WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning, October 11th, I fished with first-time guests Jeff and Deb Sanderson and their 22-year-old son, Blake.
Jeff recently retired and is now working through how life is going to look without a daily commitment to career to concern himself with. Fishing is definitely “in the cards”!
Jeff initially contacted me about doing sonar training, which we may still do in the future, but, after considering his whole family’s interests, Jeff opted for a fishing trip instead. During the trip he sat beside me most of the time as I searched for fish so he could see just how I was using SI, DI, and 2D technologies. Once we found fish, he was able to experience Garmin LiveScope technology first-hand.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: Jeff and Blake landed these two beefy Stillhouse Hollow white bass simultaneously while fishing MAL Dense Lures horizontally. Since I try not to hold fish taken from deep water in the livewell, we took this opportunity for a father-son photo and then hustled the fish back into the water.
PHOTO CAPTION: Blake landed the trip’s single largest fish this morning — a 3.25 pound largemouth which he reeled in as a “double” along with a sizeable white bass. Both fish hit a Pet Spoon on a 3-armed umbrella rig run at 38′ over a deeper bottom.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: 11 October 2022 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We employed three different tactics this morning: vertical (smoking) tactics with the MAL Dense Lure, horizontal (sawtooth) tactics with the MAL Dense Lure, and downrigging with 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons.
We got going shortly after sunrise, but the fishing didn’t pick up until after the sparse clouds in the eastern sky burned off. From that point forward we enjoyed a steady catch of fish until around 11A, when the bite tapered off quite quickly.
The recent drop in water temperature with the (slow) approach of fall has moved fish a bit shallower and has then banding together in larger schools than was seen over the summer.
We fished four areas and downrigged at just one of them after the action there slowed down, using the tactic as a sort of “mop up” approach to covering ground and getting our baits in front of a lot of disinterested fish, hoping to “screen” for the few active fish amongst them.
Otherwise, the horizontal (sawtooth) tactics (see video link below) was the best overall producer this morning, and the MAL Dense with chartreuse tail was the right tool for this job.
When all was said and done, we landed 76 fish, including 74 white bass and 2 largemouth bass.
TUTORIAL SMOKING VIDEO (Vertical): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
TUTORIAL SAWTOOTH VIDEO (Horizontal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
TALLY: 76 fish caught and released
Find MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: More signs of fall … the number of coots feeding on the hydrilla beds continues to increase, and some cormorants are beginning to show up on the lake. The cooling of the water is a sign of good things to come …
0 feet 77.4F
5 feet 77.9F
10 feet 78.1F
15 feet 78.1F
20 feet 78.1F
25 feet 78.1F
30 feet 77.9F
35 feet 77.8F
40 feet 77.4F
45 feet 76.4F
50 feet 71.2F
55 feet 66.9F
60 feet 62.8F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:35A
End Time: Noon
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 10.28 feet low, 0.04′ fall in last 24 hours, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 77.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SE5-6 at trip’s start, picking up to SE12-13 w/ occasional whitecaps by trip’s end
Sky Condition: <5% white clouds on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1968, SH0228G to SH0059C, vic 1425
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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