A Little Competition Goes a Long Way, 70 Fish, Stillhouse, 15 March Spring Break 2012






This evening I fished with Rob R. of Austin, TX, and his 2 boys, Drake and Cameron.




Cameron shows his first white bass that eclipsed the 14 inch mark (on L.), caught on a TNT 180 slab.

Drake also landed white bass beating the 14 inch mark. These two came out of 42 feet of water.


Rob, who works in landscaping and irrigation, has been out with me once before, along with Drake, in July when classic hot water tactics of downrigging and fast smoking were the rule. So, it was nice to have them out again in a different season when different tactics are required so as to expose them to some variety. Although a slow version of smoking is occasionally effective for short periods when fish really turn on, by and large vertical jigging is the most effective technique right now.

We made our first stop at Area 1055 where we caught 8 white bass pretty quickly allowing us to work out all the kinks and to get practiced at the techniques we’d be employing for the rest of the trip. Both Rob and Drake hooked up at this area, but Cameron remained fishless.

Rob and the boys remained “good-naturedly competitive” throughout the trip, regularly reminding one another that each had caught more than the other, and that each had caught fish bigger than the others. This kept everyone on their toes, engaged and attentive, never wanting to fall behind in the fish count!

Next we headed to Area 1042 where we boated 41 white bass from out of ~40-42 feet in open water, all on TNT180 slabs, and all using a straightforward jigging tactic. We stayed on these fish a solid hour and a half before the bite trailed off. Needless to say, Cameron shook the skunk off his back here and, once he got the hang of things, did just fine from that point forward.

By now it was around 6pm and the sun was getting lower and obscured by heavy grey clouds. We started fishing in more well-lit, shallower water. We first stopped at Area 519 and put 4 white bass in the boat out of 28 feet of water.

We then headed back to Area 1055 where we boated another 11 fish, again, on slabs.

As we fished here, the clouds in the west thickened even more, so, by 7:00p, I headed to the shallowest water I’d been encountering fish in thus far this week. In the vicinity of Area 995, we geared up with flatlined crankbaits and put a final 6 fish in the boat trolling slowly and working hard on keeping our baits just above the bottom.

By the time we’d finished up we boated a total of 70 fish.


TALLY = 70 fish, all caught and released.


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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp: 73F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 62.1F

Wind: Winds were S8-10.

Skies: Skies were partly sunny to mostly cloudy.








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