This morning, March 15th, I was joined by John and Matthew Morrison of Temple, TX, for a morning of white bass fishing on Stillhouse.
From left: John and Matthew Morrison “tore ’em up” this morning. We “parked” in one area and boated 90 of our 128 fish in the first 2 hours on the water as hungry, spawned-out fish returned to the lake and started hunting their favorite meal — threadfin shad.
Matthew picked up this plump largemouth as he worked his bladebait in ~14 feet of water amongst a mess of hungry white bass.
What a treat this morning’s trip was! The flood-muddied water created by last week’s week-long rains have begun to clear, thus increasing the number of fishable areas. And to fish with two really nice fellows was icing on the cake. John is an executive with Ambit Energy and Matthew has dreams of a scholarshipped education golfing for the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor next year.
We read the birds this morning and this placed us squarely on top of a 2-hour long feed that was just getting underway as we encountered it. Hungry, post-spawn white bass were corralling shad against the surface and chasing them throughout the water column. Steadily worked bladebaits matching the forage size did the trick for us over, and over, and over again. The Morrison’s boated exactly 88 white bass and 2 largemouth before the sun cleared the grey clouds it rose into. Once the direct sun hit the water, the bite moved briefly deeper, and then died.
We were then pushed out to deeper, clearer water for the remainder of our trip. We successfully jigged with 3/4 oz. slabs to add an additional 38 fish to our take.
The majority of the fish caught up shallow on bladebaits were 2 and 3 year old, 12-14 inch fish with gaunt bellies. The deepwater fish we caught were split nearly 50/50 between 1 and 2 year class fish with an occasional 3 year old thrown in.
Matthew, a confessed recreational eater, gave me some good insights on some local eateries I’ve yet to try. Topping the list was Raymond’s, right off of I-35 in Lorena.
A great trip with some great fellows. The Morrison’s have fished with me through thick and thin. This was their 15th trip with me since 2011.
TALLY = 128 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30a
End Time: 11:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 69F
Water Surface Temp: 64.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW7, slowly swinging WSW and increasing to 12 by trip’s end.
Sky Conditions: Thin grey cloud cover sufficient to obscure the sun until ~9am, then clearing to 30% white cloud coverage on a white sky.
Water Level: 625.59 and falling with 622.0 being full pool. Water being released at 2159 cubic feet per second. Lake fell 0.14 feet in the past 24 hours
Other: GT= 0
Wx SNAPSHOT (a graphical look at the forecast that faced us today):
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 741/1718 — casting bladebaits in 10-16 feet for post-spawn white bass herding shad
**Area 1719 — mid-depth vertical jigging for schooled fish in ~48′.
**Area 1715/312 — deep vertical jigging for schooled fish in ~48′.
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
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