Fished an evening trip on Stillhouse in the teeth of a stiff N. wind and fared pretty well tonight with 45 fish taken.

Start Time: 2:35p

End Time: 5:40p


Air Temp: 35F at sunrise, warming only into the low 50’s due to the arrival of a dry front on brisk NNW winds.

Water Temp: 58F


Wind: Winds were NNW at sunrise at ~18mph, and steadily built to 22mph by mid-day and then began to slack off around 2p.

Skies: Skies clear & bright all day.

Following the cold front’s arrival during the late afternoon yesterday, high pressure continues to build in on a stiff wind today. Given that this was a dry front, I expected to be able to catch fish and did.

The mood of the fish was a bit lethargic at the beginning of the trip, but then picked up well at about 45 minutes prior to sunset and up until dark. The water is noticeably dingy due to the high winds blowing for this prolonged period, and that often makes these clear water fish a bit ornery, as well.

I searched 6 areas with sonar, fished 4 of them, and found fish on 3 of them.

Area 74 sits at the edge of a deep flat in 35-38 feet of water. Scattered bait and suspended whites were the deal here. All fishing was electronic sight fishing for fish suspended in the middle third of the water column. I managed 18 white bass here in 90 minutes, all just one at a time and pretty sluggishly. I never saw any large schools of fish at this location, one singles and groups of 2-5 fish. All fish here came on 1/8 and 1/4 oz. slabs to match the forage size.

Next I graphed Area 33 without result and moved on.

I graphed Area 148 and saw no bait, but a few fish tight to bottom. Gave it a few pops with the slab and found nothing and so I moved on.

I looked over Areas 149, 72, and 34 with sonar and found nothing.

I moved to Area 37 and saw clustered bait on the windward slope up shallow in 23-25 feet of water, and fish on the shoulder. I dropped down and quickly put 10 fish in the boat including 9 whites and a drum before the sun set on this area.

I moved one last time to where the sun had not yet set on Area 306 and found very active and abundant fish tight to bottom and suspended up about 4 feet off of bottom in 21 feet. I caught 17 fish here in less than 15 minutes. Surprisingly, more fish came off of a deadstick slab on bottom than came on an actively jigged or smoked slab, despite the fact that the fish were suspended.

At sunset on this area the action ended and I wrapped it up.

TALLY = 45 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