Boy’s solo effort nets 62 fish on Belton – SKIFF program trip #17

This past Friday evening, September 23, I conducted the 17th SKIFF program trip of this 2016 season by welcoming aboard Ryan Webber, and his mom, Ashley Webber.

 

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Ryan Webber came aboard with a good bit of fishing experience already under his belt.  This paid big dividends as he quickly took to each of the 4 tactics we used on this evening’s trip.  Here, Ryan shows off a blue catfish he caught on a slipfloat in over 25 feet of water.

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Ryan did a fantastic job of listening to my coaching, allowing to land this 19″ hybrid striper that went just over 3 pounds.

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Ryan also did well fishing for sunfish up shallow and in casting to white bass near the surface just after dark.
Ryan is a nine-year-old boy who came on board with a good bit of fishing experience already under his belt. Ryan’s father, US Army Sergeant Webber, is a mechanic currently deployed to South Korea with only 20 days left to go in-country.

As is my preference for trips involving kids in elementary school, I broke this trip up into multiple, short segments.

These segments consisted of sunfishing in shallow water, cat fishing with cut bait using slip floats, downrigging for white bass and hybrid striper, and casting to shallow white bass after sunset.

Ryan did well in all of these disciplines. He landed 24 sunfish of various sorts and a small largemouth bass as we fished up shallow. He landed another 20 blue catfish after getting the hang of when to set the hook using a slip float.  And, even though a stiff breeze at sunset obscured our ability to see white bass and hybrid striper feeding on the surface, Ryan did well as we cast to unseen fish that we located with sonar after a productive round of downrigging.

When all was said and done, Ryan had landed 62 fish this evening. We had planned on Ryan’s younger sister who is but six years old to attend, but she got cold feet at the last minute. In hindsight, Mrs. Webber felt that was probably for the best as she knew her daughter’s patience level would not have lasted near as long as Ryan’s did.

A huge thanks to all of those who support the SKIFF program so that when he calls like Mrs. Webber’s come in requesting a trip while the military spouse is away, I never have to hesitate in saying “Yes!”

And, another thanks to Mrs. Denise Igo, who manages the Fort Hood Area Events webpage.  She helped get the word out about the SKIFF program that lead Mrs. Webber to know about my after-school fishing opportunities which exist right up until the time change in early November.

 

TALLY = 62 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time:  8:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 88F

Water Surface Temp:  84.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SE12

Sky Conditions: 20% cloud cover on a fair sky.

Water Level: ~0.02 feet low.  Lake is at full pool with only evaporative losses and no water being released.

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 502 sunfish

**Area 1800/812 bluecat on cutbait

**Area 1802/814 downrigging for white bass and hybrid

**Area 011-015 casting to topwater white bass

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

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