Day: January 3, 2024

WE THREADED THE WEATHER NEEDLE — 105 FISH

by Bob Maindelle

WHO I FISHED WITH:  On Tuesday morning, January 2, I conducted the second SKIFF trip of the 2024 season, welcoming aboard Miss Aaliyah Smith, age 10, and her friend, Nevaeh Ponce, age 6.

Aaliyah‘s uncle and father figure, US Army Staff Sergeant (E6) Danny Roybal recently left active duty where he served as a cavalry scout, and joined the Texas National Guard.  He is bound for the El Paso/Juarez area to help secure our nation’s southern border there.
Nevaeh’s dad, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant (E6) Leo Escadero, is an infantryman currently on active duty at Fort Cavazos, and is away from home participating in field training exercises prior to deploying to Eastern Europe later this year.
The two men served together both a Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, and now here at Ft. Cavazos.

 

ABOUT SKIFF:  SKIFF trips have been provided to military families at no charge since May of 2009.  SKIFF is funded by donations from Austin Fly Fishers, The McBride Foundation, & Austin Subaru.  S.K.I.F.F. provides children of military personnel separated from their families by duty commitments with the opportunity to fish.  SKIFF trips are also provided to Gold Star families who have lost their service member.  In mid-2019, SKIFF began providing trips to kids of bona fide disabled veterans.  I conduct these 3.5 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir year ’round.  Call or text 254.368.7411.

Here is how the fishing went…

Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php

Next available dates are Jan. 9-11 (AMs)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Nevaeh Ponce (age 6) and Aaliyah Smith (age 10) with a few of the white bass they caught using a slow-smoking tactic with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Most every trip on Stillhouse sees quality largemouth coming aboard as bycatch, despite focusing strictly on white bass. This bass landed by Nevaeh Ponce weighed 4.25 pounds.

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Beginner’s luck was with Miss Nevaeh this morning!  This freshwater drum was more than half her size!

 

Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 02 Jan. 2023 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

We really threaded the eye of the needle today weatherwise. We began the morning with chilly conditions, but avoided the calm, clear, post-frontal scenario that hit us in the overnight hours.  We got to fish with some scattered clouds, slowly warming temperatures, and an easterly wind, which, only hours later would usher in a cool rain event of about seven hours in duration.  This storm system would drop about an inch and a half of rain area wide.
Our fishing took place in the relatively balmy temperatures and easterly winds in advance of that rain, and the fish really responded well to it.
Aaliyah had limited prior fishing experience from a previous trip with me when her dad was away at a school toward the end of his time on active duty, and Neveah had no prior experience. Despite that, the girls landed a total of 105 fish with a majority of those fish coming in the last 90 minutes as the easterly winds peaked.
With my two young, inexperienced anglers aboard, I kept it as simple as possible and focused only on using the slow smoking tactic with Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (5/8 oz. & 3/4 oz. in white) complemented by Garmin LiveScope. Whenever the fish slowed down, instead of transitioning to snap-jigging as I would have experienced anglers do, I simply moved the boat, and tried to find fresh fish and get an initial, aggressive reaction to the novelty of our lures appearing amongst them.
One interesting observation over the past several trips on Stillhouse… I’ve noted that the deeper the water I fish in, the higher the fish are to rise up off bottom and suspend above it. I’m going to continue to observe this and see if there appears to be a trend here.

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ

TALLY: 105 fish caught and released.

 

OBSERVATIONS: 

The water temperature profile measured on Stillhouse Hollow on 01 Jan. 2024 was:

0 feet 54.3F
5 feet 54.7F
10 feet, 54.9F
15 feet, 54.9F
20 feet, 54.9F
25 feet, 54.9F
30 feet, 54.9F
35 feet, 54.9F
40 feet, 54.7F
45 feet, 54.2F
50 feet, 53.6F

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:45A

End Time: 11:15A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 39F

Elevation: 17.78 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 54.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE wind at 6-8, increasing to ESE11-12 at 9:45

Sky Condition: ~60% coverage of off-white/light grey clouds on a pale blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 65% illumination.

GT = N/A

Wx SNAPSHOT:    

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:  

Area  02013/1047 – 7 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area  1047  – 7 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0260G – 18 fish smoking white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0261G – 73 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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