CLIENTS:  This morning, Thursday, Feb. 27, I fished with a great crew, all of whom had nicknames supplied to me in advance by the instigator-in-chief, Bill “Big Fish” York.  Those nicknames were: Dale “Great Hands” Love, Ken “Flash” Fleischer, Terri “No Mercy” Henderson, & Gardiner “Quiet Assassin” Henderson.

Terri went above and beyond and had t-shirts made for each person, including their nickname.  She even had one made for me … it read “Captain”.

Bill, Ken, Dale, and I are all U.S. Military Academy (West Point) graduates, and the Hendersons, through their long relationship with Bill, have come to understand a bit about cadet life, so, it was a good time fueled by what we had in common.

 

DATE: Thursday, 27 February 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES:  4, 6, 7 March (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  From left: Dale “Great Hands” Love, Bill “Big Fish” York, Terri “No Mercy” Henderson, Gardiner “Quiet Assassin” Henderson, and Ken “Flash” Fleischer with a portion of their 144-fish catch which included (primarily) white bass, as well as largemouth bass and freshwater drum.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:  All 144 fish landed this morning fell to the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab.  We used the white, 5/8 oz. version pictured here.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

In summary, we fished one lure in two different ways, and at four locations to catch 144 fish.

We met up around 7:05, had lines in the water by 7:25, and fished for four hours hence.  Birds were still present and helpful, especially the terns, as the gulls were preoccupied with chasing loons which were making their own luck and were not relating to gamefish.

The tactic we used for all but the final 40 minutes of the trip was the “slow-smoking” tactic explained in the video below.  Everyone used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye slab for this tactic.  The thumper brought fish in and held them there, allowing fish to be caught from off bottom, and from suspended postures.

This put 101 fish in the boat in 3 hours, 20 minutes.  I feel our fishing was made better by an incoming, mild cold front which clouded the skies and got the wind moving from due north.  We also had a new (dark) moon.

Things slowed down around 10:45 with fish now unwilling to chase as far or as fast as they had earlier.  We slowed things down and worked closer to bottom more frequently as the fish were much less likely to be suspended now.  During this last 40 minutes, I transitioned everyone over to an “easing” tactic using the same slab.  This put a final 43 fish in the boat.  I noted that these fish, although legal, were smaller, on average, than the better quality fish we’d taken the rest of the morning.

RESULTS: 144 fish, all caught and released

 

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial

TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “EASING” WITH A SLAB: Click here for tutorial

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

 

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

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Bird activity was present, but heavily weighted toward loons.  Terns were much more reliable than gulls

2) Best fishing came in the middle two hours this morning.

3) The water was colder today at depth than it was during the remainder of February (see below)

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

This was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Thursday, 27 Feb. …

 

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Monday, 17 Feb. …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:05A

End Time: 11:25A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F

Elevation: 3.10′ low

Water Surface Temp: 54.5F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: N13-14 at (obscured) sunrise and all morning

Sky Condition: Light grey sky with 100% cloud cover

Moon Phase: New moon at 0% illumination.

GT = 55

 

Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area vic 1308 – 38 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1888 – 40 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 596 – 23 fish slow smoking slabs

Area vic 1888 right at channel lip – 43 fish easing 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

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