Fished a half day uncle/nephew trip with Justin W. of Colorado and his nephew, Jake W., of Salado. Justin is a commercial pilot and flies C-140’s in the Air Guard. Jake is a 4th Grader at Salado ISD who is, for a short time longer, without his dad, Jason, who is currently deployed to Iraq as a reservist in Army Aviation.

Justin (L) and Jake (R) with four fistfuls of vertically jigged white bass taken out of 48 degree water on what was the best trip I’ve had to date since the flooding.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 12:20p

Air Temp: 47F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 48.9F

Wind: Winds were moderate from due S. at ~12-14 the entire trip

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip.

After Wednesday’s failed experiment on Belton, I decided we’d put this trip together on Stillhouse, and that turned out to be a good decision. The water level on Stillhouse is now at about 3 feet above full pool and the water has cleared up pretty well. I did note that any significant wind now immediately stirs silt up on the impacted shoreline leading to localized stained water, but, the lake as a whole is in pretty good shape once again.

We did some searching with sonar around (obscured) sunrise, and found some bait and some fish tight to bottom in 25-27 feet of water near Area 314. I chose TNT180’s in 3/8 oz. to start the fellows off with — a bit heavier than I really like for cold water, but, it allowed them to get the feel of the jigging rhythm and know where their baits were in relation to bottom at all times. Once we got situated and they got the hang of jigging, things began to happen for us. The first fish over the side was a small crappie. No sooner had we caught that fish, than 4 gulls came and began to patrol and act hesistant to leave an area within 200 yards of us. I felt as though fish were in there, but just not cranked up yet, so, despite the slow action, we hung with it.

By around 8:30, we still had birds present, but had only put 2 more fish (both white bass) in the boat. It was getting steadily brighter, and the wind was very steady. I decided to move us in a bit closer to shore where the effects of this wind would be impacting on the bottom by moving silt and, as a result, the rest of the food chain. As I moved in on Area 595 (BA: 1O, 4HG, 6L, 3T) the sonar began to reveal fish laying belly to the bottom here from 25 feet right up to 16 feet. I oriented the nose of the boat into the wind, put a buoy out well upwind to orient onto, and we went to work on these fish for about 2 hours straight. The action never got frenzied (remember, the temperature is still in the 40’s), but it was steady, the bites were solid, and the fish cooperated for a much longer spell than they typically do in cold water. Eventually, around 10:40, things ground to a halt. We’d put 41 fish in the boat by this time.

I was encouraged that we’d found fish in water as shallow as 16 feet, and so, in order to cover a lot of water quickly looking for a few remaining active fish, we set up with a slow, flatline troll in 4 different areas (Areas 116, 352, the 114-336-319-343 circuit, and Area 999), but that failed to produce even a single fish. By around noon, we knew we’d seen the best of it and decided to hit just one last area on our way back the the ramp.

We stopped and looked over Area 145/148 with sonar and found suspended bait and a few gamefish mixed in at around 20 feet over a 35 foot bottom. I’d hoped to give Justin a shot at “sniping” a fish during this trip, as he’s done a bit of ice fishing, and this technique is much like that method of angling. We spotted a lone fish on sonar, and so I demonstrated the “sniping” technique to Justin and landed the fish I had targeted. Justin was now pumped to get one of his own! As we hovered in place, a single, suspended white bass appeared on sonar and, despite the wind, we were able to hang with it and keep it on sonar as Justin got his lure situated correctly. We watched together as the fish’s sonar signal merged with the lure’s sonar signal and Justin’s rod tip went down. He responded with a good hookset and we landed that one last fish via “sniping” — a pretty cool, high-tech end to a very good cold-weather season trip.

We ended the day sharing an outdoor lunch at one of the park sites on the shores of Stillhouse and then parted ways. For our efforts today, we boated a total of 43 fish. This was the best trip I’ve had up to this point since January 27th, which was before the flooding rains of 29-30 January.

I was really impressed with 9 year old Jake. Winter fishing in such cold water doesn’t offer a great variety of tactics. He stayed with the vertical jigging regimen for the vast majority of the trip and did much better than most kids his age would have under such conditions despite cool, damp winds and red, cold hands. He was a trooper!

TALLY = 43 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

Tough day today!! After a glimmer of hope provided by a catch of 30 whites this past Saturday on Stillhouse, I thought I’d give Belton a try to see if things were improving there, too. Granted, today’s weather was less than ideal, but, I spent 4 plus hours, accompanied by a fishing buddy (who, based on these terrible results shall remain nameless so as not to tarnish his credentials!!) out there with only 2 fish to show for all that effort. Bottom line — Belton is just tough right now — the water is high and not coming down all that quickly, yet the gates are open wide and there is a lot of water movement through the reservoir.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 31F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 47.8F

Wind: Winds were light from the NW at 5-7

Skies: Skies were fair the entire trip

This trip was taken in advance of two paid trips forthcoming this Friday and Saturday in an attempt to nail down which lake was going to provide me with the best shot at putting my clients on fish. Well, that objective was accomplished!!

Upon launching today I was encouraged to once again see a multitude of birds working, but, as we watched these birds closely, it was clear that they were feeding on small schools of threadfin that were feeding on the surface in the low-light period before and after sunrise. These birds were lightly sipping, not aggressively diving, thus indicating the bait they were feeding on was not pushed to the surface by gamefish.

We fished and ran sonar over a number of areas and wound up catching both fish we landed (a smallish white bass and a short hybrid) both in the vicinity of Area 500 after I spotted two loons working in that area. Both fish responded to a sniping approach. I should note that we both had significant numbers of fish refuse that very same technique both before and after these fish were caught.

TALLY = 2 FISH, both caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

I fished an 8 hour trip today and was glad to see things starting to turn around. We have a dry forecast which means no more dirty water flowing in. This week ahead we should see the water warming a bit, clearing, and dropping (which means it will be flowing). With some more favorable winds like we had today, the fishing should pick up.

Every single fish I caught today was suspended in the upper 2/3 of the water column from 33 feet up to 8 feet deep. I made use of the “sniping” technique all day using ice jigs.

2 of the 30 fish caught today. That’s the Dana Peak playground equipment standing in flood water in the background.

Start Time: 10:15a

End Time: 6:15p

Air Temp: 38F at trip’s start, warming to a high of 53 by mid-afternoon.

Water Surface Temp: ~48.3 to 48.8F

Wind: Winds were due S. at 7 at trip’s start, building to 15+ in the afternoon.

Skies: A freezing fog was beginning to lift as I launched with skies clearing to fair by midday.

Environmental Note: Stillhouse is 7′ high and is now dropping very slowly; the water is stained but clearing.

The key to success today was finding bait concentrations with sonar and then fishing in and around the bait for the gamefish that were lurking nearby. Birds, which are usually of great help this time of year, are few and far between and were simply patrolling and finding little.

I found one dense concentration of fish spread from Area 429 to Area 594, and 3 concentrations that were more scattered. These occurred at Areas 337, 254, and 102. Once the fish were found, they weren’t all that difficult to catch as the weather conditions were very favorable today. I could provoke a response from 1 in every 3-4 fish I got on sonar, and of those that responded, 3 out of every 4 would strike. I wound up catching 28 white bass of which 24 were keepers; I also caught 2 legal crappie.

TALLY = 30 FISH, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

I fished a difficult 3 3/4 hour exploratory trip today to see if I could put something together for a booking this coming Thursday. I fished Belton because, due to its size, there remains some relatively clear water in areas where fish should be this time of year. Unfortunately, most of the seasonal fish-holding water on Stillhouse is now very dirty, to the point of appearing opaque.

Fish were hard to come by today on newly flooded Belton Lake. That is a half-submerged outhouse and swim area sign in the background.

As the water crested today, it stopped just short of the asphalt at the top of the concrete boat ramp. That’s the now useless courtesy dock floating in the background.

Start Time: 6:50a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp: 45F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~52.6-53.1F

Wind: Winds were light and variable until 10, then blew SW at ~9 thereafter.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear until the wind shift, then went fair and transitioned to 30% cloudy.

There was no helpful bird activity today. Sonar revealed areas with significant bait holding very high up in the water column in two distinct bands — one at 25-31 feet and another at 40-44 feet. The only fish I found today were very scattered and very hesistant white bass appearing individually on sonar. In three areas, Area 156, Area 502, and just west of Area 154 there were enough individual fish in close enough proximity to cause me to stop and attempt a sniping approach with an ice jig.

Nearly 4 hours of effort yielded 3 fish including 2 keeper white bass and a short white bass, with two other strikes missed, both of which I am certain were white bass or juvenile hybrid, as well.

The water is cold, off colored at best (and muddy in many places on Belton, too) and has risen ~10 feet in a very short time span. It’s just going to take some time and some dry weather to settle back into a status quo before we can enjoy success with any regularity again.

TALLY = 3 FISH, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

As if things weren’t tough enough with cold water, we received a hair over 3 inches of rain on late 28 Jan and all day on 29 Jan.

FLOOD SHOTS TAKEN ON 31 JAN 2010 AT STILLHOUSE:

This rain spanned over the watersheds for Stillhouse, Belton, and Georgetown.

Stillhouse has risen over 8.3 feet and is still rising.

Belton has risen over 10 feet and is still rising.

Georgetown has risen over 8.5 feet and is still rising.

I’ve postponed all scheduled trips through Friday, 05 Feb. and will take a hard look at things at that time after attempting to find fish in this new set of conditions.

I fished a half-day morning trip on Belton today with returning guest Mr. Garland W., a retired architect, from Tyler, TX. Garland and his wife do a 5 week long RV road trip each year to different Texas lakes, culminating at Belton. We stacked the deck on this trip by waiting on good fishing weather. Fortunately Garland’s schedule and mine allowed us to look at the 5-6 day forecast and pinpoint the best time to be on the water. We passed on Mon. and Tue. as they were both, bright, calm days. Wednesday’s weather was pre-frontal SE winds, with warm air temperatures, a building breeze, and heavy cloud cover — just perfect!

With pre-frontal SE winds bringing cloud cover, warmth, and water movement in before a big cold front, the fish went on a 2 1/2 hour spree pursuing shad from top to bottom, and especially in the 27-34 foot band.

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 12:35p

Air Temp: 46F at trip start; 52 F by trip end

Surface temp: 50.8 to 51.2F

Winds: Calm at trip’s start, beginning SSE at 8-9 around 9:20, building quickly to 13-14 by 9:45, and leveling at 15-16 from 10:45 through trip’s end

Skies: 100% grey cover entire trip

As we got underway, the breeze had not yet kicked in and things were predictably slow until around 9:45. I commented to Garland as we fished over one particular area that “this place is going to light up if we get some wind in here.” We saw ample bait over 24-32 feet of water, and gamefish mixed in among the bait, but the fish were simply turned off and would only half-heartedly follow even our mostly lightly finnessed presentations.

Finally, around 9:20, we got a ripple pushed by a SSE breeze which quickly built to a 12-13 mph push. We motored back to the area where the bait and fish had shown clearly earlier in the morning and, beginning at Area 593 (BA: 45G) we began to show active fish on sonar both on bottom and suspended. For 2 hours and 45 minutes these fish remained active to some degree, but the first 30 minutes was by far the stongest feed. The area over which we found active fish was quite expansive, spreading from Area 593 to Area 594 to Area 031, to Area 591, and to Area 592.

Regardless of where the fish were located, the most active fish tended to be positioned between 27 and 34 feet, regardless of whether that depth range happened to be at bottom, or suspended over 40 to 50+ feet. Our approach was to simply slab for bottom-oriented fish with a bit of an extra pause between jigging strokes when fish were apparent on sonar. For suspended fish seen earlier in this feed, we were able to “smoke” those same slabs at a healthy pace and catch them. Later, as the feed began to wane, we reverted to “sniping” to pick off the few remaining active fish amidst a greater population of of inactive fish.

For our efforts today, we landed 66 fish including 1 drum, 9 hybrid stripers of which 4 were of legal size, and 56 white bass. Most of these white bass were right at 12 to 12.75 inches in length, with only 4 falling beneath the 10 inch mark. We wrapped up our trip around 12:35p as we realized the feed had ended. We knew we could continue to “snipe” addtional fish, but also knew that’d be anti-climactic after the spree we’d just witnessed.

We contemplated a trip the following day, but the forecast called for near 100% chances of rain with lightning, so, we agreed to just do it again next year as I bid Garland safe travels back home. One observation I made today was that despite the cold water, right at the beginning of the feed, hybrid were regularly making it to the surface and pinning large shad against it; I also noted that all of our hybrid were taken higher in the water column than the average white bass was, and that the hybrid appeared solo (not in schools) on sonar. Not a single hybrid was slabbed off bottom today.

TALLY = 66 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

I fished a quick morning outing accompanied by my mom, Charlotte. We knew going into this that things would be slow as the skies were clear, the water cold, and the very light winds from the NNW. I wanted to use this trip to take someone (my mom) totally unfamiliar with both sonar interpretaion and my “sniping” technique and get them from “0 to 60” over the span of the trip.

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp: 39F

Surface temp: 50.2F

Winds: Calm at trip’s start, beginning NNE at 3-4 around 9:00, tapering up to 8-9 and nearly due N by trip’s end.

Skies: Blue and clear

Because I’ve only recently refined this technique, I knew I needed to improve my presentation of it for my guests’ sake. Being able to take something complex and explain it clearly and quickly is trickier that one might think. As we worked together on this, we began looking over a stretch of river channel about 70 feet in length that clearly held a lot of bait.

At this particular area (Area 303), the channel, which is oriented SW to NE, bottoms out in over 50 feet. On the old W. bank, it forms a “stairstep” with the first landing occurring right around 43 feet, and the second occurring right around 34 feet.

This morning we found very sluggish gamefish on the bottom on the deeper of the two landings. I talked my mom through both jigging and sniping and differentiated for her when each would be most effective. We fished a total of 3 1/2 hours finding fish here and at Area 590, and catching a total of 15 fish including 14 legal white bass and a short crappie.

Mom was very happy to have caught those, but I was most interested in her “debriefing” comments following the trip.

As I reviewed with her our day, she brought out some real food for thought for me. The first thing I realized I need to do when it is likely that “sniping” will be employed on a particular trip, is to show my guests, right at dockside, the sonar display and all of the components of it, so that when we see fish targets and our lures, they can appreciate the relative positions of those objects, as well as the always-present bottom marks and surface clutter. The next thing I realized I need to address is retrieve speed. When I simply say “go slow”, that means nothing to a guest unless I’ve “calibrated” my guest to what “go slow” looks and feels like on sonar and in the rod tip, respectively.

I have already worked through all of these things with the slabbing, easing, and smoking tactics that I’ve used for years, but, with this new technique, we made some progress today and, no doubt, will continue to refine it as the water looks like it’s going to be cold for a good while longer.

TALLY = 15 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

I fished a half day trip today with Mr. Mike R. and Mr. Gene E. These gentlemen serve our community as the Patrol Commander and Chief of Police for the City of Belton. I was glad to have both aboard as they were both very decent men, eager learners, and were both persistent and hardy, given some tough fishing conditions.

Mike and Gene toughed it out today for some deepwater jigging and sniping on Belton Lake white bass.

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 5:30p

Air Temp: 50F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 49.8F

Wind: S the entire day beginning around 6mph, then building to 16+ by 11:30am, then tapering back to around 10 by sunset.

Skies: Grey, low clouds persisted until around 11:30, then gradual clearing occured leaving behind fair skies with 10% cloud cover.



We found fish in two general locations today. In the morning, through 11:00a, we worked a very loose congregation of fish located between Areas 580 and 583. These fish were very lethargic, suspended, and finicky. Most fish we encountered were spotted on sonar at between 18 and 39 feet deep over 40 to 53 feet of water. We were able to entice 1 in every 10 to 12 fish we spotted into striking, and landed about 3 of every 5 striking fish. We finished up in this area with 15 fish landed in nearly 4 hours of fishing including 3 crappie, 1 largemouth, 2 juvenile hybrid, and 9 white bass. These fish were taken primarily with a sniping technique. All crappie came off bottom with the lures kept down low as we searched for suspended fish.

We made a run to the north of Area 561 (BA: 30T) and found whites feeding aggressively, but only for a short span of time. While they fed hard, they came up on the lip of the breakline here in 32-36 feet. As the feed subsided, they slipped back into 40+ feet of water and suspended. Occasional bursts of bird activity gave us just enough hints to keep up with the more active fish. We took our tally from 15 fish caught in 4 hours, up to 39 fish caught in 7 hours. The first 17 fish we caught in this area came on slabs worked traditionally on bottom. The last 7 fish came via a sniping technique.

By 2:30p my guests needed to head in, and the action had all but subsided.

After parting ways, I met fishing acquaintances Rodney T.and Roy P., and Roy’s son-in-law, at the ramp. They were just planning to launch, so I offered to show them where we’d just enjoyed our success.

Rodney and I fished out of my boat and Roy and Bobby fished out of Roy’s rig. We headed back to the scene of the midday feed, but the fish were shut down pretty hard. Rodney and I jigged for 6 more fish in about 2 hours’ time, including 5 whites and 1 small blue cat.

It was nice to know after finishing up the day that my guests Mike and Gene had seen the best action the day had to offer, and that to have fished any longer would have yielded little more for them.

TALLY = 45 fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

With a trip scheduled for Monday, I wanted to refine the sniping technique that paid off so well at Belton earlier this week. Today presented some of the toughest conditions in wintertime fishing — a damp north wind. Regardless, I caught fish wherever I could find fish on this technique. So, despite the poor fishing (which was expected given the weather) my confidence in the technique was bolstered after seeing how these turned-off fish perked up and responded.

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time: 11:45a

Air Temp: 44F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 48.1F

Wind: N at ~13 the entire trip.

Skies: Grey cloud cover until 10:15, then slowly clearing from NW to SE.

My goal today was to refine the “sniping” technique that I found would tempt even lethargic white bass. As I used this at Belton earlier in the week, I used ultralight gear with very light 6 pound line. I wanted to rig up with standard medium tackle today so that clients not familiar with fishing by sight (as is required with the very soft action on the UL equipment) would be able to feel bites transmitted in the more sensitive graphite of the traditional tackle. I worked up a good combination of rods, reels, and lures and also figured out a way to keep the ice jigs from creating such a twist in the line. By the time I came off the water I was sure I could hand a rod to a guest and expect they could catch fish right along side me.

I found fish in 3 locations today. There was a bit of shallower action early on between Areas 375 and 390 right on bottom yielding just two white bass. The loons have gotten so common on Stillhouse that the birds have really been ignoring bait pushed by fish and are instead keying on bait pushed by loons. So, the presence of gulls and terns now rarely indicates the presence of gamefish. These loons are definitely on bait, but the bait covers a much wider area than any gamefish keying on them are typically schooled up in, so, there is still a lot of looking left to do with sonar even where b.

The second location was Area 590 in 49-53 feet of water. There were white bass here found solo and in groups of just 2-3 fish. I was able to temple 1 in 4 and caught 2 of every 3 that started at the bait. I landed 7 white bass here, all right at 11 inches.

The third location was Area 569 in 52 feet of water. There were white bass both on bottom here, as well as suspended as high as 18-20 feet, but more typically around 38-42 feet. Again,I was able to temple 1 in 4 and caught 2 of every 3 that started at the bait. I landed 5 fish here including 1 largemouth and 2 short whites off the bottom, and 2 whites suspended.

TALLY = 14 fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.

The key today was going deep and slow — I never fished shallower than 43 feet today and used ultralight gear to sense the very light bite of the very lethargic white bass I located.

I experimented with a new 6′ ultralight rod presented to me by flyrod manufacturer Temple Fork Outfitter. The rod is made with a 3 weight flyrod blank. I coupled light 6 pound mono with an ice fishing jig and worked over schools of very stationary, lethargic white bass today with good success.

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 5:00p

Air Temp: 50F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: 48.8F

Wind: SE the entire day at 5-9 until ~2:45p when winds went slack.

Skies: Grey, heavy cloud cover dropping light mist and occasional light drops of precipitation through the dayr.

Environmental Note: Spotted first flocks of robins on 12 Jan.

In summary, I found fish bunched in two distinct locations today, both very similar to one another in that they were both 43-48′ deep and adjacent to even deeper water, with bait present.

The first locale spanned from Area 587 through Area 588 to Area 589 (BA – 20 G/T). I didn’t get on the fish here very well, as I was still trying to figure them out. I tried every form of smoking, easing, and jigging, but the fish would not respond, despite being suspended in schools which is usually indicative of a willingness to feed. I then tried downrigging with both a small and moderate sized lure, but still nothing – the fish definitely spooked down and away from the ‘rigger. I noted that fish would not chase a moving lure, and often were spooked downward by one. I left this area scratching my head.

At the second locale, spanning from Area 580 through Areas 581, 582, 583, 584, and 585 to Area 586 (BA – 45 G/T), I finally cracked the code. These fish responded well to a sniping technique, either used motionless (best for stationary, stacked fish) or with a slow upward movement (best for individual fish).

The strikes were very, very light, often just being detected as a change in pressure, not a true strike. Bare fingers were a must to feel the line, and watching the rod tip was also a must.

Although I fished until 5pm, all but 3 of these fish were caught by 2:40pm. It was at that time that the winds died and the fishing died with it.

The breakdown on the catch was 2 crappie, 5 largemouth, 7 hybrid (4 legal), and 91 white bass.

TALLY = 105 fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.