WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, March 5th, I fished with returning guest George Van Riper of Harker Heights, and his 12-year-old grandson, Kaden Howley.
George is a retired U.S. Army helicopter pilot who was drafted during the Vietnam War from his childhood home in northern New Jersey. He made a career of flying Cobra attack helicopters.
Kaden is a student in the Killeen Independent School District and is a promising young soccer player.
Kaden’s grandmother contacted me back in early January with a very specific request which led us to choose this date for Kaden’s trip. Because of Kaden’s growing interest in fishing, and the fact that Kaden’s previous trips with me had not included casting (we jigged vertically and/or downrigged), she asked that I take Kaden at a time when he could have some exposure to that horizontal casting discipline.
As we began this morning’s trip, I did a quick intro to casting spinning gear, and explained how releasing the line too early results in a “pop fly”, and how releasing the line too last results in a short “line drive”. George volunteered that his wife calls those pop fly casts “moonshots”. Kaden did a great job today minimizing moonshots!
PHOTO CAPTION: Fat and sassy was the name of the game this morning! What a quality catch of white bass we enjoyed today. Only 1 short fish in a take of 46, and many big, wide, plump egg-laden females included in the catch for George Van Riper and his grandson, Kaden Howley.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday (AM), 05 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
Having chosen this date back in early January to attempt to get Kaden out on the water under conditions when he could catch fish by casting horizontally, we focused on fish which could be taken in that manner, ignoring other opportunities.
Casting to white bass at this time of year requires that they not be in deep water, and that they be quite active so as to be willing to chase down a horizontally moving lure.
Fortunately, things came together for us, as we were able to find shallow, willing fish up through around 10:15AM. It made me a bit nervous driving right past at least three flocks of gulls which I knew full well were gorging on shad and sunfish killed by white bass below them in deep water in order to find fish which, in a “normal” year should be in under 30 feet by this time (and knowing this has been far from normal with the recent winter storm dropping water temps lower than they’ve ever been on these reservoirs).
The shallower the water, the more handy side-imaging is to keep from having to drive directly over fish which we might spook if only relying upon 2D and/or down imaging sonar.
We fished at four distinct locations, each one having multiple schools of 20-30 white bass patrolling in the area, as seen on side-imaging before we Spot-Locked out away from them and cast to them.
We started and ended with the smaller, 1/2 oz. Cicada while the bite was ramping up and as it was tapering off, and used the larger 3/4 oz. Binsky blade bait while the action was at peak condition.
Although we saw a mild, dry cold front come in later in the day, we really did not enjoy a benefit from it this morning as the winds were calm, then began SW increasing to 12-13, and swung WSW but decreased slightly in the final hour.
Fishing was moderately paced thanks to the still-cold water, but consistent. We never had any lulls in the action more than a few minutes in length until the fish began to shut down around 10:15. After this time, the mid-depth bite on blades was over and we spent our remaining time using LiveScope to present small, 3/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs vertically to increasingly stubbborn, bottom-hugging white bass.
We fished an hour beyond this slow down and landed only 5 more fish during this time, all of which came in the first 25 minutes of that hour. Our last 35 minutes proved fruitless as I looked but found only scant bait and even more scant gamefish action.
We ended our morning with 46 white bass.
Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 46 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: 5th day of a warming trend with a gentle wind shift bringing in a mild cool front at late morning.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 11:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 57F
Elevation: 0.52′ high with a 0.01’ 24-hour fall and 1 CFS flow thru the dam.
Water Surface Temp: 53.4 F
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm at trip’s start, then began SW around 8A, increasing to 12-13, and swung WSW but decreased slightly in the final hour.
Sky Condition: Cloudless, fair skies thru 9:30, then increasing to 40% thin, white cloud cover.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 56% illum.
GT = 30
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
** vic 713, Area 731, vic SH0068C, vic 374
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
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