This past Monday morning, Oct. 17th, I  fished with Mr. Stephen Miles and his 6-year-old daughter, Kathryn, both of Salado, TX.

Although she certainly liked landing them, Kathryn was not quite so certain about touching them.  Daddy to the rescue!

Steve is a U.S. Army retiree who now makes his living raising longhorn cattle and instructing various forms of martial arts after going “green to gold” and transitioning from an enlisted soldier to a commissioned officer in Army Aviation.

We had great fishing weather today – mild temperatures, wind, and grey cloud cover.  As soon as enough ambient light shone through the grey cloud layer, the fish began to feed and stayed in a feeding mode for nearly two hours in the same area where we’d first encountered them in 20 feet of water.  The fish slowly “slid” downslope to 32 feet of water as the sky brightened slowly.  During this time, we downrigged to catch the shallow fish, and then transitioned to a vertical tactic used while holding directly over the fish with the Spot Lock function on the Ulterra trolling motor.  We managed to catch white bass, largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, and even a freshwater drum.  By right around 9am the fish slacked off and we left the white bass action behind to pursue sunfish.

Kathryn did a great job at watching her balsawood float as we fished up in under 4 feet of water.  Rarely did I have to tell her to set the hook as I typically do with most kids her age.  Kathryn landed bluegill sunfish, longear sunfish, redear sunfish, and green sunfish during the hour or so we spent up shallow.

By 10:15a, we’d downrigged, vertical jigged, and fished for sunfish.  I asked Kathryn which of these 3 methods she enjoyed most, planning to use that method during our final hour on the water.  She chose downrigging, so, downrigging we went!

I took us out into deeper, 35-40 foot water to pursue white bass this go-round and had to look at two areas before finding what I was after.  The very first set we put down was answered with a “triple”  — one fish on each of the 3 lures on the 3-armed umbrella rig we were using.

As Steve and I kept a close eye on sonar, we watched the fish lose interest with each pass we made until finally, right around 11a, the fish simply failed to show any interest in the downrigger ball and baits passing overhead.

We closed out the trip with 61 fish landed, a very happy young lady, and a TPWD “First Fish Award” hard-earned.  As we walked up to the parking Kathryn told Steve, “Daddy, this was fun.”.

 
TALLY = 61 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time:  11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp:  78.5F

Wind Speed & Direction:  SSE13-14

Sky Conditions: 60% grey clouds on a blue sky

Water Level: ~0.12 feet high with only evaporative losses

GT = 65

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1129/1817/1808 – white bass on downriggers in 20-25′

**Area 1805 – easing for white bass in 30-35′

**Area 971-1609 – downrigging for increasingly disinterested 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

This past Saturday afternoon, October 15, I conducted the 18th SKIFF program trip of the 2016 season with 3 young Army anglers aboard.

From left: Analee (10), Alexavier (5), and Mrs. Maria Avalos with a few of the 12-13″ class fish we caught out of large, suspended schools in open water on downriggers soon after launching this afternoon.

5 year old Landon Waldman with one of the white bass he reeled in all by himself.  The three kids also landed a variety of sunfish from still-warm shallow water on this morning’s trip.
Mrs. Maria Avalos brought her oldest two children, Analee (10)  and Alexavier (5). Mrs. Ashley Waldman dropped her five-year-old son, Landon, off with us so she could attend to her younger daughter while Landon enjoyed some time away from the girls in the outdoors. Staff Sergeant Avalos is currently attending an Army school at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Private First Class (PFC) Waldman has been in the Army for just a year and has been frequently separated from his family during this short period of time.

The wind and cloud cover we enjoyed this morning continued into this afternoon. As we launched, the wind was right at 13 to 14 mph with some mild whitecapping out in open water. We put our first 21 fish in the boat by downrigging in open water with the balls set between 22 and 27 feet, right above where sonar revealed white bass and ample shad showing. During this time, using two armed rigs on each of the two downriggers, we caught more doubles than singles. This is typical when encountering large, suspended school of white bass.

When the novelty of downrigging had worn off, we moved up shallow and targeted sunfish up in cover-filled water allowing each child to catch several sunfish species including bluegill, green sunfish, and long ear sunfish. Right around the time the kids started getting a bit antsy fishing for sunfish, we noticed a stranded boat or out in open water waving to try to get someone’s attention. We approached him, found that his battery selector switch had corroded completely, and offered him a ride back into the dock. The kids were excited that we got to be good Samaritans out on the water.

For our final effort of the evening, we headed into 20 to 25 foot water in an area that had a slow-tapering bottom and which the wind had been blowing onto all day. At around 6 PM, I found abundant, heavily schooled white bass in a feeding posture. I put the boat into a hover using the Ulterr trolling motor, and we proceeded to “wear ‘em out” using a smoking retrieve. Analee fished independently and did very well, I assisted Landon, and Maria assisted Alexavier. With 3 rods going it was just about all I could do to keep Landon fishing and take all of the fish off the hook. We put another 48 fish in the boat in the hour between 6 and 7 PM.

By seven, all the kids had had their fill of the outdoors and it was time to crank up and head to the dock. We ended today’s trip with exactly 90 fish boated.
TALLY = 90 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 3:30p

End Time:  7:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 87F

Water Surface Temp:  78.6F

Wind Speed & Direction:  S13-14, tapering slowly to S8

Sky Conditions: 60% white clouds on a blue sky

Water Level: ~0.13 feet high with only evaporative losses

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1223-1079 – open water, suspended white bass on downriggers

**Area 1583 – sunfish

**Area 793-813 – low light white bass via smoking tactic

 

 

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