CLIENTS: This past Saturday morning I fished with three guests: Julissa Gomez, her brother, Johnathan, and Julissa’s boyfriend, Anthony Jones. Julissa first came out with me as the guest of Dr. Pat Lin of Symmetry Chiropractic in the Cedar Park area where she serves with the office staff. Julissa enjoyed the trip so much she gave Anthony a fishing gift certificate for Christmas.
Anthony, originally from North Dakota, is the foreman with a drywall company in the north Austin area and is a martial arts enthusiast. Johnathan is a senior in high school and enjoys playing soccer.
DATE: Saturday, 08 February 2025 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES: 10-12, 18-20 February (AMs or PMs)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Anthony Jones, and Julissa & Johnathan Gomez. Note the sky conditions in this photo compared to the sky conditions in the photo below.
PHOTO CAPTION: Fishing got off to a great start this morning with balmy overnight temperatures, grey cloud cover, and wind blowing before sunrise. My crew of three landed 44 fish in under 90 minutes before a weather change really put the fish off. During this great start, Johnathan landed two fish on one lure — one hooked on the treble and one hooked on the stinger.
PHOTO CAPTION: This is the white, 5/8 oz. slab which has produced so consistently since late November on Stillhouse. When it comes to fishing a slab in the winter, if you don’t have a stinger hook attached, you are missing fish which could otherwise be hooked and landed.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
This was the 8th and final day of an unusually long February warming trend which saw afternoon highs in the low 80 on several of those 8 days.
Things started very well thanks to balmy overnight temperatures, grey cloud cover, and wind blowing before sunrise getting both birds and fish in a mood to really gorge themselves. My crew caught fish at a very steady clip from 7:25 to 8:45, landing 44 fish during that span, all relying on the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to get the jog done on fish which were primarily tight to the bottom in under 30 feet of water.
Several times during this feed we observed fish regurgitating shad they had just recently eaten. Not surprisingly, one fishing buddy over on Lake Belton shared the same observation from his efforts during this same timeframe.
Then, the weather changed very abruptly and the fishing really tanked. Between 8:45 and 9:00, the winds increased sharply and the cloud cover completely dissipated. This allowed for very bright conditions to persist, and as they did, the fishing just got tougher and tougher. Bird activity and fish activity stopped in a matter of minutes. Later, some bird action resumed, but it was all driven by loons on bait with no gamefish in the equation.
After 9A, my crew added only 13 more fish to their tally, and these came just one at a time from two locations where we found suspended fish in deep water which half-heartedly responded to my thumper, swam under the boat, and presented an opportunity for a “slow-smoking” tactic to be applied.
Still, everyone had a good time, and Anthony, whom the trip was for, came away having learned some tactics he intends to use while fishing from his kayak and, eventually, from his “project” boat.
RESULTS: 57 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO DO “SLOW SMOKING”: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW TO SNAP-JIG: Click here for tutorial
TUTORIAL VIDEON ON HOW TO DO “EASING”: Click here for tutorial
LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We primarily used the white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slab to catch our fish this morning. Find all Hazy Eye Slabs here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS:
1) Water temperature has risen substantially this week (see comparison below)
2) Birds were witnessed in multiple locations and have definitely made upstream movement this week.
3) For the first time since November, the number of large, egg-laden females made up a lower percentage of our catch.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:00AM on Monday, 03 Feb. …
5 feet 51.7F
10 feet 51.6F
15 feet 51.4F
20 feet 51.3F
25 feet 51.3F
30 feet 50.9F
35 feet 50.8F
40 feet 50.5F
45 feet 50.0F
50 feet 49.5F
55 feet 49.0F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:15A
End Time: 11:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 67F
Elevation: 2.78′ low
Water Surface Temp: 56.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSW9-11 thru 8:45A, then ramping up to SSW15+ with higher gusts for the remainder of the morning
Sky Condition: Moderate, grey cloud cover for 90 minutes, quickly burning off as the wind ramped up around 8:45-9A
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 85% illumination.
GT = 0
Wx SNAPSHOT: N/A
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area vic 549 – 44 fish on slow-smoked white 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 106 – 5 fish on slow-smoked white 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 338 – 8 fish on slow-smoked white 5/8 oz. Hazy Eye Slabs
Bob Maindelle
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle