WE NEED PROFESSIONAL HELP — 48 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Tuesday morning, February 19th, I fished with a crew of four young men from Georgetown, TX — 3 brothers and a buddy, all escorted by the brothers’ mom, Pam Carroll.

Pam called me while I was in the midst of conducting a guided trip on Monday morning.  As a single mom of three, she was trying hard to help her sons experience the great outdoors, but that wasn’t exactly going as planned.  The family had camped out in an RV at Cedar Breaks Park on Lake Georgetown and made several attempts at catching fish, but to no avail.  Kids got cranky.  Kids got lost.  Dog got lost.  Grandma got worn out.  Sister went home early with Grandma.  Mom started wondering what’s so great about the outdoors after all.

A quick Google search on her smart phone led her to me.  She indicated her interest in seeking “professional help” (her words, verbatim).  I chuckled.  We talked things over and, long story short, met at 7:15AM the following day on Stillhouse for a morning in pursuit of white bass (or anything else with scales) for Corban (11), Connor (9), Cade (8), and family friend Cooper Rhea (11).

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left:  Connor Carroll, Cooper Rhea, Corban and Cade Carroll, all with evidence of their Presidents’ Day weekend fishing adventure success story that went down to the wire to in the making.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday, 18 February 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED:  The weather forecast was really up in the air.  No two of the sources I use for weather could agree on wind direction, wind speed, ambient temperature, chance of rain, etc.  It was clear that a cold front would arrive, but the timing was uncertain.  As I headed to bed on Monday night, the wake-up air temperature was due to be 53F.  When my alarm went off just before 5AM, it was 64F.  I read my Bible, then looked at my weather apps — the cold front had slowed down and the lead edge was now due in around 10AM.

As I got to the lake, the temperature drop which took place in the preceding 2 hours or so, thanks to clearing skies, allowed a thick fog to form on the lake (not good).  Additionally, the winds went calm (also not good).

Incredibly, Pam showed up with a Ford Explorer full of (mostly) dressed boys 3 minutes early.  I was impressed, as I know that was no small feat, especially given that the family spent the night in an RV.

I went over safety stuff, gear stuff, tactics, and then asked the Lord to grant us safety and success.

Off we went.

Our first 2.5 hours saw us land only 3 fish and miss three more, with no fish on the line for the youngest brother, Cade.  There were no fish showing on sonar, no birds working beyond a 20 minute span right at sunrise, and it was just tough, until…

At about 9:40, the lightest SW breeze began and the 100% grey cloud cover thinned just enough to brighten things up a tad.  I moved us to a breakline from a deep flat into the river channel and there, finally, on sonar was a bottom blanketed with white bass over a 50 yard span.  I literally exhaled a sigh of relief knowing that the boys were soon going to see their dream come true.

I deployed the Ulterra, marked the fish with my cursor on the H’bird Solix, and we Spot-Locked on the fish.  I issued out rods, being careful not to get tangled at this critical juncture, and emphatically reminded the boys not to drop their slabs until I let them know it was okay to do so (once the boat was fixed atop the fish).

I reminded the boys as they held their rods out directly in front themselves about the fundamentals of the technique we’d practiced.  We all let down our slabs to bottom at the same time and the magic started to happen.

The boys caught fish after fish — 45 in all — at this location right through 10:45 AM, during which time the wind developed from the west, then went slack, then began pushing lightly from the NW, then ramped up and shifted to NNW reaching a peak velocity of ~13 mph.  This was a short-lived, pre-frontal scenario and the boys were well-practiced by this point to take full advantage of the potential.

As the winds came full-on, the fish shut down, the boys got cold, and the fun factor started to fade; Pam and I knew it was a good time to call it a success and head for the dock.

The boys landed a total of 48 fish, including 46 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 1 drum.  Mission complete!

 

TALLY: 48 fish caught and released

 

OBSERVATIONS:   The best concentrations of fish we found were immediately adjacent to the river channel once again today.  Temperature profile from surface to 55 feet deep was as follows:

0 feet 56.3F

5 feet 56F

10 feet 56F

15 feet 55.9F

20 feet 55.4F

25 feet 55.2F

30 feet 54.3F

35 feet 53.7F

40 feet 53.5F

45 feet 53.2F

50 feet 53.1F

55 feet 52.9F

 

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   7:15A

End Time:  10:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  64F, then dropping as the cold front moved in

Elevation: 3.35 low, -0.01′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   56.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: See narrative (changing wind scenario with incoming front)

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cover all morning

GT = N/A

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

**Area  SH0002G/544 – light action under early birds; 2 fish landed 3 missed

**Area SH0001C – channel drop which yielded nearly all of our fish

 

 

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

PRESIDENTS’ DAY 2020 – 108 FISH @ BELTON (PM)

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Presidents’ Day Monday afternoon (17 Feb. 2020) I fished with Mr. Marshall Smith, his dad, Bob Smith, and Marshall’s 5-year-old son, Bobby.  This year there has been a pretty stark contrast between Stillhouse’s fewer, but larger, white bass, and Belton’s greater quantity of smaller fish, without exception.  Because we had a 5-year-old aboard, Marshall and I agreed that the better action, albeit for smaller fish, would be more well-suited for Bobby’s age and attention span.  This turned out to be a good call.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   From left: Bob, Marshall, and Bobby Smith with a few of the 108 fish we landed at the end of a 3-day warming trend on Lake Belton.  We primarily caught white bass, but also managed a few largemouth and drum, as well.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday, 17 February 2020, PM

HOW WE FISHED:  After observing how the better concentrations of white bass I found on Stillhouse today during my morning trip were holding adjacent to the river channel, I focused on like areas to start off with at Belton.  This turned out to be a very good call.  We found all of our fish within a roughly 1/2 mile stretch of river channel today and kept the action steady from start to finish, with a noticeable “low-light” uptick right at the end of the trip as the sun disappeared below the horizon.

Fishing was very straightforward, if not lacking in variety.  We used 3/8 oz., white Hazy Eye Slabs with stinger hooks attached in two different ways, depending on how the fish presented on Garmin LiveScope.  If the fish were holding tight to the bottom, or settled down after being previously suspended, we used a slow easing tactic. If (as was the case the majority of the time) we found the fish were more active and were up and feeding from a suspended posture, we used a slow smoking tactic to seal the deal.

Bobby stayed engaged the entire time, but not necessarily in fishing!  He did land several fish with assistance, then landed several independently, then got promoted to live-well checker, to fish-putter-backer, to possible-keeper-fish-ruler-operator … you get the gist of it.

Having three generations aboard is a reel treat, especially when the older generations come aboard with the mindset of making the younger one successful, as was the case this afternoon.

 

TALLY: 108 fish caught and released

OBSERVATIONS:   The best concentrations of fish we found were immediately adjacent to the river channel today. Helpful bird action by ~8 gulls led to our “low-light” bite location where we put more than 20 fish in the boat in about as many minutes as the fish went on a pre-dusk feeding spree (albeit still in slow motion).

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:    2:15P

End Time:  6:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  78F

Elevation: 2.29 low, No 24-hour change, 17 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   54.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SW6-9

Sky Conditions: 60% white cloud cover all afternoon

GT = 50

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

**Area vic 1671

**Area B0015G to B0016G – area loaded with suspended white adjacent to channel

**Area vic 997

**Area 565/1659

 

 

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