WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished with 3 generations of the Hankins family. Mr. Jim Hankins, age 84, is father to Linda Hankins (of Belton Small Animal Clinic fame), and grandfather to 17-year-old Clayton. Clayton is the son of Linda’s brother, Kelly Hankins, and his wife, Lizzie. This was a Fathers’ Day trip from Linda to Jim.
Jim is a retired U.S. Army Infantry officer now residing in Harker Heights. A majority of his assignments were with airborne units. He was born in Roswell, NM, and had some interesting tales to tell of what went down there through the eyes of a “local”.
Clayton just graduated from high school and is headed to Tarleton State University, located in Stephenville, TX.
PHOTO CAPTION: Linda, Jim, and Clayton Hankins with a portion of this morning’s white bass catch on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: White bass
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: 19 June 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip consisted of nearly all downrigging. June is always a tough month, and this year has been no exception. After a brilliant full moon, the early morning’s calm surface was lifeless. No insects hatching, no sunfish dimpling the surface in the shallows, no bait pods of shad nor gamefish chasing after them, no rough fish rolling — just nothing.
I went with the downriggers which allowed us to cover water efficiently looking at sonar the whole while and still have baits in the water. While we did find a few “pockets” of fish, there was not much of a pattern to put together. On the few occasions that we did find larger schools of fish and attempt to hover atop them to try some vertical work, the fish moved on too quickly to allow for success.
Nonetheless, the 3-armed umbrella rig equipped with small Pet Spoons did put some fish in the boat for us this morning, including a triple (our first success of the morning landed by Linda) and several doubles. Based on fish and bait location in the water column, we ran the balls between 24-27 feet deep most of the morning.
TALLY: 21 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Typically tough June conditions made tougher by an unobscured full moon.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: Rain cooled 76F
Elevation: 2.19 feet high, 0.14 ‘ 24-hour drop, 909 cfs flow
Water Surface Temp: 81.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: Calm at sunrise, slowly increasing to S7 by mid-trip, then to SSW13 by trip’s end
Sky Conditions: Clear, dry, blue sky
GT = 160
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Circuit 205-206-660-644-1114-SH0047C-914
**Area vic 255 parallel to channel
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