Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report – 18 July 2009 – 41 Fish






Fished a half-day morning trip today on Stillhouse with Jeff Oliver (of Oliver Brothers’ Transmission fame), Jeff’s adult son, also named Jeff, and grandson, Dylan.


Jeff, Jeff, and Dylan worked the rods hard for 41 fish today in advance of a mid-summer cold front.


Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 10:35a

Air Temp: 77F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~85.7-86.2.1F

Wind: Winds were calm until 9:00am when they went NE at 8 for just 20-30 minutes, then tapered off to flat calm by trip’s end.

Skies: Skies were grey this morning with the approach of a mild cold front. By 10:45 skies had begun to clear.

We started this morning’s trip off looking for a little low light topwater action. The flat calm conditions and breakdown of our lengthy high pressure system pretty much reduced our chances to slim on this, but, we gave it about 30 minutes beyond sunrise before going to Plan B. During this time I got to work with Dylan to familiarize him with closed-faced casting gear, where and when to cast, how fast to reel in, etc. We made a total of 8-10 casts at single fish popping up here and there between Area 479 and 032, but there was no sustained feed on top.

Next, we got all three fellows trained up on how the downrigging equipment works and how to set it up properly. We ran a Pet on the port side and a Pet / Licker combo on the starboard. We found fair quantities of fish strung in a north – south orientation from Area 481 to Area 471. There was not near as much bait here as there was Thursday. The fish were once again sandwiched between 22 and 26 feet, and were most prevalent over 27 to 35 feet. There simply hasn’t been a lot of fish hanging off the deep side of any breaklines lately. We downrigged for a good while, boating a total of 26 fish including 2 largemouth, a drum, and 23 white, with 3 of the whites going 14.5 to 15 inches. At 9:30, I spotted a tight congregation of fish in a confined area in 25-26 feet of water. These fish were on bottom with bait in their midst on Area 482.

This scenario was just perfect for casting blades and using a lift-drop retrieve. I threw out a buoy and backed off a good cast’s length after showing the boys how to work the blade. In short order the 2 Jeff’s caught 6 fish, Dylan got one, and I got 2. Grandpa Jeff actually caught 2 fish on the same lure at the same time — one on the front hook and one on the back. After ~20 minutes these fish settled down and we returned to downrigging with 35 fish bagged thus far.

We stayed tight to this same area with the downriggers running and immediately came up with two white bass and then a double on the Pet / Licker combo (one largemouth, one white bass) and then picked up two more whites on the solo Pet. By this time Grandpa noticed that Dylan had that “had all the fun an 8 year old can have at one time” look and suggested we call it a real good morning at that point.

We took a few photos, neaten up the boat and had a safe, dry ride back to the dock


TALLY = 41 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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