WHO I FISHED WITH:  This morning, Saturday, February 23rd, I fished with Mr. Doug Streater, his son-in-law, Travis Anthony, and Travis’ son, Colby — three generations aboard for a white bass fishing trip on a balmy late-winter morning.  Doug serves as the president of Extraco Bank and is headquartered in Temple, TX, Travis is a Scott & White orthopedic surgeon working at Metroplex in Killeen, and Colby is an about-to-turn-10 young man who enjoys playing baseball.

Doug was referred my way by both Steve Niemeier and James Caddell — thanks, fellows!!

From left: Travis Anthony, his son, Colby with a 5.25 pound largemouth, and Colby’s grandpa, Doug Streater.  This fish looked as though it had just downed a large sunfish or small white bass.  Colby did a great job of hanging on and bringing it to net from out of 44 feet of water.

From left: Doug Streater, Colby Anthony, and Travis Anthony with a sampling of the quality white bass we landed on our windy morning on Stillhouse Hollow.  All of these fish were very wide, healthy fish.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  This trip was a multi-species fishing trip focused on white bass.  

HOW WE FISHED:  I touched base with Doug back on Thursday when the NOAA forecast indicated the entire day Saturday would be a blowout due to high winds.  We decided then to make a final call around 8:45pm on Friday evening after the forecast had been revised a number of times.  As we compared notes on Friday evening, it looked like we’d get at least 3 good hours in with the winds under 18mph.  As the sun rose, shrouded by a layer of grey clouds to the east, winds were right at W10.  We did, indeed, get in exactly 3 hours of solid fishing.  Nearly at the stroke of 10, the birds which had been feeding steadily and helping point the way to fish either lighted on the water or began doing a lot more looking than feeding, and our catch rate dropped off sharply at that point.

During those productive first three hours, we alternated between snapjigging and easing, with only one instance of slow smoking, all with 3/8 oz. slabs.  Around 8:45am I spotted gulls working as shallow as we would find them all morning and threw bladebaits under them, but only wound up hooking and landing two fish with this approach.

Although we caught fish steadily, the bite never got on fire this morning — it was more of a steady pluck until 10am.  Around 10:15, in addition to the morning feed wrapping up, we also saw a rapid ramp-up in wind speed to over 20mph with occasional higher gusts.  Boat control became an issue and, despite consistently placing ourselves under the only remaining actively working gulls on the lake, we had difficulty seeing the gamefish driving the baitfish they were sipping off the surface, much less catching them.

The highlight of the trip came when Colby landed a 5.25 pound largemouth from out of 44 feet of water on his light spinning rod geared for white bass.  The fish had an oddly distended belly — I suspect it had just swallowed a large sunfish or a small white bass.

All but two of our fish were landed on the Hazy Eye Slab with Hazy Eye Stinger hook attached, in color white and 3/8 oz. size.

TALLY: 42 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 55F

Water Surface Temp: 53.1-54.3F

Wind Speed & Direction:  W10 at trip’s start, slowly ramping up to WNW18 by 10am, then sharply increasing to WNW20-24 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:   ~50% cloud cover at sunrise, clearing to under 10% cloud cover by 10am, then with a high, thin, grey layer of clouds moving in as the winds spiked around 10am.

Water Level:  622.39 ASL, with a 0.14′ rise in the last 24 hours.

GT = 80

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  143/089/1060 – first stop, low-light bite with moderate action on snapjigging

**Area SH0093C to 052 (fish found throughout this area, well-spread, under birds) – snapjigging and easing for the most productive span of the morning

**Area  730 – blades up shallow for 2 fish

**Area  Vic1439 –  snapjigging and easing with fair success on a waning bite

**Area  Vic1518 – snapjigging in deep water – one largemouth

Bob Maindelle

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