SKIFF Trip 2014 #2, (& Spring Break Trip #4), Stillhouse, 12 Fish, 13 March

This morning two brave young Americans ventured out with me on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir in the post-frontal 36 degree calm to do some hand-to-fin combat while enjoying some Spring Break downtime.  David and Matthew Macy are the sons of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4) Rob Macy and his wife, MonicaCW4 Macy is currently serving in Afghanistan with the 3-227 Aviation unit
 

David (L) and Matthew (R) enjoyed a free fishing trip today courtesy of the Fort Hood SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) program.

This trip was provided free of charge the the Macy family by the Austin Fly FIshers and SKIFF program supporters who donate money and raise funds to keep this program effective.  SKIFF stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun.  Under the SKIFF program, any military child separated from his or her parent due to that parent’s military duty qualifies for a free, 4 hour fishing trip by boat.  Such duty can be something as extensive as a deployment or unaccompanied tour, to something more short-term like a trip to NTC, JRTC, or gunnery.

Today, we had the toughest weather conditions of the entire Spring Break week in the morning hours.  It was calm, clear, and cold, and we had a setback in the water temperature which had almost crossed the 55F mark as Tuesday came to a close and before Wednesday’s terrific wind and cold drop things back a bit.

Regardless, the boys hung tough with me and we wound up boating 12 white bass together this morning.  Our first 9 fish came in 15-17 feet of water as we cast Cicada bladebaits for white bass feeding on a mid-depth flat.  We missed our first 3 hooked fish as we worked out some “rookie issues” of how to fight a fish and what to do once the fish is boatside, but, once that learning curve was cleared, the boys landed every other fish that we hooked.

After these fish settled down, we expanded our coverage of this flat by downrigging with tandem-rigged Pet Spoons, adding 2 more fish to our count.

Our last fish came on a vertically jigged slab spoon from out of 27 feet of water adjacent to the river channel.

I had a follow on trip this afternoon on Belton, and, when I returned, here is the very nice note I found waiting for me from Monica:

Bob,
Thank you so much, for taking David and Matthew out fishing. I
hope they were good for you! They really enjoyed the trip and were super
exited to tell their Dad all about it.
They really needed some time “alone” without me or the twins bugging them! 🙂
Again THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Monica

So, in turn, I thank all of you SKIFF supporters for allowing this trip to happen!!


TALLY = 12 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 11:50a
Air Temp: 36F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 53-54F 
Wind: NW2-4
Skies: Bluebird, post-frontal skies
Other Notes: GT0

Areas Fished with success:

**   1350/1 – horizontal work with bladebaits + downrigging
**   1358 – vertical jigging






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Jigging on Belton, Spring Break Trip #3, March 11th, 38 Fish

This afternoon I fished with Drew Sims of Austin, TX.  Drew is an electrical engineer working for Dell who needed a break from the keyboard and monitor.
 

Drew with two typical Belton white bass.  As you can see their bellies are plump with ripening eggs.  We’re just a few degrees away from seeing these fish really turn on after a long, cold winter.

We got going around 3pm and over the first 70 minutes managed to boat 8 white bass and 1 short hybrid striped bass.  We were fishing in the vicinity of Area 1352/3/4 and were trolling very slowly (<2mph) with 2 downriggers and 2 flatlines, all rigged with shad-imitating crankbaits.  We found fish in the warming upper layer of water, above 20 feet in water from 40-60 feet deep.

After getting the “skunk” out of the boat but picking up no hybrid stripers, and seeing no targets on sonar that appeared to be hybrid stripers during our time spent trolling, we moved on.

The remainder of the trip was a “run and gun” affair where we moved from area to area, first looking with sonar, then, if fish were found, buoying them and turning around to hover over them and fish with slabs.  We never picked up more than a handful of fish at any given location until our last stop where we added an even 10 fish to the count in the last 25 minutes of daylight.  The areas we successfully jigged at were: Areas 295/211, 1009, 618, and 084/1355.  At each of these location the results were about the same, with these areas giving up average white bass and short hybrid stripers.  We ended the day with exactly 38 fish boated.


TALLY = 38 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 3:15p
End Time: 7:50p
Air Temp: 56F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 53-54F 
Wind: SSW5-10 and puffing
Skies:
Low 100% cloud cover for first hour with
light SSW breeze, clearing to 20% cloudy by 9:45a
Other Notes: GT0

Areas Fished with success:

**  Flatline trolling/downrigging: Area 1352/3/4
**  Vertical jigging: Areas 295/211, 1009, 618, and 084/1355






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

TPWD Big Fish Award!! Spring Break Trip #2, 30 Fish, 11 March 2014

This morning I fished with Nathan and Angela Smith of Burnet, and their kids, 16 year old Jordanne, and 10 year old Ryan.  The family planned a Spring Break campout at the Union Grove Park, so, we fished Stillhouse and launched from this park for the sake of convenience.
 

L to R – Ryan, Angela, Nathan, and Jordanne with some nice 3 and 4 year class white bass taken on Cicada bladebaits in less than 17 feet of water.

On her 16th birthday, Jordanne anchored our nice string of fish with this bruiser of a white bass.  It taped at 15.5 inches which qualified Jordanne to receive a TPWD big fish award.  These are given for certain species of fish exceeding a minimum threshold size.

Nathan is a Cedar Park Fire Department lieutenant and U.S. Air Force veteran, and Angie owns her own hair salon with four employees in the town of Burnet.

After covering some some safety basics and going over our plan for the day, we set out in search of fish.  Our job was immediately made easier when a flock of gulls feeding on shad forced near the surface by hungry white bass pointed the way to where we needed to begin our day.  We fished over these loosely schooled and widely spread white bass for about 2 hours, catching fish consistently and boating a total of 26 fish before things went quiet. We used Cicada bladebaits to work along the bottom where the majority of these fish were patrolling.

We then moved along to some shallower water and set out 4 flatline trolling outfits, each equipped with a different crankbait so as to cover a horizontal band of water from 8 to 15 feet beneath the surface.  We boated 3 more white bass and missed another in about 8 passes through this area before the sun brightened and the wind calmed bringing an end to this bite.

We then retreated to deep water and searched a number of areas from 25-45 feet, but only managed to hook two fish and boat one of them before calling it a day with the action now waning significantly.


TALLY = 30 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 12:00p
Air Temp: 56F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 53-54F 
Wind: SSW5-10 and puffing
Skies:
Low 100% cloud cover for first hour with
light SSW breeze, clearing to 20% cloudy by 9:45a
Other Notes: GT20

Areas Fished with success:

** Horizontal fishing with bladebaits from Area 1350-1351
** Flatline trolling in area bounded by 1345/1346/374
** Deep vertical jigging between 1322/1314






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

NEW LAKE RECORD!! Spring Break Trip #1 — 11 Fish, 10 March 2014

This morning I fished with Ben Vacula and two of his daughters, Madeline (10 years old) and Olivia (8 years old), as they enjoyed their Spring Break from the Belton School District.
 

Olivia set a new Stillhouse Hollow water body record in the Junior Angler category today by boating this 8.25 pound, 27.5 inch long yellow (flathead) catfish.  The fish was weighed on a certified scale and released in very healthy condition.

Both girls enjoyed steady action for the first 3 hours boating white bass and crappie on crankbaits and slabs.  Once the winds went calm and the sun peeked through, the fishing was over.  Madeline poses here with a 13+ inch crappie.

The fishing is still pretty tough due to extended, low water temperatures and this week doesn’t look like it will provide any substantial gains with yet another hard cold front due in Wednesday.

We flatline trolled for scattered, suspended and bottom-hugging fish for the first 2 hours of our day and then targeted deeper fish in 20-24 feet of water on slabs later in the morning as the winds died and the sun brightened.

Olivia’s big catfish struck a Storm Smash Shad crankbait right in the same area where on previous passes we’d caught several white bass.  There was a lot of shad in this area and, no doubt, that flathead thought this was an easy meal passing by.  Many folks don’t associate catching catfish on artificial lures, but, I find this happens quite regularly, especially regarding blue catfish in Belton Lake striking slabs very readily.

Better fishing lies ahead as the seasons turn and the water warms.  Congratulations to both girls on hanging tough in the early morning cool, damp conditions and putting together a respectable catch.


TALLY = 11 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 12:00p
Air Temp: 43F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 52-53F 
Wind: SSW3-5 tapering off to SSW light and variable to calm
Skies: Low 100% cloud cover to the point of light drizzle for first hour with light SSW breeze, clearing to 60% cloudy and calm by 9:45a
Other Notes: GT0

Areas Fished with success:

**  Vertical jigging at 1349, 1201
** Flatline trolling in area bounded by 1345/1346/374






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Demo Mode!! 22 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow, 08 March 2014

This morning I fished with Michael G. and Jeff B.   Michael’s
girlfriend, Kim, originally booked this trip for herself and Michael,
but, her schedule was overcome by events, so, Jeff got the phone call every fisherman likes to get.

 

Mike holds one of our best two whites which taped 14 inches.

Finesse fishing vertically with a light slab was the ticket to today’s success.
 
Our spring is still running way behind normal.  For comparison’s sake, our water temperature on the surface for today’s trip was around 52F.  Last year at this time going into Spring Break our temperatures were at 56-57F.  That my not seem like a big difference or a big deal, but these cold-blooded fish are just very sluggish as their metabolism is slow and they are not yet feeding frequently or heavily.  Couple that with low flow in the Lampasas River, and there is not much current to draw fish upstream and concentrate them in the upper end of the reservoir.

Today we were successful fishing vertically with TNT180 slabs in 25-27 feet of water and slowly trolling flatlined crankbaits targeting fish holding at 10-15 feet down.  I used a spread of 4 crankbaits to cover 10, 11, 12, and 15 foot depths by adjusting line lengths and the type of crankbait selected.

Our best action was between the end of an early morning mist and some partial clearing before the winds turned northerly on the lead edge of the incoming cold front, from ~8:30 to 9:30.  At that time, the winds were from the SE at 5-6, the skies were 100% greyed over, and the ambient temperature was right around 56-57F.

We finished up today at around 11:40a, and for our efforts boated exactly 20 white bass and 2 largemouth bass.   4 of these fish came on the troll, and the balance came via vertical jigging.

Jeff contributed a GREAT fishing story today.  It seems he and his family went out to Granger Lake last year for a family outdoor day, which included some fishing from his pontoon boat.  Jeff asked a buddy to hook up the sonar unit while he tended to other things.  The friend did as he was asked and soon the party was off to set some trotlines for catfish.  Jeff had fished Granger before but never noted as many fish showing on his sonar unit on previous trips as he did on this particular day, so, he was feeling pretty good about his chances.  As they cruised along in about 30 feet of water, suddenly, they went aground, hitting a shallow stump.  After shaking off the surprise, they inspected everything confused at how they could have hit bottom with the sonar still reading about 30 feet.  The conclusion:  the sonar was still in demonstration mode as Jeff’s buddy had forgotten to hook up the transducer!!   Long story short, the day only got worse after that…

I’m an optimist by nature, so, I find that the good thing about this cold, long winter and the current struggle to put together more sizeable catches is that the best is yet to come!!


TALLY = 22 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp: 56F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 52F 
Wind: SE5-6, shifting suddenly to NNE 10-12 by 11:00am on lead edge of approaching cold front.
Skies: Light fog and drizzle giving was to damp, cool, grey conditions by 8:30am
Other Notes: GT28

Areas Fished with success:

**  Vertical jigging at 1347
** Flatline trolling in area bounded by 1345/1346/1348






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

It Always Pays to Scout on Your Off Days, 19 Fish, Stillhouse, 07 March 2014

This morning I did some scouting on Stillhouse in advance of a trip tomorrow morning.


I boated a mixed bag today of 19 fish including 18 white bass and 1 largemouth going right at 3 pounds.

We had a good thing going as far as a spring warmup until another crushing cold front came down last Sunday and took overnight temperatures down to as low as 19 degrees earlier in the week.  We wound up losing the 3-4 degrees of surface temperature we’d gained and fell back to 52-53F on the surface.

I probed several places today hoping to put together a “milk run” for tomorrow morning’s trip and for a host of trip over the Spring Break week. 

I found fish in two main locations as listed below.  At the first area, fish were on a secondary breakline just off the river channel in 17-22 feet of water.  They were scattered and occurred in small “packs” of 3-5 fish per pack.  I caught these fish steadily on a 3/8 oz. slab with an “easing” tactic blended into the mix.

The second area was the shallowest I’ve found fish so far this spring.  I encountered these fish by flatline trolling, then worked them over more thoroughly with a bladebait once sonar revealed a congregation of them as I passed over.  These fish were in 11-15 feet of water.


TALLY = 19 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 8:30a
End Time: 1:30p
Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 53F 
Wind: SW8-14
Skies: 60% cloudy, clearing to 20% cloudy with fair skies
Other Notes: NA

Areas Fished with success:

**  Vertical jigged 052-053
**  Flatlined and cast Cicada at 1345-1346






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas

Dress warm, Go often, and Roll with the Punches, 27 Fish, Stillhouse, 27 Feb.

This morning I did some scouting on Stillhouse in advance of the big Spring Break week coming soon (10-14 March).


Slowly but surely the fishing is beginning to emerge from the deep freeze.

The good news is that the water has warmed, and the fish have begun to move up shallower.  In fact, I caught all my fish today between 22-28 feet and found the deeper haunts where the fish have laid low all winter devoid of fish and bait.  The bad news is that the water is still very cold and there is yet another winter storm on the way which will likely erase the gains we’ve had and perhaps even drop temperatures further.  But, such is Spring fishing — you have to dress warm, go often, and roll with the punches!

Today I boated fish steadily, finding them in small groups of 3-5 fish.  All fish came on a small 3/8 oz. TNT 180 slab and most came on an “easing” technique, with a few actually striking the lure while at rest while I was “slabbing”.

I boated 27 fish, including 25 white bass and 2 short largemouth.


TALLY = 27 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 12:30p
Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 53-54F 
Wind: SSW8-9
Skies: Fair skies
Other Notes: N/A

Areas Fished with success:

**  Fish spread well from Area 1056 to 052






Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas