WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, September 15th, I fished with first time guests Dave Hegedusich and Randy Ross. Dave resides in the San Antonio area where he is employed by USAA, and Randy retired from the U.S. Army after over 30 years as a non-commissioned officer. He resides in Malta, NY. The men are brothers-in-law.
Dave was referred to me by a friend of his, Steve Soukup, who, along with his wife, fished with me back in April of 2021. Thanks, Steve!!
We pursued white bass on a half-day morning trip on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Randy Ross (left) and his brother-in-law, Dave Hegedusich, with four fish they landed as a “double-double” — two fish at a time on each of the two downriggers we had working during a period of slack wind.
PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Dense (above), which is the heaviest of all of the MAL Lure family, took 56 of our 87 fish today (64%). The balance came on downrigged #12 Pet Spoons. The MAL Dense is easily distinguished from all other MAL Lures, as it is the only one with a painted body (the white portion).
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 15 September 2022
HOW WE FISHED:
This morning’s trip was very similar to yesterday’s — and no surprise there, as the weather was nearly identical with a light E. wind for the first third, a slack wind in the middle, and a building SE wind for the final third of the trip.
During the slack wind, which negatively impacted us yesterday, I chose to downrig instead of working distinct schools of fish vertically and horizontally. This enabled us to cover ground and “weed” out the few active fish amongst a generally inactive population during that slack wind period.
That decision worked well, as we took 31 fish via downrigging during that time.
The other 66 fish we took we took by working MAL Dense Lures (with chartreuse tails) vertically (at first) and then horizontally (after the vertical bite soured).
The vertical fishing was enhanced by use of Garmin LiveScope which allowed us to see individual fish chase our baits, thus, we knew when to keep reeling and when to allow our lures to drop back to bottom and reset.
TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
Our tally of 87 fish catch consisted of 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, and 85 white bass, of which 81 were of legal size.
TALLY: 87 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: According to the weatherman, this was to be the last day of cooler, drier morning temps as warmer, more humid weather moves in for the weekend. No mayfly hatch observed. The white bass bite generally corresponded with the timing of the schooling largemouth bass which was easy to observe on the fairly calm surface.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 8.98 feet low, 0.05′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 83.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: E5 through 8:45, then slack for ~1 hour, then light SE at <5 mph
Sky Condition: ~30% white clouds on a blue sky at sunrise then decreasing to 10% as the morning moved on
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 73% illumination.
GT = 60
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 889 – 5 fish (MAL Dense worked vertically)
Area SH0208G thru 1437 – 31 fish via downrigging
Area vic 933 – 23 fish (MAL Dense worked vert. and horiz.)
Area SH0060G/SH0225G – 28 fish (MAL Dense worked vert. and horiz.)
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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