RECOMMENDATIONS WORK BOTH WAYS — 90 FISH @ STILLHOUSE

WHO I FISHED WITH:  This past Tuesday morning, February 25th, I fished with Brian Parker of Waco, and his friend, Lucindy Packer, of Brownwood.  Brian had planned a trip with me last year which never did come together, then recently saw my card on the sonar display at Cabela’s in Waco.  He is refurbishing his fishing boat with sonar and a trolling motor and wanted to pick my brain about product suggestions.  He called me this past Monday and we spoke for a little while.

Long story short, he and Lucindy wound up coming along on an electronics show-and-tell/fishing trip combination the very next morning.  Lucindy came to fish, and Brian came to talk equipment; I was able to meet both needs by the time 4+ hours had rolled by.

PHOTO CAPTION:    Lucindy Packer and Brian Parker joined me for a combination fishing trip and electronics demo on Stillhouse this past Tuesday morning.  We caught and released 90 fish.

WHEN WE FISHED:  Tuesday, 25 February 2020, AM

HOW WE FISHED: The white bass are in a very definite pattern each morning now.  There is some moderate feeding on deep flats from first light through around 8:30 with small packs of fish hunting horizontally along the bottom for sunfish and shad, then the action moves to the “shoulders” or breakline of the river channel from that point onward until the action tapers to a stop around 11:00 to 11:30.

The technique is the same for both — slow easing with my 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slab/Stinger combo, only the action and catch rate immediately climb once those fish consolidate on the channel edge.

Birds remain to be a bit misleading, primarily focused on loon activity, not on fish activity.

Lucindy didn’t say much — she was too engrossed in watching LiveScope and making sure her technique was down pat.  The only time we heard from her was an occasional “Oh, shoot!”, when a white bass bit, she set the hook, but came up empty.

As for Brian, I tried to very intentionally explain why I did what I did in regards to sonar use.  He made a very good point about how midleading magazine photos, marketing videos, and sonar unit demo modes can be compared to “real world” sonar use.  Two things he picked up on was 1) how “busy” my screen is on colored sonar because I jack my sensitivity way up so as not to miss a jot, tittle, shad, or any other small detail, and 2) how bottom-hugging fish on side imaging and in deep water don’t just glow light neon lights on the screen.  Several times when I spotted fish and then set us up atop them to fish successfully he told me he would have dismissed what we saw as insignificant.   So, this experience was helpful in that regard.

Brian also got to see how I make routine use of the i-Pilot Link relationship between my Humminbird Solix 15 sonar unit and my Minn Kota Ulterra.  Before this trip he was considering a stick-steer trolling motor.  I told him by phone he would regret that on his pontoon boat, and, by the time our morning trip was over, he appreciated what I meant by that.

Once the fish quit biting, we went out and found a number of both man-made and natural forms of cover so he could see how the various technologies portrayed each one.

Brian is a well-traveled outdoorsman having hunted and fished internationally, with some of his already accomplished bucket-list items falling in my own bucket-list’s as yet unchecked column.

I, therefore, got to pick his brain and gain some good advice normally gained only by experience on my upcoming travels to Alaska, as well as future plans to fish elsewhere outside the US of A.

We wound up with exactly 90 fish caught and released including 1 crappie, about 6 drum, and the balance white bass in the 1, 2, and 3 year class.  The whites were all in really good shape with wide backs, distended bellies, and with several males beginning to drip milt.

TALLY: 90 fish caught and released

 

OBSERVATIONS:   The best concentrations of fish we found were immediately adjacent to the river channel once again today.  Most bird (gull) action was focused on shallower, scattered fish feeding on mid-depth flats, wounding just enough sunfish to keep the birds’ attention.

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time:   7:00A

End Time:  Noon

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  48F

Elevation: 3.26 low, -0.01′ 24-hour change, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp:   53.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: N wind the entire trip, starting around 6-7 and building to 10-12 by 10AM, then scaling back to a steady 7-9 for the rest of the morning

Sky Conditions: 35% white cloud cover

GT = 85

#WhiteBassFishing #LakeBelton #StillhouseHollow

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 551 – scattered fish under birds

**Area vic 1201/1317/SH0097C- channel breakline for plentiful whites

**Area vic 1515- channel breakline for plentiful whites

**Area SH0014G – channel breakline for plentiful whites

 

 

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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