CLIENTS: This morning, Wednesday, September 17, I fished with Mr. Bret, Jordan, his wife, Vilma, and his nephew, Houston Brown. All three were treated to this outing by Bret‘s dad, Max Jordan, a US Army veteran from back in the 1960s, and a retired public school educator.
TODAY’S DATE: Wednesday, 18 September 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Monday, 22 September (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Houston Brown, and Vilma and Bret Jordan were all treated to a morning in pursuit of white bass on Stillhouse Hollow by Bret’s dad, Max Jordan. Fishing remains tough, but this crew landed 18 fish and missed a few more over a span of 3.5 hours.
FIND CORK RIGS, SANDY SANDWICHES & OTHER WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
The tough summertime fishing brought on by the summer heat and multiple factors driven by that heat, continues. One of the first things I shared with everyone as they hopped the board this morning was, “This is not going to be a cakewalk.“.
Indeed, everyone worked for every last one of the fish we landed this morning. We used a combination of downrigging to have baits in the water as we went through areas I felt had potential to hold fish, and then we used both horizontal and vertical tactics with the MAL Heavy to exploit what we found.
We ended up landing 18 fish including 16 white bass and two largemouth bass.
Although we fished quite a number of areas, the majority of these 18 fish came from just two stops.
It was very common to find areas where fish were present but expressed little or even no interest in our presentations whatsoever. These disinterested fish might follow the lures half-heartedly for a few feet up off the bottom, or not even acknowledge our presentations whatsoever. The fish we did catch were typically egged on by the presence of other fish. The fishes’ desire to be the first one to the bait from out of all the individuals in the school would become their undoing.
The already tough conditions were not at all aided by bright skies and nearly calm winds all morning (contrary to the forecast). There was very little topwater, action, even by “schoolie” largemouth bass, which are typically a staple this time of year. I anticipate things will simply stay tough until cooler weather arrives and brings about turnover.
RESULTS: 18 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: Stillhouse is now 0.10′ high with a 0.01 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing just 1 CFS.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: Taken around 6:35AM, Wednesday, 17 September …
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:55A
End Time: 10:25A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 70F
Elevation: 0.10′ high with a 0.01 fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing just 1 CFS
Water Surface Temp: 83.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SW0-3
Sky Condition: <10% white cloud cover on a hazy sky
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 17% illumination.
GT = 15
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 865 – downrigging Pet Spoons to find fish, then smoking/sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures to capitalize – 8 fish
Area vic 1133 – using SI sonar to find fish, then smoking/sawtoothing MAL Heavy Lures to capitalize – 10 fish
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