A Meeting of the Clans – 64 Fish

CLIENTS: This past Saturday afternoon I fished with a crew of six. This fishing trip was in celebration of the forthcoming union of two families by marriage on the 22nd of this month. Joining me today were Greg Jones, the father of the groom. The groom, Michael Jones, was accompanied by his cousin (and best man) Tyler Pullig and Tyler’s dad, Toby Pullig. Michael’s future brother-in-law, Shane O’Connor also joined in. On the other side of the family-to-be was the father of the bride, Mike Tressider.

TODAY’S DATE: Saturday, 06 December 2025 (PM)


NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 16 December 2025 (AM or PM)

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Michael Tressider, Shane O’ Connor, Michael and Greg Jones, and Toby and Tyler Pullig.

PHOTO CAPTION: Mike Tressider landed our largest fish of the afternoon, a 5.25-pound largemouth. It hit the same white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab which all of the white bass fell for.

FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/


WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow


SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
As I always do when potential clients contact me about fishing in the afternoon, I shared with Greg, who coordinated this trip, that fishing tends to be better in the mornings, but that we can certainly catch fish in the afternoon. It is just that the bite tends to be longer and stronger in the mornings, barring a significant change in weather between morning and afternoon.

Four of the six had fished with me previously several years ago on Lake Belton during the winter season. Regardless, I went over in detail the technique we’d be using which I refer to as “slow-smoking“ using white, three-quarter ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs of my own design.

This method involves dropping the slab to the bottom, and reeling it upwards at a steady cadence while observing Garmin LiveScope. When sonar indicates a fish is following, the challenge is to continue reeling steadily without speeding up, slowing down, hesitating, or prematurely setting the hook, even when contact is made by the fish. All of these things tend to be dealbreakers.

Thanks to a very rapid cool down brought on by two cold fronts last week, accompanied by a near total lack of sunshine, the temperature on Stillhouse fell rapidly a bit more than 5°F from the surface down to the 60+ foot level. I think there is no cold-blooded creature that would be positively impacted by such a drastic change in such a short time.

This made our fishing pretty tough. Thankfully, fish were not all that difficult to find, but, once we found them, getting them to stay interested for any length of time turned out to be a real challenge. Seeing this early on, I moved us frequently. Once I saw interest waning, we did not stick around hoping that the fish would magically turn back on, as I knew full well they would not. In this way, over the course of four hours, these fellows put together a catch of 64 fish, including 60 white bass and four largemouth bass, two of which exceeded 4 pounds.

The bite lasted until about eight minutes after sunset with sunset being unobscured by cloud cover.

Like it or not, wintertime fishing is upon us. The best days will be as cold fronts move in and wind velocity increases immediately following their passage. The worst days will be the cold, clear, calm, post frontal days prior to the restart of southerly breezes. All other days, like today, will be somewhere in between.

RESULTS: 64 fish, all caught and released


TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial

OBSERVATIONS:

-We saw a drastic water temperature decrease (5 degrees F) in less than a week’s time, enhanced by lack of sunlight due to cloud cover all week. Water surface temp. now at ~62-63F, down from 68.5 less than a week ago.

-No helpful bird action on this trip.

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Temperature profile measured on Stillhouse around 6:45A on Friday, 28 November …

Compare to temps taken on Stillhouse Hollow around 6:30A on Saturday, 15 November…

0 feet 68.6F
5 feet 68.6F
10 feet 68.6F
15 feet 68.6F
20 feet 68.6F
25 feet 68.6F
30 feet 68.6F
35 feet 68.4F
40 feet 68.2F
45 feet 67.4F
50 feet 66.6F
55 feet 66.4F
60 feet 66.0F
65 feet 66.0F

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area 2319 – 12 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area 2320 – 13 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area SH0397G – 5 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area SH0396G – 14 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area 859 – 7 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area 2321 – 5 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Area 2323 – 8 fish on slow-smoked slabs

Bob Maindelle


Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service

Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

(254) 368 7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle