WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Mr. Randy Williamson, his wife, Holly, and their friend, Phillip Fagan, all from out in Coryell County, TX, near Topsey. The Williamsons and Fagans all initially became friends through a small group ministry at their church. They initially met elsewhere, then moved their meetings to the Fagans’ home, and now routinely continue to meet together, typically on Fridays.
Randy bought a gift certificate for a trip about a year ago and, despite our plans to use that certificate toward a hybrid striped bass trip on Lake Belton, we diverted to Stillhouse to fish for white bass now that flooding has shaken things up at Belton and made ramp access unpredictable.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Phillip Fagan, Holly Williamson, and Randy Williamson, each with a 3-year class white bass taken during our first stop this morning, and caught with tailspinners.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: 14 May 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: Up until a light rain began at 10:40 on the lead edge of a storm cell moving in from the SW, this morning was nearly “cookie cutter” as compared with the morning prior. I did run uplake initially and was pleased to see that the water had cleared substantially, however, bait and fish were scarce, so we dropped back to even clearer, deeper water.
Inside our first hour on the water we found some shallow fish on a patch of bottom not covered with hydrilla in about 26-28 feet. Right now, with the lake ~8 feet high, the hydrilla is generally found out to the 33-34-foot mark, and is therefore growing on a lot of terrain white bass would normally be found on. These fish fed well for about 40 minutes and allowed everyone to work the kinks out of their tailspinner techniques. Some of the things we had to remain vigilant about were hooksetting, playing the fish to avoid having a “green” fish right up on the surface still fighting crazily, and leaving a sufficient amount of line between the rod tip and the fish once the fish was lifted from the water. Doing each of these things well and consistently meant more hooked fish being landed.
Our last two stops came within a stone’s throw of one another, and our single best frenzy encountered came just prior to a storm system moving in from the SW. We caught fish at a steady pace all morning, ending up with 82 fish, including 79 white bass and 3 freshwater drum.
OBSERVATIONS: Once again, “fresh fish” was the operative word today. Over and over again we saw that when a new bunch of fish came under the boat, we could count on at least 2 if not all of our 4 rods hooking a fish. However, once these first few fish were caught, and if the school stuck around long enough to provide follow-on opportunities, those “remnant” fish were much, much harder to fool. We would then anxiously await the appearance of more “fresh fish” which hadn’t yet seen our baits to appear on LiveScope, knowing these would be much easier to fool.
TALLY: 82 fish caught and released – including 79 white bass and 3 freshwater drum
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45a
End Time: 10:45a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F
Elevation: 7.84 feet high with a 0.01′ 24-hour drop and a 1,789cfs flow from the dam.
Water Surface Temp: 71.3F
Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable at 0-4SSE
Sky Conditions: Clear, bright skies for the first hour, followed by high, thin white clouds for the next two hours, and closing with grey, thicker cloud cover and an approaching thunderstorm right at the 4-hour mark
GT = 15
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area vic 110 – solid action for ~40 minutes in 26′ for 38 fish at our first stop
**Area SH0112C – added 6 more fish to the tally here
**Area 067/SH0110C a solid, 40 minute white bass bite on tailspinners in 38′
**Area SH0113C – a final hour-plus white bass bite on tailspinners; bite ended as foul weather moved in from the SW with light rain, thunder, and lightning
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