Final Day of 13-Month Study on Stillhouse White Bass – 47 Fish
CLIENTS: On this rainy, cool mid-April morning, I welcomed aboard the father-and-son team of Tom Wilson Sr. and Tom Wilson Jr. — both U.S. Army veterans of the Field Artillery branch.
They run their own boat — an 18′ pontoon — on Stillhouse and wanted to use this trip as a calibration of sorts to see if what we did to find and catch fish in any way looked like the approach they have typically taken. Along the way, as we fished for white bass, I was sure to point out areas which fish consistently well for largemouth bass which will be their most likely quarry.
This trip was the last of 26 fishing trips dedicated over the past 13 months to measuring and weighing white bass taken from both this reservoir and from Lake Belton in an effort to quantify the difference between the two populations.
TODAY’S DATE: 20 April 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: Wednesday, 13 May 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Tom Wilson Sr. and Tom Wilson Jr. with a few of the solid Stillhouse Hollow white bass they took under tough, dark-sky conditions.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
When Tom Jr. booked this trip, he specified that he wanted to fish Stillhouse as he lives along the lake’s northern shoreline and is more likely to fish here than anywhere else. Understanding this, and having missed out on last week’s scheduled white bass collection effort on this lake, I attempted to kill two birds with one stone by honoring Tom’s request while getting his okay to have Temple College researchers aboard to weigh and measure their catch.
With such dark skies holding on all morning it was tough to get fish to fire up and stay fired up. Numerous time we got on fish, got them excited, caught several and then watched the wind go out of their sails quite quickly.
We’ve had more than our fair share of days like this so far this spring.
Although we had several instances where we had both a bottom clean enough and enough fish showing out to the port or starboard to use MAL Lures horizontally with a sawtooth method successfully, the lion’s share of our fish today still came on the white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab fish with a vertical, “smoking” tactic, aided by Garmin LiveScope and our splasher which routinely drew fish in to us from all around us.
Being self-confessed “one fish per season” kind of guys, Tom and Tom were pretty tickled with the 47 fish catch they made today, 100% of which were white bass.
When the study results are released, I will share them on social media for those of you who have been following along with this effort and/or have actually participated in it.
RESULTS: 47 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Thick, gloomy clouds/rain were an issue once again today. The fish stayed very subdued most of the morning.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 20 April 2026, approx. 6:55AM…
0 feet 71F
5 feet 71.0F
10 feet 71.0F
15 feet71.0F
20 feet 71.0F
25 feet71.0F
30 feet 71.2F
35 feet 70.3F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 60.6F
50 feet 58.2F
55 feet57.4F
60 feet 56.7F
65 feet 56.5F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 12:20P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.44′ low with a +0.02′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 1 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 71.0F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SW4 in first hour, then SSE5 in second hour, then ESE6-9 thereafter
Sky Condition: 100% grey clouds all morning with rain falling lightly nearly the entire morning, getting a bit heavier in the final hour.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 15% illumination
GT = 40
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2346 – 6 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area vic 1048- 10 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white) & MAL Dense Lures
Area 2437- 10 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 1128- 7 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 2438 – 5 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white)
Area 2439 – 8 fish on Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (3/4 oz. white) & MAL Dense Lures
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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle