Three Generations Aboard — 69 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow, 29 July 2014

This morning I fished Stillhouse with Steve Niemeier, his daughter Sarah, and Sarah’s two children, Caleb and Macy.  This was Steve’s 14th trip with me since he first began fishing with me in 2011

 

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L to R: Sarah, Caleb, Macy, and Steve with a few of the 69 fish we landed today on Stillhouse.
I was a little concerned because the winds had shifted to the north and east overnight.  This little bit of weather also brought in some heavy grey cloud cover to the east. That obscured the sunrise and got our morning bite off to a slower, later start than normal.  But, once the fish turned on, they stayed turned on for the entire remainder of our for our trip, with the best action taking place in the last hour as the sun brightened.

We alternated between two techniques morning. We downrigged to find fish, and then we smoked with slabs to try to exploit what we had found.  In the long run, the downrigging was more consistent and more productive. For whatever reason, whenever we found large concentrations of fish schooled heavily near bottom, they either were not really interested, or they moved quickly away from where we had located them.

As we downrigged, we used a three arm umbrella rig on one rod and a tandem rig on the other rod. With five baits in the water, we regularly landed doubles. On several occasions we landed double doubles, meaning we caught two fish at a time on both rods. Saving the best for last, within a few minutes of the end of our trip, Caleb boated a triple, landing a white bass on each of the three lures of the three arm umbrella rig.

Four hours is a long time for elementary aged kids to stay focused on any one thing, but Macy and Caleb did pretty darn good. They stayed up late last night going swimming, and got a little frazzled towards the end of the trip, but hung in there like real troopers for a majority of our time on the water.

I always enjoy when firsts happen aboard my boat, and today Sarah experienced a first. She actually held a fish that she caught for the first time in her life.

We landed a total of 69 fish today, 100% of which were white bass.  We caught fish in the 1, 2, 3, and 4 year class.  The catch was anchored by Caleb’s 14 3/8 inch lunker.

TALLY = 69 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30am

End Time:  10:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  78F

Water Surface Temp:  85.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NE7-9

Sky Conditions:  Heavy grey cloud bank in the east obscured the sun for all but the last hour when skies were fair.

Other: GT=35

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1260-866 Downrigging & Smoking for white bass

**Area  1420 and vicinity Downrigging &  Smoking for white bass

 

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

 

 

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