30 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 5:50p

End Time: 9:15p

Air Temp: 93F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 85.5F

Wind: Dead calm at trip’s start, with a light ESE breeze pushing easy at first, then building to 8-9, then calming to 2-3 by sunset.

Skies: Skies were fair and getting clearer the entire trip under the influence of clearing low pressure and approaching high pressure.

I fished solo today and visited as many of the traditional mid-lake deep water summer haunts as time and conditions allowed to see where the fish were and were not on this part of the lake.

I noted fish and bait appearing in a very stratified fashion on sonar. The fish seemed to be holding in horizontal bands. From place to place the depth of the bands would vary by a few feet, but 25 to 32 feet consistently held both fish and bait.

The past two full days have been nearly flat calm, so I was excited when not minutes after leaving my first stop (vicinity of Area 139 to 141) without a nibble, a fair ENE breeze picked up. I don’t know how the fishing was doing beforehand, but as soon as I began checking areas on sonar, the fish were there in abundance.

My next stop was at Area 190. I fished here over 34-35 feet for fish holding in a horizontal band at 26-31 feet deep. Managed 16 white bass, 1 largemouth, and 1 drum on a ¼ oz. slab before the wind began to die and the action along with it.

I moved over to Area 145 and bagged two whites from right on top of the feature here, but the fish, although appearing regularly on sonar, were acting very sluggish.

Knowing this decrease in activity wasn’t boding well for a hot evening bite, I gave into the temptation to once again break out my new 2 weight fly rod. I don’t care if they’re 2 inches or 12 inches, when a sunfish comes up and sucks in a little dry fly or some other topwater presentation, there’s something neat about that. So, I spent some time working over some sunfish and ended up with 10 bluegill, some mature, some not.

Toward sunset, I looked over 2 areas hoping to see a little spurt of topwater, but none was to be found.

I ended the trip at Area 201 an managed to miss 3 solid fish (all largemouth, no doubt) on live bait, but put the 4th in the boat – a nice 3.75 pound fatty. All 4 of these fish came off the northside seam here.


TALLY = 31 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








27 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 2:10p

Air Temp: 77F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 84.5F

Wind: Already pushing SE at 7-8mph at dawn, and steadily built to a peak of ~18mph by 9:30, with higher gusts kicking in more regularly as the air warmed.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright the entire trip under the influence of high pressure.

I fished solo today and visited as many of the traditional deep water summer haunts as time and conditions allowed to see if the fish are settled into their summer patterns a bit early due to the early summer conditions we’ve had. One very promising thing was that most every spot I searched (whether I fished or just looked with sonar) had abundant shad in the lower ¼ of the water column out to 42 feet.

The past several trips have afforded light winds and reliable early morning surface action with white bass feeding on juvenile shad. Of course this morning when I came geared up with my 2 weight fly rod, there was no surface action to be had! I settled for one small largemouth in Area 17 on topwater and then went looking elsewhere after stowing the flygear.

Next stop was at Area 222. Picked up one barely keeper largemouth on a slab spoon in 29 feet of water and moved on.

Next stop was between Areas 39 and 41. I found abundant white bass holding on the bottom here right at 8am. These fish were very aggressive and rose up off the bottom to meet the falling slab spoon, and raced after the spoon as I reeled it in if it did hit bottom. Stayed on these fish for over an hour and boated exactly 35 fish. This included 33 whites, of which not a single fish was short and with none exceeding 14.5 inches, as well as a 2.75 pound largemouth and a small drum. After about an hour things got quiet here.

Moved to Area 193/194 and immediately got into deep, schooled largemouth which behaved much as white bass do under deepwater conditions. I caught 3 largemouth, all 2-3 pound fish, and a drum. When I realized the quantity of big largemouth on this area, I headed out to collect some live bait and returned to fish this area again.

I gave the new 2 weight fly rod a workout and put 18 sunfish in the boat in short order out of Area 189 and then headed back to fish Area 193/194.


When I returned, I fished a tightline in a rod holder as I continued to vertical jig the slab. I wound up with 14 fish here including two 7.00 pound largemouth and a 4.25 pound largemouth (dated photo of me holding one of the 7’s and the 4.25 are in the Photo Gallery). The breakdown on the catch here was 12 largemouth, all legal, 2 large whites, and a small channel cat. Only 2 blacks and 2 whites came on the slab. The livey’s accounted for the rest.

Moved on to do a little downrigging and experiment with a Dipsey Diver while just moseying around looking at sonar. In the expanse between Areas 193/194 and Area 196, I managed 2 white bass and 3 largemouth bass, all suspended 3-4 feet off bottom, and all falling for a Pet Spoon.

I then checked out Area 197. Again, abundant shad showed over the entire area and gamefish were tight to the bottom beneath them. Picked up a single white on the downrigger as I checked the area over with sonar, then I buoyed and slabbed for 4 more white bass, 6 drum, and 1 nice 3 1/8 pound largemouth. These fish were somewhat reluctant, and, based on the presence of the drum, I’d say I got here after the main feed had taken place.

I then checked Area 198. Good shad, not much in the way of gamefish. Got a 2 pound largemouth out of 39 feet here on the downrigger.

I then checked Area 199. Right at the peak of the ridge here I picked up 2 whites and 1 largemouth on 3 consecutive downrigger passes. These fish were holding at the top of this feature at 36 feet.

At this point I’d boated 93 fish and still had the itch to fish with the 2 weight fly rod, so I headed out of the wind to Area 200 and put 7 more sunfish in the boat to finish the day with an even 100 fish.


TALLY = 100 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








23 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 76F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 83.5F

Wind: Calm at dawn, then going light and variable for the duration of the morning. This lack of wind made things a little tough as the white bass and largemouth bass topwater action was minimal as a result.

Skies: Skies were fair and bright the entire trip under the influence of high pressure.

Fished a Kids Fish, Too! morning trip with John (dad) and Hunter (son) of Killeen, and Hunter’s buddy, Justin. The boys were both 8 years old, headed to 3rd grade. They were well-behaved, learned quickly, and did well.

After greetings, my short safety talk, and some basic instructions for the boys on casting with spinning gear accurately, we headed out.

We first visited Area 160 looking for pre/post dawn white bass action on topwater and were not disappointed. We were only on site a few minutes before the first topwater appeared and the boys went to down looking for targets, casting, and retrieving. Although the action lasted about 90 minutes (thanks to a cloudbank to the east which obscured the sun for a while), we only experienced light topwater feeding. Most fish were in pods of 2-5 fish and didn’t stay on top long. As accurate as the boys were, they often were too slow in getting the retrieve going while fish were still near the surface. Nonetheless, we boated 8 fish including 6 white bass and 2 largemouth before the topwater died here.

Next we headed to between Area 61 and Area 222 and noted fair surface feeding beginning. We stayed on top of these surface feeding fish for about an hour. During this time we caught and released 6 largemouth bass. This action was also fairly week due to the super-calm conditions.

We changed up our equipment and headed over to Area 195 and enjoyed an hour plus of steady sunfish action on simple bobber rigs. The boys managed 66 sunfish including both mature and immature bluegill, as well as one longear sunfish. We kept 6 of the smaller specimens to use a livebait for largemouth to close out our trip with a shot at a big one.

We made one final stop at between Areas 61 and 62 at the 25-28 foot range. We encountered blanketing-type shad, not balled up shad, and disinterested gamefish within 2-3 feet of bottom. We had 2 strikes on the sunfish baits resulting in one missed hookup. At 11:15 with the skies heating up, the wind dead calm, and no birds, bait, or fish doing anything, we called it a good trip and headed in as the boys asked “When can we go again?” Dad commented, “I think we hooked more than fish on this trip.”


TALLY = 80 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








20 JUNE 2008






Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half-day afternoon trip on Belton today with Mike M. of Salado. Mike owns the 3 area Cotton Patch Café restaurants in Central Texas and received a birthday gift certificate from his wife earlier in the year. His main goal was to learn effective techniques he could duplicate when fishing with family and friends. By trip’s end, I’d introduced him to slabbing, downrigging, live shad tight lining, topwater fishing and working a bladebait in shallow water.

Conditions:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 9:15p

Air Temp: 92 at trip’s start, slowly cooling to the mid 80’s by trip’s end

Water Temp: 83.5F

Wind: Light and variable the entire trip following a brief disturbance in the weather pattern which came through the area yesterday morning. That disturbance brought a strong N. breeze during the day, and about ¾” of rain with light thunderstorms overnight.

Skies: Skies began heavy grey and cloudy in the morning following an overnight rain, but had cleared to bright and clear with increasing pressure by sunset.

We fished only 3 areas this afternoon, and found solid fishing at 2 of these.

At Area 192, we identified suspended schools of white bass and hybrids holding in a narrow band at 32 to 35 feet deep over a deeper bottom. This begged for a downrigging approach and that’s what we when with. We started with small presentations and in the end did consistently better with them, but also caught fish on larger presentations, as well. The #13 Pet Spoon was the best performer, with the Lunker Licker doing well, and the Swimmin’ Image accounting for only one fish, albeit the largest hybrid (on the largest bait) taken in this area. The fishing was pretty simple once we found the fish. We did occasionally stop to vertical jig for fish when large schools were seen on sonar close to bottom, but we did poorly with this approach, with only 2 largemouth (about 2.75 pounds each) to show for that effort. We left this area around 7p with 24 fish boated including 2 keeper hybrid, 3 short hybrid, 2 largemouth bass, and 19 white bass ranging from short to 14 inches, with most 11-12 inches.

We next headed to the vicinity of Area 171 and began fishing in 31 feet of water with 2 live shad rigs tracked on sonar. We started here as sonar showed both gamefish and bait in the vicinity with gamefish on or near bottom and bait balled up. We slowly moved shallower as the light faded, and did best in 19-21 feet when all was said and done. As is typical of live shad fishing, we caught fewer fish but of better quality as compared to fishing with the artificals. We landed a nice 15.5″ white bass, a 4 pound hybrid, and a 3 pound largemouth with this tactic.

As sunset approached, topwater feeding fish began to dapple the surface, and we switched over to topwater and bladebaits. We fished until seeing light was gone and put an additional 27 fish in the boat including 2 short hybrids and 25 white bass ranging from 9 to 13 inches.

Enjoyed a boat-to-boat chat with Mr. James Harper, rodbuilder, reel repairman , catfisherman, and Temple PD detective, of Heidenheimer … seemed like a real nice fellow. Following that we headed in and packed it up.


TALLY= 54 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








19 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 12:20p

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 84.0 F

Wind: Light puffs from the NE at dawn, then going light and variable until around 10:15, then coming on hard from the N at 18-20 on the lead edge of a disturbance, then settling out to ESE at 7-8 on slowly clearing skies

Skies: Red skies at sunrise warned of turbulent weather ahead. Skies were greyed over but bright until the disturbance passed over, at which time the skies went grey and dark with rain threatening but never falling. Skies then went grey and bright and slowly cleared after that passed.

Fished a half-day morning trip with Craig and Susan M. of Killeen. Craig serves as the Ellison High School baseball coach and a football coach; Susan is a teacher at Harker Heights Elementary.

After greetings, my short safety talk and some basic instructions for Susan on casting with spinning gear we headed out.

We slowly motored around the general vicinity of Area 555 and today only spotted occasional single largemouth bass popping shad on top; no schools of white bass were witnessed here at all. After spending about an hour in and around here hoping some schooling would develop, we headed downlake after only putting two small largemouth in the boat on the cork rig.

We made a quick look-listen stop at Area 191 but didn’t see much here – a couple small, single largemouth on top – so we moved on.

We made our next stop along the centerline just E. of Area 160. As we motored slowly, schools of white bass were seen feeding on the surface here. We eased up on these with the trolling motor and began working these over with the Cork Rig. These schools were feeding on very small ¾ to 7/8 inch long juvenile shad and were a little reluctant to hit the flies we presented behind the cork. Nonetheless, by the time the topwater action faded we had put 9 in the boat, most right at the 11 inch mark.

Next we headed to between Area 61 and Area 222 and noted fair surface feeding beginning. We stayed on top of these surface feeding fish for about an hour. During this time we caught and released 26 largemouth bass. At around 9:45a a dark cloud bank which had been slowly moving from N to S moved right over us and brought with it a wind shift to the N at 15-18 mph. This killed the topwater fishing as the fish responded negatively to this weather change. We hooked up the downriggers and fished through this general area looking at sonar the entire time. We wound up with 1 small white bass and 1 small largemouth in about 25 minutes of effort and decided to move on.

We made a stop at Area 186 after I searched the breakline here with sonar. Sonar returns were so-so with a few gamefish and some scattered shad showing. We vertical jigged for a little while with 3 drum and 1 white bass to show for the effort.

We made one final stop at Area135 and the stretch of water to the WNW of it. I was actually searching for congregated white bass here. What we found instead was a lot of bait and a good number of schools of smallish largemouth surface feeding here. The activity increased as the N breeze slowly shifted ESE and the skies brightened. We used the Cork Rig here and managed to boat another 23 largemouth in the boat before the skies cleared totally and the fish quit.

TALLY = 66 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








16 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 11:40a

Air Temp: 78F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 84.0 F

Wind: Light puffs from the S at dawn, increasing to S at 11 by trip’s end

Skies: High-pressure induced clear blue skies, very bright

Fished a half-day morning trip with David K. of Cedar Park. As I waited for his arrival I noted strong minnow feeding action on topwater as they sipped on a hatch of small insects that blanketed the surface.

After greetings, some basic instructions, and checking out his casting abilities, we headed out after some topwater action.

We slowly motored up on the NW quarter of Area 555 and spotted 2 schools of surface feeding white bass. We worked the kinks out on one of these schools by getting down casting distances, the importance of leading the schools when casting, how exactly to work the presentation, etc. Although we didn’t capitalize on this school, we did have one brief hookup, but were very ready for the next opportunity.

We didn’t have to wait long, within 10 minutes of our arrival, the surface was alive with both schools of whites and largemouth feeding on very small (~3/4 inch) shad. The activity ramped up, peaked, and then died to nothing by 7:45a. By that time David had landed 39 fish, all on the cork rig.

Next we headed to Area 191 and saw some very light topwater feeding by smallish largemouth. It was hard to tell whether this deeper water action was just getting going or tapering off, so we remained in the area as David kept casting at any boils we noticed, and I kept scanning near and far for signs of activity. We managed 3 largemouth here. Within 10 minutes or so, we noted heavy surface feeding beginning in the vicinity of Area 26 (to the NE of it) and stayed on top of these very aggressively feeding fish for over two hours. During this time we caught and released 67 largemouth bass. I was surprised given the quantity and size of the bait here (about 1 ¼ inches) that we didn’t catch a single white bass, smallmouth, or spotted bass. At around 9:55a this action died to nothing and we began to search deepwater haunts for white bass.

In about 40 minutes of searching with sonar and probing with slabs, Areas 57, 58, 59, and 171 all yielded nothing.

We made a final stop at Area 186 and the sonar lit up as I searched the breakline here.

We dropped slabs down deep here and immediately hooked up a double of white bass. We stayed on these fish for about 40 minutes catching mainly white bass, with a few drum and even fewer largemouth mixed in. We tallied 20 fish here and called it a very good day by the time these fish began to slack off.

TALLY = 129 FISH, all caught and released, except one drum that didn’t make it

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








12 JUNE 2008






Belton Lake Fishing Report by Belton Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished from 8am to Noon with the families of the 3/82 Field Artillery Battalion

Conditions:

Start Time: 8:00a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 78 at trip’s start, climbing into the mid 90’s by the afternoon

Water Temp: 83.5F

Wind: SSE at 10 at the beginning of the event, building to 25+ by the afternoon

Skies: Bright and clear

The focus today was on making kids successful at catching fish and teaching them a bit about fishing along the way. I had the honor of meeting and teaching 15 different children today – every one of them caught multiple fish, and 3 of them caught the first fish of their lives!!

Many of the kids were quite young, and I fished with them from the shoreline or from various floating structures, older elementary-aged kids I took with me on the boat to add to the experience.

I rigged up 3 ten foot bream poles with super-sensitive floats and #14 hooks. We baited up with bits of earthworm beneath a tiny splitshot and caught fish everywhere we spotted bedding and suspended sunfish. This included inside and outside the floating BLORA fishing pier, the area around the courtesy dock located nearest the floating pier, and along the banks of the BLORA military marina.

By the time the event concluded, the kids had managed to catch 82 fish including bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, and longear sunfish.

The Battalion Executive Officer presented me with a very nice framed certificate a battalion coin. Thanks, guys!!

TALLY= 82 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








09 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 5:30p

End Time: 8:40p

Air Temp: 93F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 79.2 F

Wind: S at 15 to 18, tapering to S at 12 at sunset, then again increasing to 15+

Skies: 50% white cloud cover the entire trip.

Fished a “stay in touch” trip this evening to stay on top of shad and gamefish locations on Stillhouse.

Found fish at all but one of 6 locations I fished.

First stop came along the NW to SE oriented breakline from the 26 foot flat downward at Area 142. There were small, scattered pods of shad hanging off the slope here, and gamefish holding in one’s, two’s and three’s on bottom – not the best scenario, but I decided to give it a try anyway since it was a little early for the fish to be really turned on. I dropped a ½ oz slab down and managed 3 whites; all coming on an easing technique. I saw no evidence that the intensity level here was going to change, so I moved on.

Next stop was made between Areas 145 and 148. Although a very well defined breakline exists here at the edge of the 30 foot flat, the fish were located a few yards beyond that and were grouped up on the 24-26 foot knob. Caught 20 fish in no time, first by lift-dropping, then by easing. Decided to search for other active fish at other locations while the feeding window was open, and left these fish biting.

Moved to Area 131 in 28-30 feet and saw suspended white bass in one’s and two’s on sonar, with occasional small pods of fish tight to the bottom on sonar. Went ahead and stopped here and gave it a try. Fish were acting reluctantly toward the ½ oz. slab, so I downsized to ¼ oz. This seemed to do the trick – I proceeded to catch 14 fish here, nearly all of them smoked out of suspended schools – on the bait. By 7:00p the action had died here so I moved on.

Moved to Area 161 and saw little but surface sipping gar here, and a lack of bait. Spent about 5 minutes with a line in the water and moved on.

Next to last stop came halfway between Area 34 and Area 149 in 25-26 feet. A healthy school of bottom oriented fish was clearly evident on sonar. I knew as soon as I dropped the slab down that this was going to be good … the fish rose up off the bottom to meet the slab indicating they were in overdrive and ready to hit. I caught 20 fish here in less than 15 minutes, including two 3 pound largemouth, and three 15.5 inch white bass. Twice, as I reeled in smaller white bass, large black bass were tailing them, and once, as I reeled in one of the large whites, two equally large whites accompanied it to the surface. Again, I caught 20 and left these fish while they were still biting in order to check out one final area.

Right at about 10 minutes before sunset I arrived offshore from Area 159 and immediately spotted the surface feeding whites I had hoped to find there. The schools were well-spread and didn’t stay up on top very long, but, I managed 4 whites and a small largemouth out of the action, and then called it a night.

TALLY = 62 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








06 JUNE 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:00a

End Time: 12:20p

Air Temp: 77F pre-dawn climbing to 91 by day’s end

Water Temp: 78.4F

Wind: S at 15 pre-dawn, building to 19 by trip’s end, and occasionally gusting to 25+ in the mid afternoon for the 4th day in a row.

Skies: 80-100% grey cloud cover the entire trip; light drizzle to light rain intermittently falling from 10a to Noon. This weather was due to the breakdown of a high pressure system and the arrival of low pressure.

Fished a half-day Kids Fish, Too! trip with a grandpa (Dick D.) and his two grandsons, Richard and Ryan of Plano. We met at dockside at 6:00a, went over the boat rules, did some basic casting instruction and, lo and behold, Ryan comes up with the first fish of the day, a redear sunfish, during the practice session!! And with that, we were off to the first spot of the day.

We first stopped at Area 173 and, due to the winds and the boys’ limited casting experience, fished from an anchored position with the boys casting from the portside quartering across and down-wind with shad-imitating in-line spinners and with blade baits. Action was slow (I theorize due to the low pressure moving in) with virtually no topwater at all, save a single pod of white bass seen blitzing shad for about 3 minutes at 7:30a. We managed a single largemouth (a nice 3 pound fish) and a single white bass at this first stop.

We gave the shallows between Area 177 and the shoreline a try, but nothing was happening there.

We moved on and searched for some sunfish action and did well at Area 189 finding all manner of sunfish in all manner of sizes here. We used simple bobber and hook rigs with worms to tempt these scrappy fighters into biting, releasing the largest specimens and keeping a few juveniles to use as live bait for largemouth a little later in the trip. We put 35 sunfish in the boat including a nice 7.5 inch bluegill and a 4 7/8 inch longear sunfish which qualified as the new Jr. Angler lake record for this species (caught by Richard).

From here we headed to Area 70 and Area 222 and executed two drifts to the NW on the SE breeze in 35-38 feet and in 12-16 feet respectively. We managed 2 strikes and 1 landed fish (a 3.75 pound largemouth landed by Ryan) on the second, shallower drift. This action wasn’t as fast and furious as the boys attention span required, so we moved on.

We searched Area 176 with sonar and found a few scattered whites here on bottom. We vertical jigged briefly and picked up two whites, but the winds were getting heavier and things were a bit too difficult trying to coach two novices at slabbing and hold the boat in place, etc. so we moved to a more sheltered location.

We hit Area 145 (about 30 yards to the NNW of it) and started slabbing after sonar showed an abundance of scattered gamefish and shad suspended just off the bottom over this entire area. The fish were very sluggish at first during the time the skies were overcast, grey, and drizzling. Once the drizzle ended, and the skies brightened a bit, the fish really turned on. We caught 49 fish at this location in about an hour’s time. Most were healthy white bass coming in right at 11.5 inches, with some smaller, and some larger, with none exceeding 13″. We also put 2 crappie, a small largemouth, and 2 drum in the boat. The last fish of the day hit Richard’s slab as he was working it lift-drop style. I watched the rod tip as the fish struck and knew it was a hard hit. He set the hook and then commenced battling a 7.00 pound channel cat for the next 2 ½ minutes and successfully brought it to net. This qualified as the Jr. Angler record for that species for Stillhouse, pending processing of paperwork by TPWD. We decided to call it quits on that good note and headed back to the dock with a boatload of happy fishermen.


TALLY = 89 FISH, all but 5 sunfish (used for bait) were 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