Today marked the fourth S.K.I.F.F. (Soldier’s Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trip I’ve had the opportunity to run this year. Mrs. Tonya Daly accompanied her three children on this trip.
The Daly kids — “Army Strong” fishermen!! From L to R — Trae, Elizabeth, Talia
Below is the traditional letter I send to the Austin Fly Fishers (who sponsor these trips) following each trip:
14 May 2010
Dear Ron and the Austin Fly Fishers,
This afternoon I welcomed aboard Mrs. Tonya Daly and her three children, Trae (13), Talia (12), and Elizabeth (6). The childen’s dad, Staff Sergeant Noah Daly, is serving with III Corps at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq.
Mrs. Daly and I were both keeping an eye on the Weather Channel and out the window this afternoon wondering if this trip was going to become a reality. A balmy air mass generated thunder and light rains from 1pm to 3pm, then began to clear from west to east, leaving calm winds and overcast conditions afterwards. That didn’t last long, though, as after only 45 minutes on the water spent doing some productive sunfishing at Area 456 for a mixed bag of 8 bluegill and green sunfish, the winds very suddenly began gusting from the N. at over 20 mph. Although there were plenty of places to hide from the wind, few of them held a lot of fish.
We toughed it out together fishing some live bait near Area 202 during which time Trae boated a channel catfish that struck a sunfish used as bait.
Around 7pm, the winds had died sufficiently to allow us to access the main lake where I’d been having good success of late in the evenings.
With the winds still around 15mph ENE, we hovered over Area 122 and put down 3 tightlines and worked slabs vertically, as well. By the time our light was failing at around 8:20pm, we’d managed to boat 9 more fish including 1 “keeper” largemouth, 1 short
largemouth, and 7 white bass. Both largemouth hit the baits, as did 5 of the whites. The remaining 2 white bass came on the slabs.
This was definitely an “Army-tough” family!! The ambient temperature dropped 10 degrees to a cool 64F while we were fishing, and the wind caused all kids of spray to dampen our clothes as we tried to get to productive areas. The kids, only in T-shirts, never complained one iota, and stayed enthusiastic the entire time despite a bit of a lull in the action as the front made its way past. As we wrapped things up, we’d managed to boat 18 fish today.
Thank you all for the support you offer for making these trips available to our soldiers’ kids!
Sincerely,
Bob Maindelle
TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 4:15p
End Time: 8:35p
Air Temp: 74F at trip’s start, falling ten degrees to 64 F within minutes of the front’s arrival.
Water Surface Temp: ~74F
Wind: Winds began light and variable from primarily the SE, but, by 5:00p a cold front moved through cranking the wind up to 20mph plus for about 90 mintues.
Skies: Skies were grey and overcast the entire trip.