Hog Trap Delayed, Longjohns Required — 56 Fish
CLIENTS: On Tuesday morning, Jan. 20th, I fished with returning guest Justin Mrochek, a dentist working at a practice in the DFW area. Justin’s family has a ranch in the Gatesville area and, while on a few days off down in this part of Texas, decided to give winter white bassing a try. We were originally to be joined by Justin’s mom, dad, and uncle, but equipment delivery of an industrial-sized hog trap gone awry disrupted our plans at the last minute.
TODAY’S DATE: 20 January 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATE FOR FISHING: Tuesday, 27 January 2026 (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: Justin Mrocheck worked a 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab vertically with a slow-smoking tactic and occasionally pitched a white, curl-tail grub horizontally for a 56-fish catch on a cold, grey winter day on Stillhouse with no other company on the water. Many males were oozing milt.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
With the water now 54F from top to bottom, I’ve had to “retool” my rods with slabs which can be worked as slowly as the fish demand this time of year.
We fished for four hours and had helpful bird activity during the first three of those four hours. This was not a “white tornado” of birds, but, rather, a handful of gulls at each location patrolling over a distinctive span of water and occasionally dipping down to feed.
Once the gulls got us close, side-imaging did the rest. We’d use the i-Pilot Link feature to position atop the fish we found and then worked the 5/8 oz. white Bladed Hazy Eye Slab with stinger hook vertically using a slow-smoking tactic at whatever slow speed the fish required.
We used a splasher (fish showed a preference for this over the thumper today) and we relied on Garmin LiveScope to know when to zig and when to zag.
As is typical for wintertime fishing on Stillhouse, we had several largemouth bass in our catch this morning.
In our final hour, the birds no longer assisted, but we were still able to find and catch fish relying solely upon sonar.
RESULTS: 56 fish, all caught and released
TUTORIAL VIDEO ON HOW “SLOW SMOKE” A BLADED HAZY EYE SLAB VERTICALLY: Click here for tutorial
OBSERVATIONS:
-Water temps have dropped to 54F, necessitating the use of slabs once again.
-Birds were helpful in locating fish for the first 3 of 4 hours this morning.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 20 January 2026…
0 feet 54.7F
5 feet 54.8F
10 feet 54.8F
15 feet 54.8F
20 feet 54.9F
25 feet 54.8F
30 feet 55.3F
35 feet 54.8F
40 feet 54.8F
45 feet 54.7F
50 feet 54.7F
55 feet 54.5F
60 feet 54.7F
65 feet 54.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:30A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 33F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.81′ low with a -0.01′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 1 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 54.7F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: N2-4 all morning
Sky Condition: Light grey cloud coverage at 100% all morning
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 4% illumination.
GT = 50
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area vic 1960- 7 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & sawtoothed white grubs
Area 2346- 16 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & sawtoothed white grubs
Area 2015- 4 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 852 – 7 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 249 – 12 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs
Area vic 251 – 10 fish on slow-smoked & sawtoothed MAL Lures
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