Stillhouse Lake and Lower Lampasas River Central Texas 16 April 22

[Donald Garner]

Greetings to everyone,

Yesterday my daughter, son and myself spent the afternoon on Stillhouse Lake and the Lower Lampasas River here in Belton, Texas.  We got the Stratos launched out of Stillhouse Lake Marina at noon and fished till 5:15pm.

Weather and Lake Conditions
Weather was partly sunny with the temps 72-87dgrs.
Lake conditions: Temps varied depending on your location > 69 - 72dgrs
The lake is clear to stain again depending on your location.  Reports say the lake is down 3.83ft but to me it looks a lot lower than that.

Fish caught and conditions and locations
We boated 6 Bass total > 1 Smallmouth: 16 inches long; 1 Largemouth: 16 inches long; And (4) short largemouths.  The last fish of the day caught was a White Bass.
2 of the largemouths were caught off the bluffs as was the 1 smallmouth.  The other short bass and the white bass were all caught up in the lower Lampasas River flat near Cedar Gap Landing and the long bridge.  The depth of water the fish were caught in ranged from 29ft at the bluff to 2.5ft up on the flat at the Lower Lampasas River.

To learn more about Stillhouse Lake just click on the link below.
Stillhouse Lake

Baits and Tackle Used during the trip
We used primary (3) baits to catch our fish during this trip.  Fishing the Bluff Area and Lampasas River Channel we used> Strike King Red Eye Shad Rattle Baits; Academy Wahoo Modified Spinnerbaits >> 3/8 White Shad Willow Leaf Spinnerbait; 3/8oz Crawfish Double Colorado Spinnerbait.  I found a deep diving Shad Rap looking crankbait I changed the hooks out and my daughter caught her big bass on it.


The Spinnerbait rods we used were Dobyns' FR734C Heavy Fast 7ft 3in Fury Casting rods.  The reels were ABU Garcia Revo S low profile 6.4:1 casting reels.  The line was Berkley Big Game Clear 20lb test.

The Crankbait rods were Bass Pro Shop Extreme 7ft (Med Action) Fast Casting Rods.  The reels were ABU Garcia ORRA Winch low profile 5.4:1 casting reels.  The line was Berkley Big Game Clear 12lb test.

Our 2 biggest bass of the trip my daughter and myself.



The UB Fishing Machine

2004 Stratos 285 PRO XL Dual Console; Yamaha 150 VMAX; Minnkota Foretrex 24volt foot control trolling motor; Electronics are Lowrance Hook 7 on the console and bow.

[Oldfart9999]

Looks like a very pleasant day made better by some fish.
Rodney

[coldfront]

GREAT report!  and looks like great times with family.  they just don't make enough of those for sure!
Don, that smallmouth in your photo:  spawning 'lit up' or was it possibly a guadalupe or brazos species?  real pretty fish!

[Donald Garner]

Looks like a very pleasant day made better by some fish.
Rodney

It was a real pleasant day for sure.  The bite was slow but we caught fish at every location we stopped at.

GREAT report!  and looks like great times with family.  they just don't make enough of those for sure!
Don, that smallmouth in your photo:  spawning 'lit up' or was it possibly a guadalupe or brazos species?  real pretty fish!

That bass had already spawned out.  Early in the year these Smallmouth are Green colored.  Later on during the year they'll turn a brownish color.  It's the same way over on Belton Lake too.