This Spring Break afternoon I fished with the Janysek family of Cedar Park, TX.  Earlier this week Mr. Don Janysek e-mailed me thinking a fishing trip for his 3 kids would do them some good on this week away from school.  So, today I met up with Don’s mom, Rose Janysek of Leander, and Don’s 3 children, 14-year-old Taylor, 13-year-old Luke, and 11-year-old Emma to make some memories.

From left: Luke, Taylor, Emma, and Rose Janysek with a few of the white bass that fell for bladebaits up shallow today.

As we met in the parking lot at the boat ramp, I could see Taylor was my fisherman — he had on a long-sleeve Livingston Tackle logo fishing shirt, polarized sun glasses, a fishing cap, and he started pointing out and naming items on my boat he was familiar with.  Emma was the tourist, just along for a good time and very much enjoying being out in nature with family.  And Luke was my jovial book worm — he actually brought a novel about as thick as the Bible to read while out on the water.  Instantly I made it my personal mission to keep the trip engaging enough that Luke wouldn’t pull his book out.

As we got going, I did my standard safety briefing and then we headed out to the fishing grounds.  As is often the case on afternoon trips, the bite starts slow and increases towards sunset.  Morning, on the other hand, typically start strong and then soften as the morning progresses.

About an hour into the trip, after picking up a few fish on flatline trolled baits, we got into a nice bunch of white bass herding shad both against the bank and against the surface.  We did some casting lessons for Rose, Emma, and Luke while Taylor looked after himself up on the front deck.  After a few minutes everyone was regularly reeling in white bass that fell for our Cicada blade baits kept just off bottom.

This action died about 45 minutes before sunset, as a low cloud bank in the west obscured the setting sun a good bit.  We returned to more open water and used a combination of downrigged lures and flatline trolled crankbaits to pick off 3 more white bass that were suspended between 7-15 feet below the surface in the warming surface waters.

The kids and grandma did great today, were good learners, and were rewarded for following the guidance I provided.  Dad, who remained behind at the boatramp working on his laptop was briefed excitedly about the trip’s highlights as soon as the kids reached his truck.

Best news of the day: Luke’s book never came out of the bag!!

 

TALLY = 34 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: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 60-61F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-7

Sky Conditions: 40-60% cloud cover on a fair blue sky

Other: GT = 0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  100/744 casting blades

**Area  1182 flatline trolling and downrigging

 

 

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

This Spring Break morning I fished with Central Texas Christian School athletic director Joe Oliver, his father (also named Joe Oliver), his son, Tom Oliver, and his grandson, seven-year-old Ben Pugh.  We set out in pursuit of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.

From left: Tom Oliver, Ben Pugh, Joe Oliver, and Grandpa Joe Oliver.  Can’t you just tell these guys get along real well?

I always look forward to getting a call from Joe asking about setting up a fishing date.  Joe is a godly man with a family he has every right to be proud of, a strong. long-lasting marriage, and he’s working in a position where he has the opportunity to influence kids for the Lord every day by encouraging them in their athletic pursuits.  He always brings family along fishing and they always genuinely enjoy one another’s company, even if they do get a bit competitive and kid one another (especially Izzy, whether or not he happens to be attending the trip!).

Today, we caught fish, but we had to work for all we caught.  We had some of the toughest conditions to hunt for white bass under — calm fog in the early morning, followed by calm, bright conditions after that fog cleared.

We fished shallow and deep, vertically and horizontally, and passively and aggressively and everything produced about the same, which just wasn’t a bunch of fish.

This was young Ben’s first trip out with me, and he did well.  He landed our first fish of the morning, learned to handle a spinning rod, and he even worked up the nerve to touch, hold, and release fish by the time our day had come to an end.

Our best action came while we still had some cloud cover, but after the fog had lifted.  We found some white bass pushing schooled shad around in shallow water and worked them over by casting blade baits into the fray when it was visible and by blind casting when action was not visible.  We landed the majority of our fish in this short window of time before it got bright and calm on us.

Once the skies cleared and the wind remained calm, our results went downhill; we got only 3 more fish from that point forward.

As they often do, as they departed, they left me with a Zero Coke as a bit of refreshment as I took on the chore of boat scrubdown and prep for the afternoon’s trip.

TALLY = 38 FISH, all caught and released

 

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

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:35a

End Time: 11:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 59-60F

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm to light and variable at under 2mph

Sky Conditions: Fog until ~9:30, followed by clearing and calm conditions

Other: GT = 60

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1496 vertical jigging

**Area  979 vertical jigging

**Area 1535/363 downrigging

**Area  554/531 bladebaits

**Area 1538 vertical jigging

**Area 1530 vertical jigging

 

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