WHO I FISHED WITH: On Tuesday morning, March 5th, I fished with long-time client Mr. Dwight Stone of Georgetown. Accompanying Dwight was his brother, Duane, and Duane’s adult son, Josh.

Dwight is a retired restaurateur, Duane is an retired Alaska State Trooper, and Josh works in maintenance at a large gold mining operation in Alaska.

Here is how the fishing went…

Next available dates are 28 March, 2, 4 April. (AMs)




PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Dwight, Duane, and Josh Stone with a nice collection of mature Stillhouse Hollow white bass plump and ready to spawn.




PHOTO CAPTION: Just throwing this in for fun!! No extra charge.


Find the Bladed Hazy Eye Slab here: https://whitebasstools.com/

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 05 March. 2024 (AM)

HOW WE FISHED:

The unseasonably warm stretch of weather in late Feb. which now continues into early Mar. has created a scenario with a full 12 degrees difference in water temperature from the surface (64.4F) to the bottom in 50′ (52.8F), and this has definitely impacted the fish and the fishing.

I’ve noted that the fish have vacated deep water (over 40′), they are now much more likely to be found suspended, and the large schools of fish we’ve had all winter are now splintering into much smaller schools.

This morning, I searched for shallow fish in under 20′ early while the light level was still low, and we found a nice school of fish tightly grouped in about 11′. We cast white, curl-tail grubs on 1/2 oz. jigheads to them and picked up 9 whites and 1 largemouth before these fish either moved on or lost interest.

Shallow fishing is very much hindered by the presence of hydrilla, so, we really had to pick and choose where we tried this.

As this shallow bite faded, the wind began to push WSW around 6 mph, so, we moved to deeper, clearer water and spent the remainder of the trip working white, 5/8 oz. Bladed Hazy Eye Slabs vertically for fish which were either suspended or bottom-oriented (we did not find an area where the fish were both suspended and bottom-oriented).

The majority of the fish we took in this deeper, clearer water came as my crew of three smoothly reeled their slabs right off the tips of the noses of suspended fish just before the fish passed by as seen on Garmin LiveScope.

TALLY: 54 fish caught and released

Here is a tutorial on the slow-smoking tactic we used… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIPopSLUYoQ



OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature measured in 5′ increments from the surface to the bottom in 50′ on the morning of 05 March…

0 feet, 64.4F
5 feet, 64.3F
10 feet, 63.5F
15 feet, 62.3F
20 feet, 61.2F
25 feet, 59.0F
30 feet, 57.2F
35 feet, 55.2F
40 feet, 53.9F
45 feet, 53.1F
50 feet, 52.8F


WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:15A

End Time: 12:15P

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F

Elevation: 16.84 feet low, 1 CFS flow

Water Surface Temp: 64.4F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WSW6-8 for the entire trip.

Sky Condition: Partial sun shining through ~40% cloud cover.

Moon Phase: Waning gibbous moon at 30% illumination.

GT = 30

Wx SNAPSHOT:   




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

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

Nice post and fish. Good job as always.

...