Simply Majestic – 45 Fish for the Study
CLIENTS: On Saturday morning, Feb. 21, I welcomed returning guest Wayne Winekauf aboard, accompanied by one of his sons-in-law, Jeff Thomas, and by Wayne’s neighbor, Steve Smith, both first-time guests. This morning’s efforts were earmarked to assist in the collection of white bass as part of the 13-month-long study of this species being conducted by Temple College.
We all had a good laugh when Jeff, sharing about a trip to the U.K., told of seeing a piece of artwork in which the subject looked nearly identical to himself. Jeff described the portrait as “majestic”. Taken a certain way, this could have sounded braggadocious. Seeing an opportunity for “payback” for some of Jeff’s prior needling, we decided to perceive it exactly that way, and proceeded to give him a hard time about it for the rest of the morning.
ABOUT THE WHITE BASS STUDY:
Through April of 2026, researchers will be measuring and weighing the white bass captured by my clients to establish a baseline of fish quality on both lakes. We have designated one sampling day per lake, per month through April of 2026. We will still be catching and releasing all fish once they are weighed and measured.
TODAY’S DATE: 21 February 2026 (AM)
NEXT OPEN DATES FOR FISHING: 24, 26 February and 02 March (AM or PM)
PHOTO CAPTION: From left, Wayne Winekauf, his son-in-law, “Majestic” Jeff Thomas, and Wayne’s neighbor, Steve Smith. Note the bulging abdomens of these fish — both males and females are ready to spawn soon.
FIND LURES HERE: https://whitebasstools.com/
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:
Wayne is a farm kid originally from eastern Iowa where he grew up on a working farm. In that part of the country, there is a mix of warm-water and cool-water species, so Wayne became proficient at angling from everything from pike to musky, from walleye to perch, and all of the species we commonly pursue here in Texas, and doing it in both open water and through the ice.
We had a bit of cloud cover in our first 45 minutes, but that quickly dissipated as a remnant north wind continued to blow following a cloudy cold front which blew in the day before. We wound up fishing in a hours-long window between Friday’s front and another, stronger, dry front which would sweep in after the noon hour.
Fishing was just okay this morning, still reflecting the great difference in water temperature in the top 15 feet of the water column (at or near 60F), versus the temperature at depths greater than that — now in the lower 50s.
With wind rippling the water, I kept us in under 30 feet of water this morning, knowing if I could find fish there, they would be active. At each location we fished (4 in all), we first began by working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs (with stinger hooks) vertically with a slow-smoking tactic. I set my onboard metronome to 85 beats per minute and had everyone retrieve their lures with one handle turn per beat at that cadence.
Once the fish lost interest in chasing upwards, we threw Mini White Bass A-Rigs to pick up additional fish by casting these horizontally to whichever side of the boat side-imaging revealed held more fish.
As the four hour mark came and went, these three fellows wound up with 42 white bass for inclusion in the study, as well as three other fish.
RESULTS: 45 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 come up and fish are definitely on the move to the spawning grounds, albeit in no big rush thanks, in part, to low flow in the Lampasas River – the river isn’t all that low, it’s just not flowing all that much with next to no release ongoing through the dam.
-Water temperature in the top 15 feet of the water column is at or near 60F, versus the temperature at depths greater than that still only in the lower 50s.
LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:
Taken on Stillhouse Hollow on 18 February 2026…
0 feet 60.3F
5 feet 60.3F
10 feet 59.6F
15 feet 59.0F
20 feet 58.6F
25 feet 57.5F
30 feet 56.6F
35 feet 54.8F
40 feet 53.1F
45 feet 52.5F
50 feet 52.5F
55 feet 52.3F
60 feet 52.3F
65 feet 52.3F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:55A
End Time: 11:15A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 48F
Elevation: Stillhouse is 1.80′ low with a -0.03′ change in the last 24 hours. USACE is releasing 1 CFS.
Water Surface Temp: 60.5F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: NW11-12 all morning
Sky Condition: Light grey cloud cover for 45 minutes, then clearing to pale blue and cloudless
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent moon at 21% illumination.
GT = 25
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH MOST SUCCESS:
Area 2960 – 13 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & Mini White Bass A-Rigs under a few birds
Area 798 – 8 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & Mini White Bass A-Rigs
Area vic 052 – 24 fish on slow-smoked 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs & Mini White Bass A-Rigs (2 hops)
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