Best Trip, Year-to-Date — 163 Fish, Stillhouse, 26 Feb. 2015

This morning I fished with Killeen youth pastor Jerry Worley and one of the many young men Jerry has discipled through the years, Daniel Kennedy.

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Jerry Worley with a pair of white bass.  Over the course of the trip, we boated 5 largemouth — Jerry landed every one of them.

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Daniel Kennedy with a pair of of white bass he worked up from the deep by using a slow, methodical jigging approach.

We got on it today, big time, thanks to nearly perfect white bass fishing conditions.  As we got on the water, it was clear, fairly still, cold, and, as soon as the sun rose, bright.  These are less than desireable conditions, however, change was in the air.  NOAA had forecast a lengthy wind shift from the west through the NW, and to the north for this morning and into the early afternoon, and they nailed it.

We got our first puff of WNW breeze at around 7:25am, and from then on it got increasingly windier (up to around 14mph) and cloudier, and the wind slowly made its way to north.

We literally caught fish the entire 6+ hours we were on the water, at a rate of one fish every 2.4 minutes.  This was one of the longest fish feeds I’ve observed in the 22 years I’ve fished Belton and Stillhouse.

Despite being willing to bite, the fish were still not willing to move very far nor very fast to do so, therefore, our technique was still very methodical, allowing plenty of time between jigging strokes.  Birds worked aggressively the entire morning, so, once one population of fish settled down, it was fairly easy to locate another population ready to feed.

We boated 157 white bass, 5 largemouth bass, and 1 channel catfish, all on 3/4 oz. white slabs.  We noted a number of fish dripping eggs and milt, indicating they are very near to spawning.

TALLY = 163 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:05a

End Time: 1:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 32.8F

Water Surface Temp: 50.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: W12, swinging through the west to the NNW and then due N gradually all morning

Sky Conditions: Entirely greyed over after our first 15 minutes on the water

Other: GT=40

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1531 – 20 Fish vertical jigging in 27′; low light bite prior to, at, and just past sunrise under ~12 gulls

**Area 1528 – 18 Fish vertical jigging in 25-28′; under grey skies and ~4 gulls

**Area 1532 – 47 Fish vertical jigging in 38-40′; under ~5 gulls

**Area 1530 – 29 Fish vertical jigging & deadsticking in 40-41′; under ~6ulls, 2 terns, 1 pelican

**Area 1529 – 49 Fish vertical jigging & deadsticking in 38-40′; under ~3 gulls

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Hot Fishing Before the Cool Down — 48 Fish, SKIFF Trip #2 of 2015

This morning I fished with Emily and Joshua Reynnells of Harker Heights, TX.  This trip was provided to the Reynnells kids absolutely free of charge under a program called “SKIFF” which stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.

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Emily landed this nice 4.50 largemouth from out of 27′ of water on medium-light spinning gear while vertical jigging.

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Today was just right for fishing with kids — consistent action spread over the majority of the trip, fueled by temperate, pre-frontal weather.  Josh and Emily boated 48 fish this morning.

Emily (10) and Joshua (6) are the youngest 2 of the Reynnells’ 3 children.  U.S. Army Major Steve Reynnells and his wife, Johanna, made a tough decision which they hope will benefit their kids in the long run.  After being stationed at Ft. Hood for several years, MAJ Reynnells came up on orders sending him to Ft. Polk, LA.  With their eldest daughter about to go to college, a strong connection to their church, a home already bought, and more, they decided Johanna and kids would stay put and Steve would serve out his assignment at Ft. Polk unaccompanied, visiting home as frequently as possible.  Steve operates the simulation center at Ft. Polk, in which military units from all over the world come to practice working and communicating together before having to do it for real when bullets are flying.

The fishing was great today, thanks to an approaching cold front.  The winds were in the process of shifting from S. to N. through the west all morning, and that always makes for great fishing.  The grey cloud cover and past several days of warming was icing on the cake.

We fished only two areas this morning, spending about 45 minutes and landing just 2 fish on downriggers at our first location, then moving on to fish beneath some helpful ring-billed seagulls.  These birds pointed the way to 46 more fish, all caught in about a 40 yard diameter area, using a combination of vertical jigging and dead-sticking.

Emily was engaged from start to finish and enjoyed every aspect of the trip.  Josh’s attention span gave out a bit sooner, but, we found helpful jobs for him to do including releasing the fish Emily caught, keeping the livewell well-aerated, keeping the deck tidy, and distributing snacks as necessary.

After boating about 25 fish, Emily latched onto a fish that we knew right away was no white bass.  The rod was bent well into the butt section and the fish took drag two times.  When she surfaced, a big round mouth came out of the water first as I slid the net under this nice, 4.50 pound, 20.25″ largemouth bass.  The kids were ecstatic!!  By 11:40, the wind died a bit and got suddenly cooler, then picked up again from the NW.  The fish shut down, and I knew it was over for this morning.

As we returned to the launch area, I had a bit of a treat for the kids.  A real friend of SKIFF, Roxanne Coleman, who is the Senior Field Marketing Manager for Youth Programs at Pure Fishing (think Shakespeare, Abu Garcia, Mitchell, Fenwick, Penn, Berkley, Stren, and more), sent me a “really big” box of Shakespeare fishing gear bags last autumn, specifically to give to my youngest clients as a little something special.  With bags in hand, as I went about loading the boat on the trailer, the kids did some shoreline exploring, coming up with lures, shells, rocks, and, (my favorite) crawfish claws, to load their new bags up with.  Thank you, Roxanne, and thanks to all of you who contribute to SKIFF to allow us to offer this to our military families.

SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service, thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.  All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.

 

TALLY = 48 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:50a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 53.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW10, swinging through the west gradually all morning

Sky Conditions: Entirely greyed over,

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1316, downrigging for 2 white bass (method a bit too fast for cold fish)

**Area 1527-1528, vertical jigging and deadsticking for 45 white bass and 1 largemouth

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Home-School Advantage — 44 Fish, Stillhouse, 19 Feb. 2015

This morning I welcomed aboard Rodrick Rhoads of Georgetown, TX, and his 9-year-old son, Oliver.

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Oliver and Rodrick enjoyed steady white bass action for a majority of the morning, boating a total of 44 fish.

Rodrick, a small businessman in the dry-cleaning industry, contacted me in early February about doing a father and son trip, but, given Oliver’s age and how technical the fishing was earlier this month due to low water temperatures, I asked the pair to hold off until the weather and water warmed a bit.  This morning we experienced moderate action over most of the morning on fair and warming conditions following 2 days of cold weather.

Fortunately, Oliver and his 4 siblings are all home-schooled, so, we were able to enjoy uncrowded weekday conditions — we saw only one other boat all morning.  As we got going, we went over safety considerations, then covered the basics on holding and using a spinning reel, and the specifics of the vertical techniques we would employ today.

We enjoyed helpful bird activity for about 1.5 hours and were then on our own to find fish with sonar.

Oliver had one previous fishing experience in saltwater on a chartered trip out of Naples, Florida, during which he caught a few grouper using bait on downlines.  By the end of today’s trip, he was able to cast a spinning outfit, vertically jig effectively, and work a bladebait effectively.

Generally speaking, the action steadily increased today to a peak around 10:15 to 10:30a, then sharply fell off.  Our last 35 minutes on the water was our least productive.

As our trip concluded, Oliver was no sooner buckled into dad’s truck than he was asking when he and dad could go again.  Our next trip, tentatively set for early March, will evidently include Oliver’s 11-year-old sister, April!

In all, we boated exactly 44 fish today including 42 white bass, 1 drum, and 1 largemouth bass.

TALLY = 44 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6;45a

End Time: 11:35a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 40F

Water Surface Temp: 51.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5 tapering up to S12 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: High, thin white cloud cover at 60% by mid-morning, then dissipating

Other: GT=50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1500 five white bass in 25′ vertical jigging

**Area 1526/1314 ten white bass in 27′ vertical jigging

**Area 107 eleven white bass. 1 largemouth, 1 drum in 17′ vertical jigging and horizontal bladebaits

**Area  1525/1164 sixteen white bass in 25′ vertical jigging

 

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Best Fishes on Your 15th Birthday! — Stillhouse Hollow, 15 Feb., 16 Fish

This afternoon I was joined by the Geer family from the Fort Worth area for a half-day of white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow.

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From left: Devin, Hunter, and Melissa with our 6 best white bass of the day.  Flatline trolling was the most consistent producer for us on this turbulent afternoon.

Melissa Geer, the mother of Devin Geer and aunt of Hunter Consider, contacted me a few days ago requesting a trip in celebration of Devin’s 15th birthday coming up next week.  Of the three of them, Devin was definitely the most passionate about fishing and had a good variety of fishing experiences under his belt.  He understood sonar and 360 Imaging, and was more than glad to do some of the “chores” of buoy retrieval, setting and untangling lines, etc.

Our conditions were a bit tough this afternoon, with murky, turbulent weather in advance of a cold front due in overnight.  We were not late enough in the cycle to get the benefit of the wind shift through the west to the north — that looks like it will happen overnight.  Instead, we had some pre-frontal warming, grey skies and some spitting rain.

Most all of the fish we found were turned off and fairly scattered.  What birds were working seemed to be working over shad near the surface of the water that has warmed up very well this past week.  I noted a lot of suspended fish scattered about in the mid- to upper portion of the water column as I watched sonar today.  This typically happens when we get a significant warmup and insect hatches begin.

We “pecked” at the fish, boating one here and one there via vertical jigging, with the only real consistency coming from flatline trolling over a 10-15 foot feature holding both white bass and shad.  The fishing was definitely far short of what it could have been with such a nice warmup this week, but was on par with what it typically is under such weather conditions.

TALLY = 16 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 1:45p

End Time: 6:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 54F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW12

Sky Conditions: Entirely greyed over.

Other: GT=5

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1522 one white bass in 43′ vertical jigging

**Area 1351 – 1349 flatline trolling in 10-15′ for 1 white bass

**Area 1164 one white bass in 24′ vertical jigging

**Area  698 flatline trolling in 10-15′ for 12 white bass

**Area 1197 one white bass in 25′ vertical jigging

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

White Bass Aren’t the Only Fish Biting — 33 Fish, Stillhouse, 13 Feb. 2015

This morning I went white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with Mr. Bob Schaet of Brevard, North Carolina.

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Bob Schaet landed this nice 6.00 pound channel catfish as we jigged with slabs for white bass this past Friday on Stillhouse Hollow.

Bob, age 80, drove this past week from the Asheville, NC, area to visit with his children and grandchildren, most of whom are in Texas, including his daughter, Karen, who is a neighbor of mine.  Karen flagged me down on my way to church earlier in the week and asked to set up a trip as a birthday present to her dad.

Bob is a U.S. Air Force veteran and retired United Airlines pilot.  We had a lot in common, having both been commissioned officers in the Armed Forces, and having had a good bit of engineering in our college backgrounds, so, our conversation while fishing was quite engaging.  I specifically asked Bob if he had any “close call” stories from his time as a pilot.  He told a great story about a jet engine fire with a planeload of passengers bound for Los Angeles that wound up landing in Las Vegas instead, and another good one about a 747 that lost an engine on the way to Hong Kong.

Of course, we caught fish, too.  33 fish to be exact.  We started out fishing under 3 distinct flocks of gulls, but the fish we found under these birds were not in large congregations, so we worked for them catching 2-4 at a clip for the first 2 hours on the water, for a total of 19 fish boated by 9:15am, all via vertical jigging.  One of these 19 fish was a 6.00 pound channel catfish that took a liking to Bob’s slab from amidst a small school of white bass.

Once the birds gave up, we strained out lots of water via flatline trolling, adding another 14 fish to our count by 10:45am by rigging up with 4 lines out, covering different depths by using a variety of crankbaits.  By 10:45, the sun’s warmth was felt enough to start coming out of our heavy clothing as the wind subsided and the sun shone brightly.  Conditions were falling apart pretty quickly, and, over the next 45 minutes we managed only one more fish.  By 11:30a it was all over and we headed back in.

TALLY = 33 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Water Surface Temp: 53F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW5 at trip’s start transitioning to “puffing” conditions 0-5mph by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Fair and high thin white clouds

Other: GT=25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1510-1310, first light bite under ~24 gulls in 14-20′

**Area  1057-1520, under ~7 gulls in 25-26′

**Area 1351 – 1349, flatlining in 10-18′

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Bluegrass Baitslingers! — 32 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow, 07 Feb. 2015

This morning I welcomed Marvin and Hilde Ewing of Louisville, Kentucky, aboard for a half-day trip targeting white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

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Marvin and Hilde Ewing got a solid introduction to Texas white bass fishing today.  The couple, from the Louisville, KY, area, traditionally fishes for sunfish and crappie on a small, natural lake in the Bluegrass State.

The Ewing’s are in Texas for about a month visiting Hilde’s Temple-based side of the family.  Marvin is a Vietnam veteran and retiree of the Ford Motor Co., and Hilde is retired from administration in the Louisville public school system.  The couple has been married for over 40 years and regularly fishes together on a small, 900 acre lake in Kentucky, mainly in pursuit of sunfish and crappie.

Marvin called me last weekend, explained his situation, and let me know he and Hilde wanted for fish for whatever was biting on Belton or Stillhouse.  I watched the weather closely, saw some SW wind at a good velocity forecast for today, and contacted him back on Wednesday to set us up for today.

As we got going, the very first thing I considered was the water temperature which stands at 49-50F right now.  No matter how you slice it, these cold-blooded creatures are going to be sluggish in such cool water, so,  I made very sure Marvin and Hilde clearly understood how we had to present our slabs in order to attract fish today.  We actually did a “practice round” before leaving the boat ramp area just so I could coach them well and work out any major flaws in their technique before we encountered fish.

The weatherman got the wind direction and speed down, but missed it on the cloud cover a bit.  I was expecting 60+% cloud cover and got near zero. We were fortunate to encounter some early gull action that put us on the fish right off the bat.  When this early, low-light action died, we had to work more intensively with sonar to find fish, and that was a little slow-going.  Later, around 10:30, just as the wind ramped up from 6-7 up to 12-14, we encountered some unusual late-morning gull action that put us on top of some mobile, deepwater fish.  We added 6 more fish to our count of 17, for a total of 23 now boated by around 11 am.

With the wind now really coming on strong for the first time all morning, I was encouraged that we could still find fish, despite it getting late for a morning bite.  We looked over a stretch of river channel and found some bait and fish both on bottom and suspended up as much as 6 foot off the bottom.  I setup over these fish, and, by 11:50, we added another 9 fish to our tally.

Marvin and Hilde thorough enjoyed the new surroundings new tactics, and new species and were very pleasant people to spend 4-5 hours out in the Lord’s creation with.

 

TALLY = 32 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:50a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 46F

Water Surface Temp: 49-50F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW3 at trip’s start ramping up to SSW14 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Fair and high thin white clouds

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1520-1057, first light bite under ~6 gulls in 27′

**Area  1521 vertical bite in 36-38′

**Area 1522 – 1523, deep vertical bite in 38-40′ under ~5 gulls

**Area  1524 late morning bite aided by wind; suspended and bottom oriented fish in 25′

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)

Deadsticking Window is Wide Open

Had a little time to experiment this morning on Stillhouse and actually focus on fishing after an unusual “run” of sonar session requests lately.  I went prepared for jigging and deadsticking, and used both tactics to boat this this morning.  The fish I caught earlier (didn’t head out until 8:30a after a breeze came up) went for a more aggressive presentation and were shallower.  The fish I caught later (still prior to noon) were suspended, sluggish, and definitely preferred the deadstick tactic.

If you’re not familiar with deadsticking, I wrote an article for the Killeen Daily Herald this past Sunday here: http://kdhnews.com/sports/fishing/bob-maindelle-deadsticking-a-sound-technique-for-dead-of-winter/article_b64e1e4e-a9db-11e4-b6d2-175c82ce6684.html

shot 54

This screenshot was taken in 37 feet of water this morning.  Notice the elongated fish signatures in the middle of the screen.  These are very, very slow moving white bass that stayed in the slender area covered by the StructureScan transducer for an extended period of time.  I simply reeled up to them, held my bait nice and still over a single fish signature (usually the highest one), and watched my rod tip and felt for a strike — that’s deadsticking.

 

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White bass weren’t the only species responding to deadsticking.  This largemouth grabbed my presentation after I held my lure still just inches off the bottom after seeing its solo signature on sonar.

If past years are any indicator, this approach will hold up for another 2-3 weeks, and longer if we get any more protracted cold weather.

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8:30a

End Time:  12:00 Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  38F

Water Surface Temp:  51F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSW6-8

Sky Conditions:  Light grey, complete coverage.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1301/190

**Area  1201

**Area 1306

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com