I fished a half-day morning trip today on Stillhouse with 2 young men — Lavar Fogle of Belton and Nick Samano of Killeen. Lavar’s dad, George Washington, and Nick’s dad, Thomas Coons, are both deployed to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division. This was the ninth 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.

Nick S. with twin whites taken a few minutes apart early this morning on Pets.

Capt. Lavar mans the wheel as we search the deep for fishes.

Start Time: 7:30a

End Time: 1:15p

Air Temp: 69F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~79F

Wind: Winds were light from the NNW at trip’s start, swinging to the N. by trip’s end. Skies continued to be clouded due to Gulf moisture being drawn in by the persistent upper level low that has dominated our weather for the past 9 days now.

We had a tough trip today, capping off a tough week of fishing all week this week. The low pressure system that has controlled the weather for the past 9 days has maintained winds out of the N to NNW with damp, cloudy conditions. This makes for predictably tough fishing and today seemed to be the toughest of ’em all. But, we took lemons and made lemonade and had a great time on the water even if the wait time between the fish was lengthy. Our trip scheduling today was a bit crazy and gave me some insight on what the wives of deployed soldiers deal with when trying to provide opportunities for their children when dad is away. Today I fished with Nick from 7:30a to 11:30a and with Lavar from 9:30a to 1:30p. Why? Because between the two boys there’s a total of 11 other siblings, grocery shopping to do, a slow leak on a tire to fix, a sleepover to attend, football practice to make, a park to visit, a band instrument to buy, church to get up and get ready for, and the list goes on. One of my goals is to give moms a break, so the least I could do was flex on the trip timing for their sake.

Well, we started our morning looking deep, as that is where life appear most consistently on sonar as we got underway. There was very little boat traffic, zero bird activity, zero topwater activity, and the majority of the weekend bass fishing crowd had cashed in their chips by around 9am and were headed back home. We downrigged the entire trip today and very consistently located gamefish at the 38-40 foot mark in several areas but, so many times, as we passed over fish postured in such a way that would normally guarantee a bite as the baits passed by, the fish just refused to strike. Realizing about 90 minutes into the trip that this was going to be a tough one, I did all I could do to keep the boys engaged, including allowing them to drive the boat from spot to spot, and showing them how to execute a trolling grid over a spot once we got there using GPS. They really did well at that.

Another skill I introduced them to was interpreting sonar. I was amazed at how quickly the boys’ minds grasped the concept of sonar, and I made mention of that to them, telling them I often have men on board who never really get the hang of sonar even after an entire trip. To that Nick said, “Yeah, old people who are like 50 or 60 are used to things in black and white so they don’t get this high tech stuff.” I about busted a gut after hearing that.

Yet another manly outdoor skill I introduced the boys to was that of snack-swapping. Both boys’ moms packed enough groceries to feed the Chinese Army, but some of the snacks were things the boys didn’t care for. I told them that’s an opportunity to work out a win-win trade wherein you offer something you don’t care for in trade for something you do, trying to find a common ground with your trading partner. They made some good deals and definitely didn’t go home hungry.

After seeing the effort both mom’s made to get the boys to the dock on time, have them dressed appropriately, and pack them lunch, etc., I asked the boys if they appreciated their moms. One of the boys said, “Yes … except for one thing.” I waited for the other shoe to drop … “I really don’t like when I’m at the bus stop with all the other kids and she drives by, slows down and says ‘I love you Nick!'” He continued, “I just lower my head and hope the kids don’t know she’d talking to me, but, that’s when I see my student I.D. around my neck with my name on it in big letters.”

Well, back to fishing. We boated 8 fish today including:

1 largemouth and 4 whites out of 38-41 feet in the vicinity of Area 517

1 largemouth and 1 white bass out of 40 feet between Area 452 and 495. It was in this area that we found the most promising sonar returns with fish appearing every few yards both singly and in small schools of up to 4 fish. There was no bait present and it was really like pulling teeth here.

1 drum from beteen Areas 464 and 191

All of these fish came on Pets.

TALLY = 8 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