28 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Harker Heights Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick 2 1/2 hour morning trip from 6:45a to 9:15a just to stay on top of fish movements as we ease into spring and the changes that go with it.

This morning the air temp was 44F and the water surface temp was 56F. The winds were strong from the SW at 15+ before sunup, and only increased to 20+ before falling off again after sunset.

Action has been hard to beat at Area 89 and the surrounding area, so, I headed there due to a lack of early morning bird activity anywhere else.

Fish were a bit sluggish at first, but gradually kicked into a brief, strong feed, accompanied by gull and tern activity. I found ample fish both tight to bottom and suspended. The bottom-oriented fish were much more cooperative than those at mid-depth. A simple jerk, fall, pause retrieve did well (sometimes with an extended pause required) as did easing the slab off the bottom and deciding upon a retrieve based on fish response to the rise of the slab. Action began to die off right at 9:10a, with fish becoming more stubborn and birds rafting up on the surface.

Once the birds got going, they were seen feeding over open water due S. of Area 116, as well, although I never fished there.

I continued the experiment with a tandem rig today, as well as with the TNT 180 slab. The fish were pretty fickle on size and I was catching better with smaller slabs than the 3/4 oz. TNT version, but it did alright in the white/chart. pattern. The best combination for the tandem rig was a 1/8 oz. slab with an EP shad imitator in white and blue. I only caught one double, but caught equal numbers of fish on the slab vs. the tandem.

Tally for today’s trip was 1 drum, 3 legal largemouth, and 38 white bass, of which 1/2 were legal.

Most of the fish I caught early, before the strong feed were small fish off bottom. As the feed increased and the birds began working in, the size mix got better.

TALLY = 42 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing