Fished a half-day morning trip today on Stillhouse with 2 young men, Caleb Visser of Harker Heights, and Joseph Henry of Killeen. This was the fifth SKIFF Program trip that I’ve run. SKIFF stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. SKIFF trips are funded by donations both given by and collected by the members of the Austin Fly Fishers. AFF has commissioned me to take the children of soldiers deployed in harm’s way and the children of soldiers killed while on active duty on guided fishing trips. The boys’ dads, Phil Visser and Lionel Henry, are currently serving our country in Iraq and Kuwait.
Caleb with a pair of whites caught at the same time on his tandem rig — a Pet / Licker combo
Joseph with a chunky largemouth that jumped 3 times before we landed it
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 10:55a
Air Temp: 75F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: ~84.3F
Wind: Winds were light from the SSW at around 4 the entire trip.
Skies: Skies were bright and clear the entire morning.
After meeting both boys and their moms at dockside, we put snacks onboard, covered some safety items and headed out to the fishing grounds.
Both boys had fished before and were good listeners. We scouted for some signs of topwater, but the near calm conditions rarely allow for that to happen. When no topwater action became apparent, we deployed the downriggers amidst bait and white bass showing strong on sonar in the vicinity of Area 444. We caught fish continuously through 9:40am when things began to weaken a bit. During this time we landed 34 fish including 8 fish taken on tandem rigs which each consisted of a white bass/largemouth bass combination — I’ve never seen that happen so many times in such a short span of time.
The entire time we downrigged fish would sporadically break the surface, but not in numbers sufficient to convince me to change tactics. Besides, the boys were having a great time using the downriggers and were “double-teaming” the fish. When one rod went off, one boy would fight the fish while the other reeled up the downrigger ball. Once I unhooked the fish, the one who caught it would pay his line back out and reset the rig, all so we could maximize the time spent with lures in the water. The boys really got into working the fish like that.
After 9:40a, we moved on to check a few other areas. As we covered ground from Area 056 to Area 176 we picked up a 2 largemouth, 1 white bass, and 1 drum. After failing to find much bait in this area, we moved on just to the NE of Areas 145 and 148 where we finished off the trip with 2 more largemouth and 3 more white bass.
I let the boys steer the boat a bit on the way back to the dock. As Joseph was at the wheel, I saw him yawn. I asked him if driving the boat was boring. He said, “No, I just didn’t sleep good last night ’cause I was so excited about the trip.”. I’ve been that boy’s shoes!!
I normally insist that we release all fish caught, but today I made an exception. Caleb took home a single fish so as to work towards a Boy Scout badge for catching and cleaning a fish.
TALLY = 43 FISH, all caught and released (except the white bass needed for the Boy Scout requirement!)
Bob Maindelle, Owner, Holding The Line Guide Service and Kids Fish, Too! Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide, Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Lake Georgetown Fishing Guide, Walter E. Long (Decker) Lake Fishing Guide. Offering Salado Fishing, Killeen Fishing and Ft. Hood Fishing