WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Wednesday, December 20, I welcomed aboard Mr. Robert Bass, owner of R.K. Bass Electric (https://basselectric.com/), accompanied by one of his eleven grandchildren.
12-year-old Ethan Bass very capably handled the spinning gear we employed today and was a pleasure to have aboard. There were just some little things I picked up on about Ethan which let me know he’s being raised well … he offered me some of his Pringles when it was snack time without anyone prompting him to share, he spoke very highly of his 14-year-old brother, and, whenever he reeled his fish in too close to the rod tip, he sincerely apologized.
Robert was referred my way by Mr. Steve Niemeier, and I appreciate it.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Next available dates are Dec. 25 (AM), Jan. 4 (PM), 9-11 (AMs)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Robert Bass and his 12-year-old grandson, Ethan, took 73 fish on a balmy December morning on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
PHOTO CAPTION: Ethan Bass holds a stocky, deep-water largemouth taken from 42 feet of water on a white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.
PHOTO CAPTION: Quality freshwater drum in the 4-6 pound range were a welcome part of the catch this morning, as well. I did not have to tell Ethan to smile for this photo!!
Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 20 Dec. 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
We enjoyed grey cloud cover all morning and some SSE breeze when we needed it most, during the last two hours of the morning.
With these conditions, the fish fed well from about 7:55AM, right up until around 10:50AM.
Stillhouse Hollow, despite being only about 5 miles away from Lake Belton as the crow flies, fished very differently from Lake Belton. Belton has higher number of smaller white bass; Stillhouse has fewer white bass, but the quality is much better. Also, the size of schools encountered on Stillhouse tend to be smaller, thus really requiring good sonar and interpretation skills. Finally, Stillhouse’s white bass tend to be generally deeper than Belton’s white bass population, something I attribute to the Stillhouse’s water clarity.
Fishing was pretty straightforward this morning. I found fish, primarily with well-tuned side-imaging. I marked the fish, then Spot-Locked atop them using the i-Pilot Link system. Once in a hover, I fired up both the thumper and the Garmin LiveScope.
The thumper helps consolidate the fish beneath the boat, and acts as a metronome to help my client reel their baits at just the right speed.
Before we stopped at our first area, I made a “demo stop” so that Robert and Ethan could see how everything would appear on the sonar. It was during that demo that I first told them that if they see fish chasing their bait they MUST keep a steady retrieve until the fish either overtakes the bait and gets hooked, or turns away. This is really the key to the slow-smoking tactic, and, it is much easier said, than done.
Nonetheless, once we encountered fish for the first time and Robert and Ethan began to witness on LiveScope how the fish chase the bait, they then understood my guidance.
The lion’s share of Robert and Ethan’s fishing involved “slow-smoking” with the white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab. Once the fish moved deeper than ~35 feet, I switched them away from the 5/8 oz. bait, in favor of the 3/4 oz. bait so as to reduce the wait time as the lures sank back to bottom after each iteration.
I tried something experimentally today which put several extra fish in the boat. I learned of this from Clay Lohse (formerly of Respect the Fish Guide Service). Once the white basses’ initial frenzy of interest in our vertically worked slabs began to ebb, I tossed a trimmed, 3″ white curl-tail grub on a 1/2 oz. jighead out and worked it slowly back “sawtooth style”. Clay and I have both observed with bladebaits, MAL Lures, and, now, with these soft plastics, that fish which are growing disinterested will still hit a lure with a bit or horizontal movement even after they give up on something going perfectly vertical.
I’m looking forward to toying with this more, but am already thankful to Clay for the tip.
We found fish at seven different areas today, and finished up with 73 fish. This catch included 3 largemouth bass, 5 freshwater drum, and 65 white bass. Of these white bass, seven went over 15 inches, one went over 16 inches, and 5 were short.
Here is a tutorial on the smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ
TALLY: 73 fish caught and released.
OBSERVATIONS: The water temperature profile on Stillhouse Hollow measured on 18 Dec., was:
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:25A
End Time: 11:45A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 50F
Elevation: 18.14 feet low, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 57.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE5-12
Sky Condition: About 80% grey cloud cover all morning
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 58% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area SH0240G (2 hops) – 28 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0241G – 9 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0242G – 15 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0234G/872 – 14 fish smoking white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0236G – 6 fish smoking white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0234G – 1 fish smoking white, 3/4 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
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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