This past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings were all spent on Stillhouse, and all with the Bozeman family of Copperas Cove and Killeen.  It all started last week when John Bozeman called me to book a trip…

 

My crew from Day 1, from left, John Bozeman, Eric Heitman, and Brittany Bozeman.

 

Eric Heitman took big fish honors for Day 1.

Brandon Bozeman joined his brother, John, for Day 2.

Day 3 was all about the boys’ mom, Linda.  She took big fish honors with this sweet largemouth that hit a slab equipped with the Hazy Eye Stinger Hook.

And largemouth weren’t the only large fish biting on Day 3.  We also took this fat and sassy 16″ long female white bass on a bladebait early.  Yes, it looks like a hybrid, but it is definitely a magnum white bass.

 

DAY 1:

On Day 1, John Bozeman and his wife, Brittany, and their friend, Eric Heitman joined me for what would be the best trip of the 3 day span in terms of numbers and “fishy” weather.  We had a balmy start to the day thanks to cloud cover overnight keeping the heat in.  The winds were from just west of south and at a good speed for the entire trip.  We drove right into fish and birds at around 7:10am and slabbed briefly until it became clear that fish had moved shallow.  Seeing this, we moved shallow and threw bladebaits for over 2 hours with everyone continuously hooking fish with many in the 13-14″ class.

Once the bird action died, we moved deeper and continued catching smaller fish on slabs.

DAY 2:

On Day 2, John Bozeman and his older brother, Brandon, came aboard.  Fishing was a bit tougher on this morning as we had very murky, dark skies and a lack of wind until around 9am.  Once the breeze kicked in, it ramped up quickly.  We landed only 36 fish through 9:30am, then took our tally up to 108 for the morning after extending the trip about an hour to 11:40.  Nearly 100% of our fish were caught on the slab today in deep water.

DAY 3:

On Day 2, John and Brandon returned, this time with their mother, Linda.  I tried to talk John out of the trip over the phone the night before after seeing the forecast wind speeds up over 20mph.  I let him know the fish would be biting as the cold front came in, and that we could catch them, but that the wind would be an annoyance.  John was okay with that if it meant getting his mom on some fish, so, we went.  And we caught fish!  The lake was nearly calm as we got going, then a NNW breeze slowly began to move the water.  As it did, the bite turned on, allowing us about 80 minutes’ worth of productive shallow fishing with bladebaits.  Once the front arrived, the winds shifted to N17-21, then settled back to a more manageable 17-18mph.  Once the wind got hard, we moved deep and caught the remainder of our fish on 3/4 oz slabs chosen to give us a little more feel for the bottom.

TALLY DAY 1 = 163 FISH, all caught and released

TALLY DAY 2 = 108 FISH, all caught and released

TALLY DAY 3 = 101FISH, all caught and released

TOTAL TALLY = 372 FISH, all caught and released

Wx Snapshots:

For Monday (Tuesday nearly identical):

For Wednesday:

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:  Day 1 6:50a, Day 2 6:50a, Day 3 6:45a

End Time:  Day 1 11:15a, Day 2 11:40, Day 3 11:00

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: Day 1 67F, Day 2 62F, Day 3 62F

Water Surface Temp:  Day 1 61.2F, Day 2 61.5, Day 3 61.9F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Day 1 SW9, Day 2 calm ’til 9:00, then SSE13, Day 3 NNW4 ’til 8:30, then N17-20

Sky Conditions: Day 1 100% grey, Day 2 100% grey, Day 3 clearing to bluebird on incoming cold front

Water Level: 1.08 feet above full pool all 3 days

GT =  0

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

DAY 1

**Area  vic 702/1048 slabbing for 18 fish

**Area  vic 054 fishing blades to 54 fish

**Area  vic 109/1897 fishing blades to 102 fish

**Area  1682/741 fishing slabs to 132 fish

**Area  638/1565 to 163 fish

DAY 2

**Area  vic 108 slabbing for 18 fish

**Area  092 slabbing to 22 fish

**Area 1903 slabbing to 64 fish

**Area  1902 slabbing to 90 fish

**Area  1565 slabbing to 108 fish

DAY 3

**Area  triangulate 1060/089/1682 blades for 36 fish

**Area  vic 1682 to 45 fish

**Area 103 slabbing to 77 fish

**Area 1156 slabbing to 101 fish

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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