Fished a half-day evening trip tonight on Stillhouse with Aaron M. and Marlon B., both of Killeen. This was the first SKIFF Program trip that I’ve run. SKIFF stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. SKIFF trips are funded by donations both given by and collected by the members of the Austin Fly Fishers. AFF has commissioned me to take the children of soldiers deployed in harm’s way and the children of soldiers killed while on active duty on guided fishing trips. This was our first trip ever under this wonderful program, and it went great. Aaron is a 5th Grader and his dad is on his 2nd Iraqi deployment. Marlon is a 6th Grader and his dad is on his 3rd Iraqi deployment.

MARLON B. WITH 1 of 35 HE AND AARON BOATED TONIGHT

AARON M. WITH A NICE BASS

Start Time: 4:30p

End Time: 9:00p

Air Temp: 86F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~79F

Wind: Winds were light from the E at around 10-11 at the start of the trip, slowly slackening to around E at 5 following sunset .

Skies: Skies were bright and clear the entire morning.

We started off this trip with a little dockside angling for sunfish that we planned to use as bait later in the trip. I equipped the boys with poles and slip bobber rigs baited with the ample, large brown mayflies found everywhere today. In short order the boys boated 10 sunfish including bluegill, green sunfish, and redears (as well as a few blacktail shiners that we tossed back).

With the livewell now well stocked with bait, we set up on a nice E to W drift from Area 067 through Area 158 with the baits staying near bottom in 20-25 feet of water. I also brought a few black saltys just in case. We had a total of 6 strikes on our live baits and landed 2 fish. Both were nice, keeper largemouth that the boys were quite proud of (shown in photos above). We attempted a second drift, only drew one strike and did not capitalize on it. I could tell the boys were ready for a change of pace so we left the bait fishing behind, and headed out to look for some mid-depth or topwater action on artificials.

I spotted about 15 dark terns working over the vicinity of Area 242. Due to the increased exposure of this area to the E. wind, there was quite a chop, and the packs of largemouth driving shad to the surface (which in turn drew the terns) were very hard to spot and required long, accurate casts which were beyond the boys’ ability. So, we headed elsewhere to see what we could find.

Between Area 209 and 444, I began searching with sonar planning on running downriggers if anything showed. Not 6-7 minutes after arriving, slowing down, and watching sonar, my attention was drawn toward the W. bank by the sound of fish feeding on topwater. On closer inspection there were numerous small schools of both largemouth and white bass feeding on shad on topwater. I got the boys re-rigged with Cork Rigs and they went to town. We all caught fish for the next 35 minutes until it got too dark and the fish left the surface and settled down. Over this span of time we landed exactly 20 additional fish — roughly a 50/50 mix of whites and schoolie blacks. After the top went quiet, I let out two Reefrunner Ripshad 200’s and we slowly motored over 10-12 feet of water as I prepped the boat for travel back to the dock. We managed 3 more nice white bass on these crankbaits as we raced to meet our “back to mom curfew” of 9:15.

With 35 fish boated and darkness upon us, we called it a day. These two boys had never met one another before this trip, but left carrying on like best of friends about school, pets, sisters, and video games. I really enjoyed having these two well-mannered young men out on the water today.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released except the sunfish we used as bait

Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing

Fished a half-day morning trip this morning on Stillhouse with Ken C., and his adult nephew, B.J., from Maryland. Neither fellow had fished extensively, so we kept it simple with a blend of topwater sight-casting and downrigging as sonar revealed that approach would be successful.

KEN C. WITH 1 OF 35 TAKEN ON A COMBINATION OF TOPWATER AND DOWNRIGGING

B.J. TIED INTO SOME GOOD FISHING ON THIS, HIS FIRST TIME SETTING FOOT ON A BOAT

A SHOT OF THE LARGE BROWN MAYFLIES COVERING THE SURFACE THIS MORNING

Start Time: 6:20a

End Time: 11:30a

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~79F

Wind: Winds were light from the ENE at around 7-8 at the start of the trip, slowly turning around SE, and slackening to near calm.

Skies: Skies were bright and clear the entire morning.

Prior to sunrise, given some fairly calm conditions, we were able to visually scan a lot of water looking for surface activity. We looked closely in the vicinity of Area 176 and found a mix of white bass and small largemouth feeding lightly. These fish were well-spread, thus requiring some long, accurate casts which in many cases were beyond the ability of my guest. Once the sun rose and the wind picked up a bit, this topwater action dried up, so we turned to downrigging almost immediately after putting only 3 fish in the boat off topwater in over 45 minutes of effort.

Once the ‘riggers were down, we found fish eager to bite from Area 176 to Area 243 as they stacked up between 22-27’ in a very easily identifiable band on sonar, mixed with bait. A sizeable hatch of large, brown mayflies took place overnight but surprisingly little topwater resulted, even amongst sunfish. We spent about 50 minutes downrigging and put 23 fish in the boat on a combination of Pet Spoons and Thin Fins. As the sun got brighter and the winds slacked off, even this deepwater bite began to go soft, so we put up the downriggers and decided to pursue strictly topwater largemouth.

We checked 3 areas (451, 007, and 242) and found topwater action at all 3. The action at 451 was light and well-dispersed. The action at 007 was solid and exploitable due to the fact that the fish were grouped in packs making them that much more competitive and aggressive. The fish at 242 were somewhere in between, and were in the clearest waters of all, and shallow water, to boot, so they were a bit tough to fool despite good numbers of them. Across these 3 areas, using strictly the Cork Rig, we managed an additional 9 fish all of which were keeper largemouth.

By 11:00 things were slowing to a crawl with the sun blazing and the wind nearly still. We did a quick sonar scan from Area 452 to Area 453 to check on the presence of bait and any suspended gamefish that might be relating to them, and found little. We called it a good morning at that point and headed back to the dock.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing