WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday I headed out on a solo scouting effort to stay in touch with the bite on Stillhouse and to work the bugs out of some new sonar gear (much more on that in the weeks to come). The scouting went well, as I identified two deepwater areas holding a lot of fish which would pay off on Saturday.
On Saturday I took my brother, Andy, and my college-aged nephew, Trent, out on Stillhouse.
From left: My nephew, Trent Maindelle and his dad, my brother, Andy Maindelle with two of the 52 fish we landed on Saturday morning on Stillhouse.
Andy took our best fish of the day — this 4.25 pound freshwater drum, nickname: gasper gou.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip focused on white bass.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday and Saturday mornings, December 21 & 22, 2018
HOW WE FISHED: On both mornings I encountered a shallow bite (as little as 10′ deep at one point under low light) through about 9:00a during which scattered fish willingly took bladebaits. Once the sun climbed and the shallow bite died, I moved on to deeper water and found abundant white bass in large, slow moving schools in ~48-52 feet of water. On Friday, these fish were in overdrive and responded to a smoking tactic; on Saturday, most of these deep fish responded best to either a “slow-stick” or a snap-jigging tactic.
TALLY: 83 fish Friday & 52 fish Saturday, all caught and released
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15 a both days
End Time: 11:30 a both days
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 41F Friday; 46F Saturday
Water Surface Temp: 53.6F Friday; 53.4 Saturday
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8-9 most of the morning on Friday; calm 2 hours, then SW building to 12 by trip’s end on Saturday
Sky Conditions: <15% white cloud cover both days
Water Level: 5.28′ high with an overnite fall of 0.24 and a flow of 1599 cfs on Friday; 5.04′ high with an overnite fall of 0.24′ and a flow of 1599 cfs Saturday
GT = 0
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT: FRIDAY…
SATURDAY…
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS FRIDAY:
**Area 713/730 – low light, shallow bite with blades
**Area SH0080C – deep slab bite
**Area SH0081C – deep slab bite
*AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS SATURDAY:
**Area SH0082C – low light, shallow bite with blades
**Area vic. SH0071C to SH0077C – snap-jigging
**Area SH0083C – deep slab bite
Bob Maindelle, Belton Lake Fishing Guide
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle