Stillhouse: March The bite on Stillhouse is on fire right now. The water temp is between 55-57 degrees and the lake is about 5 foot low. I fished a tournament out there Sunday and had over 23 lbs and got 3rd and tied for big fish with a 9.65 that really gave my PG 104.5 a workout. It took over 34 lbs to win. Many fish are beginning to stage in 10-12 ft of water with some of the bigger females staging slightly deeper adjacent to those areas. Look for points and drains adjacent to spawning coves and begin fishing shallow to deep until you begin to connect with the fish. Once you establish a depth, you can fish that depth all over the lake and catch them. I had one day out there two weeks ago prefishing where I had around 34-37 lbs on a rattle trap as well. My biggest was around 9 lbs and my smallest was around 6 1/2 lbs. A cold front caused those fish to back off of the drain they were holding on, but they should be close to moving up again. I was fishing the trap on a PG-143 with 45 lb braided line.  Some of the baits I had tied on Sunday were a DD-22 in a shad color, fished on a PGC-170, a 1 oz Oldham's football head jig in a watermelon color with a craw trailer on a PG 104.5, a Texas rigged senko on a PG 104, and a Carolina rigged lizard or french fry on a PG 104.5. I'm fishing all baits with the exception of the crankbait and trap on 20 lb Seagur Abraz-X Flourocarbon.  Later in the month, when the water temp hits 60 I would look for the fish to make a move to the beds. Sight fishing can be tough on this lake because fish usually spawn too deep for you to see them. There are a few coves that can produce excellent sight fishing though, and if you can find one of those you can catch some really big fish towards the end of the month.  Tightlines Premium Fishing Tackle carries an excellent selection of line and fishing lures specifically for Stillhouse, so if you have a fishing trip scheduled I would suggest stopping by. If you have boat troubles while fishing here, make sure to stop by Marine Outlet in Temple, Rick is sure to get you running and back out on the water again. Here's hoping you catch your next giant bass on Stillhouse in the month of March! 

Adrian Barnes