This morning, Monday, July 17th, I fished a multi-species trip on Stillhouse with Ray Harmon and his adult son, Clinton.

 

Ray and Clinton hooked up with this pair of schooling largemouth on topwater just seconds apart, affording us an opportunity for a father and son photo without holding the fish in the livewell unnecessarily.  The largemouth we landed this morning were all plump with bellies full of small threadfin shad.

Ray is a pilot with McLane Aviation in Temple, TX, operating the corporation’s new Bombardier jet aircraft, and Clinton works for Baylor Medical up in Dallas doing medical research.

There is an old saying in fishing… “Don’t leave fish to find fish.”  I try to abide by that and, in doing so, encouraged Ray to consider fishing Stillhouse with me versus his initial choice of Lake Belton.  Belton can certainly produce some good catches in the summer, but is notoriously tough on calm days, which is what our forecast called for.  This, coupled with the fact that Stillhouse has been producing very consistently for six weeks now, made me very hesitant to leave.

We got going at 6:25a, did a bit of downrigging with spotty results, and then got on fish just as they were becoming active on topwater right at 7:00a.

We alternated between casting to schooling largemouth bass and jigging for bottom-hugging white bass as both species used the same areas and fed on the same sized threadfin shad.

By 9:15a, we’d put 50 fish in the boat when things really got tough.  The sun was intense and the wind dead calm.  Surface action was sparse, so, we had to slowly comb out fish with sonar.

Around 10:10a, we got on what would be the last school we would encounter for the morning.  In 45 feet at the top of a breakline we found schooled white bass with a few largemouth and drum mixed in.  We put a total of 29 more fish in the boat, including our largest white bass of the morning, fishing here with 3/4 oz. white slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks affixed to them.

We were all sweat-soaked by the time the fish quit right around 11a, which make the ride back in, and the breeze we enjoyed during that ride, most welcome.

TALLY: 79 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:25am

End Time: 11:00am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 78F

Water Surface Temp: 85.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: ESE breeze under 2 mph the entire trip; often flat calm

Sky Conditions: Grey cloud bank in the east, but otherwise, <15% clouds

Water Level: 0.26 feet high and steady with only evaporative losses; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1316 widespread topwater by largemouth on young of the year shad

**Area vic 1960 – white bass on slabs

**Area vic 077/119 widespread topwater by largemouth on young of the year shad

**Area vic 1960 – white bass on slabs for a second round

**Area 1962 – whites, drum, and largemouth from off bottom over a breakline on slabs

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This morning, Saturday, July 15th, I fished a multi-species trip on Stillhouse Hollow with Jonathan, Jose, and Haysel Cancel and family friend, Gustavo Vasquez.

Haysel caught the first fish of the day and got us started off right.

 

 

After Haysel landed her first fish, Jonathan contributed with a double taken on two of the three Pet Spoons on the 3-armed umbrella rigs were were downrigging with.

 

Once we began slabbing vertically, we began routinely getting into 2 year class fish like this on caught by Gustavo.

The slabbing got pretty intense from 7:15 to about 8:45.  During this time we routinely had 2 or 3 of the 4 rods bent at the same time, and Jose came up with two fish caught on his slab at the same time.

Jonathan and his wife were hosting Jose who traveled in for a visit from Puerto Rico where he regularly fishes in the Caribbean for a variety of saltwater species.

The pre-dawn minutes were calm, but as soon as the sun rose a light ripple formed on the water which steadily increased up to about 10 mph by the end of the trip.  We downrigged until the sun brightened enough to begin to fuel a topwater bite, then used topwater feeding fish as our visual cue as to where to begin searching for white bass stacked up on bottom.  The downrigging got us an even dozen fish in the first 50 minutes of effort before we began slabbing.

Around 7:15a, I spotted an osprey acting “fishy”, in that it kept patrolling over the same small patch of water, occasionally erratically dipping down as ospreys do when they spot fish.  I moved in closer for a look and found that small largemouth bass were feeding lightly on young of the year shad at the surface.  The light chop hid this because the bass were not chasing very aggressively.

For the next 2 full hours we stayed in a 50 yard radius making 3 “short hops” and landed primarily 1 and 2 year class white bass with a few drum mixed in, all on a white 3/4 oz. slab with a Hazy Eye Stinger hook affixed to the line tie.  We added 83 fish to the dozen we’d landed on the downriggers, thus putting our tally at 95 fish by 9:15am.

At this time, things got tough.  The topwater bite died and the sonar showed the white bass along the bottom lost interest.  We motored and checked a number of areas in a variety of depths before encountering what would be the last group of fish we’d find for the morning on a broad, sloping, wind-blown bank.  Again, a mix of white bass and drum allowed for another 8 fish to be landed with several more lost.

We wrapped up the trip back at the boat ramp where I did a quick ‘demo’ of how to set up and use a bream pole.  Heysel landed 3 sunfish in short order and we then called it a day with 108 fish landed for our efforts.

TALLY: 108 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:25am

End Time: 10:40am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 81F

Water Surface Temp: 85.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW breeze under 10 mph the entire trip

Sky Conditions: Grey cloud bank in the east, but otherwise, <5% clouds

Water Level: 0.28 feet high and steady with only evaporative losses; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 10

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 087-1951 along the break with balls set at 24′ and 26′

**Area 1960 for two hours of slabbing with 3 short hops in this same vicinity

**Area 1958-462 – centered between these two areas in 37′; final slab bite of the morning

**Area 456 – quick sunfish demo for 3 fish on slipfloats

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This morning, Thursday, July 13th, I fished with Mr. Alan Payne of Salado and two of his four grandkids — 14-year-old Trip Mitchell and 12-year-old Zeke Payne.

The very first fish of the day was this record-setting spotted bass landed by Zeke on a downrigged umbrella rig equipped with Pet Spoons.

We found nice white bass on bottom; Trip shows one of the 3 year old fish he landed.

We found nice largemouth on top; Zeke shows a plump largemouth we found chasing shad in open water.

Several times during the trip we had a 3-way hookup with everyone landing a fish at the same time.

I’ve been off the water since last Friday after celebrating my 22nd wedding anniversary on Saturday, heading to church and resting on Sunday, and helping at our church’s Vacation Bible School each morning this week.

I felt a bit out of touch with things since I’d been fishing nearly every day except Sunday for the last 3-4 weeks and had been really keeping my finger on the pulse of the fish and bait movements as a result of doing so.

There was no need for concern, however, as the very stable weather kept the fish doing the same things in the same places and at the same times as they were before my break in the action, so, this morning we got right down to catching.

The first hour (spent downrigging) was a bit slow as the light level varied back and forth due to a direct sunrise which was then obscured by a low bank of clouds in the east.  The winds at sunrise were calm and stayed low for the first hour until a lake-wide ripple began to develop with an increasing southerly breeze.

Our first fish, caught by Zeke, was a new Junior Angler category lake record spotted bass.  Some years ago the 14″ statewide length limit on spotted bass was dropped as these fish were found to rarely attain this length in Texas waters.  Zeke’s fish was 10.5 inches in length and weighed a quarter-pound.  Spotted bass are fairly easily distinguished from largemouth bass thanks to several rows of olive-flecked scales on their white belly and an oval-shaped, dark tooth back on the rear center of their tongue.

Things really got going right around 7:15 am when a mix of largemouth at and near the surface and white bass down beneath along bottom in many of the same areas.

With the energy the fish were putting forth feeding on young of the year shad, and with seeing how the fish presented in the water column as shown on sonar, I went with alternating between casting to surface-feeding fish and slabbing vertically for bottom-huggers, just depending on what sonar showed.

The fish fed hard right up until around 10:30, at which time the surface eruptions slowed to very infrequent and widely scattered and the bottom bite dried up.  The boys had read accounts of 100+ fish days on my blog in the days leading up to their trip this morning and were elated that their own trip was now in the logs as one of those adventures surpassing the century mark.

TALLY: 153 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time: 10:40am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Water Surface Temp: 84.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: S. breeze under 6mph the entire trip

Sky Conditions: <5% clouds

Water Level: 0.30 feet high and steady with only evaporative losses; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 5

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1310 – ground zero of a 150 yard radius of long-lived largemouth action on top and white bass action on bottom

**Area 1960 – exact location of large white bass school we smoked slabs for at mid morning

**Area 1961 – exact location of large white bass school we smoked slabs for at trip’s end

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Friday morning, July 7th, I fished a multi species trip on Stillhouse with high school buddies Rob Borland, Alex Araiza, and John Wade.

From left: John Wade, Alex Araiza, and Rob Borland — high school buddies from Belton who came together for a little “fishing reunion” (and breakfast burritos).

All three fellows went to Belton high school together. Rob is a US Army veteran now working as a truck driver for McLane’s in Temple, Alex is a CT tech at a hospital in New Mexico, and John is a local UPS driver servicing the Copperas Cove area.

Rob first got the idea to bring these fellows out after a friend of his, Daniel Gonzalez brought him out recently when Daniel came in for a visit from Reno, Nevada.

On Rob and Daniel’s trip, we landed 109 fish, so, Rob’s expectations were pretty high for this morning’s trip.

Fortunately, we had stable weather overnight and into this morning, and although the fish did not go gangbusters, there was a solid three hour feed this morning.

We started with downriggers off of a main lake point with balls set between 28 and 32 feet for fish suspended just lower than that. In an hour’s worth of downrigging we picked up 20 fish including singles, doubles, and triples on three-armed umbrella rigs equipped with small Pet Spoons selected to match the young of the year shad.

When it became apparent that the downrigger bite was fading, I moved us to deeper, clearer water and searched from 38 to 62 feet attempting to find heavily congregated, bottom hugging white bass for us to hover over top of and slab for.

Some natural sign that I observed got me in the right vicinity of such white bass, and sonar helped to seal the deal.

Sitting atop one area we were able to put 87 fish in the boat over the next two hours.

Our catch included primarily white bass in the one, two, and three year classes, as well as a few largemouth up to 3 pounds and several drum right around a foot long.

The last hour from 9:15 to 10:15 looked like it was going to slow down when this area that gave up 87 fish tapered off on us.

However, by moving back to an area I had previously searched and found only inactive fish at earlier in the morning, we were able to put a final 29 fish in the boat as this population perked up after we left it behind to pursue more aggressive fish.

By 10:25, the fishing had run its course and, with 137 fish landed, the fellows headed off to indulge in some breakfast burritos from Ernie’s Chicken over in Belton.

Because he landed the 100th fish and won the bet on who would nab that one, John would be treated to a free “Fat Ernie” — a burrito about the diameter of a man’s forearm –by his buddies.

TALLY: 137 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15am

End Time: 10:15am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 79F

Water Surface Temp: 84.9F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW breeze under 12mph until the last 90 minutes when it increased to SSW13-14

Sky Conditions: <10% clouds under all wind directiosn

Water Level: 0.34 feet high and steady; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1498 thru 175 for 20 fish on downriggers under low light

**Area vic 1430 deep slabbing for heavily schooled bottom-hugging whites – 87 fish caught here

**Area 1959 deep slabbing for heavily schooled bottom-hugging whites — 30 fish caught here

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Independence Day I fished with the children of two U.S. Army officers, Victor and Ada Cotto, both currently stationed at Ft. Hood.  Ada, an engineer officer, first heard of me through a Facebook post about the SKIFF program I operate for military kids.

 

While vertical jigging over a school of white bass in 32 feet of water, Gabby found this nice largemouth lurking in the midst of them.

After moving to deeper, clearer water once the sun came out and shone brightly, we got into a “mess” of white bass.  This 3-year class fish took AJ for a bit of a ride before coming into the boat.

AJ, age 11, had only a little prior fishing experience, and Gabby, age 9, had none.  So, Priority #1 was to get Gabby’s first fish of her life in the boat.

Thanks to some overnight storms that moved from W to E, we had to push this trip back 1 hour to a start time of 7:15am.  Because of the thick, grey cloud cover of the storms, the light level at 7:15 was similar to that at 6:15 on a clear morning, so, we didn’t lose the opportunity at the early, low-light bite.  However, with the end of our trip now at around 11:15 instead of 10:15, I did note that the deepwater white bass bite cut off around 10am – the same time it had been ending on days with more normal weather conditions.

Ada and Victor chose just to sit back and watch the kids fish on today’s trip.  We started off the trip downrigging for suspended white bass holding up high in the water column.  Within minutes, both kids’ rods were jerking under the weight and struggle of white bass.  The downrigging continued for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and did well until the direct sun hit the water.  When that occurred, the downrigging shut down on us with our fish count at 22.

Next, I hit a number of deepwater areas from 35 to 49 feet deep after seeing white bass on or near bottom in loose congregations at each area.  We picked up a few fish at each area, but really hit the nail on the head at Areas 1957and 1430.  These two areas produced 70 fish, taking our tally to 92 fish.

We invested the last 40 minutes in pursuit of sunfish up in hydrilla-filled shallow water.  The kids caught on to this very quickly and landed another 18 fish, finishing our day up at 110 fish landed.

TALLY: 110 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15am

End Time: 11:30am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp: 83.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: NE8 immediately following the storm’s passage, then shifting to S13 as the skies cleared

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover as storms cleared, clearing to <10% clouds by trip’s end

Water Level: 0.36 feet high and steady; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 176-1951 early downrigging

**Area 1957 & 1430 – solid, prolonged bite producing 70 fish

**Area 231 – 18 sunfish

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Monday evening, July 3rd, I fished with Jordan Miller, his wife Kathleen, and a friend of the family, Sam Garrell.  All were camped out at Union Grove for the long Independence Day weekend.

From left: Jordan Miller, Kathleen Miller, and Sam Garrell with a sampling of the 202 fish they landed the evening of July 3rd.

Jordan’s parents, Mike and Luanne Miller of Harker Heights, were on grandbaby duty, thus giving Jordan and Kathleen a few hours to themselves.

Because of the heat and how the afternoon bite has been trending, we decided to scale back on the normal four hour trip, and launched at 6 PM instead of the normal 4:45 PM start.

Fishing was really on this evening. We drove directly to deepwater white bass holding in the lower 4 feet of the water column in about 46 feet of water and, from the first slab we dropped and until we reeled the last slab in at around 8:15, the fishing was nonstop for white bass in the one, two, and three year classes, with a few largemouth bass and drum thrown in. Over this span of time, we put exactly 186 fish in the boat.

Around 8:15, as the shadows began to lengthen and the air started to cool, these deepwater fish turned off as the light dimmed at that depth. We made a clean break from this area and moved back into 28 to 35 foot water and downrigged with a pair of ‘riggers, both equipped with three armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons. My hope was that we could put a final 14 fish in the boat in order to make it a 200 fish night.

As I scanned the area I intended to downrig with sonar upon our arrival, I liked what I saw. Multiple 20-30 fish schools of white bass were holding at around 21 to 27 feet, up about 7 to 10 feet off of bottom.

I showed everyone how to rig up the downriggers and we got baits in the water.

During our final 30 minutes on the water, we picked up singles, doubles, and one triple, and finished up the evening at exactly 8:46 PM with 202 fish boated.

TALLY: 202 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:00p

End Time: 8:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 97F

Water Surface Temp: 87.5F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-11

Sky Conditions: 10% clouds on a fair sky

Water Level: 0.38 feet high and steady; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 933/878 – 186 fish on smoked slabs in a prolonged feed

**Area 176 – downrigging for singles, doubles, and a triple for a total of 16 fish in the final 25 minutes before dark

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

 

 

This past Monday morning, July 3, I fished with the Rivera family of Salado.

 

Jana and Andrew landed this pair of 2-year class white bass within seconds of one another.

 

Samuel kept quiet, stayed focused, and was the most consistent angler of the family today with quiet intensity working for him.

That grin says it all!

Mr. Richard Rivera is a cabinet maker who now serves as stay-at-home dad to his two boys, Samuel, age 15, and Andrew, age 10. Jana Rivera is an anesthesiologist working at Baylor Scott and White. The boys are home schooled and are also a part of the Providence Academy in Belton.

The family had been on one previous fishing trip – – an Alaskan salmon fishing trip some time ago. So, fishing warm water and locally was a new experience for them. We met at 6:15 AM and, after adjusting equipment to their preferences and a word of prayer, we launched out in search of fish.

We got our first hookup on downrigger number one before downrigger number two ever got sent down to depth. During our first 90 minutes on the water we landed singles and doubles and tallied a catch of 32 fish before the lowlight bite broke down, sending us looking elsewhere.

I headed deeper at this point and begin searching for large congregations of white bass in 40 to 60 feet of water. We stopped five different times over five different loose congregations of fish before finding a group that was really fired up and ready to feed. At each of the stops we picked up at least a drum and perhaps one or two white bass, but the fish never really got excited, even when hooked fish were being reeled up.

At our last location, in 48 feet of water, we put exactly 85 fish in the boat in our last 2 1/2 hours on the water, taking our tally up to 123 fish for the morning. All of these fish from deepwater came on a Redneck Fish’n’  Jigs Model 180 slab, in white, three-quarter ounce, and retrofitted with a Hazy Eye Stinger hook.

TALLY: 123 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp: 83.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE9 at trip’s start, tapering up to SSE11-14

Sky Conditions: 10% clouds on a fair sky following the passage of morning storm cells

Water Level: 0.38 feet high and steady; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 799 downrigging early for 32 fish

**Area 879 slabbing for 91 fish

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Saturday afternoon I fished a four hour afternoon trip on Stillhouse with Drew Gresham, his four-year-old so, Wynn, a client of Drew’s, Harris Rose, and Harris’ eight-year-old son, Ethan.

 

Drew and Wynn with one of the many white bass we tracked down this morning.  Wynn was enthusiastic about every single fish we caught over a full four hours.  I’ve never seen a kid that young stay so excited about one thing for that length of time.

 

Harris and Ethan with a “schoolie” largemouth.  Largemouth regularly show up mixed in with white bass when both species hunt young-of-the-year shad in the heat of the summer .

I was a bit reluctant to even book this trip given the forecast heat and the age of these two boys, but didn’t have a morning opening anytime in the next three weeks to offer as an alternative, and, with an assurance from Drew that his son could hang with us the whole time, we went ahead and scheduled the outing.

Both men let me know that as long as the boys were having fun, they, too, would be having fun and so I was free to focus on the boys.

In the interest of “instant gratification” so as to keep the boys attention, I went shallow for sunfish right off the bat and, in under an hour’s time, enabled the kids, aided by their fathers, to put 32 sunfish in the boat including bluegill, longear, and green sunfish.

Chapter 2 of our four-part trip involved downrigging over a mid-depth breakline that topped out around 34 feet. This downrigging allowed us to cover a good bit of water and catch fish while at the same time continue watching sonar for heavy concentrations of bottom oriented fish that could be jigged for. Although many people don’t think of downrigging as engaging, I choose to teach my clients to set up their own rigs, so the process of getting baits down to the fish is very hands-on. So, both father and son teams worked well together and we put a steady stream of fish over the side of the boat including singles and doubles until I was able to find fish we could jig for.

This opened the third chapter of our trip – – working slabs vertically for heavily congregated white bass. This was by far the most productive of all of our attempts this afternoon. I do believe that the unstable weather of the morning which put the bite off significantly, caused the fish to feed more heavily than normal this evening. We sat in one boat sized area and kept the fish jazzed for nearly 2 hours and put almost 100 fish in the boat from this area alone.

When this bite began to soften about an hour before sunrise, we downrigged for a few more fish in this vicinity and then moved to our final location to downrig once again in water about 35 feet deep with balls set around 24 feet deep.

We finished the trip with 156 fish landed. Both dads said that the variety of techniques was just right for their sons.

 

TALLY: 156 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:45p

End Time: 8:45p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 94F

Water Surface Temp: 85.7F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE14 at trip’s start, tapering down to SSE10 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 10% clouds on a fair sky following the passage of morning storm cells

Water Level: 0.35 feet high and slowly falling thanks to evaporation; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 120

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 176, Area 649, and Area 1564 – downrigging under murky skies with a slow, steady bite in the first 90 minutes

**Area 915, 921, and 915/889 – slabbing in deep water for bottom-hugging whites

**Area 534 and 189 – sunfish on slipfloats

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Saturday morning I fished on Stillhouse with Lieutenant Colonel David Bowers, his four year old son, Kayden, and family friend, Trent Tate.

 

From left: David, Kayden, and Trent with a pair of 3-year class white bass that fell for our slabs from out of deep water at mid-morning before incoming storms dampened the bite.

 

Largemouth are routinely mixed in with deeply schooled white bass all year.  This summer the size of those largemouth has been much improved over the smaller, 12-14 inch “schoolies” typically encountered in such scenarios.

 

David just moved from Ft. Bragg, NC, to Georgetown, TX, where he’ll commute to Ft. Hood after just taking command of an intelligence battalion.  Beyond catching fish, one of David’s intentions was to understand the tactics required for our local waters, given that Stillhouse and Lake Georgetown fish very similarly.

The fishing was a bit lower key this morning then during this past week, thanks to unstable weather. The entire morning oscillated between cloudy and bright, dry and rainy, calm and windy.

Under low light conditions, with the sunrise only slightly obscured by haze, we experienced a short, but strong bite on the downriggers, working them for suspended fish in 22 to 27 feet of water over a deeper bottom. Even during this lowlight time, things were a bit more subdued, as I only found fish holding in groups of threes or fours, not big schools roaming all over the place as they had been earlier in the week in this first locale we fished in this morning.

We moved to a second, then a third area and continued downrigging, with slow, limited success.

By around 8:30, and with 14 fish landed, we made a big move into deeper, clearer water, as I began to seek out congregations of bottom hugging white bass in deep water holding on irregularities in the bottom, in hopes of working slabs over these fish.

After enjoying only limited success in the first three areas we stopped at, we finally got into a group of fish that remained under the boat for quite some time and bit readily. We put exactly 30 fish in the boat taking our tally up to 44. A rainshower moved in from the southwest on a windshift and killed the bite for a while, but, the fishing bounced back as the weather cleared and we were able to put a final seven gamefish in the boat before wrapping up by taking Kayden up shallow to enjoy some sunfish action.

Using a slip float in worm, Kayden managed a bream pole very well for a four-year-old and put seven sunfish in the boat in short order. With another, stronger cell of weather headed our way as indicated by weather radar, we decided it was a good time to call it quits right at the 4.25 hour mark.

We ended the trip with 58 fish.  This was the first trip of the last seven that did not produce at least 100 fish, underscoring the impact that stable versus unstable weather has on the fishing. Fortunately, the forecast for the week of July 3^rd-8^th looks like stable, “cookie-cutter” weather which should see fishing bounce back again.

TALLY: 58 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp: 83.3F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds varied in speed and direction this morning with some instability in the wx.  We began with SE winds at under 9, saw a swing through to the S with an increase to 12, then a wild swing through the west, then NW with winds at 13-14 on the lead edge of two storm cells that passed through in rapid succession

Sky Conditions: 100% cloudy conditions, with murky skies in the first 90 minutes hampering the bite.

Water Level: 0.35 feet high and slowly falling thanks to evaporation; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 176, Area 649, and Area 1564 – downrigging under murky skies with a slow, steady bite in the first 90 minutes

**Area 915, 921, and 915/889 – slabbing in deep water for bottom-hugging whites

**Area 534 and 189 – sunfish on slipfloats

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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

This past Friday morning I fished with Jerry Morgan and his son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Holly Morgan.

 

From left: Chris, Jerry, and Holly Morgan with a sampling of the deepwater white bass we found in ~56 feet of water slowly combing over bottom with sonar.

 

Holly landed a triple early in the game — catching 3 fish on each of the Pet Spoons on a 3-armed umbrella rig.

Chris landed a multi-species double by catching a largemouth bass on the treble hook of a slab and a white bass on the Hazy Eye Stinger hook I retrofit all of my slabs with.

Jerry landed the big fish of the trip — a 3.3 pound largemouth which hit his 3/4 oz slab.  We lost several like this one right at the boat as they rose quickly from the depths and did the characteristic “largemouth head shake” right at the surface.

Jerry worked in the grocery business most of his career and then, for the last ten years before retiring, taught high school students at Shoemaker High School in Killeen. Chris is the offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons and graduated from Killeen High School.  He met Holly during his college years.  They have twin 4-year old boys and an 8 year-old daughter.

I was a bit concerned about how today’s trip would pan out because, for the last several days, much of our success came on fish feeding on young-of-the year shad at the surface.  Today’s high winds were not going to allow for spotting such activity if it even developed.

As we got going, we began downrigging in the same vicinity that has produced fish all week in the opening hour of the trip.  Today, the action was just as strong as before, but, as the skies brightened, the time at which top water feeding began on Monday through Thursday saw a downturn in action today.  We enjoyed a brief spurt of action using slabs in a vertical presentation, but after that dried up, the entire area went quiet.

We went about 45 minutes without fish from about 7:45a to 8:30a before I moved us to the most wind-exposed area I could find, hoping the moving water would have some deepwater fish stirred up.

With just a little bit of sonar effort, we found what we were looking for.  Atop Area 1956 we put over 100 fish in the boat over a 2 hour span, including 1, 2, and 3 year old white bass,  largemouth up to 3.3 pounds, and even a few freshwater drum for variety’s sake.

TALLY: 133 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:15a

End Time: 10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F

Water Surface Temp: 83.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSW winds at 13 at trip’s start, building to SSW18 by trip’s end

Sky Conditions: 100% cloudy conditions slowly cleared to 50% clouds by trip’s end

Water Level: 0.35 feet high and stable; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 85

Wx SNAPSHOT:

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1043-1908-1951 – downrigging under low light conditions for aggressive, suspended white bass, yielding singles, doubles, triples on Pet Spoons; 32 fish

**Area 1956 – 2 hours’ worth of slabbing for 101 fish; mixed back of whites, blacks, drum

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

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