The following is a roll up of this month’s efforts:

29 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 74

27 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 22

25 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 126

20 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 89

18 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 96

15 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 41

11 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 84

08 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 74

04 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 83

01 SEPTEMBER 2008 = 39

TOTAL CATCH FOR SEPTEMBER 2008 = 728 FISH

AVERAGE CATCH PER TRIP = 72.8 FISH

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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:40a

End Time: 10:05a

Air Temp: 61F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 77.6 F

Wind: Winds were very light all day, and prevailed from the NW. Winds were at 6-7 at and following sunrise, and then tapered to flat calm by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear.

This morning I set out to gather bait for a trip on Wednesday and, upon completing that chore (54 shad in about 15 throws; all gizzard shad about 2.25 inches at Area 256) I encountered some solid topwater fishing for white bass.

The fish have yet to coalesce into large schools, and existed in many small schools in close proximity to one another. From what I observed, there appeared to be 10-15 fish per school. Fishing was pretty easy – I threw a blade when the fish sounded and a cork rig when they were on top and attempted to stay in the thick of the action by chasing with the trolling motor. I first spotted the action to about 80 yards to the SE of Area 114, and it slowly transitioned to the SW and ended near Area 257. Most fish were right at 10 inches, with several larger ones going to 12-13 inches. The single largest white bass was 15 inches. It came on a slowly lift-dropped blade when the fish had sounded and I was fancasting.

The catch today consisted of 72 white bass and 2 drum.

TALLY = 74 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 5:00p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp: 88F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 80 F

Wind: Winds were very light all day, and were variable. I held off on going fishing today until I saw some consistency in the wind. Around 3:30p, a light NE breeze at 6-8 stayed consistent until about 5:50p, and then died.

Skies: Skies were bright with a thin layer of high clouds.

I fished just a quick evening trip by myself tonight and specifically targeted topwater fish. Upon launching there was a bit of action around Area 88, but too sporadic to capitalize on.

I took a look over the Area 124 / 125 complex with sonar and found multiple, large fish holding at the 23-25 foot breakline here at Area 124, but they were 2-3 foot off bottom and did not respond to a vertical jigging approach. The sonar returns did not appear as white bass nor largemouth typically do – perhaps a healthy school of channel cat?? I didn’t fool with these very long as I wanted to get on some topwater.

I looked over the expanse from Area 56 to Area 126 and saw nothing on top.

I then headed to the expanse from Area 555 to Area 122. As I idled in here, topwater action soon became apparent. Small wolfpacks of largemouth and white bass were feeding on small shad in open water from 54 feet deep to 22 feet deep. This action occurred just as the NE wind had built and peaked for the first significant amount of time all day, around 5:25p. This action lasted about 45 minutes. Over that time I caught 17 largemouth to 15 inches, and 3 keeper whites to 14 inches. I was surprised that, despite running sonar the entire time the surface action was happening, not a single school of bottom oriented or suspended whites was seen. Around 6:15 the wind died very abruptly, and the fishing died with it. By sunset (~7:08) the surface was calm and not even a shad’s ripple could be seen across the surface.

After dark, the 4th night of the mayfly hatch continued, and topwater feeding by small bass and sunfish again resumed in the shallows. I managed one drum and one sunfish before heading to the house.

TALLY = 22 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 7:00p

Air Temp: 68F at trip’s start, and 84 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 77.6 to 79.0 F

Wind: Winds were flat calm until around 9a, then light and variable with a favoring towards NE, at around 11:30 winds went NE, but very light. By 1:30 winds were NE at 8-10 with gusts to 13.

Skies: Skies were bright with a thin layer of high clouds.

Environmental Note: A thick overnight hatch of mayflies left large rafts of shed casings on the lake surface. At dusk, another hatch began and the shallows were alive with shad and sunfish feeding on these insects.

Fished a half-day morning Kids Fish, Too! trip and then fished solo for the remainder of the day.

At 7:00a I met brothers Matt and Mark C. of Kempner, and their dad, John, for a Kids Fish, Too! trip to celebrate Mark’s 8th birthday. We did a quick safety briefing, a casting/equipment familiarity assessment, and then headed to the fishing grounds. This morning’s trip was a bit tough, as the winds lay nearly calm until 1:30p – the time we wrapped up the morning excursion.

First stop at 7:20a was in the vicinity of Area 205/206. We found moderately active schooled white bass in 22-25 feet of water and downrigged for 2 hefty whites, each 13 inches; one came on a Pet Spoon, the other on the Lunker Licker.

As we were rigging up to go for another double, surface activity erupted around Area 160. We went up into the shallow water here (1.5 to 7 feet) and threw Teardrop Rigs for 12 white bass and 2 largemouth. These were 11 inch, 2 year old white bass feeding on 1 1/8 inch long shad. By 8:30 this surface action died.

We headed to Area 64 looking for topwater but found none. Shad were lacking here compared to the past 2 weeks, but we did make a quick attempt at vertical jigging and came up with 1 white bass.

We headed to north of Area 209 and downrigged the 34-40 foot breakline here and came up with another pair of white bass, but saw no shad at all – very unusual for this time of year.

Headed to Area 56 and downrigged in a NE to SW orientation in 25-33 feet with balls set at 2 feet above bottom and at 13 feet for suspended fish. We came up with an additional 12 fish here as we waited out the nearly calm conditions. We netted 12 more fish here including 4 largemouth and 8 white bass, and had 2 largemouth jump and shake loose right at boatside. Our best fish of the day came out of 22 feet of water on a large Pet Spoon. It went exactly 3.5 pounds on the certified Boga Grip.

Around 12:30, the wind finally got a definite direction and velocity, but the effects of it didn’t build in until after the trip had concluded. We managed one more vertically jigged largemouth out of 36 feet at Area 186, and then called it a good day with 33 fish landed between the two young men.

After getting the guest back to the dock, I headed back out knowing that the strengthening wind was going to have a positive effect on the fishing. I searched several areas with sonar and located strong gamefish and bait returns at Area 126. I stayed right on top of this area for 2 solid hours and caught fish the entire time. The catch here was all white bass at first, without exception. These fish were in large schools suspended just above the bottom. They aggressively swam up to meet the slab as if fell, and chased it upward as I worked it. After about an hour of catching whites, they slacked off, and the catch then became a 50/50 mix of whites and largemouth; at this time I switched over to a ¾ oz. bait to see if that would produce some larger fish. It seemed not to really make a difference. By about 3:30 the bite had tapered off to a crawl, so I switched over to a blade bait, and continued to catch fish on that. The largest fish of the day, a 5.5 pound largemouth, came on this bait. A total of 75 fish came off this area, of which 6 were crappie, 2 were drum, and 5 were largemouth over 16 inches. The rest were whites between 10-12.5 inches and smallish largemouth.

There was a definite lull between 4:30 and 5:30. I did some on-the-water neatening and cleaning until things picked up prior to sunset.

At exactly 5:20p, some light surface activity began in what was now a 10+ mph wind between Areas 88 and 158 over 18 to 30 feet of water. Small wolfpacks of small 11-14 inch largemouth were aggressively pursuing shad to surface and feeding on them on the surface. I used the trolling motor to travel from pack to pack and used the Cork Rig to close the deal on 18 blacks. I used a slightly larger hook today on the business end of the rig, and that seemed to up the hook-to-land ration by reducing shaken hooks.

By 6:45, things went quiet. I looked with sonar on a few classic sunset white bass areas, but fish were not to be found. I ended the trip at 7p.

TALLY = 126 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 1:45p

Air Temp: 62F at trip’s start, and 86F for the day’s high

Water Temp: 76.9 to 78.5F

Wind: A light breeze from SE existed at sunrise. It then died and then barely puffed from the SE until nearly 10:30a. During this time the fishing was slow. At around 11:30, a steady SE breeze at about 7-8 picked up, and the fishing improved right along with it.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear with a thin layer of high clouds.

Fished a half-day morning trip today. Due to the fact that this was a Saturday trip, I shyed away from some of my better areas so as not to draw a crowd. I fished some experimental areas to see how far up the reservoir the baitfish and gamefish following them could be found.

I started off at Area 162 in only 6-12 feet of water and fished it until just a few minutes past sunrise. There was abundant gar and buffalo activity here, but not much in the way of gamefish. I had a single small white bass follow my bladebait, but did not catch any fish here.

I moved on to Area 56 / Area 126 and ran a single ‘rigger as I scrutinized sonar for shad and gamefish returns. There was abundant shad in the area – most very small, and the schools were tightly bunched indicating the presence of gamefish. I fished the entire area here from shore to channel in a serpentine pattern and found that the depth band from 25 to 34 feet held most of the gamefish, and most gamefish showing on sonar were found on bottom. I started out the day with a short largemouth, followed by the largest fish of the trip, an honest 5.25 pound largemouth (photo shown in gallery for this date). Around 8:30, a lone osprey was seen working over open water. I moved in for a closer look and found topwater feeding largemouth under the bird. In the next 35 minutes I boated 13 additional largemouth ranging from 11 to 16 inches. All were packed with small shad, and I witnessed larger shad fleeing across the surface. These fish all came on a Cork Rig.

After this action died down, I continued downrigging. Here and there as I encountered concentrations of fish, I’d stop to vertical jig and boat a few, and then move on. By 11:30, I’d tallied 39 fish. The single most productive area over this expanse was Area 254.

At this point the SE breeze picked up a notch, so I headed to a wind exposed feature at Area 87 / Area 252 / Area 253 complex and found the white bass beginning to make a move on shad in deep water (36 to 43 feet deep). Over the next 2 hours and 15 minutes, I boated exactly 50 more fish including 2 largemouth, 1 drum, 1 crappie, and 46 white bass ranging from 10 to 14 inches. I used 3 presentations to keep the action going – the ¼ oz. slab was the staple, the ¾ oz. produced when the schools suspended or remained off bottom after chasing shad or hooked schoolmates, and the blade bait did the trick when things got quiet. Once I hit 50 fish at this area I decided to leave them alone. The bite was still on but was definitely waning by 1:45p.

TALLY = 89 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 7:25p

Air Temp: 66F at trip’s start, and 78 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 77.9 to 79.3F

Wind: A light breeze from the NE at 8 at (obscured) sunrise, followed by a NW breeze as the rain cleared out, then light and variable winds from 9 to Noon, then SE breeze the remainder of the day.

Skies: Heavy layer of low murky grey clouds dropped light rain from 6:45a to 8:15a and then slowly cleared, first to a layer of high, thin clouds enough to obscure the sun and make the day bright, but grey, and then to fully clear skies by around 3p.

Fished a full day trip today.

Just after (obscured) sunrise, I headed to Area 64 and found no action during the time the rain fell. At 8:15, immediately after the rain quit and the skies began to brighten a bit, a short topwater bite began. I found fish over 30-33 feet of water feeding on top on small shad. The fish I caught were a mix of largemouth (14-15 inches) and 10-11 inch white bass. I caught 15 fish on the cork rig, and then intentionally left while the bite was still on to see if topwater was also occurring elsewhere. I headed to the basin area and found little happening and little in the way of bait.

I returned to Area 64 and vertical jigged for 21 additional fish, again a mix of blacks and whites with a ¼ oz. slab in silver.

At around 10a, I headed to Area 65 and saw schools of largemouth feeding on topwater here. The action was sporadic, but went non-stop for nearly 3 ½ hours. Long, quick, accurate casts were the key here, and the Cork Rig did the trick for an additional 32 fish over this time span, including 4 white bass, and 28 black, of which 7 went over 16 inches. By 1:45p this action was over. I took a lunch break and returned at 5p.

At 5p, I spotted widely scattered schools of white bass feeding over 45-48′ in open water to the ESE of Area 175. The Cork Rig accounted for 8 white bass and 2 largemouth before the wind picked up to ~11 mph and turned slightly more easterly and put the fish down.

I then went hunting fish with sonar. I found a mixed bag of fish at Area 202 on the slope from 25 to 31 feet. I picked up 1 crappie, 3 small blacks, and 1 drum here with no evidence of white bass seen on sonar.

I fished up the trip at Area 34, arriving just 20 minutes prior to sunset. These fish were stacked up on the 22 foot rise here and were very aggressive. These white bass repeatedly raised up off bottom to meet the spoon as it fell, and then chased the spoon hard while I used a smoking retrieve. I tallied 13 fish here, including 11 whites between 11-13 inches, and 2 largemouth, both dinks.

TALLY = 96 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

Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Start Time: 6:50 a

End Time: 10:50a

Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start

Water Temp: 81.3F

Wind: NE at 12 at sunrise, increasing to 22 with higher gusts by trip’s end

Skies: Starting clear and blue with high thin, sparse clouds, but eventually clouding over completely with high thin clouds to the point of obscuring the sun for the majority of the afternoon.

Note: Today’s trip was my first in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Ike had very little impact here. On Saturday, the winds ranged from NW to ENE at 20, gusting to 30 beginning around 8am. By 11:30a, some light rain began to fall for about 90 minutes (less than 1/8 inch). The skies were heavily grey clouded. By late afternoon, the skies began to dry and the humidity began to drop. Then, on Sunday, a significant NE wind ushered in our 1st significant cold front of the season resulting in this morning’s low of 64F.

Fished a half-day morning trip today. Fished Area 246 about 15 minutes either side of sunrise (at 7:18a). Got two 12 inch largemouth here on a Carolina Rig in ~12-14 of water on the ledgestone prevalent in this area.

Moved from here and looked over Areas 88, 129, 175, 87, 248, 247, 125, and 124 and saw little in the way of gamefish or baitfish.

Moved on to Area 243 and saw a small school of whites tight to bottom at the top of the breakline in about 32 feet of water. Jigged over them for 2 whites and 2 largemouth before they dispersed rather quickly.

Moved on to Area 186 and wound up staying within 30 yards of this area the remainder of the morning’s trip. The most active fish were on the top of the breakline in 32-33 feet, but fish were found all the way down to 43 feet on the bottom, with occasional schools of suspended fish or individual suspended fish hanging just out away from the face of the slope. These fish were very sluggish most of the morning with fish often barely moving towards or completely ignoring my offering. It seems it took both an occasional change in jigging rhythm and a little competition from other schooled fish to goad a few into hitting today. I caught a lot of fish “on the pause” using a standard jigging stroke, and had a lot of fish turn away even when they started after a smoked retrieve. I suspect the turbulent weather in the wake of Hurricane Ike had much to do with this, and that as stable high pressure builds in later in the week that the fishing will be much improved.

At Area 186, I caught 35 fish consisting of an equal mix of white bass in the 10-11 inch range, and largemouth mainly in the 12-15 inch range with larger individuals going right at 3 pounds and 16.5 inches, with only 1 drum taken all morning. The fish had a definite preference for the silver ¼ slab over the white ¾ oz., and the blade bait did little to perk things up today either in a horizontal or vertical presentation.

TALLY = 41 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 12:30p

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start, and 91 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 82.3F

Wind: Fair breeze from the ESE at 8-10 pre-dawn, then lightening up with skies clearing a bit, and wind slowly turning SE at ~8.

Skies: Heavy layer of low murky grey clouds until about 9:30 am, then mostly cloudy but bright the remainder of the day.

Fished a half-day morning trip today and found solid fishing at 2 distinct areas.

Just after (obscured) sunrise, I headed to Area 244 and found abundant gamefish concentrations feeding on a fair population of shad along the gentle breakline here in 22-26 feet of water. Early on, the catch consisted of all white bass, but as the morning went on, and the skies brightened, largemouth began to join in the mix. Near the end of the feeding window here (about 10:15am) I began to pick up drum feeding off bottom on the leftovers, along with a single small channel cat. I caught a total of 47 fish here, including 4 largemouth right at 17 inches and ~3+ pounds, 5 smaller largemouth, 8 drum, 1 channel cat, and 27 white bass. There was only occasional, short bursts of feeding activity, and only from largemouth grouped in small wolfpacks of 2-4 fish each. The heaviest feed on top seemed to take place right before the fish here quit for good. No surface feeding whites were seen all day. All fish came on the silver ¼ oz. slab. Most whites were smallish, going 8-10 inches, with just a few at 11 inches. Tally on departure here was 47 fish.

At around 10:45, I headed to Area 45. I graphed solid concentrations of white bass schooled on and just off bottom, and schools of bait in the vicinity from 27 to 32 feet deep on this gently sloped area. I used the silver ¼ oz. slab and a bladebait to keep the fish enthused for nearly 2 hours. At first they aggressively chased the spoon, but then grew less and less active. When I couldn’t get a bite any longer, I switched over to the blade and they perked right back up again, often chasing it to within 6-7 feet of the surface if they didn’t get hooked first. When things get a little quiet, I ‘d cast out long and work the blade back lift-drop style and in so doing, draw fish back in right under the boat where I could again use sonar to gauge their response. Tally here was 3 largemouth (all keepers), 3 drum, and 31 white bass, for a tally of 37 fish out of this area. The white bass here were a full year class larger than I caught earlier in the morning, with all fish going at least 11-12 inches, and several surpassing 14 inches.

TALLY = 84 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

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:55a

Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start, and 91 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 83.4

Wind: Light breeze from the SE at 2-5 pre-dawn, then increasing to 5-8 with heavy clouds building in.

Skies: Heavy layer of low murky grey clouds built in just after sunrise, to the point of pouring rain in the Killeen area by mid-afternoon. Very humid.

Fished a half day morning trip today from 6:45am to 10:55am. I fished only 3 areas and found solid fishing at 2 of them.

Prior to sunrise, I hit Area 73 beginning out over 19 feet of water and casting shoreward with a Carolina Rig. I worked the 12-22 foot depths over about a 60 yard run, and found no fish.

At sunrise, I headed to Area 241 anticipating surface action continuing in here as I experienced last week, due to the lack of significant weather changes since that time. No surface action was apparent (except by gar) upon arrival, so I searched the general vicinity with sonar for bait to wait it out a little. I found a fair concentration of bait in the gut of this area in 31-33 feet of water, and stopped to vertical jig. I managed a short largemouth, a longnose gar, several drum, and several 10.5″ whites here. I tallied 9 fish via this approach

Before long, a surface feed began to ramp up, starting over deeper water (25-30 feet) and slowly moving back into shallower water (12-18 feet) with some submerged timber present. As the morning progressed, heavier and heavier cloud cover built in and the atmosphere got more and more humid feeling. The fish activity waxed and waned but never stopped until about 9:45am. By then, I had landed a total of 45 fish by fishing topwater. Nearby bass anglers were throwing larger soft plastics (flukes, etc.) and were Carolina rigging with lizards, but they were not nearly as successful as the Cork Rig proved to be on topwater, and the fish they caught were not appreciably larger than those coming on topwater. Most largemouth went 11-14 inches; most white bass went about 9 inches.

After the topwater bite died, I stayed in this area another 45 minutes vertical jigging. I caught a 24 inch channel cat and 1 dink channel cat, a 16 inch largemouth and 2 dink largemouth, 6 drum, and 4 whites, all 12-13 inches. All of these fish took the slab on a basic jigging stroke, except the 2 blacks, which came on a smoking retrieve. By 10:25, all action had ended here. Vertical jigging tally was 15 fish.

I tried one last quick stop at Area 177. Sonar showed fish at 28-31 feet on the shoulder with a bit of bait present. I dropped a slab down and in 25 minutes managed 5 fish including 2 largemouth, 2 drum, and a nice 13 inch white bass. At this point weather looked a bit threatening and a light drizzle began to fall with heavier rain looking imminent coming in from the SSE.

TALLY = 74 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

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 1:45p

Air Temp: 69F at trip’s start, and 88 for the day’s high

Water Temp: 82.3F

Wind: Stiff N breeze at 12-14 before sunrise, slowly tapering down, but staying northerly all day.

Skies: Clear blue and brilliant with much reflected light from the sun on the lake’s surface.

Fished a half day morning trip today from 6:45am to 1:45pm. I fished only 5 areas and found solid fishing at 4 of them.

Prior to sunrise, I hit Area 73 beginning out over 26 feet of water and casting shoreward with a Carolina Rig. Not until I had slowly moved in over 19 feet did I start getting hits while the presentation was working from about 14 feet down to 19 feet. I had four strikes in this range, missing 2 and landing 2 – one went 16.25 inches, the other 17.75 (3.75 lbs).

Once the sun rose, topwater action was lacking in this area, so I moved east looking into the sun for signs of topwater activity. There was a steady N breeze at 12-13, so the surface was quite choppy. I first checked Area 63 without sighting or hearing any fish, but then observed topwater feeding schools of mixed largemouth and white bass at Area 241 .

I headed over there and immediately got into solid surface activity, albeit fairly short-lived (about 30 minutes). I attribute that to the clear, cloudless conditions and brilliant sun. I caught a total of 29 fish on topwater, including mainly barely keeper largemouth and barely keeper white bass. The best fish on top was a 20 inch, 3.75 pound smallmouth – a very pretty, very dark fish.

As I was chasing fish with the trolling motor while they were still on top, I noted fairly regular, heavy brush/timber existed from bottom and to within about 12 feet of the surface.

Once the topwater action died down, I vertical jigged in the open spaces along the bottom between the trees. Much better fish came off bottom in 25-27 feet of water. I landed 5 largemouth in the 3 to 3.75 pound range going 17-18.5 inches, and just as many in the 14-16 inch range, all of which were chunky fish. I also managed a few whites to 12 inches off bottom, as well as a few drum. I left this area at around 11:00am with 54 fish caught

With the N. wind beginning to taper off, and the surface calming down, I began looking for fish in deeper water. I located fish along the breakline at Area 242 in about 34 feet of water. There was a mix of small largemouth, nice white bass, and 1 to 1.5 pound drum here. I caught a total of 12 fish here, all on a jigged or smoked silver slab, before the action waned.

I made one final stop at Area 243, after idling in a serpentine pattern over this breakline from E to W for nearly 100 yards. I found a good concentration of baitfish here on and near bottom in 28-31 feet, right on the shoulder of the break. The fish were very aggressive, occasionally rising up off the bottom to meet my spoon as it fell. Most fish were taken on a smoking retrieve. I got a total of 15 fish here, of which 12 were white bass, and 3 were largemouth (1 short, 2 just-keepers).

TALLY = 83 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