The following blog entry appears in the form of a report to those who support the S.K.I.F.F. program …
Victoria with a nice hybrid striped bass taken in 19 feet of water on a TNT180 slab spoon.
TJ took this nice hybrid from off the bottom while in 26 feet of water.
Taijanie got her biggest fish during the final 30 minutes of our trip while “smoking” her slab amongst suspended fish.
The S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) Program exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families as a way of showing our support for our troops and providing a respite for their spouses. The following is a note to SKIFF supporters about this most recent outing…
Saturday, 03 Dec. 2011
Dear Austin Fly Fishers and Friends of SKIFF,
This morning I fished with Victoria, the seventh grade daughter of Staff Sergeant Stephan and Mrs. Charlene Rogers, and Taijanie (7th grade) and TJ (5th grade), the children of Sergeant First Class and Mrs. Tedrick Holmes. SSG Rogers and SFC Holmes serve in the same unit in Afghanistan — the 303rd Military Intelligence Battalion where Stephan is a supply sergeant and Tedrick is what the Army calls a “cable dog” — he oversees the running of wire to allow for phone and computer communication.
We got off to a humorous start as I met the kids at water’s edge on Belton Lake. Victoria exclaimed, “This is NOT the kind of boat I thought we were going to be on!” Naturally, I asked what kind of boat she expected. She replied, “A nice boat that’s big and has a bathroom!”.
The day was a bit messy and dreary with a pre-frontal rain and wind hitting us the entire time, but, I told the kids I was really proud of them for getting out of bed and making the trip despite the bad weather. I assured them it would be worth their while and proceeded to explain to them how the fish respond positively to the last warm weather before a cold front.
Although I’ve been fishing the main lake at Belton lately, that’s been mostly via “chasing birds”, but today’s wind and clouds on the main lake prevented that, so, we went looking in the tributaries.
We landed fish at four distinct locations today. First, we found fish in about 19 feet of water at Area 437. The kids were unfamiliar with spinning equipment so we did some OJT to get them acquainted … showing them how to hold the rod, how to retrieve the bait, how to prevent the wind from pulling unwanted line off the spool, and more. Soon the kids were catching fish very consistently on their own — mainly white bass ranging from 8 to 13 inches. We boated 24 fish here before the action waned.
Next we headed to fish a stretch of bottom between Areas 968 and 983 in about 26 feet of water. Some suspicious gull activity tipped us off to the presence of these fish. By now the kids were entirely through the learning curve and so all I did was unhook fish and pick out the occasional tangle. This was our most productive area and we stayed on it for over 90 minutes, pulling an additional 53 fish by both “smoking” and jigging (a technique that TJ was particularly fond of).
When things got quiet we moved to Area 691. As we moved, I suggested the kids refresh a little by dipping into their snacks. Now, I won’t go into a lot of detail here, but, let me tell you, you just haven’t snacked until you’ve snacked on half-dissolved Sugar Babies from a rain-soaked cardboard box and chased those down with a healthy gulp of damp “Funyuns”. Yes, sir!!
Well, we arrived at Area 691 and found fish here, but they were both suspended and stubborn. We spent 20 minutes or so working them over but only boated 4 here. By now it was about time to head back in so the kids bundled up and we started heading back. As we did, we encountered a flock of about 12 gulls feeding aggressively near Area 211. I had Victoria call her mom to see if we could have an extra 30 minutes, because I could tell there would be active fish under the birds given how they were behaving. Permission was granted, and I maneuvered us into position over a solid school of fish holding tight to the bottom in 22 feet of water. We put 32 more fish in the boat in these last 30 minutes, taking our tally to 113 fish.
By 11:45 things were tapering off for good and we made the run in to meet Mrs. Rogers at the ramp.
The kids were really excited about the whole experience, and I was gratified that even after slugging it out in the elements for 4 hours, they were ready for more when that last flock of gulls was sighted.
Thank you very much for being the “cogs in the wheel” that turn to make such experiences a reality for the kids of our deployed servicemen and women.
Sincerely,
Bob Maindelle
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 11:45a
Air Temp: 60F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 59F.
Wind: Winds were SSE11-13.
Skies: Skies were 100% heavily clouded and grey.