Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report – 25 June 2009 – 49 Fish






Fished a morning “Kids Fish, Too!” trip today with Josh Bitle and his sons, Nicholas (10) and Taryl (7). Josh just got back from Iraq and his nice wife, Vesper, planned this trip about 3 months in advance just waiting for his return.




Nicholas helped me work the downriggers today with solid results!

Taryl, a non-morning person, pulled in a few while struggling to keep his ‘lids open!


Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp: 84F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~85.6F

Wind: Winds were flat calm for about the first 90 minutes of light, and then picked up from the ENE at only 3-4.

Skies: Skies were fair.



It was bound to happen sometime … the topwater party ended with today’s flat calm and bright start, followed up by an E. wind forecast to persist into the following day. I was really hoping to get these boys into an aggressive school or two of whites or black bass, but it wasn’t in the cards today. After about 20 minutes of looking, listening, and glassing, it was apparent that the bite was off. We saw single fish popping here and there, but no manner of surface schooling, so, we switched over to the downriggers and stayed in this general vicinity (Area 061) to see if anything would develop on top. Topwater never did materialize, but the fish were feeding moderately at depth.

We ran the ‘riggers between Areas 061 and 059, between Areas 467 and 468, and again from Area 458 halfway east to 457. All three area held solid concentrations of fish and the key depth was 26-27 feet today. We’d put exactly 20 fish in the boat, all on Pet Spoons, when I asked Nicholas (as Taryl was napping heavily by now) if he’d like to continue catching numbers of fish on one Pet Spoon and try for fewer but larger fish on a large crankbait. He opted for this crankbait approach and was almost immediately rewarded with the biggest fish of the day to that point, a 2.25 pound largemouth. Later, at Area 458, after sticking with that decision, he bagged the biggest fish of the trip, another largemouth going 2.75 pounds.

We wound up catching a total of 30 fish on downriggers, including a 30%/70% mix of largemouth bass/white bass, as well as one drum.

Because this downrigger fishing is quite techical, we decided to end the trip doing something low tech that the boys could duplicate the next time the go bank fishing, etc. We baited up the bream rods and worked over some sunfish at Area 239. In the time it took me to get the boat ready for trailering, the boys caught 19 sunfish, including a mix of green sunfish and bluegills.

All told, Nicholas and Taryl teamed up for 49 fish today. Dad was a great coach and encourager which helped a lot.

Good job boys!


TALLY = 49 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








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