That Was a Wannabe Cold Front — 101 Fish

by Bob Maindelle

CLIENTS: This morning, Tuesday, Dec. 17th, I fished with first-time guests Royce Roberts and Teri Muse.

A very weak cold front moved through Central Texas overnight, leaving some questions as to what this morning’s fishing was going to be like.  Ultimately, the bite followed the wind, and we wound up having a memorable morning on the water.

DATE: Tuesday, 17 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 19-20, 23-28 December (AM)

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION:   Royce Roberts and Teri Muse landed 101 fish working MAL Dense Lures vertically up off bottom for both bottom-hugging and suspended fish this morning on Stillhouse Hollow.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

After the passage of last night’s VERY mild cold front (hardly noticeable temperature drop or wind shift), this morning began still balmy at 62F, and with grey cloud cover, but, we had no wind to speak of until 90 minutes into the trip.
During this time of calm, all of the fish we caught were suspended fish moving horizontally with most drawn in to us by the work of the splasher.
So, Royce and Teri had to learn quickly how to execute the most technical sort of fishing we’d do all morning.  The trick was to time the rise of their lures (MAL Dense Lures w/ silver bodies) to intersect with the suspended fishes’ direction of travel AND to do so very near the fish (ideally within 2 feet or so).
There was a bit of a learning curve, and Royce’s prior fishing experience actually worked contrary to preventing him from trying to set the hook when the spinner’s blade spin was interrupted, but, we worked through all of that and put together a good day.
Once the wind began to blow, the fishing got easier and more productive as fish hugging bottom now began to respond well to Royce and Teri’s presentations.  Our best run of fish came from 10:30 to 11:20 as the S. wind peaked at 13 mph and kept blowing at that speed over that entire timespan.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 101 fish, all caught and released (5 largemouth, 96 white bass)

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Only very light bird activity existed in the second hour following sunrise; although it was widespread, it still helped us be at the right place at the right time.  These birds were working over loons which were feeding on the same shad with the white bass were.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00 AM on Monday, 9 Dec, and at 7:00A on Monday, 16 Dec ….

9-Dec 16-Dec
0 feet 60.8F 0 feet 63.2F
5 feet 60.9F 5 feet 62.6F
10 feet 61.1F 10 feet 62.3F
15 feet 61.1F 15 feet 61.5F
20 feet 61.1F 20 feet 61.1F
25 feet 61.1F 25 feet 60.8F
30 feet 61.1F 30 feet 60.3F
35 feet 61.1F 35 feet 59.8F
40 feet 60.9F 40 feet 59.2F
45 feet 60.6F 45 feet 58.4F
50 feet 60.6F 50 feet 58.2F
55 feet 60.4F 55 feet 58.0F
60 feet 60.4F 60 feet 57.6F
65 feet 60.4F 65 feet 57.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:30A

End Time: 11:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Elevation: 2.01′ low and falling slowly with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 63.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: Calm for 90 min., then slowly building from the S up to 13mph by trip’s end

Sky Condition: Grey skies at 100% coverage all morning.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 98% illumination.

GT = 25

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 1517 –  10 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 1691 – 37 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (3 short hops)

Area 195 – 23 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures (2 short hops)

Area vic SH0041C –  6 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic SH0290G/SH0292G –  25 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

 

 

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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