CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, January 17, I fished with first-time guests — the father-and-son team of Jeremy and Cash Williams.
On Wednesday I saw we’d be reaching the end of the warming trend we were in and did not have anyone booked for today when I felt the fishing would be good. I ran a little discount ad on Facebook, and the Williamses took me up on it.
DATE: Friday, 17 January 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 22-24 January (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: That’s 7.25 pounds of fun right there.
PHOTO CAPTION: Dad caught this whiskered bonus on the same white Hazy Eye Slab that took white bass, largemouth bass, and drum on this pre-frontal fishing trip.
PHOTO CAPTION: Mature white bass are beginning to really show abdomens full of milt and eggs.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
RESULTS: 76 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEON ON HOW TO DO “EASING”: Click here for tutorial
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used curl-tail grubs and jigheads and the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to catch our fish this morning. Find all 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, and will continue to be, necessary.
2) Birds helped identify the first two of seven locations at which we caught fish this morning.
3) More small fish are beginning to show up in our catch, indicating the very first signs of the spring upstream spawning migration.
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. …
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:45A
End Time: 11:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 52F
Elevation: 2.61′ low (with a 0.03′ fall in the last 24 hours) with a 1 cfs flow
Water Surface Temp: 52.6F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: S9 increasing to S15+ with higher gusts at trip’s end.
Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover at 100% all morning with a 15 minute span of light rain mid-AM
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 85% illumination.
GT = 35
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic SH0035C – 6 fish on slow-rolled jighead/grub combo
Area SH0304G – 27 fish on slow-smoked white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area 065 – 4 fish on slow-smoked & snap-jigged white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 464 – 24 fish on slow-smoked & snap-jigged white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area SH0397G/249 – 3 fish snap-jigging
Area vic SH0289G – 9 fish on slow-smoked, eased, & snap-jigged white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 1496 – 3 fish snap-jigging
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