Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report – 24 November 2009 – 101 Fish






Whoa!! Someone left the refrigerator door open AND the fan turned on!! I fished today with Ted M. of Belton, along with his 3 grandchildren, Ryan (10), Jenny (8), and Josh (6 1/2). The kids are from a missionary family that is home for a year’s furlough from Paraguay — each is home-schooled and was a joy to have aboard — polite, eager to learn, willing to follow helpful instructions — just real good kids. We experienced the passage of a dry cold front in the overnight hours. This was a mild front which, due to pre-frontal cloud cover, gave us very little in the way of a temperature drop on the leading edge. In fact, today’s morning low was 53F, as compared to yesterday’s pre-frontal morning low of 49F. By the time we hit the water, the skies were clearing, and a stiff, dry breeze was building from the NNW.

We put 4 keepers in the livewell for photos, but the wind was so hard we had to take them to the dock just to find a place stable enough to take the pictures!! (L to R – Ted, Josh, Ryan, and Jenny)

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 10:10am

Air Temp: 53F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~63.0F

Wind: Winds were strong at 17-19 from the NNW just about the entire trip, with very infrequent higher gusts. By trip’s end the winds were turning due N.

Skies: Skies were clear and bright

Because the front came in only hours before our trip, and the wind wasn’t gale force, the surface temperature was still right at 63F. Still, I was concerned about the cold for the sake of the kids’ comfort. With this in mind, we began our trip protected from the wind on the E. side of a land mass (Area 543), and I chose to start us off downrigging so only my hands were exposed to the cold. The kids faced rearward and kept an eye on the downrigger rods as I worked the boat over water ranging from 17-26 feet here. We hooked up with 4 white bass, thus allowing each of the kids to “break the ice” (bad cold weather pun, sorry!) and get used to holding and handling the baitcasting rod used for this kind of fishing. After about 25 minutes passed and the sun rose, the fish here became scarce, so we packed up and went fish-hunting.

As we got back onto the main lake, the wind had actually let up a bit, so, we ran for a bit to Area Area 089 to 106 (BA: 20 HG). I ran sonar over the area and found fish both on bottom in 21 to 25 feet and suspended up high at 13-16 feet. As we started off here, it was still pretty cool due to wind chill so we stuck with the downrigging approach and did moderately well, taking our tally up to 14 fish using White Willow Spoons, both dressed and undressed, staggered at 25 feet and 13-16 feet.

By about 8:20, the sun was shining full force, and, despite the stiffening breeze, it had warmed sufficiently to where the kids could each hold their rods independently, which opened up the possibility of slabbing for fish. After covering a good bit of water while downrigging and watching sonar at the same time, I never did happen upon a big congregation of fish worth buoying over, so, we headed to Area 550 (BA: 18HG/1L/2C). There, in 23-26 feet of water sonar just lit up with fish on and up to 4 feet off bottom in thick congregations. This was looking good!! I provided all of the kids (who had minimal fishing experience) with a closed faced outfit to circumvent the mechanics of flipping and closing the bail on an open faced reel. This way they held and pushed the freespool button with their left hand and reeled with their right — no changing hands required. I also put as heavy a slab on for the kids as I thought we could get away with (3/4 oz. TNT 180) so the kids would feel a distinct “thud” when the lure was on bottom, thus allowing them to keep track of the depth they were fishing at. Well, bottom line, here’s what happened: We pulled up in this spot, I threw a buoy to keep track of our position in the wind, I gave the kids a simple lesson on how to work their jigging spoon, and they just went to town pulling 87 fish (86 white bass and 1 crappie) over the side in about 75 minutes’ time. By 10am, the two younger ones were beginning to play out — they had all the wind, cold, and waves a 6 and 8 year old can take. Ryan, on the other hand — I think he’d still be out there with me if Grandpa had allowed him to stay! He was just so enthusiastic and eager to learn all the little tips and tricks I sent his way to polish his already solid basics.

Anyway, shortly after 10am, little Josh brought in fish #100 and Miss Jenny brought fish #101 in, and we decided to call it a great day at that point. We left those fish still biting and headed to the dock.

TALLY = 101 fish, all caught and released