What’s Sweet on Both Ends and Soft in the Middle? — 67 Fish, Stillhouse, 13 Dec. 2014

This morning I went white bass fishing on Central Texas’ Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, nestled between Austin and Waco.  This was a father and son trip for Dr. Chad McCormick and his 9-year-old son, Timothy.

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L to R: Chad and Timothy McCormick put 67 fish in the boat today.  We had good fishing at both ends of the trip with a lull in the middle due to some near-windless conditions.

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Dad got the best of the bunch today with this white bass that went just a shade over 13.5″.

The McCormick family now lives in Belton after traveling the country as both Chad and his wife worked their way through medical school, residency, and more, stopping in Kansas and Pennsylvania to end up here in central Texas where he practices as an oncologist and she practices as a pediatric hospitalist.

The night before our adventure I contacted Chad in order to understand the experience level Timothy would bring to the trip.  I learned that he had never used spinning gear before and, knowing that would be vital to success today, I planned to do an on-shore lesson on casting before we launched so we could take advantage of all we found.

Once again today the low-light bite occurring right at sunrise with obscured sun was fairly strong, lasting right at about 50 minutes.  It also produced the most consistently large fish of the 3 areas we located fish at today. We landed 13 white bass during this low-light feed under sparse bird action.  All fish went 12 to 13.5 inches.  As this bite died, I tried downrigging two areas for scattered fish, but the bite died pretty hard and the lack of wind did not help things.

Once the low-light bite was over, things got pretty tough as the winds had not yet picked up and conditions actually grew a bit more dim under near foggy conditions.  Seeing this develop, I knew from experience our best bet was going to be fishing shallow in the more well-illuminated water under 15 feet deep.  We did so and were rewarded for the move.  We worked bladebaits in 11-15 feet of water and kept on throwing them horizontally until the fish were no longer interested.  We then expanded our reach by doing a bit of flatline trolling in the same general vicinity.  The two tactics added 20 fish to our tally.  Most of our fish taken on the bladebaits were smallish, while the crankbaits took considerably larger but fewer fish.

Just as we began trolling, the wind shifted very distinctly to the south and picked up 3-4 mph to around 9mph.  I let this wind work for about 20 minutes to begin moving the water, and we then headed out to deeper, more open water where the full impact of the wind could be felt.  As I checked the first area I felt might turn on under these conditions, we found white bass just swarming over the bottom in 27 feet of water.  These fish showed very distinctly on sonar as they came as much as 3-4 feet up off bottom to feed.  We hunkered down over these fish and proceeded to “wear ’em out” for about 45 minutes, putting an additional 34 fish in the boat in short order.  These fish were so active, we skipped the traditional vertical jigging approach and used an easing tactic a majority of the time to maximize our catch with 3/8 oz. white Redneck Fishn Jigs model 180’s.  The majority of these fish were smallish white bass.

By the time these fish lost interest, Chad and I observed that Timothy was just about to do the same.  He had long since consumed all snacks single-handedly, the fish were beginning to slow down, and I could see that his technique which has been pretty good for a 9 year old, was beginning to get a little sloppy.  Chad and I looked at one another knowingly and decided to call it a great day right then.

For our efforts today, we caught and released 66 white bass and 1 largemouth bass.

TALLY = 67 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:50a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  52F

Water Surface Temp:  57.4 to 58.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE2-6 until 10:30a when the wind shifted suddenly and increased to S9

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with no direct sunlight.

Other: GT=50

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1501 for 13 fish under low-light conditions

**Area  1350 up shallow during a calm mid-morning period

**Area  1502/1197/1492  near channel fishing under better wind conditions at late morning

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

One Down & Seven to Go, Stillhouse White Bass Fishing, 80 Fish, 11 Dec. 2014

This morning I went white bass fishing on Central Texas’ Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, near Salado.  This was a family trip with my brother, Andy Maindelle, and my nephew, Trent Maindelle.

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New Aggie Trent Maindelle with a low-light white bass taken on a horizontally retrieved bladebait.

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My brother, Andy Maindelle, with a mid-morning fish taken on a 3/4 oz slab from out of 34 feet of water.

Trent just successfully completed his first semester at Texas A&M Corpus Christi  — one down, seven to go!  With great conditions for this time of year apparent in the weather forecast, we made some plans to fish until lunch and then drop in on mom for some soup and sandwiches.

The conditions this morning were great as far as grey cloud cover and good water temperatures (high 50’s), but we were lacking in the wind department with just a bit of a ripple on the water most of the morning.

We encountered a solid low-light bite under birds right at sunrise, then kind of picked our way through a slow mid-morning time until, around 10:30, some SE wind developed and the fish put the feedbag on.

In our final 45 minutes on the water we caught a fish per minute, literally, and took our tally from 34 fish up to 80 in no time.  Not only did we catch more fish in these last few minutes than during the remainder of the trip, but the technique we used (easing) was a much more active and aggressive technique than the more lethargic fish of the mid-morning were willing to respond to.

We used both 3/4 and 3/8 oz. slabs this morning to get the job done.  For our efforts today we wound up with 78 white bass and 2 freshwater drum.

The vertical jigging bite won’t get much better than it is right now with the water temperature plateaued in the high 50’s.  If you ever wanted to learn vertical technique and or learn to read sonar while fishing vertically, now is the time to call.  2 or 3 more severe cold fronts will make the fishing much more like work than the easy pickings taking place now.

TALLY = 80 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:40a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  43F

Water Surface Temp:  57.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S6-9

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with no direct sunlight.

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1496/1310 casting with Cicadas for 21

**Area 1499 vertical jigging for 13 fish

**Area 1172 vertical jigging for 46 fish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Fishing near Salado, Texas: 54 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow, 08 Dec. 2014

This morning I went white bass fishing on Central Texas’ Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.  This was a scouting trip — something I do in between trips with clients in order to stay abreast of the movements of fish and bait and, this time of year, bird activity which is helpful to solving the fish-finding puzzle.

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At mid-morning, as skies lightened and the winds rose, the white bass got more and more active.  This large school of white bass holding tightly together is very typical for wintertime conditions.  This school numbers several hundred fish .

I fished for 3 hours and landed 54 fish from 3 locations, all of which were initially revealed by bird activity.  The fish responded well early on to a horizontal retrieve as I used Cicada bladebaits, and, later, as the action moved deeper, they responded well to a 3/8 oz. slab.

 

TALLY = 54 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  10:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  52F

Water Surface Temp:  57.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE6-10

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with no direct sunlight,  Some cloud thinning allowed for some brightening at the midpoint of the trip.

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1496/1500 casting with Cicadas for 19 fish

**Area 1497 vertical jigging for 6 fish

**Area 362 vertical jigging for 19 fish

**Area 1498 for 10 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Boy from Moody Earns Big Fish Award — 78 Fish, Stillhouse, 06 Dec. 2014

This morning I went white bass fishing on Central Texas’ Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with Isaiah and Joshua Glenn, accompanied by their grandparents, Lonnie and Linda Glenn.  This trip was in celebration of the boys’ birthdays which both occur in December.  Joshua will be turning 10, and Isaiah will be turning 11.

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Isaiah Glenn of Moody, TX, earned a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. Big Fish Award by landing this 15 1/16 inch long white bass.

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Not to be outdone by his big brother, Joshua boated our largest fish of the trip, this 4.75 pound channel catfish.  That’s proud grandpa Lonnie lending a helping hand.

Lonnie and Linda live near the Leon River in Moffat, Texas, and the boys live in Moody, TX.  Linda retired from lab work at Scott & White and now works at the Belton Wal-Mart, and Lonnie is a retired corrections officer who now does a bit of remodeling and carpentry work.

We had great weather conditions for about 3.5 of our 4 hours on the water as a mild, dry cold front moved through the area after a spell of very mild, damp weather over the past several days.  Under grey skies and with winds pushing at 11-12 mph, we found fish very willing to feed.

We first encountered fish in ~25 feet of water under actively feeding gulls over a 120 yard stretch of lake right at sunrise.  Although we were successful in putting a few fish in the boat on slabs, these fish were moving a lot and were aggressively feeding throughout the water column, so, despite water temperatures being in the high 50’s, we downrigged for about 45 minutes, putting a total of 13 fish in the boat during this time, including 2 “doubles” that tagged our 3-armed umbrella rigs.  I took the umbrella rig off when I saw the forage that the gulls were plucking off the water was fairly good sized, replacing the rigs with a Storm Thin Fin on one rod and with a White Willow spoon on the other.  When the birds stopped feeding, the fish went on feeding about 15 more minutes and then settled down.

I next headed shallower hoping we could get a few fish on a flatline trolling approach, and, at Area 103, we immediately connected with a nice white bass, but, that was the only fish we connected with in that manner, so, we left the trolling routine behind and headed to deeper water to work slabs for more heavily congregated fish.

We arrived at what would be our final area of the day around 9:50 and saw a spattering of fish on sonar, most near a breakline dropping from 24 to 35 feet.  We e-anchored right over top of this breakline and I proceeded to give the boys instructions on how to execute an “easing” tactic.  I felt this tactic would serve us best since fish fish were still aggressive and they showed to be holding well off the bottom and down to the bottom, as well.  No sooner did all 3 of our slabs contact bottom than we were all hooked up on a fish.  This strong action continued for right at an hour as we pulled 64 fish from an area directly beneath our boat and never moved.  As the skies began to brighten and the clouds began to clear from north to south, the bite slacked off and finally stopped around 11:25a.

For our efforts today, we boated 77 white bass and 1 channel catfish.  The channel catfish, caught by Joshua, weighed 4.75 pounds.  One of Isaiah’s white bass taped in a 15 1/16″ and earned him a TPWD Big Fish award by exceeding the threshold length set for this species, which is 15.00 inches.  Isaiah will received a certificate for this accomplishment complete with a gold raised-seal of the State of Texas affixed to it.

TALLY = 78 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  55F

Water Surface Temp:  57.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  N11-12

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with no direct sunlight until 10:30a when skies began to clear from the north.

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1310/1496 = 13 fish via jigging and downrigging (BA=20G, 1L)

**Area 130 = 1 fish on the flatline (BA=8G,10C)

**Area 074 ~20 yards to the NW =  64 fish via easing and smoking

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Linder/Ross/Clark Trip — 69 Fish, Stillhouse, 05 Dec. 2014

This morning I went white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with a trio of fishing buddies from Temple, TX, including MJ Linder, Claude Ross, and Jason Clark. These fellows all first got to know each other as part of the Church of Christ.  MJ runs his own physical therapy business called “Mobility Therapies”, Claude works for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and Jason is a U.S. Army vet and former City of Temple fireman who now devotes his time to working with the homeless in Temple.

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Claude Ross thumbs our largest white bass of the trip – a 3 year old fish going 14.25 inches.

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Jason Clark picked up a bonus largemouth from out of 27 feet while we vertically jigged for white bass.

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The 3 amigos with a sampling of our catch, including 2 and 3 year class fish.

We had continued fair conditions today with cloudy skies, balmy temperatures (which have actually caused a net warmup of about a degree on the water’s surface this week), and southerly winds.  The lack of an early, stiff breeze cost us a bit of action today, but we caught fish from start to finish regardless.

As we got going this morning, we found some light bird action in the vicinity of Area 1310/1312.  Although a pair of loons were present and were fueling the gull action, both bait and white bass were present here.  We fished about 45 minutes on these fish and boated 9 white bass and 1 drum on a combination of bladebaits worked horizontally, and slabs worked vertically in ~24-26 feet.

Next, we spotted a flock of about 9 gulls working over open water in the vicinity of Area 1034/338.  As we approached, a small flock of cormorants flushed out of this area, too.  We found fairly active, albeit mostly smaller, white bass spread along the bottom over a roughly 80 yard patch of water and made 3 “short hops” fishing where I found small packs of these fish more heavily congregated.  We boated a total of 12 fish from this location and moved on.

Next, I spotted 3 gulls working over an area triangulated by Areas 1493/1266/988.  This area is where we spent a majority of our time, and where we caught our best quality fish — most going right at 13 inches, plus a nice “bonus” largemouth for Jason.  We vertically jigged here and added 24 fish to our tally, taking our total up to 46 fish before the action tapered to zero.

I searched a few deep, open water areas as the winds picked up to 10-11 mph, but, that was too little, too late.  It seems these deep areas only get truly active with a good, stiff 13-15 mph breeze.

We picked up a few fish to the NW of Area 074 including 3 small white bass and 1 drum.  We wrapped up the day on top of Area 1492, putting a final 19 fish in the boat from out of 25 feet of water near the old Lampasas River channel.  These fish were also mainly small or barely keeper sized fish, but among the most aggressive we encountered all day.  Although it was late in the morning, these fish responded to the sudden brightening of the skies as the sun began to break through for the first time all day, and as the winds finally ramped up strongly enough to create some whitecaps (13-14mph).

We ended up the day with 1 largemouth bass, 3 drum, and 65 white bass in the 0, 1, 2, and 3 year classes.

 

TALLY = 69 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  12:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  64F

Water Surface Temp:  58.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4-5 at trip’s start, staying around S7-8 most of the trip, then increasing to S13-14 in the last hour.

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with no direct sunlight.

Other: GT=20

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1310/1312 = 10 fish (BA=8G, 2L)

**Area 1034/338 = 12 fish (BA=8G,10C)

**Area  1493/1266/988 spot-hopped several times within the bounds of this area for a total of 24 fish

**Area 074 boated 4 fish

**Area 1492 boated 19 fish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Troy Hensley Trip – 57 Fish, Stillhouse, 04 Dec. 2014

This morning I fished  with Troy Hensley of Killeen, TX.  We went fishing for white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

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Troy Hensley had a “personal best” day on the water, as we boated 57 fish, beating his former personal best of 54 fish.

shot 46 (2)

This is what we observed on sonar today as the action peaked around 10:30am as the wind peaked at ~10mph, and the grey skies thinned a bit to allow some indirect sun through.  The blue and red streaks centered on the left half of the screen are individual white bass in a school numbering at least 50-60 fish.

Troy is a U.S. Army Iraq War veteran who reached the rank of Sergeant during his time in the infantry.  He grew up in Illinois and Kentucky where most of his prior fishing experience came on the shore.  Troy had handled spinning gear before which reduced his learning curve as he learned the particulars of vertical jigging.

As often happens on foggy days where the brightening of the sky is delayed, the first hour of our trip was a bit slow with little in the way of bird action to key in on.  We picked up a few fish by flatline trolling in under 15 feet, but, thinking we could do better, left that behind and headed out to water that was being more heavily impacted by the light winds blowing from the south.

We went on to check four deep water areas and found abundant fish at two of them, scant fish activity at one of them, and zero at a fourth area.

All of our fish today responded well to a straight vertical jigging tactic.  Although we threw a bit of “smoking” variation in our routine, that only drew 2 of our 57 fish.  We alternated between silver/chartreuse 3/4 ounce slabs and all white 3/8 oz. slabs and they performed equally well, although the 3/4 oz. sank more quickly in the 30-50 foot water we were fishing.  We used the Redneck Fish’n Jigs model 180 slabs.

Troy’s lifetime best trip was a 54 fish day up in Illinois where he focused on sunfish.  Today, we fished until we broke that record.  Fish #55 came over the side at 11:30, and we went on to catch 2 more as we checked out a spot before wrapping the day up.  100% of our catch consisted of white bass today, with only 5 of these fish going below the 10″ “legal” mark.  Most fish were 12-13 inches and were well-fed with bulging abdomens.  One of our fish surpassed the 14″ mark.

 

TALLY = 57 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time:  11:40p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  57F

Water Surface Temp:  57.8F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S7-10

Sky Conditions: 100% grey skies with very light fog & occasional light drizzle.

Other: GT=0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 407 Flatline trolling for 2 fish (BA:6G)

**Area  1493/1266/988 spot-hopped several times within the bounds of this area for a total of 33 white bass in 2 &3 year class

**Area  948 boated 9 fish

**Area 1495 boated 11 fish

**Area 074 boated 2 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide

Belton Lake Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)