Onward into the Fog — 45 Fish, Stillhouse, 04 March 2015

This morning I fished with Greg Fallon of Cincinnati, OH, and his father-in-law, Dave Bradley, of Georgetown, TX.

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From left: Greg Fallon of Cincinnati, OH, and his father-in-law, Dave Bradley of Georgetown, TX, with the best 4 of our catch of 45 white bass this morning.

Greg left the bluster, cold, and precipitation of Ohio behind for, well …, more bluster, cold, and precipitation here in Texas!!!  Greg works for a logistics firm up north and Dave is both a Vietnam veteran and retired human resources professional.  Greg and Dave’s daughter were high school sweethearts who married after college.
I tried to time our trip such that we could take advantage of the normally strong pre-frontal bite before the incoming cold front struck around 3pm today.  I kept a constant eye on the NOAA forecast for this trip since mid-week last week, but it changed drastically every time it updated.  It was clear, however, that Wednesday would be warmer and less windy than Thursday (which would be essentially unfishable due to high winds), and warmer and cloudier than Friday These were the only other 2 options, given Greg’s itinerary.  So, I made the call for Wednesday morning, but we were greeted with very thick fog, and near calm winds which always makes for tough fishing. At least is was warm — 58F as we began and warming 2-3 degrees by the time we wrapped up.
Fog hinders in three ways.  First, fog normally exists in windless conditions, and when the wind is not moving, the water and the food chain is not moved about or stirred up, and the fishing lags.  Second, fog obscures the sun and reduces the triggering mechanism that the sudden brightening at sunrise normally has on fish.  Finally, the fog prevents the helpful activity of fish-eating birds like gulls and terns from taking place as a visual cue on where to begin looking for fish.
So, we had to rely on using sonar in traditional late-winter areas of the lake to find our fish.  We tried fishing 5 areas and found fish at 2 of them.  Both areas were in 24-26′ of water, and in both areas the fish were strictly bottom-hugging. We had to vertically jig slabs and use an extended pause in order to get bit.  Rarely did hooked fish have excited schoolmates accompany them toward the surface, and not a single fish today was taken on an “easing” tactic up off the bottom.  This wasn’t helped any by the 49.7F water temperature.
Slowly but surely we put together a decent day, landing single fish regularly, and, on occasion hooking up with a second or third fish simultaneously as small schools moved under the boat.
Our final hour was our most productive, as we had a bit of breeze, some minor clearing, and some brightening of the white fog surrounding us, even to the point where a few gulls began to feed near the same “hole in the fog” we found ourselves in.
By trip’s end we’d boated 45 white bass.  I told Greg and Dave at the boat ramp before we launched that there are some days where you know you’re going to knock it out of the park and some days where you know you just need to postpone, but that this day I really wasn’t sure what we were going to get into.  I had in my mind that we’d have to work for 15-18 fish this morning, so, I was pleasantly surprised at our good result, given the poor conditions.

TALLY = 45 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: 58F

Water Surface Temp: 49.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm through the last hour, then turning NW2.

Sky Conditions: Heavy fog the entire trip.

Other: GT=40

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1347 vertical jigging with extended pause in 24-26′

**Area 1524/1533 vertical jigging with extended pause in 24-26′

 

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