What Better Way to Start 2025? — 123 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, New Year’s Day 2025, I fished with returning guests Dave Ross and Joey Sapien, and was also joined by first-time guest, Brian Ross, Dave’s brother.

Dave makes his living as a pharmacist, Joey is in law enforcement, and Brian is a dentist by trade, pursuing additional accreditation as a radiologist.

 

DATE: Wednesday, 01 January 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:   6-8 January (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Joey Sapien, Dave Ross, and Brian Ross (not shown) enjoyed both quantity and quality with their 123 fish catch using both horizontal and vertical tactics.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   A victory at the Peach Bowl leading to a trip to the Cotton Bowl was good news for Longhorns fans, but, was it worth wrapping up a fishing trip 1/2 hour early?  I personally think not 😉

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

As much as the Ross brothers love fishing, they love their mom more, and so upon boarding the boat this morning, Dave told me we had to have lines in by 11AM sharp so they could head to her house for the Longhorns vs. Sun Devils bowl game.
My concerns about post-frontal, clear, calm conditions did not come to fruition, as the wind continued to blow from a northeasterly direction following Monday night’s cold front passage.  This boded well for us.
We caught fish this morning from start to finish, although the fish were a bit more temperamental in the first hour.
We enjoyed the longest run of bird action I’ve witnessed on either Belton or Stillhouse thus far this winter — a full 2 hours and 50 minutes, albeit not all in one location.  The way the birds were feeding told me there were a lot of fish moving, so, in addition to using MAL Dense Lures vertically with a smoking tactic (in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope), we also enjoyed success fishing these same lures horizontally using a sawtooth method after I sampled the horizontal bite with a jighead and soft plastic, was successful with it, and then had Joey repeat this success.
When all was said and done, this three man crew landed a total of 123 fish, including 2 freshwater drum, 8 largemouth bass, and 113 white bass up to 14.25″ in length.
As planned, we had lines in by 11AM, which, as you may have read in recent reports, is about the time the fish had been beginning to turn off for the morning anyway.  For those of you interested, the Longhorns won 39-31 in double overtime at the Peach Bowl!!  So, UT now heads to the Cotton Bowl.

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: 123 fish, all caught and released

 

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

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) I observed the longest span of bird activity on either Belton or Stillhouse thus far this winter — 2 hours and 50 minutes’ worth.

 

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: 7:35A

End Time: 11:00A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 44F

Elevation: 2.31′ low (with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours) with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NE7 at trip’s start, gently increasing to NE11 by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Cloudless, light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 4% illumination.

GT = 55

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 207 – 31 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (3 short hops)

Area vic 242 – 46 fish smoking & sawtoothing MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0070G – 11 fish smoking & sawtoothing MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0287G – 12 fish smoking & sawtoothing MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 1148 – 23 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

 

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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