This morning I met Mr. TJ Prewitt of Kirbyville, TX, at the boat ramp for a morning of white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
TJ said a number of times how glad he was to fish in ways different from the normal approach he takes on his “home waters” of Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Many of the things we did today he knew he could apply after heading back home.
TJ escorted his wife, a social worker, to a continuing education conference in Austin and then arranged a fishing trip with me while she was in her sessions today. They drove in from the Beaumont area in east Texas where TJ works in “rigging” in the chemical plants and refineries on the Texas coast, a trade that involves pipefitting, ironwork, and other construction skills.
As we got going this morning, I exposed TJ to another kind of “rigging” — downrigging! Although he’d fished his whole life he’d never personally used this technique but immediately saw how effective it is for suspended fish in open water. After he caught 2 sets of triples (3 fish on one rod at the same time), there was definite talk of mounting a good old Cannon to his own fishing boat. We downrigged in the vicinity of Area 1132/866/859 using Pet Spoons on umbrella rigs with excellent results.
Around 8am the skies brightened and both largemouth bass and white bass began to push shad to the surface and aggressively feed. The largemouth were focused upward and the white bass were suspended in the lower third of the water column. We used surface-feeding largemouth as a visual cue as to where the white bass were beneath them and caught white bass very consistently throughout the morning. Our most consistent action came in the area encompassed within Areas 858/859/860. Bladebaits worked “lift-drop” style scored best.
By 10:15 we saw the beginning of the end coming, and by, 10:45 the bite had all but shut down.
Our catch today consisted of 59 white bass, 2 drum, and 1 largemouth.
TALLY = 62 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 6:55a
End Time: 10:50a
Air Temp: 78F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 84.1F
Wind: Winds were SSW5-6.
Skies: Fair and cloudless.
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas