20 SEPTEMBER 2008






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








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