08 MARCH 2008






Lake Stillhouse Fishing Report by Stillhouse Lake Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished from 3p to sunset this evening. At launch time the air temp. was 60 degrees and the water surface temp was 55 to 56 degrees. The skies were clear in the morning, turning fair by mid day. The morning low was 29 degrees and a light N breeze blew until around 11am, then went calm, then turned S for the remainder of the day. By around 3:45 the wind began pushing hard enough to stir the fish and they stayed turned on until sunset.

I tried several new areas today and briefly checked some very reliable areas in advance of a ½ day guided trip on 10 March.

My first stop was a result of some frisky tern activity over open water. SW of Area 79, on the N. wall of the channel as it rises from 80 to 60 feet, there were some scattered whites and blacks ghosting abundant schools of shad. I turned up the sensitivity on sonar to get a good look at what was what, and could make out individual fish, suspended in 22 to 40 feet. I managed a single white and a single black and moved (as did the terns).

Next stop was to see if Area 122 was still holding solid fish. It was … I got 6 fish immediately off bottom and left that area alone for Monday’s trip.

Next stop was at the base of the slope at Area 126 which was being hit directly by the wind. That yielded 4 suspended whites and 2 suspended blacks, but nothing on bottom indicating fish were holding in this area.

Checked out some unproductive tern activity on the shallow flat SE of Area 79…birds were just flying from loon to loon and picking shad as they patrolled … nothing driven by white bass.

Next stop was at Area 125 topping out at 24 feet. I fished the S facing edge of this feature which was receiving the wind action. Did pretty well here and all fish came off bottom. Took the tally from 14 to 26 with 12 fish caught here in about 30 minutes, including 3 blacks (2 keepers).

Final stop came at Area 124, also topping out at 24-25′. Again, I fished the S facing edge of this feature which was receiving the wind action. Got 13 fish here in about 20 minutes, then, at sunset , everything stopped. The fish here included 3 healthy crappie, 1 drum, a small black bass, and 7 whites. All fish came off bottom. The last fish of the day is a pending new lake record for the “Warmouth Sunfish”. This fish was 7.0 inches long and weighed 0.25 pounds Thanks to Chuck P. and his son Jason for being the weigher and the witness for the application form!!

All fish caught today were caught by slab.

TALLY = 39 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








06 MARCH 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Temple Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip this morning from 6:45 to 11:05. This trip was timed to be just in advance of the wet cold front that moved into the area later in the day, and the rain and sharp temperature drop that accompanied it. Air temperature at launch time was 46F and the water surface temperature was 56F. Winds were from the NNE at 8-10 with a very light drizzle ensuing in the last hour of the trip. Skies were leaden gray the entire time.

With the wind already blowing before dawn, the birds went right to work this morning.

I flatline trolled the Area 123 flat with a pair of crankbaits after seeing gulls and terns looking this area over tentatively. I only caught one 10 inch white bass here on the north lip of the flat adjacent to the channel.

I moved on downlake continuing to search for bird activity. In the Area 89 & 54 vicinity, plenty of terns were dipping and were clearly on fish. This let me know that the fish had not yet been negatively impacted by the incoming front – a great confidence booster! Put 24 fish in the boat on a slab/teaser combination including a 50 / 50 mix of short and legal whites (1 double), as well as a 3 pound largemouth and a 2 pound drum. This was in 25-27 feet of water.

With the birds still active, I went ahead and moved looking for more bird activity and to check activity on other than this consistently-producing area.

I found fish at Area 77 in 25-27 feet. No birds were present at the time, and the sonar returns were so-so, but shad were there, so I went ahead and tried it. As soon as the slab went down, the fish lifted off the bottom and cooperated nicely. After 10-15 minutes terns showed up and fed in my vicinity, as well as in a 90 degree arc extending 80 yards out from the boat from NW to NE. I put an addition 14 whites and another 3 pound black bass in the boat here and again moved to find active fish elsewhere (catch here included 2 sets of doubles).

I found fish at Area 120. Same setup as at Area 77. I was in 24 feet of water; no birds were present at the time, and the sonar returns were so-so, but shad were there, so I went ahead and tried it. As soon as the slab went down, the fish lifted off the bottom and cooperated nicely. I spent 25 minutes here and put an addition 15 whites in the boat here and again moved to find active fish elsewhere. 13 of these whites were short.

My final stop of the day was at Area 122; I saw good bird activity here and sonar showed strong shad and gamefish echos. The area is generally 36-38 feet deep, but there is a small knob that tops out at 34 feet. The knob held fish on bottom, otherwise all the other fish were up and suspended and feeding heavily on small threadfin shad (numerous fish disgorged these shad as I landed them). For this situation, I put away the tandem rig and went with a single, heavier slab to get it down quickly given the increased depth here. This area produced 45 fish including about 15 short largemouth bass. The white bass were split 50 / 50 between legals and shorts.

By 11am, the wind was increasing and the temperature began to decline quickly. Rain also began to increase. In conjunction with this noticeable weather change, the fish bunched up tighter and became very reluctant to strike any longer. With the count at 100 fish and the weather deteriorating, it was back to the ramp for lunch.

TALLY = 100 FISH, all caught and released


Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








04 MARCH 2008






04 MARCH 2008

03/04/08 9:43 PM

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Harker Heights Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a 3 hour morning trip from 7 am to 10 am. This was the first day of clearing weather following the passage of a cold, wet, windy front which came in just after midnight on 03 March. This front dropped the surface temp down to 56 (was up to 59), and, with clear skies this morning, pushed the air temp down to 32, with a light frost in low areas. The wind was light and variable at sunrise, then pushed from the WNW at around 5-8 shortly after sunrise.

Fishing was a bit slow at first as the wind took time to build. I fished at the 22-26 foot deep ledge at Area 121 since the wind was coming in perpendicular to that feature. By 8:30, I had boated 10 fish, including 4 keeper largemouth and 6 keeper white bass. 2 of these largemouth were jigged off bottom, all others were suspended either singly or in small schools.

At exactly 8:36am, a flock of terns spotted shad pushed to the surface by feeding whites and began to feed heavily over 26-28 feet of water in the vicinity of Area 108. I got right on top of these fish and over the next 90 minutes boated 42 more fish including 41 white bass and 1 drum. More fish were seen on sonar as suspended in schools than were seen belly to the bottom, and working a tandem rig through these suspended schools was the key to success. Of the fish caught here, two came in the form of a double, and the breakdown on keepers/shorts was about 3 to 1.

Tern activity was also observed at Area 54, north and east of Area 120, and north and west of Area 72.

TALLY = 52 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








01 MARCH 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Killeen Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip this morning from 7a to Noon. At launch time the air temperature was a balmy 68 degrees and the water surface temperature was 59F. The winds were light and variable with both slick and slightly ‘ruffled’ water appearing over the surface. There was a low, thin, grey cloud deck that cut the sun and gave the sky a gray cast.

Things started out pretty slow until around 9a when a sustained, albeit light wind began to push from the SSW. Although that breeze never exceeded 8mph, it also never fell below 3mph, and was enough to slowly put the fish into a feed.

The peak activity today came from 9:15 to 9:45p, but fish remained moderately active until noon. During the peak fish appeared suspended and on bottom, with both being active. After the peak, the fish on bottom remained biting, whereas the number of suspended fish decreased, and those fish still suspended were reluctant to hit.

All action came on a slab; at times a teaser was used resulting in two sets of doubles, and several caught on the teaser.

The action during the peak came in 26-28 feet; after things fell off, active fish were found slightly deeper in 28-30 feet.

Areas yielding fish today included Area 116 which gave up 8 fish prior to the wind pushing, Areas 55 and 103 gave up the majority of the fish with 60 coming out of that area, including two 3 pound largemouth, two smaller keeper largemouth, and 56 whites of mixed sizes with none exceeding 14 inches.

Finally, Area 120 showed good bird activity. A quick stop there revealed whites on bottom, verified with a catch. I left those for a future trip and headed on home.

There was not an abundance of bird activity, but the activity that was present was helpful in locating active fish.

TALLY = 69 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








28 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Harker Heights Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a quick 2 1/2 hour morning trip from 6:45a to 9:15a just to stay on top of fish movements as we ease into spring and the changes that go with it.

This morning the air temp was 44F and the water surface temp was 56F. The winds were strong from the SW at 15+ before sunup, and only increased to 20+ before falling off again after sunset.

Action has been hard to beat at Area 89 and the surrounding area, so, I headed there due to a lack of early morning bird activity anywhere else.

Fish were a bit sluggish at first, but gradually kicked into a brief, strong feed, accompanied by gull and tern activity. I found ample fish both tight to bottom and suspended. The bottom-oriented fish were much more cooperative than those at mid-depth. A simple jerk, fall, pause retrieve did well (sometimes with an extended pause required) as did easing the slab off the bottom and deciding upon a retrieve based on fish response to the rise of the slab. Action began to die off right at 9:10a, with fish becoming more stubborn and birds rafting up on the surface.

Once the birds got going, they were seen feeding over open water due S. of Area 116, as well, although I never fished there.

I continued the experiment with a tandem rig today, as well as with the TNT 180 slab. The fish were pretty fickle on size and I was catching better with smaller slabs than the 3/4 oz. TNT version, but it did alright in the white/chart. pattern. The best combination for the tandem rig was a 1/8 oz. slab with an EP shad imitator in white and blue. I only caught one double, but caught equal numbers of fish on the slab vs. the tandem.

Tally for today’s trip was 1 drum, 3 legal largemouth, and 38 white bass, of which 1/2 were legal.

Most of the fish I caught early, before the strong feed were small fish off bottom. As the feed increased and the birds began working in, the size mix got better.

TALLY = 42 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








26 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Fort Hood Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a 3 hour morning trip today from 6:45a to 10:05a in the midst of a cold front’s passage. The temperatures dropped from 75F at 8:30p last night to 45F at 6:00a this morning. The winds were NE at 20+ and the skies were fair and dry.

Pre-dawn, herring gulls began to circle above the flat between Areas 117 and 98. I got on top of this area and began working it with a slab, and found fish present, but very sluggish. After landing only two whites in ~25 minutes (and after seeing many more than that on sonar), I searched elsewhere.

Solid bird (gull and tern) activity could be found at and around Area 89, both to the N and W of it. Gulls were feeding on stunned sunfish and over loons, and the terns were on white bass. I stayed here for the balance of the trip and landed 20 fish, including 16 white bass of all sizes and 4 largemouth bass from 15-17 inches. All fish came on a slab, and both by lift-drop-pausing, and by slowly teasing fish up off bottom, then coaxing them into a pursuit.

TALLY = 22 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








23 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Harker Heights Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a great KIDS FISH, TOO! trip today with guests Ricardo (7th Grade) and Amanda (5th Grade) of Harker Heights. Both were enthusiastic, good listeners, fast learners, and very respectful.

We began our trip at 1:15pm based on a Wednesday weather forecast that called for afternoon wind. The weatherman sure got it right … at around 11:15 the winds turned from light and variable to SSW and built slowly to a peak of ~18-20mph by 4:00pm. At launch time, the air temp was 58 and the water temp was 57.

Before the trip began, I planned to check a few locations, but found abundant fish showing on sonar at the very first place I searched. I dropped a slab just to verify what I was seeing and immediately came up with a small white bass. So, I set a GPS waypoint right on the spot (between Areas 77 and 118) and returned immediately following the welcome and safety briefing.

The kids got the hang of slabbing very quickly and there was no stopping them. From 1:15 to 4:15 this dynamic duo put 47 fish in the boat with minimal coaching required. The school of whites in this area was pretty consistent in their size, ranging from 11 to 12.25, with 2 going 13 1/4 and 3 coming up short. We also landed 1 drum and 5 keeper largemouth here.

Once this area played out, I gave the kids some options…they chose flatline trolling with large crankbaits to try to target some larger fish.

We moved to Area 116 to troll in 10-14 feet of water and picked up 3 whites ranging from 13 1/8 to 14 1/2 inches, and we picked up 1 keeper largemouth and 2 dinks in about 45 minutes worth of trolling.

By 5:15, the kids had enjoyed enough sun, fun, and wind, and were ready to go home for a snack and some bragging.

Our KIDS FISH, TOO! total today came to 54 fish.

After dropping my party off at the boat ramp, I resumed fishing to check some other areas and to experiment with some new tandem rigs.

From 5:30 to 6:40, I put an additional 12 white bass and 2 keeper largemouth in the boat. The fish came out of 16-20 feet at Area 119; all the whites came on a slab off bottom and the largemouth came on live shad rigged on downlines.

TALLY = 68 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








21 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Fishing Report by Temple Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Date: 21 FEB 2008

Time: 1/2 day morning trip; 7:00am to 12:30pm

Air Temp: 63F, falling to 54F over a short time span around 8:00am

Water Temp: 57F

Winds: Calm, then beginning out of the NW and turning N to 10 mph

Fished today with Justin M. and Renzo F. of Killeen. At launch time, a heavy fog blanketed the lake accompanied by dead calm winds. The entire lake area smelled of shad. As I waited for my guests, I netted shad for a KIDS FISH, TOO! trip this Saturday, and noted abundant schools of surface feeding shad scattering each time the cast net splashed down.

When my guests arrived, we slowly headed out in a thick fog, guided only by GPS to the west of Area 110, and around to the N. of Area 117 to test the waters with crankbaits on a flatline troll, given that the overnight hours as well as the past few days have been fairly warm. We managed 2 largemouth bass (one at 3.0 pounds) and a white bass in the first 30 minutes and continued trolling while trying to stay amongst baitfish. No sooner did it look like we had something going than the wind came up out of the NW very suddenly, the air temp. dropped like a rock, and the fog completely lifted…new ballgame!

The shallow bite dried up immediately, and there was no bird activity to speak of. So, we headed deep and looked over the entire Area 54 complex with little seen on sonar save some un-bunched shad clearly not being pursued by gamefish. We managed to pick up 3 whites out of small, suspended schools on slabs. Surprisingly, these fish were fairly active and responsive to the jigged slabs. I mentally noted that the only fish we saw were suspended fish.

We then changed plans and split the difference between shallow and deep and went back to the flatline trolling in slightly deeper water than we had been in at the trip’s start, thinking we could capitalize on these suspended fish in areas where bait had concentrated before the weather change. This turned out to be a good approach, as we steadily took the fish count up to 21 over the next 90 minutes over Areas 117 and 999.

Slowly, the winds swung around to due N. and became steady at 10mph, the skies brightened through the still 100% gray cloud cover, and the air began to warm back up. Around this same time (~11:00 am) we returned to check around Areas 110 and 117 and found fish feeding in suspended schools over 24-25 feet of water around Area 117. As we slowly eased into the wind to follow the grade up shallower, we also found fish on bottom in 16-18 feet and were able to catch fish on the slabs consistently for 45 minutes. This, if anything, was the peak activity window, and during that time we managed 14 more fish, all nice, slab whites coming in at 13-14 inches and very fat with both shad and eggs. At 12:30 we wrapped it up as the skies began to fully clear and the fishing fell off sharply.

Our mixed bag consisted of 25 whites bass of mixed sizes, 6 largemouth bass, and 1 drum.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing








19 FEBRUARY 2008






Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Temple Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a real quick solo trip this morning from sunup to 9:40am just to stay in touch with fish movement.

At the crack of dawn, 7:09am, the water was calm as glass and the sun was bright — very poor conditions. Air temp was 43F and the water temp was 55 F.

I flatline trolled some flats in 10-14 feet to see if any fish were beginning to ease up into the shallows with the warm weather of late. Got 3 small buck bass right away west of Area 110.

Hope that a steady wind would come up began to fade pretty quickly. The whole lake just seemed dead — no shad flicking, no rough fish rolling, no birds flying — just nothing.

I headed over to Area 89 at the deep base of a shallow flat and found an abundance of shad, problem was the shad were simply blanketing the bottom and were not balled up as they were not being pursued. I did pick up one keeper largemouth here on a slab.

I moved on and attempted some additional flatline trolling to cover water hoping to strain out some active fish. Picked up another buck bass.

Finished up near a single resting gull on the surface that seemed reluctant to move. I picked up a small largemouth and a 9 inch white over an open flat in 14′ at that location.

7 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing