18 FEB 2008

02/18/08 9:40 PM

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Fort Hood Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a 4 hour evening trip today from 2:30p to 6:30p. I delayed today’s trip due to poor conditions in the morning (bright & calm). By launch time, the wind was pushing lightly but steadily from the ENE and the skies had become more fair than clear. Air temp was 58 and the water surface temp ran 56 to 57.

Fished 3 areas today and found solid fishing at 2 of them. First success came right on top of Area 109 in 18-21 feet. Found schooled whites and a mixed bag of other fish right on bottom and was able to coax them with a slab. Caught 10 fish here including 3 largemouth, 1 drum, 2 short whites, and 4 keeper whites.

Just as the hits were getting few and far between, some tern activity began to pickup over open water in 25-27 feet. Got there fast as I could and found suspended and fast-moving schools of whites working over schools of small threadfin shad. Got 1 keeper white and 1 barely legal black bass out of this commotion before the school moved — unfortunately, the terns didn’t stick around long enough to hint at which direction the whites were moving, so that ended that.

Not 5-10 minutes later, right at 5:34, another, larger flock of terns (~30 birds) began working up a little shallower (on the high side of Area 110). I moved in on them and caught 12 more fish in about 15 minutes, and up as shallow as 11 feet (the shallowest I’ve caught a white bass thus far this year). These whites were all beefy 13-15 inch fish, with one hitting exactly 16.0 inches. After 10 of these 12 fish had been landed, the terns from the flock working the school, and other small flocks evidently from uplake further, all lifted and started heading to raft up for the night. The fish activity just dropped off at that time, and, despite a fair expanse of time before sunset, I only landed 2 more fish despite seeing many more than that both suspended and tight to bottom.

After putting the boat back on the trailer at Union Grove, I spoke to the Corps Gate Attendant making his rounds. He said there was very little white bass action reported at the Cedar Gap area today — it seems the fish are going to hang tough downlake until something changes (and that something will hopefully be "flow" from some much needed rain). We’ll see.

TALLY = 24 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Fort Hood Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today from 7a to 12 noon with Jerry W. of Harker Heights. At launch time the air temp was 44F and the water surface temp was 53.5F.

A stiff 14 mph breeze was already blowing before sunrise, and slowly increased to 25+ mph by noon, all caused by pre-frontal warming in advance of a cold front due in tomorrow. The skies remained grey and moderately bright all morning.

We fished a series of gentle rises in the main lake today with slabs between 22 and 27 feet deep. Although birds were present in the early morning, they offered no assistance in finding fish, so we relied on experience and sonar to find them. We found and caught fish at each of the 3 areas we fished, in and around Area 106. At each area we encountered very sluggish fish, most bottom-oriented, with a few suspenders thrown in. We saw no suspended schools of white bass today, only individual suspended fish. Nearly 100% of our fish were taken directly off the bottom. For every 10 or 12 fish showing tight to bottom on sonar we were fortunate to elicit 1 or 2 strikes from them. It was really a matter of staying on top of concentrated fish and waiting for them to turn on, and hoping that we could fool a few before that magic window opened.

Around 10am, a noticeable step up in the wind speed occurred, and a noticeable increase in fish activity accompanied it. We noted a flock of herring gulls beginning to get frisky in a little bit shallower water than we had been slabbing in. We moved up under them and found that black bass and large whites were attacking and stunning bluegill, sending them to the surface, and allowing the gulls some breakfast opportunities. We caught a majority of our fish, and the best quality fish, up shallower under these birds. In all, we managed 41 white bass, of which only 4 were short and of which several hit the 14" mark. We also landed 6 largemouth bass including a very pale 5.75 pounder, as well as a small drum and an average keeper crappie.

By 11:15 the 45 minute peak activity window was beginning to fade. We headed uplake and noted a raft of terns resting on the surface. This was at a location not far from the channel and in an area being buffeted by the wind, so we stopped and searched with sonar, and added a sunfish and a small keeper white bass to the tally. By noon everything was done.

TOTAL = 51 FISH

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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Harker Heights Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today from 7am to 10:30am. At launch time the air temp was 44F and the water surface temp was 53F. There was a good SW breeze pushing at around 10mph which was just right to get fish going early and keep them feeding actively for most of the morning. The sun was bright, but with fair skies to filter a little brightness.

Due to the warming of the waters, the shad are beginning to move slowly shallower. This scatters the birds and makes them less apt to feed strictly over active fish. This is especially true of the terns. Birds were not helpful at all today in locating fish, so, instead, I relied on past and recent success and sonar to go find fish.

After looking over the Area 54/102 complex pretty closely, I found fish tight to bottom on a gentle 24-26 foot rise. I stayed on top of those fish the entire morning and landed 35 whites, all keepers, and all healthy. None were less than 11 nor more than 14 inches. All responded to a slab worked on bottom – very little suspended action.

TALLY = 35 white bass, 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Ft. Hood Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a solo trip today knowing full-well based on the weather forecast that it would be a poor day, but, headed out nonetheless. Fished from 6:45 to 10:30am. The air temp was at 48 F and the water temp was at 52.3F. The wind was flat calm and remained so the entire day. The sun was bright and heated the atmosphere quickly.

I launched and fished the shallows of a cove near the ramp and picked up a small black on a crankbait in <3 feet of water.

Once the skies brightened around dawn, I checked around the west side of Dam End Island after seeing 3 herring gulls look a little suspicious there, but that yielded nothing.

I moved uplake and encountered a small armada of boats to the west of the long Union Grove point. It appeared to be a case of "group-itis" where no one was catching fish but everyone else assumed the other guy was…didn’t stay there long. I picked up two small fish there near the channel drop but, fearing a stampede from the armada, decided to leave.

I moved to three midlake, deep area in 35-45 feet and found shad at these areas, but no gamefish to match. I managed 2 solid whites in the vicinity of Dana Peak.

By 10am, it was hot (for Feb.), still calm, and abundantly clear that fish were not going to turn on. I took a quick stop at Area 106, caught a small suspended white and a small suspended black and called it a morning with 7 fish bagged.

TALLY = 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Killeen Area Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Caught the frontal activity just right today and had a great day with exactly 70 fish landed.

Fished a half-day morning trip from 6:45 to 11:45am. At launch time the air temp was 41 and the water surface temp was 52. There was a light SW breeze at 5-6, the skies were clear and bright.

I thoroughly checked out the uplake areas near the long bridge and the Cedar Gap launch and, surprisingly little is going on there. Don’t know if it is the lack of rain causing a lack of current to draw fish up there or the fact that the water never really got cold, but they just aren’t there and should be.

Nonetheless, headed down lake and continued to find fish and birds in the 54/102 complex. Stayed in the area the entire time today and found fish shallower (19-25 feet) early on, then transitioned out to active fish in deeper (30-39 feet) water as the morning progressed. Birds were somewhat helpful in getting to deeper areas at the right time.

While the wind remained SW and light, the bite was pretty slow and shallow through about 9:45 am with 18 fish landed. As soon as that wind stopped and immediately went strong out of the NW at 15-20, the bite went deep and strong, and the tally surged to 70 fish by 11:00. At that time the winds let up and the bite immediately died off.

All fish were caught with a vertically jigged slab today. Just a straightforward lift and drop did the trick – no short-hops, no deadstick, nothing fancy.

Caught good quality fish today including several 14-15 inch white bass of the 59 brought on board (in fact, only 12 whites were short), and also caught 5 drum, 1 fourteen inch crappie, and 5 largemouth. A 7.5 pound black anchored the string.

If you have been thinking about taking a trip to learn how to fish a slab or simply to get out on Stillhouse , don’t wait long — this pre-spawn stage is a high number AND high quality game that won’t last long.

Tally = 70 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Killeen Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a half day morning trip today from 6:45am to 10am. At launch time the air temp was 62F and the water surface temp was 54F. Winds were 7-8 from the south.

At first light I netted a few shad (threadfins and gizzards) and then headed out to look for birds. At sunrise, what has become fairly predictable gull and tern activity redeveloped at and around Area 89. I stayed here for the duration of the trip and caught a mixed bag on slabs and live shad.

The catch consisted of a 20/80 mix of short/legal white bass with 3 of 38 exceeding 15 inches. The balance of the catch consisted of 2 drum, 1 sunfish, 1 crappie, and 6 largemouth bass (3 short, 3 legal with the largest at 3.25 pounds).

Of these 48 fish, only 5 came on live shad. The rest came on a slab fished both on bottom and through suspended fish.

Tally = 48 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Fort Hood Area Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a short trip this evening to keep in touch with fish activity. Launched at 4pm and returned at 7pm. Air temperature was 68F and water surface temperature was 52F. The winds were SSE at 14, slowly tapering to 7 at dusk.

There was already some moderate bird activity taking place from both gulls and terns as I got on the water. I watched the birds carefully and spotted promising behavior from several gulls.

I slowly motored in and around this area (Area 105) and found both suspended fish and fish holding tight to the bottom. I dropped a slab down and worked for a few minutes to figure out what the fish wanted and then did well on both the bottom oriented fish and the suspended fish, although the suspended fish were much more picky.

I caught 15 solid white bass, all 12-14 inches, one fat 16 inch white bass, one dink white bass, and a barely keeper largemouth at this first location in 19-21 feet of water.

After things tapered off here I moved ~ 100 yards to the east to get under some fresh bird activity. Didn’t find much going on here, but did have two missed hookups on a horizontal bladebait presentation.

Moved one final time to the last visible location of bird activity and found a mixed bag of fish in 21-22 feet of water. Caught 4 good 13 inch whites here from suspended schools, as well as 2 small largemouth, 3 crappie, and a drum. Interesting to note that this is the first time crappie have shown up as a by-catch since the fall.

Tally = 28 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

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Had some downtime this afternoon and so took a leisurely afternoon trip just by myself today. Since I wasn’t on a customer’s schedule, I waited on some wind before heading out.

A light breeze began to push from the SSE around 2:30p, so I headed out and was on the water by 2:55p. The breeze slowly built up to ~12mph SSE at most, but it was enough to get the fish going.

I made a quick stop at a mid-lake hump I hadn’t fished in a while. No shad were showing, but I graphed a few fish, so I gave it a try and came up with a 15 inch largemouth on the first drop of the slab. That was all that area had to offer, so I moved on.

I hit another midlake feature where a breakline occurs prior to another drop into the channel (Area 104). I usually don’t find fish here this time of year, but, I saw 4 large herring gulls resting on the water here. As I drew closer, they were oddly reluctant to lift off the water and flee. I suspected they were hungry and were sitting on top of an uncooperative food source … and that hunch was right on.

As I ran sonar thoroughly over the area, I saw plenty of fish with bellies to the bottom. Down went the slab and up came the white bass. From 3:15 to 5:00pm I caught 24 keeper whites, all within a quarter inch of 11 inches in length. I also caught 2 largemouth, a sunfish, and one dink white bass here.

Then, at the same area, from 5:00 to 5:40p the fish turned on and in that short span of time, I added 14 more keeper whites to the tally, all on a slab, with ~60% coming off bottom, and the balance out of suspended schools. These were of the same size as the rest, right around 11 inches.

By 5:40 things shut down hard. The fish quit, the terns flocked up and went to roost, and it was all over but the boat washing.

I said a prayer of thanks to the Lord as I headed back in to the dock for the few hours of peace and quiet He afforded me today.

Tally this day was 43 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

JANUARY 2008 SUMMARY

03/15/08 9:28 PM

JANUARY 2008 Summary

31 JAN 2008 24

29 JAN 2008 15

28 JAN 2008 23

26 JAN 2008 50

22 JAN 2008 10

21 JAN 2008 36

15 JAN 2008 10

12 JAN 2008 21

09 JAN 2008 361

03 JAN 2008 18

01 JAN 2008 112

TOTAL CATCH: 680

AVERAGE CATCH PER TRIP: 61.8

Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Report by Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide Bob Maindelle

Fished a tough half day morning trip today from 6:45a to 12:00 noon. At launch time the air temp was 53 F and the water surface temp was 50.3F. The winds were light from the west at 6-7 mph.

First order of business was to quickly net some shad. Came up with 2 dozen in about 8 throws and were off to fish before sunup.

With a strong, windy, dry cold front forecast to arrive, our window of opportunity was going to be limited, so I headed where I anticipated fish to show up instead of waiting for signs of fish already present, and the educated guess was good.

Put 3 fish in the boat using slabs (including two beefy white bass and a 3.25 pound largemouth) before the birds started working in the Area 54/102 complex.

Once the sun cleared the cloud bank to the east which yielded the thunderstorms of the past night, the birds started working on the shad pushed to the top by gamefish. Both gulls and terns worked for about 2 hours, but their activity mimicked the fish activity in that they were widely scattered and moving.

Sonar revealed a lot of fish in this area, but the fish were in small, tight schools, some on bottom, some suspended, and none shallower than 16 feet.

Over the two hours that the birds worked, the wind continued to rachet up. During this window we put 16 fish in the boat, all of which were very healthy 12-14 inch white bass. These were taken on slabs, primarily off bottom in 23-34 feet, with occasional suspended fish seen on sonar also taken.

Around 10a, the action started to slow and the wind speeds continued to increase, and were now beyond 20 mph.

I anchored up over a small high spot and put downlines in with shad. I used all my small threadfins first and they got hit well, accounting for 3 more white bass. Once I had to use the larger gizzard shad, we got fewer hits and missed 50% of the hits we got. Over a 75 minutes span, we only added 2 more fish to the count using the gizzards.

By noon, we continued to see fish on sonar, both on bottom and suspended, but these fish were shut down and would not respond to bait or slabs.

We returned to the dock at noon, feeling rather windblown, but glad we had stuck it out in tough conditions for the 2 dozen fish that came over the side.

By 12:30, the National Weather Service reported 29 mph winds gusting to 41. We picked a good time to scoot!

Tally = 24 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