Sounding Like A Broken Record — 108 Fish on MAL Dense Lures

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, Monday, December 30, I fished with Mr. Ryan Warren of Gatesville, Texas, and his two kids – Brayden, age 12, and Kendall, age 9.

Ryan runs his own air conditioning business in the Gatesville area.  We first got acquainted when he and his bass fishing tournament partner (Frank Ellis, who has since passed away) took notice of the quality wintertime largemouth I routinely put my clients on while not even fishing for that species several years ago.

 

DATE: Monday, 30 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:   3, 4 January (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left:  Brayden, Ryan, and Kendall Warren with some solid Stillhouse Hollow white bass taken from 30-40 feet of water on shad-imitating MAL Dense Lures and Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs.  When the wind blew, the fish fed!  There are four 15+ inch white bass in this photo.

PHOTO CAPTION:  That’s yet another 5.25-pound Stillhouse Hollow largemouth taken while targeting white bass.  This was the largest of 6 largemouth we boated as bycatch on this morning’s white bass fishing trip.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

The weatherman called for the possibility of a record high for this date due to prefrontal warming in advance of an incoming cold front. Although dry, warm, southwest winds did materialize, it wasn’t until after 9:15 AM when they did so.
Not surprisingly, the bite was spotty until those winds got going.
In the first two hours of our trip, we picked up about 25 fish, catching four here and five there, but after the southwest wind got cranking, the fish put on the feedbag and we made up for some lost time.
Ryan chose to use a 5/8 ounce, white, Bladed Hazy Eye Slab working on the starboard side up near the bow very actively trying to tempt any largemouth that might have been sharing the space with white bass, while I had the two kids in the stern with me working MAL Dense Lures for their ease of use and consistency in catching white bass with the still-warm water we’ve enjoyed well beyond the normal mid-December date by which we usually see water cool down into the 50s.
I know I probably sound like a broken record, but there were three fundamentals which, when observed, produced fish for my young clients.  Those were: 1)getting the blade of their MAL Dense Lures spinning on every retrieve they make, 2) timing the rise of their lure to intersect with the forward swim path of suspended fish shown moving horizontally on the LiveScope screen, and 3) continuing to retrieve their lure at a constant rate once a fish begins chasing it.
I found the fish, they caught the fish, and we all had fun doing our part.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 108 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) and 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Normal bell-shaped curve described this morning’s feeding activity with the rise to peak feeding coinciding with the beginning of the SW wind around 9:15; fish began slowing down around 10:55; fish shut down by 11:30.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Monday, 30 Dec …

0 feet 60.6F
 5 feet 60.6F
10 feet 60.6F
15 feet 60.6F
20 feet 60.6F
25 feet 60.6F
30 feet 60.6F
35 feet 60.6F
40 feet 60.6F
45 feet 60.6F
50 feet 60.4F
55 feet 60.4F
60 feet 60.4F
65 feet 60.3F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 2.25′ low (with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours) with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 60.6F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Light winds until 9:15, then tapering up steadily to SW13

Sky Condition: Cloudless, light blue sky

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area SH0296G – 10 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0297G – 5 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures/snapping 1 Bladed Hazy Eye Slab

Area SH0397G – 29 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures/snapping 1 Bladed Hazy Eye Slab (2 short hops)

Area 1434/250 – 22 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures/snapping 1 Bladed Hazy Eye Slab

Area vic 464 – 32 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures/snapping 1 Bladed Hazy Eye Slab

Area SH0061G – 10 fish smoking 2 MAL Dense Lures/snapping 1 Bladed Hazy Eye Slab

 

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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