Fishing, Flirting, and Fonzie — 36 Fish, SKIFF Trip #2014-16

On the morning of Aug. 15th I conducted the 16th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard Jayden Barrios (age 5) and Austin Bayless (age 11) .  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.

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L to R: Jayden Barrios and Austin Bayless.

5-year-old Jayden is the son of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Adam Barrios and Mrs. Stacy Barrios of Killeen, Texas. SSG Barrios recently deployed to Afghanistan leaving Stacy in the role of single parent for what could be many months to come.  11-year-old Austin is the son of U.S. Army Captain Wyatt Bayless and Mrs. Jennifer Bayless of Harker Heights, Texas. CPT Bayless is in the process of taking command of a scout company in the First Cavalry Division. Time-intensive equipment inventories are a dreaded part of every commander’s transition into command as they sign for millions of dollars of equipment soon to be under their control. Mrs. Bayless and her children have seen very little of CPT Bayless of late, and this will continue until the inventories are complete. She knew Austin could use a little “guy time” before school began and so we made that happen.Today we used a combination of downrigging and vertical jigging to target white bass in deep, clear water on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. As we began our day, the winds had finally turned back out of the south and east following four days under the influence of very high pressure in the wake of an early week cold front. We struggled after the sunrise in the face of that southeast wind, but, in the final hour of the trip we made up for lost time as the winds turned southwesterly and the fishing improved greatly.

Austin, who has been fishing with me before during his father’s multiple deployments, served as my first mate to try to help me make Jayden successful. Austin did a great job in this role being both helpful and watchful.

By the end of our trip we had landed 34 white bass and 2 large mouth bass.

Funny moments are just about a guaranteed part of these SKIFF trips. As we fished, Austin asked me about generalities of the various decades in recent U.S. history. When he asked specifically about the 1950s, I asked if he had ever watched the TV show “Happy Days”. He said he was not sure.  I then asked if he had ever heard of The Fonz. He replied, “Isn’t that a band, or an extraterrestrial life form?”.

Then, after I had dropped Jayden off at his house and was on the way to Austin’s house to drop him off, Austin turned to me and asked, “How old are you?”. I replied, “I am 45 years old.”.  Austin said, “That’s pretty good.”.  I’m still not sure what scale he had in mind to make that judgment with…

Finally, continuing on the subject of age, Austin told me of a very good complement to pay to the ladies. He said I should tell ladies that they don’t look a day over 20. I told him I thought that was indeed a favorable thing to mention, and suggested he tell his mom that. He then replied that it was his mom who had instructed him to say this!!  I had a difficult time keeping the truck and trailer on the road at that point.

 

TALLY = 36 FISH

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00am

End Time:  11:00am

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  76F

Water Surface Temp:  84.6

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE10-11 until 10am, then shifting SSW11-12

Sky Conditions:  30% clouds on a fair sky.

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

 

**Area 1419 slow white bass action on downriggers in the first 30+ minutes of the trip (low light) and strong action on bottom-oriented white bass after the wind shift at 10am on slabs.

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com