I fished a half day morning trip today with Garland W., a retired architect from the Tyler, TX, area. Garland is a seasoned fisherman with both fresh- and salt-water experience, however, most of his freshwater experience was with largemouth on the shallow, cover-filled lakes of East Texas. Garland hoped to experience the deepwater fishery on our clear local lakes here. The fact that he had the ability to detect a light bite and react with a good hookset helped greatly.

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 1:30p


Air Temp: 43F at sunrise heating up to 78 by afternoon.


Water Surface Temp: ~52.1F

Wind: Winds were light from the SE at around 6mph until around 10a. At that time, the winds shifted and increased to 15+ from the SW, and spurred on the best fishing of the day

Skies: Skies were high, bright and clear.

We launched prior to sunrise and kept a sharp eye out for bird activity pointing to active fish but found little. The area of the lake we were on had abundant, small schools of threadfin shad about 2″ in length over much of the surface. The birds were working over these shad which were not driven by gamefish.

By around 8:15a the nearly calm winds began to pick up from the SE, and the fish responded, albeit weakly. We managed one average white bass on a smoked slab at Area 150 and then moved about a 1/2 mile to the SE where the wind was moving the water to a greater degree.

At Area 346, we enjoyed an hour plus of solid vertical jigging action. Fish were still a little sluggish. Occasionally, schoolmates would rise off the bottom alongside hooked fish, but it was pretty much a one-fish-at-a-time situation. We put 19 fish in the boat here including 3 short hybrid, 2 largemouth, and 14 white bass, of which all but 2 were legal.

By around 10a, the wind very suddenly increase and shifted to the SW and the fish put on the feedbag. We noted a sharp increase in activity here, and quickly put 19 additional white bass in the boat here and then experience a slowing of the wind. The fishing also slowed.

We noted some minor bird activity at Area 344, drove to it and found scattered, bottom oriented white bass here. We boated 1 by slabbing and 1 by downrigging and then moved to yet another area of concentrated bird activity.

This area is bounded to the N and S by Areas 347 and 348. We arrived, ran sonar, found white bass on the bottom and began jigging and picked up 6 whites right off the bat. Then we began to see hybrids on the bottom and at 24 and 35 feet in consistent bands. This demanded a downrigging approach, and that’s what we gave them. We spread a White Willow Spoon on the bottom and a crankbait up high, and in under an hour’s time put 12 legal hybrid and 6 more white bass in the boat. By 1:30p the action had played out and we called it a day.

TALLY = 65 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