This evening I fished with Lionel Johnston of the DFW area, down visiting his parents who live in Belton. We pursued white bass on Stillhouse Hollow.
Lionel Johnston used our time on the water to ask detailed questions about Humminbird sonar operation as we worked together to locate and catch white bass.
As Lionel looked through my online reports in the “Fishing Reports and Photos” portion of my website, he saw I do on-the-water sonar training classes. As a Humminbird user who mainly fishes for crappie in timber on Lake Lewisville, he was interested in a number of skills, so we worked those into the trip, as well.
Today, despite the foul weather (cool rain fueled by a low pressure system that mixed with an incoming cold front overnight), the fish fed moderately well. This happens at some point every spring where the rising water temperature drives the fishes’ metabolism up sharply, forcing them to feed at times when, under normal conditions, they would not do so.
We found two “patches” of fish today. First, we found suspended white bass down 10-12 feet beneath the surface over a sloped bottom going from 15 – 25 feet. A few gulls hesitated over this area just momentarily and made me curious enough to check it out. Sonar told the rest of the story when we arrived, and we were able to put 18 fish in the boat in short order by counting our bladebaits down to these fish. This lasted only about 25 minutes or so.
The second and final group of fish we found was well-scattered on a flat. Again we worked Cicada bladebaits over these fish, only this time we worked them right off bottom casting either parallel to the shoreline or slightly in towards shore with long casts to really cover a lot of water efficiently.
When all was said and done, we’d boated 47 white bass, 4 drum, 4 largemouth bass, and 1 crappie.
TALLY = 56 FISH, all caught and released
GUIDE’S WEBSITE: http://holdingthelineguideservice.com/
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 4:00p
End Time: 8:00p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Water Surface Temp: 61.6F
Wind Speed & Direction: NE8-9, shifting ENE8-9 during last half of trip
Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover with light rain in the final hour
Other: GT = 50
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1539 casting blades
**Area 407/700 casting blades
Bob Maindelle
Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)