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.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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)