I went out to stillhouse this morning and hit all of my usual spots but went without a getting a bite. Anyone have any spots reachable in a kayak in central texas that might be better with the water temps rising?

thanks,

jw

Stillhouse has been tough lately. I caught a two pounder on a shakey head near Cedar Gap Park, north of the ramp, last Sunday. I also lost about five jigheads and worms because of all of the submerged deadfall. Then I paddled over to the bridge and tried to fish close to the pylons, but the wind was blowing and I was just dragging my anchor, so I headed home. I am probably going to head out again this Sunday and launch at Union Grove or Rivers Bend. There is some deeper areas close to shore that may have some bass. I'll probably stick with a shakey head, but I'll probably also try dragging a Texas rigged worm along the bottom and fishing a lipless crank near the bottom in about 20 feet of water. I would head out tomorrow, but I think we are going to tube the river!

I fished union grove before because you can get out of a south wind there but never had any luck with bass. It seems like if i can find deep water out of the wind i have to compete with ski boats, and jet skis. I was thinking about trying Belton lake. It seems like they have more boat traffic than stillhouse but not sure about the fishing.

I have a buddy that has a private lake that i usually go to as a slump buster, even though i always catch fish it is kind of like kissing your sister, it just doesn't feel right.

jw

Despite all the churning that I'm seeing on top of the water everywhere I go around here it has been rough the past week or so. We had a catus fly hatch (or something hatched not sure exactly what it is) and right now that is all they are eating. No lure in my tackle box could tempt them so we went to big fat night crawlers and even minnows and still no dice. They got a taste for flies and that's all that is going on around here right now.

I went out to Ray Hubbard Sunday afternoon in the heat and caught 5 decent channels on my limb lines using frozen shad. My impression was that a mob of catfish swam through the area when some thundercells in the vicinity kicked up the wind. I forgot the first rule of survival in Texas in July - "Don't forget the beer." Some gentlemen traded me a Shiner for the rest of my shad when I left, but they would have probably freely contributed the hydration just to save my life. People can be really nice some times,

On our first yak fishing trip, we met up with TFFer Copperhead on the Brazos (he was gong out and we were coming in), and he graciously told us to help ourselves to one of his iced beers in the cooler of his truck parked at the put in. While still 'buzzing' from the high of a great yak fishing trip with my son and Shane Davies, Copperhead's graciously offered cold beer was truly icing on the cake, and a great way to cap a great day on the river.

To this day, I always load up a few extra beers in case I'm ever in a position to pay it forward.

what is this meaning of words "extra beers"?
lol

Yep!

I floated the Leon today from Belton Dam down to Heritage park and saw lots of bass but could only convince two into biting. I did manage to give in and whack a few perch under a small cork, but the bass were slow. It was a really nice float, i could recommend it to anyone looking for a half day float trip in central texas.

jw

Try the Colorado River near Webberville. Fish the shady pockets with topwaters or soft plastics on jigheads.

early mornings or later in the evening's yes

I did the 14 mile run on the Colorado from 969 bridge down to Bastrop yesterday. Caught 3 nice channels, 2 nice Guads and a
bunch of dinks. All on a white roostertail.

It was a little cooler that it has been, with a nice breeze, All in all it was a good day.

Early mornings and evenings are best times. Also the panfish (Gills) are in spawn and are fairly easy to catch. Look for shallow sand bars and gravel beds. Good luck.

I'm catching the biggest and best crappie over brushpiles in some of the worst heat of the day between 9 am and 1 pm.

The catfish bite has been best early morning.

I haven't been doing that great on either sandies or LMB lately but that's okay, because I've been stocking up the freezer nicely. In fact I'm eating a leftover crappie sandwich for breakfast from some fish I fried up last night because we had some out of town family over.

I have hit a few crappie mid day to early afternoon. Just when I am about to pack it in they start. I usually head back in medium well poached.

I am fishing columns a lot to hide in the shade of the bridges.


Phill