WHO I FISHED WITH:   This past Friday morning, 22 June, I was joined by the Short family.  Mr. Brett Short and his wife, Kristi, of Newman, California, traveled to central Texas to visit their son, Mike, who lives in Killeen, and their daughter who lives in Temple.  Brett is in law enforcement in Newman, a town of about 10,000 people east of San Jose and south of Modesto.  Kristi works in the HR field for a rehab center, and Mike is a certified mechanic employed at Precision Tune in Killeen.  Brett and Kristi have their own boat but typically pursue largemouth in the deep reservoirs near their home.

 

From left: Mike, Kristi, and Brett with a few of the 53 fish we landed this morning.  With high pressure back in control of our weather, the fishing is back to “summertime tough”, which simply meant we had to get out there and work for our fish.  They were catchable, just not uber-enthusiastic.

 

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  This was a multi-species trip in which we caught white bass, largemouth, and drum.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 22 June.

HOW WE FISHED:  As is typical for summertime fishing with the thermocline in place, we downrigged for a majority of our time and, on occasions when we found a concentration of fish in a small, well-defined area, we vertically jigged with tailspinners.  We enjoyed 3 such instances on this trip, with the last being our most productive, giving up about 15 of our 53 fish in the span of just a few minutes.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:   The most active fish we found today were found with sonar after I began searching where surface feeding white bass and largemouth revealed the location of more action below.

TALLY: 53 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  82.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:   A light S breeze at 6-9 blew the entire trip.

Sky Conditions: 50% white cloud cover on a blue sky

Water Level: 5.40 feet low

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1395 to 854 – downrigging

**Area vic 931 – downrigging

**Area 495-SH0034C – downrigging

**Area 1496-1960 – downrigging and tailspinners in 3 separate short hops in vicinity of surface feeding

 

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingelleTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:   This past Thursday evening I fished with Mrs. Jennifer Winget and her two daughters, Brooklyn (age 9) and Peyton (age 5).  Jennifer’s husband, US Army Staff Sergeant Brandon Winget, is a non-commissioned officer currently deployed to Afghanistan with his explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) unit.  SSG Winget has served for 12 years and, on this date, was spending his 10th wedding anniversary away from wife and children on duty in harm’s way.

Jennifer contacted me after hearing of the free SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips I provide to military children separated from their parents by their parents’ duty assignments, such as deployments, TDY assignments, military schooling, field time, gunnery, etc.

Call me for details on a trip for your children if your situation is similar — 254.368.7411.  This program is sponsored by the Austin Fly Fishers with a number of individual and organizational donors coming alongside them to keep this going strong since May of 2009.

From left: Peyton, Jennifer, and Brooklyn Winget with a pair of white bass the girls landed on downriggers on this hot June afternoon on Stillhouse Reservoir.

 

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  This was a multi-species trip in which we caught white bass and sunfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday afternoon, 21 June.

HOW WE FISHED:  Given the girls’ age and limited prior fishing experience, and the fact that we were fishing in the afternoon, we focused first on sunfish, catching a mix of bluegill, longears, and green, for a total of 40 fish before leaving the shallows for deeper water and looking for white bass.  We found a loosely congregated school of white bass holding near the old Lampasas River channel and worked them for a total of 8 fish.  By then, the girls had had enough of the heat and we decided to call it a great day and wrap up a bit early.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:    I would normally not fish with kids in the afternoon, but the family’s schedule dictated this.  In doing so, I found fish more scattered and about 3-4 feet deeper as compared to my morning results.

TALLY: 48 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 5:00p

End Time: 7:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 97F

Water Surface Temp:  83.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:   A light S breeze at 6-7 blew the entire trip.

Sky Conditions: 60% white cloud cover on a blue sky

Water Level: 5.38 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  203 – 40 sunfish on slipfloats

**Area SH0032C thru SH0033C – 8 white bass on downriggers

 

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingelleTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle