First Casts After the Arctic Blast — 66 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS:  This morning, Tuesday, 14 Jan., I returned to the water for the first time after the significant cold snap from midday Sunday, Jan 5 through Friday, January 10.

I fished with returning guest Mostafa Kassem, and his brother-in-law (and my first-time guest), Aaron Pearson, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

DATE: Tuesday, 14 January 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:   18, 20-24 January (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Although Aaron had taken a long layoff from fishing, he was very willingly coached, and, as a result, his casting, hooksetting, and snap-jigging techniques improved greatly in the short time we were on the water.  He landed our largest bass and our largest drum of the morning.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left:  Mostafa Kassem and Aaron Pearson with a few of the 66 fish they landed following this Texas winter’s first big cooldown.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

This morning’s outing was bittersweet.  I knew we were living on borrowed time so far as the mild winter was concerned and that the hammer would fall eventually.  Fortunately, the blow was pretty gentle.
I measured water temps all the way down to 55 feet and found we were still in the 50s.  I anticipated the fish and fishing would be slower, and both were.  I brought four sets of rods this morning.  One set with MAL Heavy Lures, one set with white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye slabs, one set with jigheads and curl-tail grubs, and one set with jigheads and deadsticking soft plastics.
The first bunch of fish we found clearly communicated they were not going to chase fast enough for the MALs to work, but, they responded well to a snap-jigged slab and, when more active, suspended fish moved through, to that same lure worked with a slow-smoking tactic.  Whenever I spotted nice schools of fish moving to the port or starboard side of the boat, I had my clients toss the curltail grubs, and they caught fish very well.
We found fish in 26 to 42 feet of water (shallow earlier, deeper later) and found they responded well to the thumper.
Only while fishing the deepest water did I encounter fish coming in horizontally and suspended such that they would be good candidates for deadsticking.  I sampled this and caught two fish in short order, but, the snap-jigging was simpler and working, so I kept my two clients working the slabs.
When all was said and done, the slabs accounted for ~60% of the catch, and the curltail grubs the remaining 40%.

RESULTS: 66 fish, all caught and released

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG:  Click here for tutorial

 

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used curltail grubs and jigheads and the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to catch our fish this morning. Find all MAL Lures and Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Generally, despite a ~8 degree F. temperature drop in a short, 9-day span, the white bass were using the same locations as before the cold snap, but were much less enthusiastic.  Fishing more slowly and intentionally was necessary.

2) Birds helped identify one of the three locations at which we caught fish this morning.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Tuesday, 14 Jan. …

0 feet 52.9F
5 feet 52.9F
10 feet 52.9F
15 feet 52.9F
20 feet 52.9F
25 feet 52.9F
30 feet 52.6F
35 feet 52.5F
40 feet52.2F
45 feet 52.0F
50 feet 51.9F
55 feet 51.9F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 26F

Elevation: 2.55′ low (with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours) with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 52.9F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Shifting from NW4-5 to ENE3-4 over the course of the morning

Sky Condition: 40% high, thin, white clouds on a light blue sky

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 99% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 065 – 17 Fish on snap-jigged slabs and slow-rolled jighead/grub combo

Area 249 – 43 fish on snap-jigged slabs and slow-rolled jighead/grub combo (2 short hops)

Area vic 878 – 6 fish on snap-jigged slabs

 

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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