I fished with 6 year old Daniel L. and his mom, Anne S. of Harker Heights this morning. This Army family just moved to Ft. Hood from their previous duty station in the northeast, and has been “on the ground” for all of 6 days. Mom did some internet research on some fun mother-son things to do with the rest of their summertime and fishing and horseback riding both made the cut. So, with a single phone call on Tuesday, we coordinated this trip and today we made it happen!

Daniel is a sharp, enthusiastic kid who learned quickly and listened closely, and he enjoyed success as a result. Here mom helps him show off 4 of his bigger fish landed today.

Today we enjoyed hot, dry, high-pressure conditions, much the same as the conditions we had the last half of the day yesterday, and the same conditions that are forecast for the next several days. With such weather, the fish get into a predictable routine and that makes finding them a little simpler than is typical.

We did two trips in one today, focusing on larger, deepwater white bass for the first part of the trip, then changing over to shallow water panfishing at the end of the trip.

Daniel had never landed a fish before, so, we had our work cut out for us. We got “on station” shortly after sunrise, put lures in the water and in no time, Daniel was fast to his first fish of the trip and of his lifetime — a feat which earned him a Texas Parks and Wildlife First Fish Award!! We fished the white bass in 4 different areas for as long as the fishing held up, including Areas 040/041 (best action, early, boated 15 fish), Area 207/208 (found nothing), Area 458 (found juveniles fish only and left after boating 2), and Area 644/444 (moderate, waning action, 4 fish). All fish came on downriggers, which, by the end of the window, Daniel was setting on his own.

Our last stop came at Area 231 where we fished for sunfish with slip floats and live bait. Daniel also did very well at this by placing his bait consistently in the productive areas I pointed out to him, and by setting the hook correctly once the float began to be moved by the sunfish. We boated 12 fish here before the novelty wore off, the sun got hot, and the winds got a bit light, letting mom and I know it was time to call it a very good day and head to the dock.

TALLY = 33 FISH, all caught and released

Today’s conditions:

Start Time (AM): 6:30am

End Time (AM): 10:45am

Air Temperature at Trip’s Start: 72F

Water Surface Temperature: 85.3F

Winds: SW6-10

Skies: Fair.