Like Fishing’s Version of Bow Hunting — 70 Fish

CLIENTS: This morning I welcomed Chase and Steph Labenski aboard as chaperones to their three kids – Peyton (10), Emmie (7), and Parker, who turned 6 today.  This was a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip, so, the kids did all the fishing while mom and dad helped me make the kids successful.  Chase and Steph covered down on the two younger kids really well, and ten-year-old Peyton, who enjoyed her independence anyway, was able to operate on her own with just a bit of coaching from me, thus leaving me free to oversee everything, take fish off, rebait hooks, and untangle lines.

ABOUT “KIDS FISH, TOO!” TRIPS:  Kids Fish, Too! trips are intended just for the kids. They are considerably less expensive than standard trips ($195 for up to 2 kids vs. $295 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 themselves.

TODAY’S DATE: Friday, 08 August 2025 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING:  Thursday, 21 Aug. (AM) 

NEXT OPEN DATES FOR SONAR TRAINING: 30 August (AM)

 

PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Emmie, Chase, Peyton, Stephanie, and Parker Labenski with fistsful of sunfish the kids landed in shallow cover this morning — 70 fish in all.

 

FIND WHITE BASS/HYBRID LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Between August’s heat pouring on and the crazy mixing of water we’ve experienced with this rare July flooding, white bass fishing had become very, very difficult.  We spent just a short time hitting a few high percentage areas with downriggers under low-light conditions and, finding nothing to get excited about, devoted the lion’s share of this trip to the pursuit of sunfish up in shallow cover.

Conditions are excellent right now for this, as the lake us just under 1.5′ high, thus, the water is right up in the shoreline vegetation which was growing at the lake’s edge before the flooding.  This creates a great “edge” of brush which stops abruptly and has fish very concentrated right now.

We used finesse hooks, weights and balsa floats with poles and worm segments to routinely fool bluegill sunfish, green sunfish, longear sunfish, and young largemouth bass into biting to the tune of 70 fish by the time young Parker wore out around the three-hour mark.

I really like to show youngsters how to fish this way, as it is something which can be transferred directly to their own “home” waters, without the need for a boat, sonar, or an abundance of gear.  The fishing is close-in and intimate, like fishing’s version of bow hunting.

 

 

OBSERVATIONS: Stillhouse is now 1.69′ high with a 0.14′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 567 CFS.

 

 

LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:  Taken around 6:15AM, Friday, 08 August …

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 6:40A

End Time: 9:45A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Elevation: 1.69′ high with a 0.14′ fall in the last 24 hours with USACE releasing 567 CFS

Water Surface Temp: 87.2F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction:  S4-7 all morning

Sky Condition: 0% cloud cover on a hazy blue sky

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 100% illumination.

GT = 20

 

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

 

AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:

Area SH0121C – 37 panfish on bait

Area 1416 – 17 panfish on bait

Area SH0126C- 16 panfish on bait

 

 

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

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Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle