CLIENTS: This morning, Friday, Dec. 27, I fished with a crew of North Dakotans — Joe Bartole (now living in Hutto), Rick Warhurst, and Dinarri Peltier.



DATE: Friday, 27 December 2024 (AM)

NEXT OPEN DATES: 3, 4, & 6 January (AM)






PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Joe Bartole, Dinarri Peltier, and Rick Warhurst with a sampling of their 189-fish catch which included white bass, largemouth bass, and freshwater drum, all taken on MAL Dense Lures with silver bodies and chartreuse tails.








PHOTO CAPTION: Most every wintertime trip to Stillhouse results in the catch of one or several quality largemouth bass. Today was no exception. This fish struck Rick’s bait as it rose through a school of white bass holding in about 38 feet of water.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

SUMMARY OF HOW WE FISHED:

Fishing on a dry, NW wind following yesterday’s cold front was about as close to a sure thing as there is in fishing. Indeed, fish bit well from start to finish today, making it more of a catching trip than a fishing trip.

Add to that the fact that all three of my crew had practical prior experience with vertical jigging for walleye on the Missouri River, and a good thing got even better.

We found our fish in 32 to 48 feet of water this morning, and at five locations, only one of which was indicated by birds.

If there was ever a good day to compare tactics on the traditional slabbing approach versus smoking with an MAL Lure, today was it. The one location where we found some birds drew other holiday anglers, as well. So, we were surrounded by boats jerking slabs up and down catching fish occasionally while it was all I could do to keep up with my three anglers as they reeled their lures away from the bottom and drew overtaking follows by predator fish including white bass and largemouth bass.

Just observing the basics of 1) the importance of getting the blade of their MAL Dense Lures spinning on every retrieve they make, 2) the importance of timing the rise of their lure to intersect with the forward swim path of suspended fish shown moving horizontally on the LiveScope screen, and 3) the importance of continuing to retrieve their lure at a constant rate once a fish begins chasing it, was really all that was necessary to keep these cooperative fish coming over the gunwale all morning.

Here is a tutorial on vertically smoking the MAL Lure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSvfXgrAUE

Here is a tutorial on horizontally “sawtoothing” with the MAL Lure or White Tornado: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC3FMEQHOMQ

RESULTS: 189 fish, all caught and released

LURES USED SUCCESSFULLY ON THIS TRIP: We used MAL Dense Lures (w/ chartreuse tails) for 100% of our catch today. Find all MAL Lures and White Tornados here: https://whitebasstools.com/

OBSERVATIONS:

1) Normal bell-shaped curve described this morning’s feeding activity with a solid 2.75 hours of catching in the middle of this 4-hour trip.



LATEST WATER TEMPERATURE PROFILE:

Here was the water temperature profile for Stillhouse Hollow, measured with a FishHawk TD device around 7:10 AM on Monday, 23 Dec …

0 feet 60.4F
5 feet 60.4F
10 feet 60.4F
15 feet 60.4F
20 feet 60.4F
25 feet 60.4F
30 feet 60.4F
35 feet 60.4F
40 feet 60.3F
45 feet 60.3F
50 feet 60.1F
55 feet 60.0F
60 feet 59.6F

WEATHER DATA:

Start Time: 7:35A

End Time: 11:40A

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 45F

Elevation: 2.18′ low (with a 0.02′ rise due to rain yesterday) with a 1 cfs flow

Water Surface Temp: 59.3F on the surface.

Wind Speed & Direction: WNW7-10 all morning

Sky Condition: 40% light grey clouds in the E. sky dissipated within 40 minutes leaving a light blue, cloudless sky the rest of the AM

Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 10% illumination.

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:





AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

Area 122 – 36 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 772 – 30 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area vic 645 – 12 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area 833/872 – 65 fish smoking MAL Dense Lures

Area SH0296G – 46 fish smoking MAL Dense 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

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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Nice post and fish.