ABOARD THE BOAT TODAY:  This morning I was joined by first-time guests, father-and-son Alan and Mark Oppenheim, originally from northeastern New York.  Alan is semi-retired from land development, and Mark is an oral surgeon.  Alan is here for a few days to visit.

DATE: 23 May 2024 (AM)

 

NEXT OPEN DATES: Wednesday, 22 May (AM), and Friday, 21 June (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Alan and Mark Oppenheim with a few of the 33 fish they caught in a short window between obscured sunrise and an approaching thunderstorm on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: After violent storms moved through Central Texas from 6 to 9P on 22 May, the water was rising once again on both Stillhouse and Belton.  As a result, a thick mat of cane washed up on three of the four boat ramp lanes on the only remaining ramp left open on this area’s two lakes.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

 

SHORT SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED: Weather was an issue this morning.  In the wake of the tornado which struck Temple last night, some storm redevelopment fired up in the western Hill Country at sunrise and moved in on us around 9A.  We only got in 1.5 hours of fishing, but it was a hot bite.  Neither fellow had ever fished for white bass before, but managed 33 fish in this very short window using MAL Dense Lures with a smoking tactic initially, followed by MAL Heavies with a sawtooth method after the fish cooled off on the vertical work.

 

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We used the new MAL Dense with silver body (shown above) for vertical work, and the MAL Heavy with silver body and chartreuse tail for horizontal work today.  Find these lures at the Liberty Mart Exxon uphill from Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, or go here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TUTORIAL LINK FOR SAWTOOTH & SMOKING TACTICS:

Sawtooth Method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ&t=89s

Smoking Tactic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE&t=56s

 

TALLY: 33 fish caught and released (100% white bass)

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) The lake rose nearly a foot overnight due to storms to the NW.

2) Stillhouse went off limits by mid-afternoon due to flooding as the elevation reached over 12′ above full pool.  It will now be shut down a minimum of 14 days AFTER the water recedes from the asphalt before reopening.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: 

Measured with FishHawk TD device on 17 May…

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 8:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Elevation: 11.7 feet high and rapidly rising, with a 1188 CFS release.

Water Surface Temp: 77.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Swinging SE6 to E5 To NE4 over a 90 minute span

Sky Condition:100% heavy grey cloud cover all morning to the point of very light rain before a thunderstorm moved in at 9AM

Moon Phase: Full moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 60