Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Conditions:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time: 11:15am

Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start, warming to 78F by mid afternoon

Water Temp: 69.1F

Wind: See body of report.

Skies: Fair all day.

Fished a half-day morning trip by myself today which began with netting live shad for a booked trip tomorrow. At sunrise, I headed to Area 262 and observed for flicking shad. After seeing areas where the shad appeared to be concentrated, I began throwing and came up with 83 gizzards in 18 throws with the water temperature at 69F here.

With the water conditioned and the shad all stowed and happy in less time than I allotted for this chore, I headed out watching nature for signs of fish with surface conditions nearly flat calm and the sun brilliant. I noted nothing of promise and so then began to search with sonar at areas that should be holding fish and bait at this time of year. Sonar revealed a few fish not in the presence of bait at Area 130. I stopped and vertical jigged over these fish and pulled up 2 keeper largemouth, a drum, and a white bass before this limited action came to a halt. All came on a standard jigging presentation.

I then cranked up and ran sonar over a few other traditionally solid areas for this time of year. Upon arrival, the Area 103 breakline looked very promising. The bottom slopes downwards here from the S to the N and the fish were stacked up tight to the bottom right on the shoulder of the break. I dropped the trolling motor down and went to work. Over the next 2.5 hours the action ramped up, plateaued, and then fell off to near nothing. At the peak of the action, numbers of fish were aggressively pursuing my slab (TNT 180 in 3/4 oz.) as I used a smoking technique. As the action fell off, fewer and fewer fish would respond in that manner until finally, no fish would respond. The trigger for the start of the action at around 8:45am was definitely the start of the S. wind. No sooner did the light ripple from the S. turn to a light chop than the fish immediately turned on and stayed turned on for about 35 minutes over this 2.5 hour span of activity. The mixed bag catch here consisted of 48 white bass, 3 short largemouth, and 4 drum.

TALLY = 59 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