Run of Deep Largemouth Continues — 51 Fish, 03 Jan., Stillhouse

This past Tuesday I fished with Ray Johnson of Harker Heights on what would be his tenth outing with me since 2012 when he first came aboard.

img_0540

 

The movement of largemouth to deep wintering areas continues.  Today, nearly 25% of our catch consisted of largemouth.  Ray Johnson holds the largest of our take today — a 5.50 pound largemouth that came from off bottom in 46 feet of water on a 3/4 oz. white slab equipped with a Hazy Eye Stinger hook.

img_0534

 

In addition to the nice largemouth, Ray also put several nice white bass in the boat.  That white bass in the foreground is 14 5/8 inches.

Ray is a retired U.S. Navy flight surgeon who went on to be a pediatrician and as far as a fishing client, he’s always got some great “war stories” to tell.

After battling back from a tough year medically in 2016 which included a heart attack, Ray got a hold of me and let me know that his doctor, and, more importantly, his wife Linda, had cleared him for fishing.  So, fishing we went!

I could tell when Ray emailed me this past Sunday that he was eager to go, so, with a trip already on the books for Monday and bad weather coming in Wednesday, I suggested we head out on Stillhouse on Tuesday morning.

I prefer Stillhouse from January through late March as the hybrid bite on Belton gets as weak as it will be all year during this time.  So, if we are going to primarily catch white bass, the average white bass on Stillhouse is much larger for its age, and the catch numbers usually run about the same.  Stillhouse gives a little better quality and the same quantity, plus a shot at some nice, deep water largemouth.

Such was the case this week.  After boating a number of largemouth Monday, including a 6.00 pounder, today’s total catch of 51 fish included 12 largemouth, the largest two of which measured 3.00 and 5.50 pounds on a certified scale.

That’s nearly 25% of our catch for a species we weren’t even targeting.  This speaks to the abundance of black bass moving deep now (we never fished in under 30 feet, and caught the deepest largemouth out of 59 feet of water).

The action this morning was a bit more reserved than I experienced the day before.  Although we found ample fish, including one school beneath actively feeding gulls, they just seemed more reluctant to pull up off bottom and grab our presentations.

Fishing, regardless of species, was straightforward.  We went vertical with both 3/8 oz. and 3/4 oz. slab equipped with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks and adapted our presentations to the disposition of the fish.  I immediately noticed several years back when I began using a stinger hook how as the water temperature fell, hookups on the stinger hook rose, but I continue to be amazed at the very high percentage of largemouth hooked primarily on the stinger.  Over the past two trips, of the 27 largemouth landed, 26 were hooked primarily with the stinger.

When all was said and done this morning, we’d boated exactly 51 fish.

 

TALLY = 51 FISH, all caught and released

Wx SNAPSHOT:

03jan17

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15am

End Time:  12:15pm

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 47F

Water Surface Temp:  57.1F

Wind Speed & Direction:  WSW4-5, slowly increasing and shifting through W to WNW12

Sky Conditions: 10% thin white cloud cover on blue sky

Water Level:  0.26 feet above full pool

GT =  0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1496/1500 –  white bass action on a breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic

**Area 103  –  limited white bass action on a breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic for smallish fish

**Area 1881-  white bass action on a deep flat with 3/4 oz. slabs using an easing tactic and snap jigging

**Area 1034 –   white bass action on a breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic

**Area 1704/339 –   white bass action on a breakline with 3/8 oz. slabs using an easing tactic

**Area 074 – best action of the day in terms of numbers came around 10:45-11:15 as winds peaked and shifted through W to WNW; fish were on upper lip of breakline

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LGrD-sm7Bo6tDPIv0z4jg

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/holdingtheline/