White Bass Aren’t the Only Fish Biting — 33 Fish, Stillhouse, 13 Feb. 2015

This morning I went white bass fishing on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with Mr. Bob Schaet of Brevard, North Carolina.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA.

Bob Schaet landed this nice 6.00 pound channel catfish as we jigged with slabs for white bass this past Friday on Stillhouse Hollow.

Bob, age 80, drove this past week from the Asheville, NC, area to visit with his children and grandchildren, most of whom are in Texas, including his daughter, Karen, who is a neighbor of mine.  Karen flagged me down on my way to church earlier in the week and asked to set up a trip as a birthday present to her dad.

Bob is a U.S. Air Force veteran and retired United Airlines pilot.  We had a lot in common, having both been commissioned officers in the Armed Forces, and having had a good bit of engineering in our college backgrounds, so, our conversation while fishing was quite engaging.  I specifically asked Bob if he had any “close call” stories from his time as a pilot.  He told a great story about a jet engine fire with a planeload of passengers bound for Los Angeles that wound up landing in Las Vegas instead, and another good one about a 747 that lost an engine on the way to Hong Kong.

Of course, we caught fish, too.  33 fish to be exact.  We started out fishing under 3 distinct flocks of gulls, but the fish we found under these birds were not in large congregations, so we worked for them catching 2-4 at a clip for the first 2 hours on the water, for a total of 19 fish boated by 9:15am, all via vertical jigging.  One of these 19 fish was a 6.00 pound channel catfish that took a liking to Bob’s slab from amidst a small school of white bass.

Once the birds gave up, we strained out lots of water via flatline trolling, adding another 14 fish to our count by 10:45am by rigging up with 4 lines out, covering different depths by using a variety of crankbaits.  By 10:45, the sun’s warmth was felt enough to start coming out of our heavy clothing as the wind subsided and the sun shone brightly.  Conditions were falling apart pretty quickly, and, over the next 45 minutes we managed only one more fish.  By 11:30a it was all over and we headed back in.

TALLY = 33 FISH, all caught and released

 

GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 37F

Water Surface Temp: 53F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW5 at trip’s start transitioning to “puffing” conditions 0-5mph by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: Fair and high thin white clouds

Other: GT=25

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1510-1310, first light bite under ~24 gulls in 14-20′

**Area  1057-1520, under ~7 gulls in 25-26′

**Area 1351 – 1349, flatlining in 10-18′

 

Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)