Muchos Pescados!! 107 Fish, Austin Fishing Guide Report for Stillhouse Lake, 05 March 2012






This morning I fished with Father Pedro Garcia-Ramirez, his brother, Jose, and his nephew, Isaac. This trip was presented to Father Pedro by the Knights of Columbus on the 25th anniversary of his ordination into the ministry


Father Pedro boated the largest fish of the trip today, a 3.25 pound channel cat that hit his Cicada bladebait in an area otherwise holding a large concentration of white bass.



Isaac caught the largest white bass of the trip today. This 15 3/8 inch long specimen qualified him for a Texas Parks and Wildlife Big Fish Award for exceeding the 15″ threshold.

Fr. Pedro is the pastor of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Pflugerville. With a congregation of over 4,000 parishioners, a man can get spread very thin. So, today was a day to relax in God’s creation with family.

Our day began bright and windless — pretty tough white bass conditions — so, we started off flatline trolling in the vicinity of Area 995 to tempt the few interested fish among the many still disinterested fish. In our first 30 minutes or so, we boated 4 fish in this fashion using Shad Raps. Then, around 7:45, as we continued trolling, we went over a 50 foot stretch of bottom loaded with fish. These fish were just about glued to the bottom and not a single one rose up the 2-3 feet required to nail the crankbaits we had working behind the boat as those baits came overhead. But, I suspected they’d be catchable if we got down to their level and fished bladebaits more thoroughly right amongst them. So, I maneuvered the boat so all 3 of my guests could hit the area I’d buoyed and we began to work our Cicadas over the fish. The fish were sluggish at first, but, as the first breeze of the day came up, the action increased, then later fell off again as that gentle WNW breeze died. By the time the action here played out we had spent nearly 3 hours in this one area and boated 65 fish with a number of others hooked and missed. Father Pedro caught the best of the bunch — a 3.25 pound channel cat that was mixed in with our white bass school. Isaac boated a very large white bass that measured 15 3/8 inches. This school of fish we were over consisted mainly of 3-4 year old fish. Nearly every single one was over 12 inches, with multiple fish exceeding 14 inches.

A funny thing happened amidst all of this action that taught me a great cultural lesson. It so happened that Jose had brought along soft tacos to share. He told me he brought 4 just for me. I asked what was on the tacos. He replied “puerco” (pork) and “frijoles” (beans). I happened to like both, so, I unwrapped the taco and bit right in. What happened next I can only describe as an amazingly intense oral scorching sensation. Without permission, I helped myself to Jose’s cooler full of Cokes and water. After downing one of each of these, the lake water surrounding us also looked amazingly refreshing. After but a short 70-80 minutes or so the sensation began to subside. The cultural lesson? Don’t ask, “What’s on the taco?”. Instead, ask, “What is the taco seasoned with?” To him, it was a given that the taco would blister the lining of one’s mouth and one’s tongue, but, that did not occur to me.

Back to fishing … after Area 995 played out and a S. wind began to pick up suddenly at about 8 mph, we headed to deeper water, this time just to the NW of Area 074. I had not found fish in this area since the day before our big rain 3 weeks ago, but, today the fish returned here in force. In 45 minutes of fishing here my three guests boated an additional 42 fish, all taken on the TNT180 slab in 3/4 oz. via both vertical jigging and easing. These fish averaged a good bit smaller than the first bunch we got into, going around 10.75 to 11.25 inches on average.

At this final spot we fished, and as we approached our 100th fish boated, I let everyone know that it is customary for the person who catches the 100th fish to buy the others lunch. This brought some interesting responses. The best was when uncle Jose (who went on to catch the 100th fish) jokingly(?) accused nephew Isaac of having the 100th fish hooked, but not reeling it in until someone else beat him to it, just to avoid paying for lunch.

This was a great morning of fishing with some great men who clearly cared for one another and valued the fact that they were family. I’m honored that the Knights of Columbus entrusted me with making this trip a good one for Father Pedro.


TALLY = 107 fish, all caught and released.


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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 61F

Wind: Winds were calm at (obscured) sunrise, turning NW8 for about an hour, then going calm, and finally picking up S8-9 for the duration.

Skies: Skies were bluebird clear.