Fishers of Men Aboard — 103 Fish
CLIENTS: This morning, Monday, January 5, I fished Stillhouse with Pastor Charlie Pannell, Matthew Parrish, and Konnor Winter. The two younger men both serve as counselors at Pine Cove, and volunteer with Pastor Pannell in the church’s music ministry at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen (https://www.membc.org/).
TODAY’S DATE: 05 January 2026 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 13 January 2026 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Pastor Charlie Pannell, Matthew Parrish, and Konnor Winter, all part of Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen, enjoyed a winter fishing trip on Stillhouse courtesy of one of the church’s senior citizens who wished to remain anonymous.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The weather held some good and some not-so-good news this morning. Good news was this was the first day of a returning south wind — one of my two favorite winter weather scenarios, and that a warmup is under way which should see us break back into the low 60’s for water temperatures later this week. The not-so-good news was that we had some fog. As it turned out, the fog stayed pretty thin and did not hinder us beyond our first 20 minutes on the water.
We experienced a solid three hours of fishing which began around 8:10, and slacked off around 10:50.
During this time these three anglers landed 103 fish, with the majority coming off of just three areas — all slow-sloping bottom terrain in 30-40 feet of water. We found minimally responsive fish at a fourth area, but left them soon after they proved rather disinterested — proof that it pays to “shop around”, as not all fish in the lake behave the same way at the same time.
100% of this morning’s catch was made on the MAL Dense with silver body fished vertically with a slow-smoking tactic. 100% of the catch consisted of white bass (only) with three fish exceeding the 15″ mark.
Although all of the fellows had fished before, none had used the tactics we employed today. To their credit, all were willing to be coached and did well “adjusting on the fly” as the fishes’ temperament changed over the course of this grey, overcast morning.
RESULTS: 103 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-This was day 1 of a warming trend following a mild cold front which blew in on Friday, 02 Jan.
-Birds were helpful in locating fish at 2 areas this morning and stayed airborne longer than usual, thanks to the overcast conditions keeping gamefish feeding up high in the water column.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 05 January 2026…
0 feet 59.0F
5 feet 58.9F
10 feet 58.9F
15 feet 58.9F
20 feet 58.9F
25 feet 58.9F
30 feet 58.9F
35 feet 58.7F
40 feet 58.7F
45 feet 58.6F
50 feet 58.6F
55 feet 58.4F
60 feet 58.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:40A
End Time: 11:40A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.44′ low with a -0.02′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 1 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 59.0F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S4-5 in the first hour, increasing slightly to S6-8 thereafter.
Sky Condition: Light fog at trip’s start, then going fully grey for the remainder of the trip.
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 93% illumination.
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2339 – 33 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area 2340 – 8 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area 2341- 2 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lures
Area vic 464 – 41 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lure
Area 1227 – 16 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lure
Area vic SDH001 – 3 fish on slow-smoked MAL Lure
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