L to R: Andreas G., Austin B., and Zach L. all scored on white bass and drum today.
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…
Friday, 03 May, 2013
Dear Friends of SKIFF,
This afternoon I fished on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir with Andreas G., Austin B., and Zach L. All three boys have experienced more than their fair share of separation due do their dads’ military assignments. Andreas’ dad (a First Sergeant) is currently stationed in Germany, Zach’s dad (a Specialist) has been deployed twice and is now away from his family at Ft. Polk’s Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) preparing to head to Afghanistan in the summer, and Austin’s dad (a Captain) has been on an unaccompanied tour to Korea, deployed to Iraq twice, and is currently transitioning to Ft. Benning, GA. Andreas’ mom, Debbie, is a school teacher, and both Austin’s and Zach’s moms are stay-at-home moms who are involved with the “31” brand ladies’ accessories business. Zach’s mom, Jamie, is the new Family Readiness Group leader for her husband’s company, so, she’ll be helping less experienced spouses “hold it together” during this upcoming deployment — and SKIFF trips are high on her list of recommendations for boys and girls missing their parents.
Our trip’s timing worked out well with the tapering off of the winds from yesterday’s late season cold front with dropped overnight lows to 39F locally.
As Army moms often do, Jenn (Austin’s mom), helped the other moms out by providing transportation for all three boys. After we got settled, life jackets on, snacks stowed, reel handles on the correct side for the boys, etc., we shoved off, waved good-bye and headed to the fishing grounds.
We drove right to the fish this afternoon, finding both spawning drum and small white bass schooled at Area 1201 just off the old river channel. We fished with TNT180 slabs (white, 3/4 oz.) for these fish, and boated 24 with several others missed as we worked through the learning curve of vertical jigging.
As the action at this area died down, the boys began to dig into their snacks. Austin pulled out a “Slim Jim” and asked me for help getting the wrapper off. I handed him the unwrapped Slim Jim back and asked if he knew what Slim Jims were made of. He nodded that he didn’t, so, I told him to read the ingredients out loud to all of us. The first ingredient, “mechanically separated chicken”, drew a groan in unison from all three boys. I then polled each boy as to what they thought “mechanically separated chicken was”. they concluded that there was a specially designed robot that can sense the good parts (“…like the soft belly…”) from the bad parts (“…like bones and beaks…”) and move the good parts into a pile to be “…pressed into a patty like a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget then rolled up tight with some powdered bones added in to make it stiffer than a McNugget”. Still shaking my head over that one!
Next, it was off to search for some more fish. We connected at Area 1017 with a deeper school of fish, again just adjacent to the river channel, in 34 feet of water. We jigged and “smoked” for these fish and again boated another 24 fish before the bite died down. The average size of these fish was appreciably larger than at our previous stop.
Our final bit of success came at Area 116. As sunset approached and the shadows got longer, we headed back shallower and did some downrigging, mainly because the gear intrigued the kids. On our first pass over 18 feet of water with balls set to 12′ and 14′, we boated a single white bass, followed by a double (two fish at the same time caught on one rod rigged with a tandem rig). No sooner did the hoop-la die down over landing two fish at a time, then we had a third strike on the downriggers. This was a big fish and it was Zach’s turn to man the rod. He fought the fish for a full minute as the rest of us scrambled to clear the deck and the other downrigger. As the fish neared the boat, the hook pulled out — I suspect a longnose gar, but, we’ll never know for sure. Hence, we had a true “big one that got away” experience. What more could you ask for?!? We ended up with 51 fish boated for the evening.
I want to thank all of you “Friends of SKIFF” for helping make memories like this for these kids. Whether you donate time or money or both, supply tackle, help make gear affordable, send tips on where the fish are biting, hit the send button on an encouraging email now and then, or any of a hundred other little things that come together to make a great whole for these kids, I assure you it is worth it! You may have noted that Zach has a “SKIFF” hat on. He got that when his dad was on a previous deployment to Iraq. His mom let me know that having a SKIFF trip to look forward to when the orders come down for his dad, Daniel, to head to a foreign land, makes things a bit easier for Zach to swallow.
Note about Photographs: Due to the limitations of this blog, I can only post so many photos in a given entry, so, in order to share ALL photos from EACH trip, I’ve created a Facebook page. There you’ll find essentially the same trip summary with more photos to document each trip. Click here to visit…
TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 4:15p
End Time: 8:25p
Air Temp: 64F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: ~65.7F
Wind: Winds were N14 at trip’s start tapering steadily to calm by trip’s end.
Skies: Skies were cloudless and fair.
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas