A Salty Dog Seeking New Tricks – 29 Fish
CLIENTS: On Tuesday, February 17, I fished with first time guest and retired saltwater fishing guide, Doug McClung, who spent 12 years in the saltwater environment out of Port O’Connor primarily chasing redfish and speckled trout.
Doug returned to Jarrell, TX, and is now able to spend more time with grandkids.
Doug is looking for a freshwater niche that suits him and was putting out feelers on freshwater pelagics like white bass so he could see how he would need to equip himself going forward.
After spending nearly an hour on the phone comparing notes the day before, I welcomed Doug aboard to try to make some of the things we discussed come to fruition for him.
TODAY’S DATE: 17 February 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 20, 24-28 February 2026 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: That white bass on the left of this photo is 16 3/8″ and gulped down the new Mini White Bass A-Rig rigged with three paddle-tail grubs.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
I was very upfront with Doug that we are at one of the several slow points in the annual cycle of things thanks to very cold water at depth and an unusually long, early warm-up. This has the white bass population spread far and wide and very difficult to pattern.
Over our four hours together, Doug successfully caught fish using slow-smoking tactics, a sawtooth method with both MAL Lures and Mini White Bass A-rigs, and deadstick tactics for the tough bite that developed in our final 30 minutes on the water as skies brightened.
Fish are, literally, here, there, and everywhere, but seemingly nowhere in great numbers. We had to hunt and catch and hunt and catch in order to put together a decent catch of 29 white bass, wrapping up right around 11:25 AM.
Honestly, I was concerned about Doug having habits so ingrained that he would not be teachable or coachable, but, to his credit, he was not that way at all. Whenever he did something that I had previously indicated would be counterproductive, he caught himself doing it, and then beat himself up about it. In this way, he improved significantly in a very short period of time at all the tactics he put his hand to
RESULTS: 29 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Water temps have come up and fish are definitely on the move to the spawning grounds, albeit in no big rush thanks, in part, to low flow in the Lampasas River
-Birds worked tentatively for about 35 minutes, then vanished. During this time, the only deep fish we found biting were caught.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 18 February 2026…
0 feet 60.3F
5 feet 60.3F
10 feet 59.6F
15 feet 59.0F
20 feet 58.6F
25 feet 57.5F
30 feet 56.6F
35 feet 54.8F
40 feet 53.1F
45 feet 52.5F
50 feet 52.5F
55 feet 52.3F
60 feet 52.3F
65 feet 52.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:05A
End Time: 11:25A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 56F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.71′ low with a -0.01′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 1 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 60.3F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SW11 all morning
Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 90% all morning
Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.
GT = 45
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2360 – 18 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs under birds
Area 745 – 9 fish on Mini White Bass A-Rig
Area vic 2358 – 2 fish on deadstick soft plastics
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