Fished a morning scouting trip today. I’ve been off the water for a week after scheduling trips to avoid the very cold and wet weather we had 14-16 Dec. with drizzle and strong N, NE, and E winds respectively. Got out today as the winds of the last several days were about to subside, and as the temperatures began to rise.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:45a


Air Temp: 53F at sunrise, warming only to 58F due to cool breezes and heavy cloud cover.

Water Temp: 51-52F


Wind: Winds were ENE at 6-7 prior to sunrise, then tapered off to flat calm by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were foggy until 11:30 when the fog lifted briefly, but then returned by 2:00p.

At (obscured) sunrise, I hit Area 112 up shallow and fancast blade baits for about 20 minutes with only a stray largemouth for the effort.

I then flatline trolled tandem crankbaits to keep baits in the water as I looked things over with sonar. I picked up 3 solid white bass in a stretch between Areas 319 and 336. These fish were roaming and scattered. I moved on to look elsewhere.

I headed to the vicinity of Areas 89 and 143 and found fish very tight to bottom and very lethargic, but at least there were fish. I hung tight here to see if a windshift or an increase in the light intensity might trigger activity. At exactly 9:48, the fish turned on, just when the slack winds puffed NE and the fog thinned a bit allowing some brightness. This brief feeding spree only lasted about 20 minutes during which time the fish began to pursue bait and could be seen moving both on bottom and suspended while chasing. After the spree, the fishing slowly tapered out to nothing over the next 2 hours, during which time I managed 32 white bass.

Given the improving weather forecast for tomorrow, I feel very confident I can put folks on fish.

TALLY = 36 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