WHO I FISHED WITH: I had three generations of the Oliver clan aboard this morning. Papa Joe Oliver was accompanied by his two adult sons, Corey and Thomas, and Corey had his three kids along — Cullen & Presley (13-year-old twins), and 11-year-old Harper.
Joe resides in Belton and is a retired public school educator, coach, and administrator, Corey lives in Utah and is employed by Cricut which makes smart cutting machines that work with an app to help design and personalize items with text and artwork, and Thomas is a special education teacher, working with developmentally delayed high-school aged kids on functional academics.
Here’s how the fishing went…
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PHOTO CAPTION: Thomas Oliver with his trophy white bass — a 16 3/8″ monster; this is the white bass equivalent of a 10-pound largemouth bass — a fish of a lifetime.
PHOTO CAPTION: The Oliver Clan – from the left: Thomas, Presley, Joe, Harper, Corey, and Cullen
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Friday, 14 July 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
With three consecutive 100-fish days coming off of Lake Belton this week, it was a tough decision for me to move this crew over to Stillhouse, but when I considered all of the factors, the choice was clear.
We were, once again, due to have stiff, 14-15 mph SSW winds which would make casting tough. A lot of the white bass we took and Tuesday and Wednesday came on topwater, which requires 1) that the fish be spotted, and 2) that everyone can cast long and accurately. With a full boat of 6 anglers and the 3 kids being pretty inexperienced casters, I felt going to Stillhouse where we could make a morning of downrigging and fishing MAL Lures vertically would be our best bet.
As we started out, there was a persistent bank of grey clouds in the east which hindered the normal morning brightening process, as well as the fishing.
We managed 15 white bass coming as singles, doubles, and one triple under these grey skies, then headed back in briefly for a nature break. As we got back out on the water, the sun was just beginning to burn off that bank of clouds and the fishing began to improve.
The majority of our fish came from an area perhaps 200 yards in diameter as white bass chased hard after threadfin shad in the lower third of the water column in around 40 feet of water.
Once I saw these fish on sonar, we Spot-Locked on them and had all six rods working MAL Heavy Lures with white tails vertically in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope using a “smoking method”. For a good 20-25 minutes there was not a time when at least one person did not have a fish on; at times we had 3 or 4 rods bent simultaneously.
Once these fish cooled off a bit, they were still present, but no longer in the mood to chase very hard or very far vertically. I worked with each of the kids, one-by-one, to explain how to cast and execute the “sawtooth method”. I spread everyone out with as much elbow room my 22′ gunwale would allow, always with everyone either on the port or starboard side for safety during their backcast.
The fish just fell over themselves to track down these MAL Lures, and we took our tally up to 83 fish landed by the time the feed began to wane. It was now right around 10A, and, with the kids’ hands all pretty sore and cramping by this time, downrigging seemed to me to be our best option to close out the trip.
We put the ‘riggers down — one equipped with #12 Pet Spoons and the other with #13 Pet Spoons. We took additional singles, doubles, and one more triple for a total of 10 more fish to bring our morning’s final count to 93 fish.
It was during this final round of downrigging when Thomas’ trophy fish fell for a #13 Pet Spoon with silver prismatic body and a yellow feather-tail. That fish came in with another, smaller white bass as a double. That fish measured 16 3/8″ and appeared in great shape (a football shape!!).
TALLY: 93 fish caught and released.
See a tutorial on the Smoking Method here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE
Here is a tutorial on the Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ
Find the entire family of MAL Lures here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: The start of activity was delayed somewhat this morning due to a persistent bank of grey clouds in the eastern sky; once they thinned out and then burned off, the fish began feeding hard.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:25A
End Time: 10:40A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F
Elevation: 14.84 feet low, 56 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 84.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW8-9 thru 9:20, then slowing tapering up to SSW13
Sky Condition: 60% grey cloud cover at trip’s start, clearing to <20% white cover by trip’s end
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 10% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic SH0228G through 872 – early downrigging for scattered, disinterested fish under darkened skies; 15 fish
Area SH0063G to Area 911 – best action of the morning after skies brightened; 68 fish on MAL Heavies, then mopping up with downrigged Pet Spoons for 10 additional fish at trip’s end as the action began to fade
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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