Troy, Troy, and Troy — 106 Fish, Stillhouse, 27 Jan. 2017

by Bob Maindelle

This past Friday morning, January 27th, I welcomed aboard 3 generations of Hensley’s — all named Troy.

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From left: Troy Hensley Sr., Troy “Trace” Hensley III, and Troy Hensley Jr. all pitched in for a 106 fish morning on Stillhouse, primarily under bird action using slabs equipped with stinger hooks.

Troy Hensley Sr. flew down from Richmond, KY, the night before the trip to spend some time with his son, U.S. Army vet Troy Hensley Jr., and grandson, 3-year-old Troy “Trace” Hensley III, partly in celebration of Troy Jr.’s 35th birthday.

After some initial dockside instruction, we headed out and immediately spotted active birds working over top of fish as they forced shad and the occasional sunfish to the surface.  This bird action would take place right up until around 9:45a when it finally tapered to nil.

Each flock of birds we worked around ( a total of 7) would go strong for about 25 minutes and then move on.  We enjoyed strong fishing while the birds fed, and then continued to catch less aggressive and less abundant fish after the birds moved on.

We began our trip in just 26 feet of water, moving progressively deeper with each relocation, ending up in 55 feet of water.  Because the fish tended to pull up off the bottom in strong numbers today, an easing tactic was insufficient to cover the band of water these fish held in.  Therefore, we used a very S-L-O-W smoking tactic to get our slabs in front of all the fish holding beneath the boat, regardless of depth.  This tactic served us very well.

Despite his young age, little Trace stayed engaged the entire trip, thanks to a proactive approach by his dad who thought ahead to bring snacks and who constantly engaged the boy in doing what the big boys were doing.  Troy Jr. encouraged Trace to “help” him reel in fish, to push them off the gunnel and back into the water once I’d unhooked them, to throw Doritos out to the seagulls, and so on, so he didn’t get bored or cranky.  As we made our final run back into the courtesy dock, Trace crashed and fell sound asleep from his big morning on the water.

We landed a total of 106 fish this morning, including over a dozen largemouth, all of which tended to be holding high up in the water column as high as, or higher than, the shallowest white bass in the vicinity.  All fish were taken on either a 3/8 or 3/4 oz. white Redneck Fish’n’ Jigs Model 180 with a Hazy Eye Stinger Hook attached.

TALLY = 106 FISH, all caught and released

Wx SNAPSHOT:

27JAN17

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 33F

Water Surface Temp:  55.2F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNE6

Sky Conditions: 90% thin grey clouds on a fair sky

Water Level:  0.67 feet above full pool

GT =  10

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas 798, 1886, 1887, 1518/1189/1705, 1888, 338, and 1889

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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