WHO I FISHED WITH: On Thursday morning, Feb. 15th, I fished a second consecutive day with long-time Lake Belton angler Bill Pasko and his friend, Mike Adams. This was an “away game” for the two fishing buddies, as I guided them once again this morning on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.
Both fellows are in their late 70’s, both own their own boats and are solid multi-species anglers, and both are Vietnam-era veterans.
The thing I appreciated most about them was their willingness to listen to the suggestions I made concerning the tactics we employed. I’ve guided for 18 years now, and it is crystal clear that the older and more experienced men are, the less coachable they tend to be. This simply wasn’t the case for Bill and Mike.
Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Bill Pasko and Mike Adams with a sampling of the 120 fish they landed this past Thursday morning, Feb. 15th. The pair worked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab vertically with a variety of tactics to put together an excellent catch for February.
Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 15 Feb. 2023 (AM)
HOW WE FISHED:
After a 59 fish outing on Wednesday morning and very little variance in the water from Wednesday to Thursday, we had a pretty good idea of where the fish were going to be and when they were going to be there.
The morning started out much as Wednesday did with widely scattered groups of perhaps 8-20 fish per school cruising a deep flat feeding on both shad and sunfish, thus drawing the attention of gulls. Feeding loons in the area further drew in more gulls.
The fish were more scattered and less enthusiastic here in the first hour, partially due to thick cloud cover preventing a sudden brightening of the sky.
I had Bill and Mike using the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab worked with an easing tactic to connect routinely in ~24-26′ aided by Garmin LiveScope.
With 20 fish picked up at this first stop and the action waning, we moved on to an underwater draw in slightly deeper water (~32′). Using the same tactics, with a bit of snap-jigging thrown in when no fish were showing at all in order to draw fish in, Bill and Mike picked up another 18 fish across two locations before that bite waned as the last of the morning’s bird activity was closing out. Now, we had to rely upon sonar alone to find fish.
On Wednesday around this time we headed to the lower third of the lake and zeroed after 35 minutes of looking. Today, we checked out the upper third of the reservoir. I’d found some fish there during a scouting effort on Jan. 27th and Bill was curious what might be going on in that area. We found chalky to turbid water with lots of flotsam from still-rising water after last weekend’s rains. We found little on sonar, dropped lines once without result, and headed back downlake.
We went on to fish three more areas, all adjacent to the river channel but in varying depths of water. Bill and Mike continue to either ease or slow-smoke the white slab at each location. They added 4 fish at our first channel-related stop, 10 fish at the next, and a whopping 68 fish at our final (and shallowest) stop of the morning.
Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ
TALLY: 120 fish caught and released.
OBSERVATIONS: We experienced the first aquatic insect hatch I’ve witnessed thus far in this winter season — a sure sign of a slow warm-up despite ups and downs in the weather.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 12:00P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F
Elevation: 16.89 feet low, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 52.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SW winds varying from 3-9 all day
Sky Condition: Grey cloud cover at near 100% all morning, gradually thickening over that time.
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 38% illumination.
GT = 75
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
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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