WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Pastor Justin Moss of Harker Heights and his two children, Lilli and Jackson. Justin is the senior pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Killeen. Lilli is headed into 5th grade, enjoys dance, and is thinking about becoming a veterinarian or a surgeon. Jackson is 7 and enjoys his karate classes at Legacy Martial Arts in Harker Heights. The kids’ mom, Carrie, is a KISD teacher and is already back to school, so we had to leave her back on land this morning.
From left: Lilli, Justin, and Jackson Moss with two of the 48 fish Lilli and Jackson landed this morning. We fished for both sunfish and white bass.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on sunfish & white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday morning, 23 August 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We devoted our first hour or so to fishing for sunfish up shallow and under low-light conditions. The kids used bream rods with slip-float rigs to catch longear, bluegill, and green sunfish in water under 3′ deep. The balance of the trip was devoted to the pursuit of white bass. The bite was so-so today. We did not encounter any topwater action, we saw only one flock of terns and they were not working over feeding fish, and the fish we caught were deep and very scattered. I did not see a single opportunity to stop and really catch a multitude of fish using vertical tactics because the fish were neither on bottom, nor tightly schooled. Regardless, we covered water very efficiently with the downriggers and kept the action steady enough to keep the kids engaged a full 4+ hours. Along the way we landed two sets of doubles and the remainder of our white bass came as singles.
OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: My thermocline readings for this week:
0 feet 87.2°
5 feet 87°
10 feet 86.8°
15 feet 86.7°
20 feet 86.1°
25 feet 85.5°
30 feet 84.3°
35 feet 84°
40 feet 81.7°
45 feet 72.8°
50 feet 66.4°
55 feet 63.7°
60 feet 61.4°
TALLY: 48 fish, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 11:00a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F
Water Surface Temp: 85.8F
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm at sunrise, building to S5-7 by 8:15a and remaining at that velocity for the balance of the trip.
Sky Conditions: 0% cloud cover.
Water Level: 7.58 feet low and falling
GT = 55
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 201 & 420 for 30 sunfish
**Area 1446-1241 downrigging for 15 white bass
**Area v SH0044C – downrigging for 3 white bass
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
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