WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, September 28th, I fished with Bob Smith. Bob makes his living as an attorney up in the Dallas area but keeps a second home on Lake Belton. When Bob got the hankering to go fishing, he recalled that I’d fished with his son, Marshall, back in January of 2016, and so he called me up.
We had an unexpected, unforecast blanket of fog make the going tough for us this morning. I’ve yet to figure out why, but, foggy mornings tend not to produce well. I’ve noted this many times in my reports; I suspect it has something to do with reduced light levels and the absence of sudden brightening (as occurs during an unobscured sunrise), but that’s just a theory. Bottom line, we worked for the 34 fish we caught this morning.
Our third hour of the trip, from ~9a to 10a, was our most productive. This coincided with the clearing of the fog and some brightening of the skies with a SE breeze at about 7mph blowing steadily. During this time we saw a mix of white bass and largemouth begin to push shad around in the lower half of the water column over 34-39 feet of water. Our best catch rate occurred during this time.
We got only one school of white bass to fire up strong enough and long enough to take vertically fished tailspinners this morning.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 28 September 2018
HOW WE FISHED: We covered a lot of water with downriggers this morning looking for small groups of active fish under conditions which typically make the fishing tough. We found fish in 3 distinct areas. Strangely, the least productive of these areas for downrigging was the most productive on the vertical presentation of tailspinners. As we entered this area, fish were seen holding loosely and in a passive mood in the lower third of the water column around 36-39′. Most of our horizontal efforts with the ‘riggers went ignored. When I found a heavier-than-average concentration of fish, I SpotLocked on them and we worked slabs through them without result. We then switched over to tailspinners and had to work them a bit before the first bite. Once the first fish hit, we got the school fired up for a short while and caught fish steadily until they turned off once again. I attempted downrigging through the remaining fish without success.
STILLHOUSE HOLLOW FISHING GUIDE OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: Under heavy fog, our best results came in the hour that followed the start of the clearing of the fog as a SE wind continued and 100% grey cloud cover ensued.
TALLY: 34 fish, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:20 am
End Time: 11:35 am
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F
Water Surface Temp: 77.4F
Wind Speed & Direction: ~SE7 all morning, tapering to SE3-4 in the last hour
Sky Conditions: Fog and heavy clouds all morning.
Water Level: 7.94 feet low and falling
GT = 17
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area SH0052C – light action on downriggers early under dense fog
**Area SH0059C – a few fish on downriggers leading to the sighting of suspended fish at 34-38 feet which we successfully worked tailspinners for
**Area SH0047C to SH0048C to 1969 – downrigging at the top of the lower half of the water column for mixed whites and largemouth chasing shad under clearing, brightening conditions
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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