ABOARD THE BOAT TODAY:  This morning I was joined by returning guests Steve and Dave Weaver.  Steve is retired from law enforcement in Florida, and Dave is a Central Texas small animal veterinarian.

 

DATE: 17 May 2024 (AM)

 

NEXT OPEN DATES: Wednesday, 22 May (AM), and Friday, 21 June (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION: Brothers Steve (left) and Dave Weaver joined me to fish for white bass on a very flooded Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir.  The lake, which rose 3.86 feet overnight, is now 8.73 feet flooded and still rising slowly.  Their catch was made on MAL Dense Lures and MAL Heavy Lures.

 

PHOTO CAPTION: USACE has now closed the Stillhouse Park boat ramp, adjacent to the marina.

 

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

 

SUMMARY OF HOW I FISHED: We fished in the shrinking quantity of still semi-clear water on the lower end of Stillhouse in small clearings between the weeds which were growing on the land, and the inside edge of the hydrilla.  The lake rose 3.66 feet overnight. My crew fished MAL Dense Lures vertically with a smoking tactic first at each location, and, at our first location only, followed up with MAL Heavy Lures fished horizontally with a sawtooth method once the vertical bite cooled off.

 

 

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP:  We used the new MAL Dense with silver body (shown above) for vertical work, and the MAL Heavy with silver body and chartreuse tail for horizontal work today.  Find these lures at the Liberty Mart Exxon uphill from Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, or go here: https://whitebasstools.com/

 

TALLY: 101 fish caught and released (4 largemouth bass & 97 white bass)

 

OBSERVATIONS:

1) The lower third of Stillhouse was in “okay” shape today, but rose an additional 3.66 feet in the last 24 hours.

2) Much of the hydrilla has begun to droop in over 26′ and is now just in a tangled mat about 2-2.5′ thick.

3) Fishing in “clearings” between the hydrilla and the terrestrial vegetation on the windblown side produced consistently.

4) The splasher earned its keep today, drawing fish in from around the boat.

5) Best bite was from 8:30 – 10:00AM (starting a good hour later than yesterday’s bite, and not lasting as long).

6) The flooded vegetation has made finding fish using side-imaging very tough.  We had to drive over most fish today with DI and/or 2D to get a bead on their location.

7) Due to heavy flooding on the Brazos River’s main channel, no water is currently being released.

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE: 

 

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 11:30A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F

Elevation: 8.73 feet high and slowly rising, with NO release going on.

Water Surface Temp: 74.8F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: NNW6-7 for the first half of the morning, shifting ENE4-6 thereafter

Sky Condition: 50% white clouds on a light blue sky for the first half of the morning, clearing to bright and cloudless thereafter.

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 69% illumination.

GT = 55