WHO I FISHED WITH:   This morning, Thursday, March 7, I fished with long-time clients and friends Tommy and Sylvia Maedgen of Troy, TX.

Aside from our shared interest in fishing, we also enjoy following Christ, doing right by our spouses, raising dogs and plants, and eating good food.  These things we have in common led us to grab a meal together once a month — something we’ve been doing for quite a while now.

Here is how the fishing went…

PHOTO CAPTION: Sylvia Maedgen with a 4.75 pound Stillhouse Hollow largemouth bass which stopped her MAL Lure dead in its tracks as she was casting up shallow targeting white bass.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  Not to be outdone, Tommy Maedgen took this 4.75 pound largemouth as we sat in 11′ of water, casting downslope toward the river channel, again, as we were targeting white bass.  This fish also fell for an MAL Lure (Original) with chartreuse tail worked with a sawtooth method.

 

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 07 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED: 

If I could custom-order fishing weather in the spring, this is the kind of weather I would order.  We had completely greyed over skies, but with clouds thin enough to let enough sun through that you still had to squint without sunglasses on.  The air temperature did not change much overnight due to cloud cover, and the starting temperature at sunrise was 64F.  We had a light southeast breeze all morning, and the air was just a bit humid, so, wearing a long-sleeved shirt felt just right.

We started our morning up shallow and rode the shallow water bite as long as it lasted, then moved out to deeper water in the last 75 minutes of the trip.

 

We searched for topographic anomalies adjacent to the river channel in water under 22 feet in hopes of finding white bass staging for their spawning run (weather or not one actually happens this year).

 

I started both Sylvia and Tommy off using cut down 3 inch, white, curl tail grubs on 3/8 ounce jig heads. I noted their strike to land ratio was not what I wanted it to be on these lures, so, I experimented with an Mal original with chartreuse tail, got bit immediately, and switch them over to the same. Because this lure throws farther and sticks closer to bottom, it was ideal as long as we did not run into hydrilla.

 

We landed 6 fish at the first shallow water area we finished in this matter, 31 fish at the 2nd shallow water spot, and another six fish at the last shallow water stop.

 

After the shallow water bite tapered to nothing, I went and begin searching in over 25 feet of water looking for schooled fish on the bottom, or a collection of suspended fish.

 

We found a bottom oriented school of fish in right at 31 feet of water and begin using white, 5 eighth ounce bladed hazy eye slabs to catch these fish with a slow smoking tactic.  The action here was slower than I felt the weather conditions would allow for, so, we left this slower than expected bite to search for more aggressive fish, and, finding none in several key areas, we returned to this area and continued to catch fish slowly until they quit right around noon.

When all was said and done, Tommy and Sylvia brought 64 fish over the gunwales.

TALLY: 64 fish caught and released

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

 

OBSERVATIONS:  Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:00P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 63F

Elevation: 16.92 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.1F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE 4-5 at trip’s start, increasing to SSE 13 by trip’s end.

Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 12% illumination.

GT = 45

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:   

 

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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