Fishing Tailored Just for Kids – 58 Fish
CLIENTS: On Wednesday afternoon, May 20, I welcomed aboard first-time guests Travis Adams and his seven-year-old son, Truman, for a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip focused solely on Truman’s success.
ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS: Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($215 for up to 2 kids vs. $315 for up to 2 adults; and more can be added), and typically go a maximum of 3.5 hours versus 4-plus hours for standard trips. On these trips, licensed adults who desire to do so often help me help the kids be successful by baiting hooks, untangling lines, resetting our downrigger spreads, etc. so the kids’ efforts are maximized, but, the adults do not fish.
TODAY’S DATE: 20 May 2026 (PM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 15-17 June 2026 (AM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Truman Adams, age 7, focused on doing a few things well and consistently this evening to land sunfish (42), largemouth bass (1), and white bass (13), as his dad stood by to help every step along the way.
PHOTO CAPTION: Doing what it takes to catch white bass consistently (reeling smoothly, reeling at the right speed, and continuing to reel when chased) is tough for all of my first-timers, but, even at age 7, Truman landed several white bass on his own doing these several things well.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
This trip was originally scheduled for the morning, but, we had an uncertain rain situation, a cool east wind, and abundant cloud cover at that time. Knowing most of the fish young Truman would likely catch would be sunfish, I opted to have him aboard in the afternoon after some warming and brightening of the air and water would bring more of these very catchable fish into the shallows.
As we got going, we alternated between sunfishing and fishing for white bass, going with shallow sunfish right off the bat. I use a very simple, very effective sunfish setup incorporating a telescoping bream rod and small live bait presented under a sensitive float to tempt these very willing fish into biting.
Truman really got the hang of things, especially concerning applying just the right amount of upward force to set the hook, early on and that served him well. He landed a mix of 27 sunfish of three different species at our very first stop.
We then went looking for white bass when we came upon some schooling, small largemouth bass. Realizing the casting required to catch these would be beyond Truman’s abilities, we left after landing just one to verify the species we suspected were present.
Next, I located a very reluctant school of white bass in 43 feet of water. Travis joined in at this point so he and I could hook fish and hand them off to Truman to reel in. This area produced two white bass on vertically presented MAL Dense Lures before I decided to move on.
It was now the brightest, hottest, and calmest period of the trip, so, I returned to shallow water to once again target sunfish now that Truman had a chance to reset. At this second sunfish area, Truman added another 14 sunfish and one additional species to his collection.
As the air began to cool down, some cloud cover developed in the west, and an easterly breeze rippled the surface, I felt we could close out the trip with some nice white bass.
From this point on, all three of us fished MAL Dense Lures vertically and landed a final 13 white bass, including two which Truman hooked and landed independently.
We wrapped up the trip with a total of 58 fish landed including 42 sunfish, 1 largemouth bass, and 15 white bass.
RESULTS: 58 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW WORK AN MAL LURE VERTICALLY:
OBSERVATIONS:
-USACE is running water through the Stillhouse Dam at a rate of 201 CFS.
-Terns (and a few laughing gulls) were helpful in locating topwater feeding schoolie largemouth this evening.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 19 May 2026, approx. 6:35AM…
0 feet 77.4F
5 feet 77.4F
10 feet 77.4F
15 feet 77.4F
20 feet 77.4F
25 feet 77.6F
30 feet 77.1F
35 feet 74.2F
40 feet 71.3F
45 feet 65.5F
50 feet 61.1F
55 feet 58.7F
60 feet 57.8F
65 feet 57.5F
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 20 April 2026, approx. 6:55AM…
0 feet 71F
5 feet 71.0F
10 feet 71.0F
15 feet71.0F
20 feet 71.0F
25 feet71.0F
30 feet 71.2F
35 feet 70.3F
40 feet 65.1F
45 feet 60.6F
50 feet 58.2F
55 feet57.4F
60 feet 56.7F
65 feet 56.5F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 4:15P
End Time: 8:00P
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.51′ high with a +0.80′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 201 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 77.4F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE0-4
Sky Condition: 0-20% white clouds on a blue sky all afternoon
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 21% illumination
GT = 105
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2468 – 27 sunfish on slipfloats
Area 1086- 1 largemouth on MAL Dense from out of topwater schoolies
Area vic 2295 – 2 fish on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail)
Area 231 – 15 sunfish on slipfloats
Area SH0300G – 1 white bass on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail)
Area vic 1114 – 12 white bass on MAL Dense Lures (silver body, chartreuse tail)
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: https://www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle