07 JULY 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp: 74F

Water Temp: 83.5F

Wind: Dead calm at trip’s start, with a light, humid SE breeze building by trip’s end to ~10mph

Skies: Skies were mostly clear under the influence of high pressure in the early morning, with clouds slowly building to ~75% by trip’s end. The afternoon saw light showers with grey skies.

I fished a ½ day Kids Fish, Too! trip with Bobby (dad) and Haley (daughter) H. of Temple.

We met at the ramp at 6:30a and got acquainted, went over some casting basics, and some safety basics and then turned to fishing.

We noted a hatch of small white flying insects right near the boat ramp on which the local bluegill were feeding heavily. A small #18 dry fly pattern in off white matched these insects perfectly. I introduced Haley to basic fly casting and she scored her first fish before we even left the dock! The hatch died off and we headed out to big water.

We looked over some deepwater areas and saw no strong bait or gamefish returns on sonar and so moved shallower. We encountered both shad and gamefish in between Areas 17 and 204 in 20-30 feet of water and decided on a downrigging approach at first. This netted us a 13″ largemouth and a 13″ white bass immediately. Two more fish later, as we were re-rigging to catch a fifth fish at this location, white bass began to churn the surface all around us. We pulled up the hardware and switched over to the cork rig and caught fish on top consistently for about an hour. After these fish quit on top, we continued to downrig and extended our catching for another 40 minutes or so with dual riggers out; one with Pet Spoon, the other with a silver and chartreuse Lunker Licker. Our tally up this point was 36 fish. This final stint of downrigging yielded a nice 2.25 pound white bass and a pending lake record drum weighing in at .875 pounds and 13.0″, both on the Pet Spoon. At this point in time, Haley was ready to experience a different technique, so we moved on, baited up and hunted sunfish.

At Area 195, we encountered solid sunfish action on the bream pole and quill bobber rig, adding 15 fish to the tally – 100% of the catch here was bluegill sunfish.

We attempted a drift on the SE breeze from Area 59 into the shoreline with livebait on tightlines. This did not produce and didn’t keep Haley’s attention too well after snack time was complete, so we made the decision to give downrigging one last try for one final fish before we headed in.

At Area 199 our quest came to an end as a decent 14″ largemouth hit our downrigged offering. We ended the trip with big smiles, high-fives and lots of photos.


TALLY = 52 FISH, all gamefish 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