Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Report – 17 March 2009 (PM) – 23 Fish






Fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” half-day evening trip this evening with Grandma Joyce W. and her grandsons, C.J. and Nate, ov Irving, TX. Joyce works at Dallas Baptist Univ. and wanted to get here grandsons out of the city for Spring Break.


C.J. WITH HIS NEAR-RECORD CRAPPIE

NATE AND C.J. WITH A PAIR OF WHITE BASS


Start Time: 3:30p


End Time: 7:30p


Air Temp: 79F at trip’s start, cooling towards sunset.


Water Surface Temp: ~58-59F

Wind: We had a nice breeze at S 8-10.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright.

We had some tough conditions due to the fact that the fish had a heavy mid-day feed due to a late start on the wind today. The boys were both young and not too experienced with the gear, etc., so we decided to focus on flatline trolling as our primary approach.

I watched the last of the day’s bird activity conclude over open water just minutes before my guest’s arrival and knew it was going to be a bit tough to make things happen.

When all was said and done, we had success flatline trolling in the vicinity of Area 888 to 290, and also around Area 374. We enjoyed a mix of white bass, small largemouth, and crappie.

At one point in our trip, I was making a left turn of 180 degrees to make another trolling pass over a productive stretch of bottom. As the lure on the outside rod sped up, and the lure on the inside rod slowed down, a crappie hit the inside bait. As C.J. reeled it in, I could see it was a quality fish. I netted it, then measured and weighed it. It eclipsed the current 12 inch, 0.86 pound Jr. Angler lake record, going 12.25 inches and 1 pound even. I indicated this to grandma Joyce without letting C.J. know. Then, on the very next trolling pass, the exact same thing happened to Nate. This time, the fish went 12 7/8 inches and 1 1/8 pounds. Wow! two record crappie in consecutive trolling passes. Well, good thing we hadn’t told C.J., because now his little brother was the new record holder!!

A photo of Nate’s crappie is posted in the Photo Gallery.

We wrapped up this trip with a total of 23 fish.


TALLY = 23 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








Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Report – 17 March 2009 (AM) – 100 Fish






Fished an adult half-day morning trip this morning with Eric T. and his fiancee, Amanda L., both of Ohio. Amanda is pursuing her doctorate in vet. medicine at A&M, and Eric came to Texas for her Spring Break for a visit.


AMANDA WITH TWIN 15+ INCH STILLHOUSE WHITES

Start Time:7:45a


End Time: 1:10p


Air Temp: 58F at trip’s start, warming to the low eighties by the afternoon peak.


Water Surface Temp: ~58-59F

Wind: Winds were flat calm until around 10am, then a SE ripple began and built quickly to a nice breeze at S 8-10.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright.

We started off in the morning calm downrigging to get a feel for the fish, the water, the bait, etc. We contacted fish consistently in and around Areas 375 to 143 to 106. These were all white bass, and all just over 11.5 inches. We landed 8 this way



As we downrigged, we encountered a significant congregation of fish holding on Area 108 so we stopped to jig for those fish and added 14 fish to our tally here.

When these fish went quiet, we resumed downrigging picking up 4 more whites and then this area shut down.

We tried a little flatline trolling at Area 374 but scratched there.

We then headed to open water to search for some deepwater fish now that the sun was brilliant and the winds were flat calm. Around 10a, a slight breeze began to ripple the surface. At this time, the birds began to get restless, and by 10:30 we found a good number of terns and gulls working within a 50 yard radius of Area 400. We closely examined the area with sonar and found tightly schooled white bass holding on a 36 foot break here. We got the TNT 180’s headed to bottom and immediately began to pull fish via jigging and smoking. We landed a mix of whites and blacks here in a 90 minute span, bringing our tally to 78 fish before the fish got sluggish. Two whites here went over 15 inches.

At this time, the birds began to coalesce over Area 401. This was a nearly identical situation as at Area 400. Again, the fish were tight to a 40 foot break and were very active, responding to both a jigging and smoking retrieve. By 12:45, we’d landed 92 fish and agreed to stick it out for 100 even, despite the fact that the fish were beginning to get sluggish. Well, it took us an extra 25 minutes, but, at 1:10, fish #100 came over the side and we called it a great day.

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