70 FISH, AND THEN THE RAIN CAME

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with Dr. Jim Wood of McGregor, and Harker Heights native Sky Sparks. These men got to know each other through the wound care medical practice which Jim just retired from, located in Harker Heights. Jim has fished with me on a number of occasions previously, and Sky made it out with me once before on a hybrid striped bass trip to Belton last year.

PHOTO CAPTION: Sky Sparks and Dr. Jim Wood with a few of the 70 fish we landed this morning as storms bore down on us from out west. We got a full 4+ hours in, thanks to good forecasting by NOAA and KWTX (TV channel 10) and my trusty MyRadar Pro weather radar app as a backup.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: 18 May 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED: Once again, fishing today was a one-trick pony. The only fish I am currently finding on Stillhouse are deep, well-congregated schools of white bass in 35-45 feet of water. These fish have been very “moody”, turning on and turning off again fairly regularly. These fish have shown a definite fondness for the tailspinners my clients and I have been using ever since the waters on Belton and Stillhouse have become murky due to flooding. Using a “smoking” tactic, as we normally would with slabs, produced several hundred white bass for my clients this week alone.

On the trips I conducted Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and today, the last 2 hours has definitely outproduced the first two hours with 8:30 to 9:00am seeming to be the turning point.

OBSERVATIONS: 1) Proactively avoiding a hookset and doing a crankbait-style “swing-landing” of the fish into the boat both prevent a lot of lost fish on these heavy baits fished on a “short leash” of braided line. 2) No evidence of spawning shad this morning. 3) Upper third of reservoir has distinct murky brown tinge due to wind stirring up silt.

TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

0 feet = 78.1F

5 feet = 77.9F

10 feet = 77.4F

15 feet = 76.4F

20 feet = 75.6F

25 feet = 73.3F

30 feet = 71.2F

35 feet = 70.3F

40 feet = 70F

45 feet = 69.6F

50 feet = 68.4F

55 feet = 66.6F

65 feet = 62.8F

70 feet = 61.5F

75 feet = 60.1F

TALLY: 70 fish caught and released – including 69 white bass and 1 freshwater drum

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F

Elevation: 7.84 feet high with a 0.01′ 24-hour drop and a 1,789cfs flow from the dam.

Water Surface Temp: 77.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: S11-13

Sky Conditions: Grey skies all morning with varying light levels changing with cloud thickness. A light, spitting rain on occasion before severe thunderstorms moved in later in the day, around 2:10pm.

GT = 90

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

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