CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, June 3, I fished with a party of three – – Gary Emory, his son-in-law, Jim Stephens, and Jim’s son, Nolan, age 13. Gary and Nolan had fished with me previously, and this was Jim’s first time aboard.
DATE: Tuesday, 03 June 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: 12 June (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 12 July (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Gary Emory, and Nolan & Jim Stephens with a sampling of the 184 fish they landed in just under four hours’ time.
PHOTO CAPTION: Nolan had neck veins popping out as he held on tight after this Stillhouse Hollow largemouth bass took his bait.
PHOTO CAPTION: This storm cell pushed us back to the dock about 12 minutes early, but, the fishing was great all morning in advance of its arrival.
PHOTO CAPTION: The MAL Heavy Lure continues to produce while being fished vertically through suspended white bass.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Our focus this morning, as it will be for most of the summer, was to find and catch white bass using artificial lures.
We enjoyed fully clouded skies all morning and a southeasterly breeze between 11 and 13 mph. We were blessed to find and catch fish from start to finish, although we had to move a few times in order to accomplish that.
This morning, the fish we caught during the first 90 minutes all came from off of bottom between 30 and 35 feet deep. Later in the morning, we found fish in even deeper water, but these fish were suspended between 32 and 38 feet.
Regardless of whether the fish showed on bottom, or were suspended, our approach was the same – we used MAL Heavy Lures (silver blade with chartreuse tail) worked with a vertical, “smoking” tactic.
With rain approaching from the west, we ended the trip just 10 or 12 minutes early. By that time my crew of three had amassed a catch of 184 fish, including two large largemouth bass, and four freshwater drum with the balance being quality white bass.
RESULTS: 184 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SMOKE” AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO FISH AN MAL LURE HORIZONTALLY USING THE SAWTOOTH METHOD: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
- White bass are clearly disassociating from the bottom, choosing instead to suspend.
- No bird action or topwater action spotted today.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
This was the latest water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow measured with a FishHawk TD device around 6:30AM on Tuesday, 03 June…
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 10:35A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 72F
Elevation: 2.24′ low with a 0.02′ fall in the last 24 hours
Water Surface Temp: 82.1F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SSE11-13 all morning
Sky Condition: Fully grey skies all morning.
Moon Phase: First quarter moon at 55% illumination.
GT = P
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
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