33 teams fished, 9 teams weighed in and 6 places were paid.
Faith Angler Network debuted their Central Texas team trail on Stillhouse Hollow January 30th. Historically known as a lake full of hydrilla and big fish, Stillhouse has recently struggled to produce big sacks or numbers of fish due to the drastic decline of grass and heavy angling pressure. In the last few tournaments, limits have been scarce and catching a keeper or two is considered an accomplishment!
Every angler knew this going into the tournament, but what they hadn’t planned for were inclement weather and rising water from heavy rainfall earlier in the week making the conditions even worse. Below freezing temperatures, constant winds blowing 15-20 mph and rapidly rising water tested the resolve of 33 teams on Saturday.
Throughout the day most teams struggled to find active fish; anglers threw everything they had, including the proverbial kitchen sink, in order to get bit. Although the southern end of the lake remained clearer than expected, the areas from Dana Peak Park up towards the river were nearly unfishable as the usually clear to slightly stained water was quickly replaced with chocolate milk and mud lines. How can you tell a lake is fishing tough? When half the field resorts to strolling a Carolina rig or drop shot. Stillhouse was a sea of lost boats aimlessly dragging plastic praying for a bite! However, a few teams did find some fish and the ones that were able to adapt or stumble into a bite cashed in.
TTZ spoke with Tim Dixon of the winning team. He and partner Kenneth Cummins had confidence in one area after prefishing last week, a ditch that ran to the back of a pocket. The area was shallow but close to deep water and both anglers practiced out of their own boats looking for a pattern. Kenneth caught the only fish that day; it was a good one at four pounds and really told the pair where they needed to focus. It ended up being their winning water on Saturday.
Although they decided after practice to commit to that one area, the torrential rains came and the lake rose a staggering 7 feet overnight! This would shake anyone’s confidence, and the team of Dixon and Cummins knew it was going to be tough; but they also knew it would be tough for everybody. They put their heads down and started in the back of their pocket. Tim remembers his thoughts as they pulled up to the area they had fished just a week before.
“With all the new water, it looked completely different. I said, ‘Man…where the heck are we!’”
Early on Kenneth had a nice fish roll on his Senko, but he was unable to connect. This gave them confidence in their water so they slowed down and worked it thoroughly. They both started the day throwing Senkos and Tim hooked one about 1.5 pounds around 8:00 in the morning. After a few more hours with no success they decided to let the area cool off. After checking another area and coming up empty, the team came back determined to live or die in their original water. They arrived back around noon, when Cummins made a challenge to Dixon.
“I’ll tell you what Tim, how ‘bout I catch one, then you catch one.” True to his end of the bargain, Kenneth hit a three pounder not four casts after his proposal. Not to be outdone, Dixon stuck the biggest fish of their day (3.98 pounds) just 10 minutes later in a tree with a jig. The fish ended up taking second place Big Bass honors for the duo.
It was tough obviously, and the team managed just four bites all day long (including the missed fish on the Senko early that morning). Their productive baits were the Senko and the jig. As Dixon told us, it’s not to say they didn’t try anything else.
“We threw a lot of other stuff to no avail…even Baby Fries to 10 inch worms on a C-rig! The most productive water was in six and a half feet, which was technically the old shoreline!”
We got some closing comments from Tim,
“Jeff and the FAN crew do a great job…and a special thanks to the guy who brought the coffee to the livewell check!”
We also spoke with Texas Boat World team member Jeff Pitrucha. He and partner Ronnie Trower took third with a bag weighing 5.08 pounds. Jeff really put into words how tough Stillhouse has been,
“I’ve made $1,000 in January on this lake, and still haven’t caught 10 pounds!”
The wind was howling early on, so the team started out fishing two to three spots on the north bank. Their small keeper came early on a C-rig here, along with several shorts.
After the wind settled a bit, they spent the rest of the day on a main lake river ledge in 40 to 52 feet of water. Here they proceeded to catch the remainder of the 29 fish they caught all day to get to their two keepers. Their second keeper, 3.74 pounds, was caught on this deep ledge with a Baby Brush Hog in watermelon red on the C-rig. Although the rig produced the right bites, they caught most of their fish on the drop shot with a Zoom 4″ green pumpkin Meat Head worm.
Jeff would like to thank his sponsors Triton Boats, Texas Boat World, Abu Garcia, Fenwick Rods and Berkley.
Of the nine teams that brought fish to the scales, seven of those teams weighed only one fish, but one fish is sometimes all it takes. We caught up with our old friend Travis Jones Jr. and his brother Jason at the weigh-in. Travis reported the team had struggled like the rest of the field all day. Towards the end of the tournament they decided to fish one slip in the marina…and it payed off. With less than 10 minutes before the cut-off time Jason caught a nice keeper throwing a finesse worm on a shaky head.
“We were way in the back fishing a slip that sat in 20′ and the others around it were in 40. After Jason caught that fish we had to book it out of there!”
Since most of the area surrounding the marina is a no wake zone they weren’t sure if they would make it back on time. But their timing was perfect and luckily for them the brothers had just upgraded their motor from a 90 hp to a 120 hp! Their one 2.32 pound keeper caught in the last 10 minutes of the tournament earned them the sixth and final place check. How’s that for “Never give up!!!”
Congratulations to all the teams that cut a check and to the ones that managed to bring in a fish under these tough conditions. Here are the remaining teams that finished in the money:
Jeff and the FAN crew run one of the best trails in town. They provide anglers with a live leader board during the weigh-in while their professionalism and courtesy set the tone for other trails to follow.
Looking at the results you’d expect nothing but frustration at the weigh-in; how can anyone have fun when the number of teams (33) eclipses the total amount of fish weighed at 31.87 pounds? Despite the brutal conditions everyone was all smiles and had a great time at FAN’s season opener; and with one small keeper even TTZ team members Taylor and Nuyen came in happy.
When asked how they caught their fish Dan summed it up best, “When the fishing gets tough, the tough lay down on the front deck and stroll!”
After a long and tough day on the water it’s nice to come back to such a genuine group of people. If you love to compete, want to fish a well run tournament trail where the director and staff make it a point to know you on a first name basis and would like a chance at winning a new BassCat then consider fishing FAN.
FAN’s next event will be February 27 on Lake Buchanan. You may register online or print an entry form here. For more information about Faith Angler Network please visit faithanglernetwork.com. Hope to see everyone on Buch!
In the meantime, if anyone sees Charles Whited please tell him his Choke Canyon Lodge boat is looking for him.
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