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)

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