the water to close out this Labor Day weekend.

There was a pleasant, dry north breeze blowing today due to the counterclockwise rotation of Hurricane Gustav located to the east of us, making landfall this morning as a Category 2 storm with the eye coming ashore near Houma, Louisiana. This north breeze started off gently at 6-7 mph, creating a light chop, but then quickly built to 14-16mph and then leveled off there for the entire day.

I Carolina Rigged pre-dawn through just after sunrise with 3 strike and 0 hookups in 23-26 feet of water just to the east of Area 68. Just 10 minutes after the unobscured sunrise, largemouth bass began to feed heavily on the surface in wolfpacks of 3-6 fish, all chasing ¾ to 1 inch long shad. These fish were smallish, 10-13 inch fish, and were feeding on the top over 17-22 feet of water at Area 63. This action went strong for about a 70 minute stretch, ending around 8:15. During this time I caught 23 fish, including 21 black bass (only 2 legal) and 2 white bass (both 11 inches). All fish came on the Cork Rig.

At 8:15, the wind shifted from NE to stronger and due N. The wave size immediately increased, and the smaller bass ended their feed. After about 10 minutes of this steady, harder wind, larger bass begin to feed over slightly deeper water and on larger ~2″ long shad at Area 68. These fish were all 14-16 inches and were driving shad to the surface, but not lingering there. From roughly 8:30 to 9:15, my catch rate decreased, but the average size was much better. I landed 10 fish during this time, including 9 largemouth and 1 white bass All of these fish came on the Cork Rig, as well.

At 9:15, the topwater began to taper off, not at all helped by 2 clueless boaters who drove through the schooling action with their outboards. At this point in time, I switched over to a slab spoon, and, using a basic jigging stroke, found white bass hitting readily on the bottom. In the next 30 minutes, I put 6 solid white bass (~13 to 14 inches each) in the boat, along with a 1 pound drum.

The action began to dry up at this point, and the recreational traffic began to increase, so we called it a good morning with 39 fish caught and released.

TALLY = 39 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