Hail, Alma Mater dear! — A West Point connection on SKIFF Trip 2013-7, 17 May 2013, 25 Fish







Hudson, Daniel, and Samuel all hooked up early on blue catfish.


Later, as the light level decreased, all the boys hooked up on hybrid, as well. Daniel was the last to “smell victory” on the hybrid.

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, 17 May, 2013

This afternoon I welcomed aboard Mike Raymo of the West Point Class of 1999, his two boys, Hudson and Samuel, as well as Daniel Fenske, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Brad Fenske of the West Point Class of 1997. Mike and Brad got to know one another while Mike was still on active duty in Germany. After getting out of the Army, the two families stayed in touch. Brad is now deployed to Afghanistan as a Military Intelligence officer, so, Mike saw this as a great opportunity to take lemons and make some lemonade. He paid the way for his own boys to come out, thus allowing Daniel to be accompanied for and have transportation to his SKIFF trip.

We had to really work for the hybrid striped bass we caught today. It seemed every single place we stopped (many of which have really been cranking out the hybrids lately), we’d immediately encounter blue catfish which are certainly fun to catch, but they often short-strike on the large live baits we intended for hybrid, leaving you with a sense of disappointment when you rod goes down, the reel’s bait clicker sounds, and you only come up with a mangled bait to show for it. Hudson and Samuel had been out with me previously when they accompanied another young man (Luis K.) on a SKIFF trip while his dad was deployed. During that trip, we boated a bunch of white bass, so, this trip I wanted to introduce some variety on both methods and species, hence, we targeted hybrid stripers.

We fished our first four areas (Areas 835, 344, 935, and 151) and encountered the same blue catfish “issue” at each locale. We put 11 blue catfish and 1 white bass in the boat, but didn’t stay long at any of these areas once we realized what we were into and started losing a lot of baits to these blues. Finally, at Area 151, we saw more promising tell-tale signs of active hybrid — long streaking arches with colorful returns on the sonar screen, and in small groups indicating schooling/feeding activity. We got baits down, picked up two hybrid right away and missed a third — then the cats came. Time to move!

Our last stop (and the one in which the light level decreased at the greatest rate) was our most productive stop for hybrid. At Area 1208, as we motored in slowly, we could see fish beginning to move upward towards the failing light and suspending anywhere from 8 to 14 feet beneath the surface. With our four downlines, we staggered our baits accordingly — at 8, 12, 13, and 14 feet, and as soon as we got settled in the rods started going down. We added a final 7 hybrid stripers and 2 white bass to the count for a grand total of 25 fish on the day.

At one stop along the way, a ski boat equipped with more audio gear than a Rolling Stones concert venue came near us (about a quarter mile away, but it seemed SO much closer!). We could very clearly hear the song selection — “Flight of the Valkyries” of Apocalypse Now fame by Wagner. So naturally, with 2 West Pointers and 3 soldiers’ sons on board, lines from the movie and humorous adaptations of the same began being bandied about such as, “I love the smell of dead shad in the evening … I reminds me of hybrid!” And so it went (downhill!).

At the beginning of the trip I took the time to explain to Daniel about how SKIFF is supported by the Austin Fly Fishers and other friends of SKIFF from all over the country, and how our intention is to let soldiers like his dad know we appreciate their service, and desire to honor that by doing what we can to make a difficult situation more bearable.

Thank you for your ongoing support of SKIFF and the soldiers and families SKIFF serves.

–Bob Maindelle


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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time: 8:40p

Air Temp: 82F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~69.5F

Wind: Winds were SSE15-16.

Skies: Skies were fair until 6p, then a thin veil of grey, high clouds spinning off a thunderstorm to the west covered over through sunset.

Bob Maindelle

Holding the Line Guide Service

254-368-7411

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Salado, Texas








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