Hot Ain’t the Word for It — 37 Fish, SKIFF Trip #15

by Bob Maindelle

This past Wednesday evening, August 9th, I fished a “last-minute” SKIFF program trip with the Erp family of Killeen.  This was the 15th such trip this season.  Thus far, 33 kids have had the opportunity to fish for free this year while their military parent was away from home on duty.

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Despite the afternoon heat, intensified by light winds and high humidity, Eden Erp landed the majority of the 37 fish she and her 5-year-old brother, Warren, put in the boat this hot August afternoon.

Mrs. Katie Erp and her two children, Eden and Warren, have taken advantage of the SKIFF program previously, and so when her husband, Andy Erp, a US Army warrant officer, got “hey – you’d” unexpectedly and sent to the National Training Center (NTC) in Death Valley California at Fort Erwin, Katie gave me a ring to see if we could get the kids on the water during his absence.

I normally would not take younger kids in the heat of a Texas summer afternoon, but afternoons are all I had open to accommodate her request, given my very busy schedule which is always quite full in the weeks prior to the start of public school as parents and grandparents try to squeeze in a little bit more vacation before the school year.

The fishing for other than sunfish was predictably slow, so I made sure we started the trip successfully sunfishing, and ended the trip successfully sunfishing, saving the middle part for hunting a few deep white bass.

The heat got to five-year-old Warren after about 70 minutes after which he crashed in a shady corner of the boat while his big sister, Eden, hung in there like a real trooper and caught both white bass on downriggers and sunfish up shallow right up through around 8 PM.

When the kids had all the fun and sun they could muster, we had put together a catch of 37 fish for our efforts.

“Homefront” spouses with a husband or wife away from home on military duty (not just deployments) are welcomed to call me at 254.368.7411 to arrange for free 4-hour outing for your children.  Homefront parents are always welcome to attend, but are equally welcome to take some downtime from their own children and leave them in my care for this time on the water.  This is all made possible through the sponsorship and work of the Austin Fly Fishers and the supportive allies they have developed along the way.

TALLY: 37 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:30p

End Time: 8:00p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 90F

Water Surface Temp: 87.1F

Wind Speed & Direction: ENE breeze 3-4mph the entire trip

Sky Conditions: 60% white cloud cover & very humid

Water Level: 0.1 feet high and slowly falling with only evaporative losses of ~0.02 feet per day; 0 cfs release at dam

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

09AUG17

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 239 – sunfish on slipfloats

**Area 865 – whites on downrigger

**Area 660-1241 – whites on downrigger

**Area 200 – sunfish on slipfloats

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

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

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