FATHERS’ DAY FISHING WITH KEVIN, JASON, & THE GIRLS

WHO I FISHED WITH:    This past Saturday morning, 15 June, I fished with a 2-family party of six.  Kevin, Paige, and Katelyn Fitzgerald were joined by Jason, Chanah, and Makenzie Huggett. The two families got to know each other through their daughters’ interest in competitive volleyball.

Paige orchestrated the whole thing several weeks in advance (I love folks who plan ahead!!) as a Fathers’ Day outing.  As I considered (planned ahead) for the trip, I felt Belton would produce better.  Because Paige had originally indicated the two dads’ interests mainly lay in learning Stillhouse, I called ahead to explain the situation and get her input.  Long story short she felt it was far more important for the fellows to learn how to approach white bass fishing on Stillhouse than to catch a bunch of fish elsewhere, so, we focused on Stillhouse.

If you’re wondering why Belton is outperforming Stillhouse, see the temperature comparison chart in my “Observations” section below.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:    From left: Chanah (love the Zoom Bait Co. hat!), Makenzie and Jason Huggett, and Kevin, Katelyn, and Paige Fitzgerald.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR:  White bass

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED:  15 June 2019, AM

HOW WE FISHED:   One thing is for sure, these two dads had a ton of really good questions.  They asked the right kind of questions like, “Why did you look here for fish?” versus (not so good questions like) “What’s your favorite lure?”.  This kind of thing told me they were already on the right track of understanding that location is the most critical element in consistent success.

I had hoped to introduce Kevin and Jason to at least two effective summertime tactics: downrigging and smoking.  Many days these two tactics go hand in hand as I cover water with downriggers to find fish, then work concentrations of fish over with a vertical smoking tactic to exploit what I’ve found.

Today, we found only scattered fish which were suspended, and small groups of bottom-oriented fish which were in insufficient quantities to make stopping to work vertically pay off well.

Even so, just the introduction to the efficacy of downrigging blew these fellows away.  We were able to pick up singles, multiple doubles, and (for Makenzie) a triple.  The action peaked from 7:15 to 8:45 after which the wind drove us away from the area at which I preferred to be searching for fish.  While we were there, the best action came as we ran the balls at 19-23 feet over a deeper bottom and watched bottom-oriented wolfpacks of fish launch off bottom to come up to the baits to feed.  We did not see the majority of these fish before they revealed themselves as they rose off bottom because the were initially super tight to the bottom.

We encountered a bit more action, primarily on suspended fish holding around 22-26 feet down over a deeper bottom.  The fish we caught here came as singles only and were not coming from off the bottom.  We were catching only the suspended fish already seen on sonar.

TALLY: 23 fish caught and released, including 21 white bass and 2 freshwater drum

OBSERVATIONS:   Here is the temperature profile I took at Stillhouse on Saturday, compared with the one I took on Belton the day before.  There is a significant thermal break forming at 35 feet on Stillhouse — the start of the setup of the thermocline.  There is no such indication of that yet on Lake Belton:

Depth Belton Temp. 14JUN Stillhouse Temp. 15JUN
0 81.7 81.5
5 81.7 81.7
10 81.7 81.7
15 81.7 81.7
20 81.7 81.7
25 81.7 81.7
30 80.7 81.5
35 79.6 80.2
40 78 77.4
45 77.5 74.7
50 76.6 71.3
55 75.6 70.2
60 75.2 69.1

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74

Elevation:   1.72 feet high, 0.19 ‘ 24-hour drop, 2197 flow

Water Surface Temp:    81.5

Wind Speed & Direction:  S12 at sunrise/start time, ramping up to S18 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions:  100% light grey clouds at trip’s start, clearing to 35% white clouds on blue sky by trip’s end.

GT = 35

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:     

 

 AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  vic 480 – solid fishing from 7:15 to 8:45 taking downrigged fish by pulling whites off bottom up to our spread

**Area  vic 1563 – less aggressive, suspended fish on downriggers

 

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

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