We’re Back in the Saddle Again!! 72 Fish, Texas White Bass Fishing Guide Report, 21 Jan. 2013






If you are a regular blog follower, you’ll know there was an unusual 4+ week gap between my last post and this one. That’s because I received a very special gift for Christmas: Rotator Cuff Surgery!! Too much fishing, I guess?!? Well, the good Dr. Lichota at Scott and White cleared me to shift my standard transmission and do “routine movements”. Since I’ve fished for 42.5 of my 43 years of life, I assume fishing is a routine movement and therefore conducted my first trip of the year today on Stillhouse.

I welcomed John, Kelly, and Matthew M. of Temple, TX, back aboard for an “incentive-follow through” trip for Matthew from his mom and dad for maintaining grades and generally flying straight.

Everybody caught lots of fish today after the winds picked up steady and constant from the NNW as a mild, dry front blew in today.

This fish of Matthew’s just couldn’t hold any more shad; his little belly was tightly packed and these two shad were burped up as we unhooked him.

One of Matthew’s reward for playing by the rules of the house.


We met at 7:30 (sunrise) and got on a few fish right away along and down in the belly of the channel at Area 746/754 via vertical jigging as the winds were from the SW. We picked up 5 white bass and 1 largemouth here, all on vertically jigged 3/8 oz. white TNT180’s. About 40 minutes into the trip the winds went slack, then turned N, then went slack, then turned back NW, and then finally came NNW once and for all as a mild, dry front pushed through. This vacillating wind put a damper on the fishing for about an hour and a half, but, after that NNW took over and blew steadily for 20 or 30 minutes, things settled down and the fish went on a significant feed.

By this time, I’d moved us on to another part of the lake as we searched for some bird activity. I spotted some birds working over the trough between Areas 914 & 862 and as we eased into this area sonar just lit up with both fish and bait.

For the next 90+ minutes we used a modified “smoking” technique to target both bottom-oriented and suspended fish using white 3/4 oz. TNT180 slabs. The fish here were solid 13-14 inch fish on average and were all just stuffed full of shad around 2″ in length. Most fishes’ bellies were tight and “football” like given how stuffed full of shad they were. Several fish regurgitated shad at or in the boat as we unhooked them.

By around 11:15 the action was on a downhill slide so, we gave downrigging a try to attempt to keep our baits in front of the few still-active fish suspended up off the bottom. We boated 2 singles on a pair of tandem-rigged Pet Spoons down around 47-52 feet, and, for a grand finale, Matthew managed to land a double (two fish on the same rod at the same time).

In all, we landed 72 fish today, including 2 largemouth bass, 1 drum, and 69 white bass.


TALLY = 72 Fish

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 12:00 noon

Air Temp: 43F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 51.5F

Wind: NNW8-9.

Skies: Fair, clearing to clear.