WHO I FISHED WITH: On Saturday morning, 07 Sept., I fished with a family (returning guests) from the N. Austin area who preferred not to be identified, nor have their photos appear on social media. So as to create a “placeholder” and include this catch in my annual records, I’m entering this summary of our efforts.
I fished with a father and his two kids, aged 4 and 7. This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip in which only the kids fished.
WHAT WE FISHED FOR: Sunfish and white bass
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
WHEN WE FISHED: 07 September 2019, AM
HOW WE FISHED: With two youngsters onboard, we headed up shallow for some “instant gratification” sunfishing right from the get-go. This worked out well as we landed sunfish at each of the areas at which we stopped, amassing a catch of 41 fish, including all manner of sunfish and a few largemouth bass.
When I saw the novelty wearing off concerning the sunfishing, we made a move to open water to target white bass (and have snacks!). The white bass were pretty cooperative once the wind began to ripple the water, at around 8:45am. We strictly downrigged for these freshwater pelagics, and wound up adding another 24 fish to our count including 0, 1, and 2-year class fish coming as singles and doubles on the Pet Spoons rigged up on 3-armed umbrella rigs.
The kids lasted until around 10:30, by which time they had landed a mixed bag of 65 fish. I dropped them off and then headed back out to an area where, using a spotting scope, I saw terns working (which, by the way, have been in short supply on Stillhouse this summer).
These birds led me to a nice concentration of fish on a moderately sloped patch of bottom in about 35 feet of water. As I arrived, there were individual fish popping shad occasionally (definitely NOT an aggressive topwater feed, but enough action to cause me to want to investigate further). I went to work, solo now, with LiveScope and ferreted out a few nice schools of bottom-oriented white bass patrolling in this area. I landed five in short order on my own version of tailspinners and then stopped fishing after confirming this was a worthwhile area. I continued combing over this area with sonar, finding at least 3 other similar schools of white bass of approximately 70-100 fish each.
TALLY: 70 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Terns led me to fish today; these normally helpful birds have been scarce on Stillhouse this summer due, I suspect, to a lack of topwater action and therefore a lack of dead/crippled shad near the surface for them to feed on routinely.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:40am
End Time: 10:30am
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 75F
Elevation: 0.79 low, 0.03′ 24-hour fall, 34 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 86.8F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5 beginning around 8:45a; calm prior to that
Sky Conditions: No cloud cover on a blue sky.
GT = 30
#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area SH0131C, SH0132C, and back of 1874 for 41 sunfish
**Area SH0134C was center of mass for late morning downrigging effort yielding 24 white bass
**Area SH0133C – a new area revealed by light tern action and light topwater action; landed 5 fish and stopped, but graphed several hundred fish in 4 distinct schools.
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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