Fished a half-day morning trip today with First Sergeant Joseph A. of Killeen. Joe is just back from 15 months in Iraq where he served with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and is taking some much deserved leave time. Joe had never fished for white bass before and did really well at all the techniques I asked him to try in order to be successful.

JOE A. WITH ONE OF OUR LARGER WHITE BASS AND A KEEPER BLACK BASS – ALL CAUGHT SLABBING TODAY.

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:05a


Air Temp: 32F at trip’s start. Temps peaked at around 63F today. Ice formed in our guides until around 7:20a


Water Surface Temp: ~56.6 to 56.8F

Wind: Winds were flat calm until around 9:30 when they began to puff out of the ENE. Slowly but surely the winds turned through the E to SE by trip’s end, never exceeding 8 mph at any time.

Skies: Skies were clear until around 9:00a and then became fair with some high thin clouds passing over.

Environmental Notes: We sighted a single flock of ~40 Sandhill Cranes migrating north today around 10:30a. Mosquito hawks are also abundant considering the dry spring we’re experiencing.

We began the day looking for some near-dawn action at “The Trough”. Nothing materialized here by around 7:25 despite a number of gulls passing over on patrol.

We headed to between Area 55 and 102 and found some helpful bird activity there over 20-22′, catching 3 fish a piece on bottom-worked blade baits, then switched over to slabs to stay after those fish on bottom when the birds and the horizontal action died off. On and off through around 9:00 the birds helped us stay on fish. During this entire time we fished with 3/8 oz. TNT 180 slabs. A standard jigging approach took fish while they were easy, and an easing approach took them after they slowed down. By 10:00a we’d taken 88 fish and the action had ground to a halt in this area. We hated to stop that close to 100 fish and agreed to give it another hour or so to see if we could attain the century mark.

We checked the Area 148 complex and the Area 329 complex with nothing to show. We were in the middle of checking the Area 243 complex when we spotted 2-3 terns working on and around Area 383. Soon 2-3 terns turned into 8-10 terns and the game was back on. In about 35 minutes we sealed the deal with our final 12 fish, this time slabbing and smoking 3/4 oz. TNT 180’s in 45 to 50 feet of water.

For our efforts today we were blessed with 100 fish caught including 4 white bass over 14″, one keeper largemouth and 3 shorts, and 1 deepwater drum.



TALLY = 100 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