A Break from the Grind — 38 Fish, SKIFF Trip #25 of 2014

This Friday afternoon I fished a SKIFF trip with the Edwards family of Copperas Cove, TX.  This was the 25th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season.  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: Kayden, Kody, & Joseph Edwards took some downtime together while wife and mom, SPC Jessica Edwards, is serving in Kuwait.

I received a call this past Tuesday from Kody Edwards.  He told me he’d read a re-post of a SKIFF fishing trip summary someone had placed on Facebook and was interested in scheduling a trip.  After comparing calendars, this afternoon worked best for us both.

Kody is acting as a single dad for a 9-month span while his wife, U.S. Army Specialist Jessica Edwards, serves in Kuwait as a combat medic.  This is Jessica’s first enlistment and her first deployment.  The Edwards’ have two children: 8-year-old Joseph, and 6-year-old Kayden.

I asked Kody, who is himself a U.S. Army veteran having served as an enlisted man in an armor unit, what the toughest part of single parenting was.  He said you don’t appreciate how much slack your spouse picks up until she’s not there to pick it up any longer, and specifically pointed out that her role in caring for the children was the toughest role for him to try to fit into.

The fish cooperated for us well today.  We hit 3 distinct areas and found willing fish biting at all three of them.  The first two areas we hit fished very similarly in that we downrigged deep (thanks to a dissipating thermocline) at 36-41 feet for fish that were several feet deeper than we had the downrigger balls set for.  We then found concentrated fish as we downrigged and stopped to work slabs and bladebaits vertically for these fish.  By the time we got to our last area, the sun had already set and the fish were beginning to turn off, but we put another half-dozen in the boat here before calling it a day.

Just before I throttled up to head to fish our last area of the evening, Kody thanked me for the opportunity to take the trip and mentioned how nice it was to have a break from the grind of the daily routine.

We caught a grand total of 38 white bass.

 

TALLY = 38 FISH, all caught and released

 

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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:45p

End Time:  7:30p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start:  85F

Water Surface Temp:  79.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S14 tapering to S9

Sky Conditions:  60% clouds on a fair sky

Other: GT=0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area  1450 gave up fish on the downrigger as we searched, then via smoking after we zero’ed in on a concentration in 42′

**Area  1448 gave up fish on the downrigger which were suspended at 37-40 feet over a deeper bottom.  We found schooled fish in sufficient quantities to smoke for them in 36′

**Area  1444 through 1458 gave up twilight fish on the downrigger only, off the face of the slope with balls set at 37′.

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Salado, TX

www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com