WHO I FISHED WITH: This second day of Spring Break 2019, I fished with Brian House of Harker Heights, his son, David, his daughter, Claudia, and Isabella Hagains of Killeen, a friend of Claudia’s. All three kids are students at Saint Joseph’s Catholic School in Killeen.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Isabella Hagains, David House, Mr. Brian House, and Claudia House.  David’s freshwater drum weighed in at 4.25 pounds on a certified scale.

 

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

WHERE WE FISHED:  Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday morning, 12 March

HOW WE FISHED:  The heaviest fog cleared slightly during our first hour on Stillhouse Hollow, allowing for about three-quarters of a mile of visibility.  We did a bit of flatline trolling to see if the slow warmup we had enjoyed since the previous Wednesday had brought fish any shallower, but results were scant — 2 white bass and a drum.

We moved out to deeper water and I brought everyone up to speed on how to use the snap-jigging tactic effectively.  We had limited success at two areas under scant bird action, picking up another half-dozen fish. We moved to a third area – the deepest we would fish – and found what we were after.

The sonar screen just came alive with fish which were heavily congregated together in about 38 feet of water and on a sloped segment of bottom.  I could tell by the posture these fish appeared in that they would not require the very slow snap-jigging method we had been using, but would instead respond to a faster tactic which I refer to as “smoking”.

Indeed, as soon as my four anglers’ baits touched bottom and they began using this smoking tactic, the fish started coming over the side of the boat.  The bite went soft one time thanks to a cessation in the wind for about 25 minutes, but, once the wind returned, the bite fired right back up again.  When noon rolled around, we had managed a total of 77 fish, including a 4.25 pound freshwater drum landed by David.

OBSERVATIONS:   The bite directly correlated with wind speed on this very foggy morning.

TALLY: 77 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 8am

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F

Elevation: 0.73 feet high, with a 0.07 foot rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were ESE5-10

Sky Conditions: Leaden grey skies with heavy fog.

GT = 45

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Areas SH0096C, SH0097C, and SH0098C all produced well on slow-smoking in conjunction with LiveScope

 

 

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

WHO I FISHED WITH: This opening day of Spring Break 2019 I fished in the afternoon with a couple, Thomas and Sharon Sexton, visiting from Cadillac, Michigan.  Thomas now works in the maintenance area for Martin-Marietta in that area, and Sharon is a labor and delivery nurse.  The Sextons came to Texas to visit an old Army buddy of Thomas’, and left behind 0F weather and a pile of snow.  Despite the fact that our Texas weather on this afternoon wasn’t all that balmy, they were enjoying the break from the extreme cold up north.  While here in Texas, the Sextons got word that freezing rain had caused power outages in their region up north, so they weren’t sure what they were heading back to.  One thing was for sure according to Thomas … he said “We’ll have to plow.” — meaning plow snow with a vehicle-mounted plow in order to get to his house!!!   I’m so glad I left upstate New York in 1986!!

When not working, the Sextons enjoy bowhunting for deer with their kids — Tom with a bow and Sharon with a scoped crossbow.

PHOTO CAPTION:   Tom Sexton with a Lake Belton hybrid taken in under 15 feet of water on a Cicada bladebait after cormorants and terns pointed the way to feeding activity.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Tom and Sharon Sexton display a few of the better white bass we landed using both snap-jigging and smoking tactics with the white, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab/Stinger combo.

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

WHERE WE FISHED:  Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday afternoon, 11 March

HOW WE FISHED:   This afternoon we enjoyed success throughout our 4+ hours on the water.  The bite started of a bit slow and tentative as afternoon trips typically do, but the action increased as time went on right up until the fish shut off just prior to tonight’s obscured sunset.

We started of by snap-jigging in about 32′ for clusters of fish I found with sonar, as there were no birds offering a shortcut to the fish finding.  About the time our first area was waning, I spotted a flock of 30-40 terns aggressively feeding near the bank in 10-15 feet of water.  As I approached, I could see cormorants were working this area, as well, but, even after the cormorants spooked, the terns kept working, giving me hope that there were at least a few gamefish present.  Given the shallow depth, we threw blades and connected with 1 drum, 1 white bass, and 1 hybrid striper.  Nothing to write home about, but, this was by far the shallowest I’ve found gamefish since October.

Our next several “hops” came under yet another flock of terns working over 38-42 feet of water.  These birds were strictly working atop fish.  Seeing the scenario unfolding before us, I put the Garmin LiveScope into action, thus allowing all 3 of us to see our moving baits in real time as we arrayed ourselves along the starboard gunwale.  Sharon and Tom quickly got the hang of timing the presentation of their slabs to get to the suspended fish in such a way that tempted them consistently to bite, and it was game-on for about an hour.

After the fish settled and the birds dissipated, we had success snap jigging at two more locations before the slightly foggy conditions obscured the light and killed the bite for good around 7:15pm.

OBSERVATIONS:   The slow warming trend we’ve enjoyed since last Wednesday morning has definitely begun to move fish and bait shallower and has increased the energy level (metabolism) of the fish in general.

TALLY: 81 fish caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:15p

End Time: 7:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 58F

Elevation: 0.73 feet high, with a 0.07 foot rise over the last 24 hours

Water Surface Temp: 54.4F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were NE7-8 all afternoon

Sky Conditions: Leaden grey skies with light fog.

GT = 33

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  B0111C – snap-jigging during the slowest part of the afternoon

**Area  B0140C – light, shallow water action indicated by cormorants and terns

**Area  B0139C – best, most prolonged bite of the afternoon (3 short hops) under birds for aggressively feeding white bass throughout lower 1/2 of water column

**Area  vic 097 – snap-jigging as the bite wound down

**Area  vic 560 – snap-jigging as the bite wound down and finally died

 

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