We Came, We Caught, We Got Rained Out! 14 Fish, Stillhouse, 18 Aug. 2012






This morning I welcomed Pathom and Tammy T. aboard for what would be a rain-shortened Saturday fishing excursion.


Pathom and Tammy with the four largest white bass we caught before the rains came.




Pathom and Tammy have been in the Central Texas area for less than a year now. Pathom serves as a physician on the medical staff at Darnall Army Medical Center on Ft. Hood and Tammy is a registered nurse enjoying some down time from nursing at present. Pathom brought quite a variety of fishing experiences to the table — from angling on Lake Okeechobee in Florida, up the East Coast to Currituck Sound, over to the Great Lakes, and now here on Stillhouse.

As we got going I explained the fundamentals of summertime fishing on reservoirs — mainly concerning appreciating how the water stratifies by temperature, with most of the “life” found above the thermocline. We got immediately down to downrigging and never did anything but that during the two hours of fishing we got in before the storms moved in on the lead edge of a rare summer cold front.

During this time we found fish in “wolfpacks” of 4-6 fish each showing up suspended at 1 to 6 feet off bottom generally in the vicinity of Area 658/1115. The fish were in a neutral mood, neither aggressively chasing after bait, nor completely shut down and inactive. No surface feeding, bird activity, nor bait schools were seen the entire morning.

We used modified Pet Spoons on a tandem rig and, over the two hours we fished, boated 12 white bass, 1 drum, and 1 largemouth bass.

At exactly 8:45 the first bolt of lightning could be seen out to the west as rain enveloped that portion of the lake near the Cedar Gap Park and the long bridge. We had about 10 minutes to run for cover and made it back to the dock in time to take shelter and watch the storm roll in. Weather radar revealed a “training” effect where storm after storm developed out near Lampasas and headed eastward right down Highway 190 and towards us. We camped out in the marina for 3 hours hoping for a break, but a break never came. By 11:45, with more rain on the way and no breaks in the thunder and lightning, we decided to scrub our plans.

So, the day ended prematurely with the 14 fish we’d boated.


TALLY = 14 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 8:45a

Air Temp: 77F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 84.7F

Wind: NE7.

Skies: Skies were 100% greyed over with rain falling from 9a to 1p.