Stillhouse Fishing Guide Report – 15 May 2010 – 28 Fish






I fished a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip this morning with two young men from the south Austin area, Garrison and Drake, both 8 years of age.

The weather has been quite turbulent with the passage of a front yesterday and the seam of an occluded front passing over us this morning.

We had the dreaded NE wind at around 13 mph at launch time despite forecasts for light SE winds and so we struggled a bit. We began the day with casting lessons at dockside and then headed out in search of fish.

Fishing buddies Garrison (L) and Drake (R) hold a pair of downrigged white bass taken just beneath the surface this morning.


Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 69F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~74F

Wind: Winds began NE13, then slowly tapered to light at <3 NNE by trip's end.
Skies: Skies went from mostly cloudy to partly cloudy.

Due partly to the difficult conditions we faced, and partly to the need to keep things interesting for the kids, we tried a number of techniques in a number of areas today and put together a pretty good trip all things considered.

Here’s what we tried:

Area 407 to 116 to 540: Flatline trolling; 0 fish

Area 407: Downrigging; 1 white bass

Area 777 (W. side): Floats and worms: 2 sunfish

Area 456: Floats and worms; 16 sunfish

Area 186: Cast slab; 4 white bass

Area 176-186: Flatlining with Pets; 2 white bass

Area 176-186: Downrigging with Pets; 2 white bass

Area 158: Drifting bait; 1 large white bass

A mild peak of activity occurred around 10:15 when the wind lightened to <8mph and the skies were bright but still clouded. Occasional small school of whites would surface feed for 10-15 seconds over a fair expanse of water. The brief appearances made it too difficult for both boys to quickly and accurately cast to the fish, so we downrigged and flatlined instead with limited success.

At trip’s end I asked the boys what they enjoyed most given all the methods we’d put into practice. Garrison, a quantity kind of guy, liked the sunfishing, while Drake, a quality kind of guy, like the outsized white bass he got on a big bait!! Well, there’s no accounting for taste.

In all we did alright given some tough conditions and the somewhat limited experience the boys had coming into the trip.

TALLY = 28 FISH