This evening’s trip was the sixth S.K.I.F.F. trip of 2011. S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families. Below is my report to the membership of the Austin Fly Fishers and other SKIFF supporters …

Dear AFF and Friends of SKIFF,

This afternoon (in the middle of Texas schools’ Spring Break week) I was joined by Chief Warrant Officer Billy Brough (pronounced “bruff”) and his twin 7 year olds, Caitlyn and Cody. CW4 Brough is an Army aviator and flies the fixed wing C-12 aircraft. His wife, Major Angelique Brough is an Acquisition Corp officer currently serving in Afghanistan where she works in contracting for infrastructure projects (roads, buildings, etc.). MAJ Brough will return to the U.S. in April 2011. The Broughs are originally from southern California.

PHOTO REMOVED BY REQUEST

 

Described by their dad as “city slickers”, the kids clearly wanted little to do with holding their own white bass! The largest fish of the trip was the first one landed by Caitlyn; it measured 14.5 inches.

As we got started today, the winds were up pretty good and so we did a good bit of flatline trolling to cover ground until the evening bite began to kick in strongly. Over a 2 hour span, the kids boated 12 white bass and missed several others as we worked Storm Wiggle Wart crankbaits on various line lengths to get the lures in “the zone” where we saw suspended and bottom-hugging white bass. Our best action came along a circuit from Area 713 to Area 733. If I had a dime for each time Caitlyn asked if there was a fish biting on her lure as she watched her rod tip like a hawk, I’d have been able to afford a new Honda outboard by the end of the trip!!

Around 6pm, we moved to Area 100, a gentle mid-lake hump. We found a small, but willing, school of white bass congregated on the top of this feature and got to introduce the kids to the “smoking” technique. The fish initially responded well to this, but quickly cooled off again. We boated 7 white bass here and moved on, all on TNT 180 slabs in 3/8 oz.

Our final stop came at Area 103, a mid-lake breakline adjacent to the channel. As I ran sonar over this area, the bottom lit up with fish so I buoyed them and we went to work. We boated a total of 21 fish at this area using both a smoking technique and a lift-drop technique, all on TNT 180 slabs in 3/4 oz. used due to the deeper water and winds.

We finished up a few minutes before sunset by snapping photos while the light was still good and then hunkered down for a cool ride back to the boat ramp. Our tally today was exactly 40 fish caught and released.

Thank you all for your contribution to S.K.I.F.F.!!

Sincerely,

–Bob Maindelle

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:50p

Starting Air Temp: 69F

Water Surface Temp: 60.2F

Wind: S14

Skies: Mostly cloudy with a grey cast to the skies.

 

This afternoon I welcomed aboard a brother and sister team, Wyatt and Hailey K. of Harker Heights in celebration of Wyatt’s 13th birthday which rolled around today. Hailey, his 4th grade sister, got to come along for the ride. Rumor had it that Wyatt was actually blindfolded on the family drive to the boat ramp so as to keep this birthday surprise under wraps as long as possible!!

Brother and sister fishing aces Wyatt and Hailey K. of Harker Heights wore out the white bass today. Hailey caught the first fish of her lifetime on today’s trip!!

With tough (bright and calm) conditions called for this morning, we pushed today’s trip back into the afternoon when some high, thin cloud cover and a bit of breeze (albeit from the E.) were supposed to materialize. Fortunately, both did!

We found abundant, bottom-hugging schools of white bass in open water today and although they were a bit reluctant as we dropped baits into each school, once we got the first 2-3 fish to bite, then the schools really turned on and cooperated.

The kids were eager to catch fish and eager to learn how to do so, so they really paid attention to the intricacies of the techniques I described to them and got the hang of vertical jigging very quickly. We used a combination of jigging and smoking to take our fish today. As a result, Miss Hailey caught the first fish of her lifetime on this trip!!

We found fish in the vicinity of Area 306 (43 fish – all short), in the vicinity of Area 035 (7 fish, all short), Area 186 (36 fish – a mix of shorts and keepers up to 13 inches, plus one 18″, 2.75 pound largemouth, 1 crappie, and one drum), and Area 116 (2 keeper whites). All fish were taken on a combination of chartreuse, white, and silver holographic TNT 180 slabs in 3/8 oz., save the two whites at Area 116 which came on flatlined Wiggle Warts.

TALLY = 88 FISH, all caught and released

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 7:50p

Starting Air Temp: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 60.2F

Wind: ENE8

Skies: High thin clouds at trip’s start gave way to fair skies by trip’s end.

Well, they say “All good things must come to an end.” And so they did this morning as a mid-March cold front came rushing into Central Texas, temporarily halting the strong pre-spawn white bass and hybrid bite we’ve enjoyed on Belton of late.

Daniel M. of Round Rock with a stocky hybrid striped bass — our first fish taken on downriggers in this calendar year!

Jackson M. and his dad, Kris, with a hard-fighting hybrid taken on Jackson’s first fishing trip of his life.

This morning I fished with Kris M. of Round Rock, who brought his sons, Daniel (13) and Jackson (7) out for a “Kids Fish, Too!” trip. This was both of the boys’ first fishing excursion. Neither came with experience, nor had either ever caught a fish before.

I explained to the threesome the impact that weather has on fishing and that we’d likely have a tough day of it, but, being the adventuresome band of Boy Scouts that they were, they were more than up for the challenge.

We had a rough, damp ride to the fishing grounds, driving right into the teeth of a 15-18mph NW wind. I was hopeful based on the heavy bird activity I’ve been seeing that at least there would be some remnant of that today, and, indeed we did find some helpful bird action.

Our first fish, a white bass landed by Daniel, came off a flatline troll in the vicinity of Area 738 over 18′ of water.

Our next action came close to the bank between Areas 592 and 740 as a mixed bunch of whites and hybrid drove shad to the surface and toward the bank and brought some birds down on top of themselves. Both boys picked up a white bass out of this short-lived action and both missed one fish.

Next, the lengthiest action of the morning came out over 40′ deep open water between Area 593 and Area 299. Schools of white bass and hybrid striper were feeding upwards on heavy schools of ~3.5 inch long threadfin shad which were holding at about 12-14′ beneath the surface. These gamefish were holding down between 14-24′ and would “raid” shad passing overhead.

With the boat pitching in the wind, the limited experience of the boys, and the fact that suspended fish (even when they are active) can be tough to target, we went with a downrigging approach to keep our baits in the sweet spot. This worked out well and allowed us to boat 6 more fish, including a short, stocky hybrid for each of the boys.

Our results were not impressive by any means, but, I felt we did the best we could do given the circumstances we faced. Yes, it is nice to “cherry pick” your days, but school calendars and shift work don’t always allow for such things. In such cases, the best time to go fishing is whenever the opportunity presents itself.

TALLY = 9 FISH

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 11:45a

Starting Air Temp: 55F

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind: NW15-17

Skies: Heavily overcast and grey.

This evening’s trip was the fifth S.K.I.F.F. trip of 2011. S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families. Below is my report to the membership of the Austin Fly Fishers and other SKIFF supporters …

Dear AFF and Friends of SKIFF,

I got an e-mail from an Army mom earlier this week; Kim Beers of Harker Heights let me know that her young man could use some “guy time” and inquired about a SKIFF trip for Wesley (Wes) who is 14 years of age.

Wes boated this and 3 other identically sized hybrid tonight, as well as many short, stocky hybrid and a very nice white bass measuring 14 1/8 inches.

As I asked about Wes’ situation, I just shook my head at the difficulties the military life can place on families at times after speaking with her. Wes’ step-father, Sergeant First Class Rob Beers, served in Iraq from January 2008 to January 2009. When he returned to the U.S. he enjoyed 90 days’ leave and then immediately turned around and was assigned to the 1st of the 407th ACRC based out of Ft. Knox, thus again separating him from his family to this point in time. Mrs. Beers then informed me that the family just received word that SFC Beers will be assigned to Korea for one year when his time with the 407th is completed in August of this year. So, Wes (and his mom and 3 sisters) will have gone from Jan. 2009 to Aug. 2012 only getting to see husband and father for an occasional long weekend now and then. This is not at all uncommon in the culture of Ft. Hood’s families and it’s a tough, tough thing for kids. It is this kind of scenario and the impact it has on youngsters that motivated me to do special trips for our military kids to start with.

So, with all this going on in Wes’ life, I wanted to put him on fish BIG TIME and do so just one-on-one for this particular trip.

In 4 hours’ time Wes and I boated 108 fish on Belton Lake under near-perfect conditions. The skies were overcast and grey, the wind was 10-12 mph from the S., and there is a mild weather disturbance due in before sunrise tomorrow.

We first encountered a bit of action on smallish white bass under birds near Area 097 in 22′ of water. This allowed for a good introduction of the techniques we’d be using for the day. Next, another bird-driven scenario developed a bit shallower near Area 132 in 15-19′ of water. These to areas yielded fish that were ready to take a slab presented via a “smoking” technique, as they were really ramped up and feeding hard.

No sooner did these fish settle down than action developed along a long stretch of open water extending from Area 547 westward to Area 740. Most of these fish were suspended at 20-30′ and so we used electronics to watch the fishes’ position in relation to the depth of our slabs and reeled our lures through the suspended fish with good results.

Finally, right at Area 740 right at sunset (obscured) the first topwater action I’ve observed this year broke out on the surface for a period of about 25 minutes. We took our fish count from 81 to 108 in the final minutes of the trip literally at least hooking, if not landing, a fish on every cast as we cast to the boils made by the surface-oriented fish (both hybrid striped bass and white bass) feeding on larger threadfin shad ~4 inches long and kept our lures high in the water column to tempt these fish that were “feeding up”.

I asked Wes on our drive home (as I do many of the teens I fish with) what he planned to do with his life after high school. He said he wanted to be a good father that was reliable. He said he wanted to get a job where he could eat dinner with his family every night and was leaning towards being an aircraft mechanic.

I congratulated Wes on having a plan, and, of course, on mastering the art of fishing in one evening!!

I feel that I definitely met a need at this particular point in Wes’ life. I thank all of you who make S.K.I.F.F. possible for equipping me for that opportunity.

Take care,

–Bob Maindelle

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time: 17:45p

Starting Air Temp: 69F

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind: S10-12, tapering to S6 by sunset.

Skies: Heavily overcast and grey.

This morning’s trip was the fourth S.K.I.F.F. trip of 2011. S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families. Below is my report to the membership of the Austin Fly Fishers and other SKIFF supporters …

Dear AFF and Friends of SKIFF,

Today I had the joy of fishing with the sons of Sergeant First Class and Mrs. Dameon Vassar of Killeen. SFC Vassar is stationed in Kuwait serving with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR). Young Dameon is in the 7th Grade and his brother Josh is in the 5th Grade.

Dameon with our largest fish of the trip, a hybrid striper that struck his TNT 180 slab.

Josh with 2 of the many white bass he worked u up off the bottom today.

Neither boy had ever caught a fish before, so, we started with the basics — how to hold a spinning rod and reel, how to open the bail, how to close the bail, which direction to turn the handle, what the drag does, and more. The boys were fast learners!

We headed out in search of fish and were blessed to find some bird activity which makes the fish finding equation so much easier to solve. Over the course of the morning we found fish in 5 different locations, the first 3 indicated by birds and the last 2 found “the hard way” with sonar and trial and error.

We found fish at Area 738 (2 white bass, 1 hybrid), Area 739 (4 white bass, 1 hybrid), Area 608 (10 white bass), Area 736 (11 white bass) and Area 737 (13 white bass, 1 drum). Every last fish was taken either on a 3/8 oz. white TNT 180 or a 3/4 oz. white or white/chartreuse TNT 180 slab fished either jigging-style or smoking-style. Our tally today was 43 fish, all caught and released in good condition.

For their efforts in landing the first fish of their lifetime, I’ve submitted both boys names to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Angler Recognition section to get them each a “First Fish Award” certificate and pin.

As we headed back to Killeen to meet Mrs. Vassar, Josh says to Dameon, “Man, we’re going to have to show dad how to do this when he gets back!”

Thank you all for your support!!

–Bob Maindelle

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:40a

Starting Air Temp: 57F

Water Surface Temp: 56.6F

Wind: SSE11 at trip’s start increasing steadily to S20 by trip’s end.

Skies: Fair and bright.

I anticipated very good fishing today based on the wind direction (SSE), the wind speed (12-15mph), and the fact that we were to have overcast skies. The forecast fell right into place and although it was a little darker a little longer than I thought it might be due to the heavy cloud cover, the fish did turn on strong once the skies (still overcast) brightened a little right around 11:15am and then began slowly clearing.

By way of comparison, I boated 35 fish from 7:00am to 11:15am (that’s a catch rate of 8.23 fish per hour), and then boated 33 more fish from 11:15am to 12:35pm (a rate of 24.81 fish per hour) — that’s a 3x increase in activity driven by increasing wind and light intensity.

I saw Henry N. of Sure Strike Guide Service on the water prior to this “turn on” and he reported similar, fairly slow results on largemouth.

My best fish today, a 22.125 inch, 6.125 pound largemouth came out of 23 feet of water and was ghosting along amidst a school of small white bass. I would not be surprised if the bulge in this fish’s belly is a short 5-7 inch white bass.

Today’s action took place in the following areas: Area 734 at 17-21′ off the channel shoulder (10 fish), Area 888 at 17′ in the gut (1 fish), Area 410 at 26-28′ (24 fish), Area 545 at 25-26′ at the base of the breakline (12 fish) and Area 735 at the base of the breakline (21 fish). Every last fish came on a 3/8 oz. TNT 180 slab. When fish were active, a jigging technique and a slow smoking technique worked best. Once the fish slowed down, an easing technique did better.

TALLY = 68 FISH, all caught and released

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 12:40p

Starting Air Temp: 48F

Water Surface Temp: 57.6F

Wind: SSE11 at trip’s start increasing steadily to S20 by trip’s end.

Skies: 100% cloud cover the entire trip; with brightening at 11:15am on.

I had a fairly short but very enjoyable trip today with Caroline and “Grandpa” Wes T. of Fairbanks, Alaska, and his two 4-year old grandchildren, Stephen and Aaryah, who are cousins to one another.

Caroline, Aaryah, and Stephen are all smiles about Stephen’s big catch, a 2.00 pound largemouth. Before today’s trip, little Stephen had never caught a fish before.

Wes came down to escape the -20F temps and snow common to Fairbanks this time of year and contacted me earlier this week about getting his grandchildren on the water.

I was actually a bit hesitant as I normally don’t fish with such young children until I know the sunfish are abundant in the shallows, but, I encountered a pretty good flatline crankbait bite on Monday morning despite some poor weather and knew I could get the kids on that for some white bass. I told Wes to expect short attention spans even if the fishing was good, and we got what we expected!!

We launched at 3:00pm and returned to the dock at 5:05pm with 17 fish boated. We caught a mixed bag of gamefish today including 2 crappie, 1 largemouth bass (which went exactly 2.00 pounds), and 14 white bass (2 short, 12 keepers, all less than 12.75 inches). We also had 3 other fish pull off near boatside as will happen pretty often when kids are reeling in fish hooked using crankbaits, even with proactive coaching. All 17 fish came between Areas 733 and 713 and were holding just off bottom in a feeding posture at about 13-14 feet.

The trick to keeping the kids engaged is to progressively reveal new things one at at time. First, the boat was a big deal, then the fish, then the sonar, then turning the small fish loose with a small net, then looking at the fish in the livewell, then a snack, then some more reeling in fish, then a drink, and so on, until you hit the inevitable, “I want to go home now.” and you know things need to be concluded pretty quickly to keep the trip a fond memory.

We took some good photos and bid farewell at the dock.

I continued fishing until sunset just mainly running sonar and confirming the presence of fish when sonar returns looked good. I picked up 2 whites, 1 crappie and 1 largemouth along the circuit from Area 336 to Area 703 to Area 319, and I picked up 2 white bass up shallow off Area 999 following sunset on a blue and white bladebait.

TALLY = 23 FISH, all caught and released

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 3:00p

End Time: 6:30p

Starting Air Temp: 68F

Water Surface Temp: 59F

Wind: SSW11 nearly the entire trip, tapering to SSW7 by sunset

Skies: Fair with 20% high, thin cloud cover.