I launched this morning not really knowing what to expect. On the con side, we’ve had crazy weather, wind from all directions, new flood water come in, and dropping temperatures. On the other hand, this was the warmest day on the end of a warming trend, it was pre-frontal conditions, and the wind was brisk and with a westerly component to it. Stillhouse was 8.2 feet above full pool and fairly dingy. All courtesy docks are flooded and useless, and the ramps are underwater with the waterline now up into the turnarounds. There is a lot of floating debris due to the wind changing directions so frequently these past few days since Monday’s 2.5 inches of rain.

NEARLY ALL FISH CAUGHT TODAY WERE IN 21 FEET OR LESS, WITH ABUNDANT SCHOOLS OF SUSPENDED SHAD SHOWING AT 16 FEET ALL OVER THE LAKE.

STILLHOUSE WENT TO 8.2 FEET ABOVE FULL POOL TODAY.

Start Time:7:30a

End Time: 1:35p

Air Temp: 73F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~67.5 to 68.5F

Wind: Winds were from the SSW in the morning starting at 11mph and slowly ramping up to 20+ by 11:00am and turning SW. Around 1pm the temperature dropped very suddenly, the wind slacked off, then kicked up again from the NNW increasing rapidly to 25-30mph.

Skies: Skies were cloudy, but fairly bright.

Upon launching before sunrise I took it slow as there was a tremendous amount of floating debris, large and small. I put out two flatlines and trolled a bit waiting for enough light to run the lake safely. I picked up one barely legal black bass on a Rip Shad in 12-14′ between Area 119 and the shoreline.

At safe light it was off to Area 107/116 to see if the turbidity had driven fish from that fairly consistent location. In about an hour’s time I picked up 14 white bass and 1 largemouth (pictured above) all in 10-12 feet of water, and all on the Cicada blade bait (Jeff has these now at Salado Creek Outfitters). I could tell the fish were locating prey with their lateral line and not so much by sight, as many were caught on the rear hook which never happens in clear water. I could also see fish aggressively swimming after my blade on sonar when I jigged it, only to miss it, then hit it again when it came to rest. One of my goals this trip was to pin down some high water fish locations, so, I left these fish still biting and went looking for more active fish.

I next went and looked over Area 531. Nothing showed on sonar.

At Area 533, sitting in 19-21 feet of water, I found a great congregation of fish literally number in the hundreds. These fish were spread over an area about 30 yards in length and about 15 yards in width. Every time I dropped my slab I came up with a fish or a missed strike, and saw 6-10 additional fish on sonar following the hooked fish. This happened over and over again for a full hour, during which time I boated exactly 50 fish (49 white bass and 1 short largemouth). These white bass were thoroughly mixed in sized from as short as 5 inches, up to 13 inches, with most going right at 11 inches. These fish looked healthy, and most defecated silver feces meaning they’ve been feeding well on shad. Again, I left these fish biting and looked for additional populations of active fish.

I headed to Area 035 and found fish suspended upwind of the face of this slope in fair numbers on sonar. I buoyed a small group of fish on bottom in 26-28 feet, but these fish were very sluggish. They often perked up and gave chase to a smoked slab, but wouldn’t overtake it and strike. I managed only two just-legal white bass here in about 35 minutes’ time.

Next, I looked at Areas 072/034, but there was no signs of life here.

I then headed to the 20-22′ contour off to the NE of Area 555 and picked up just one suspended white bass seen on sonar. No congregations of fish were found here.

Finally, I moved to Area 534. I found a very aggressive mixed bag of fish here including largemouth, white bass, and drum. Over the final 90 minutes of the trip, I put an additional 20 fish in the boat here including 2 drum, 3 largemouth, and 15 whites. The fish were most aggressive early on as the spot gave up 13 fish, then things got sluggish and had I had to work for 2 more before the wind died and then began to shift from SW through W towards NW. During this short-lived wind shift in advance of today’s significant cold front, the fish went on a very brief spree. Seeing 3 separate occasions where white bass were aggressive enough to chase large shad to the surface, I switched over to an aggressively worked blade bait, casting from shallow to deep and working the blade quickly. I ended the trip with 5 white bass in 6 casts before the wind went N, a bit of cold rain began to fall, and they locked down, with 15 more casts going unanswered. The show was now over and it was time to head for lunch!

TALLY = 88 FISH, all caught and released