The Fish Manager — SKIFF Trip #6, 35 Fish, Stillhouse Hollow Lake

 This morning I conducted the sixth SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard 8-year-old Jackson Browning of Harker Heights, TX.  and 9-year-old Kaden Lehrman of Zabcikville, Texas, located in rural east Bell County.  Kaden’s grandparents treated him to this outing while Jackson’s adventure was a SKIFF-funded outing courtesy of the Austin Fly Fishers.

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Kaden and Jackson show the best of the bunch after we culled all but our largest two white bass.  Guess which one has a dad in the Army.

Jackson is the son of Major Chris Browning and Mrs. Terri Browning.   MAJ Browning is currently deployed to Kosovo as a U.S. Army military intelligence officer assigned to the 504th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade.  SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.
I picked Jackson up for this trip as 1) it was pretty much on my way to the boat ramp and 2) he has a younger sister, so, we let her and mom skip the early morning drive and got acquainted on our way to the boat ramp.
Kaden arrived punctually with his mom, Michelle, and, within a few minutes we were pushing back from the boat ramp onto Stillhouse Hollow to hunt for fish.
Because it was fairly calm this morning, we conducted a few “listening stops” where we turned off the outboard, remained silent and just looked and listened for natural signs — fish splashing, birds feeding, nervous water caused by bait movement — anything to help crack the location code for the fish we were pursuing.
After observing little, I began our search where we’d contacted fish about this time of the morning yesterday.  This turned out to be a good call, as we found abundant, schooled white bass holding tight to the bottom in 41 feet of water.  There was not much of an indicator that these fish were present, but, as we downrigged over them, fish came screaming up off the bottom 5-7 feet to inspect the downrigger weight as it moved over top of them.  Whenever this happens it is as close to a sure thing that these fish will hit the baits as they pass by as anything is going to be in fishing.  Sure enough, on 2 separate passes made in close succession, the fish hit our presentations shortly after the fish rose up to the level of the ball.  I threw out a marker buoy on these fish so as to capitalize on what we’d found by vertically jigging for these fish instead of settling for just a few on the downriggers.  We sat over these fish and caught 10 with plenty of fish still showing when, out of nowhere, the wind shifted nearly 180 degrees and the bite just shut down.  Although we still observed a few fish on and near bottom, we couldn’t even get them to hit live bait.
Kaden is quite an experienced fisherman for a kid of only 9.  He attended a “fishing summer camp” last summer and is headed to the saltwater version of that camp this summer.  He knows all the lingo, all the native species in our Texas waters, and he’s got a lot of persistence.  He let me know he was really looking forward to fishing for sunfish in a way he’d never tried before, as I had mentioned it to him earlier this year when his grandpa brought him out for some live shad fishing for hybrid stripers on Belton Lake.
Seeing that white bass bite die so quickly gave me the cue to go ahead and get the boys transitioned over to  fishing for sunfish.  We rigged up our slipfloats, baited up with Gulp! maggots and got to a healthy hydrilla patch just as some manner of insect hatch was beginning.  This brought the sunfish out of the hydrilla in force and got them in the feeding mood.  We caught fish after fish until the novelty wore off for Jackson, at which time he assumed the role of “Fish Manager” (he came up with that).  As Fish Manager, he would keep a damp minnow net “at the ready” behind Kaden and I as I worked the trolling motor and he continued to boat sunfish.  When we caught a sunfish, I’d place it in Jackson’s waiting net and he’d either release it, or place it in the livewell for observation and later release.  All I know was that both boys were having a good time, so, I didn’t make any changes to the arrangement that was working so well.
In the end, we wound up with 35 fish for our efforts.  We never did see or hear any manner of topwater schooling activity.

TALLY = 35 FISH, all caught and released

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

 

Start Time: 6:45am

End Time: 10:45am

Air Temp.: 74F
Water Surface Temp.: 80.4F
Wind: W9 at sunrise & until 8:15a, then shifting ENE5 thereafter and tapering to near calm by trip’s end
Skies: Fair with 10% clouds
Other Notes: GT20
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

** Vicinity of Area 231: sunfishing
** Vicinity of Area 1396: downrigging/smoking for white bass

Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas