HOME FROM THE OIL PATCH — 60 FISH (Trip 1 of 2)

WHO I FISHED WITH:   This past Thursday morning, June 21st, I fished with father and son team Dalton and John Adams.  Both fellows are US Marine Corps veterans, and Dalton retired from the US Army.  John currently works in the oil business out in northwest Texas, and returned home to Killeen for a visit with his dad.

 

From left: Dalton Adams and his son, John, with a sampling of the mixed bag angling we encountered “post low pressure” today.  Although the fishing was generally tougher than during the past 2 days of low pressure weather, we enjoyed the summer’s first topwater action consistent enough to stop and cast to, yielding both white bass and black bass.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  This was a multi-species trip in which we caught white bass and largemouth.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday morning, 21 June.

HOW WE FISHED: The low pressure we’d been graced with over the past 2-3 days was pushed back east by stronger high pressure from the west.  Accordingly, skies began to clear, humidity and cloud cover decreased, winds swung around to the south and west, and the sun shone again.  None of this helped our cause on the fishing as the fish got a bit finicky as the weather transitioned.  We put a respectable 55 fish in the boat, but really had to work at it, covering a lot of water with the downriggers and catching a lot of singles.  We only encountered once incidence of fish aggressive enough and schooled tightly enough to stop and fish vertically for with success, although we attempted this several times.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) With light winds for the first 90 minutes of the trip, we were able to visually inspect large tracts of the lake’s surface for topwater action.  This led us to the first occasion of sight-casting to topwater feeding fish thus far this summer.  3/8 oz. silver slabs were the go-to bait, yielding a ~40% success rate on fish cast to versus to fish hooked.

 

TALLY: 55 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 71F

Water Surface Temp:  81.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Surface was calm for the first 60 minutes, then a S. ripple began and increased to S6 before the winds shifted suddenly to NW8-10.  The winds went calm again for our last 30 minutes.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover for the first 60 minutes, then gradual clearing to 60% cloudy.

Water Level: 5.38 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area SH0031C – low light success on tailspinners briefly, then a few whites on downrigger in the same vicinity

**Area 1442 thru 862 – topwater and downrigging for white bass and schoolie largemouth

**Area 1395 – downrigging for whites

**Area 1995 – downrigging for whites

**Area 1310 thru 1496 – downrigging for whites

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingelleTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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