SKIFF Trips #2 and #3 of 2011 – The Gehring and Salyer Boys, 252 Fish, Stillhouse






The following is a report to the membership of the Austin Fly Fishers and those individuals and companies who support S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun). S.K.I.F.F. exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families.

Saturday, 29 January 2011


I fished two S.K.I.F.F. trips today in an effort to take advantage of the predictably strong pre-frontal bite before thewinds turn northerly and our weather gets cold and wet as is forecast beginning tomorrow.

In the morning I fished with Ryne (age 16) and Ty (age 12) Gehring of Harker Heights.

Ryne (L) and Ty (R) with 4 of 105 fish we took today under ideal pre-frontal conditions.

Both boys are involved in scouting; Ryne just completed his Eagle Scout project and will be awarded that honor soon, and both he and Ty spoke excitedly of the fun they have each year at the local “Trout-O-Ree” event wherein trout are stocked into a pond on Boy Scout property in preparation for a weekend fishing derby. These boys are the sons of First Sergeant and Mrs. Eric Gehring. 1SG Gehring is serving with the 1st Cavalry Division near Tikrit, Iraq. Mrs. Gehring is working towards a degree in social work. The Gehring family learned of S.K.I.F.F. and contacted me about a trip after reading in the Killeen Daily Herald of another S.K.I.F.F. trip that produced a 9.25 pound largemouth back in December.

I picked the boys up at their home and we headed to Stillhouse Hollow. We searched with sonar two traditionally productive areas near the old Lampasas River channel and saw little, but then sonar lit up as we looked closely at a third such spot. I threw a buoy on top of these fish and we went to work jigging slab spoons (TNT 180’s in 3/8 and 3/4 oz.) in about 32 feet of water. We stayed on top of these fish located between Areas 103 and 720 for 140 minutes, and over that span of time boated exactly 91 white bass and 1 crappie. At this time the skies, which varied throughout the day from fully clouded to fully clear, cleared and the bite died as the light intensity increased greatly.

We headed out to give flatline trolling a try just for variety’s sake, and we found one lone white bass on the “circuit” between Area 343 and 704 — it fell to a bone colored Storm Wiggle Wart. As we trolled, the first wind of the day began to push from the SSW at 12-14. I told the boys that with the return of the wind, the fish activity would pick back up and that I was sure we could break the 100 mark if they were willing to give vertical jigging one more try and really stay focused at it. They were both game for that, so, we headed to Area 718, graphed fish in 35 feet of water, dropped slabs down among them, and pulled up 12 white bass in 15 minutes’ time to end the morning trip with a bag of 105 fish.


In the afternoon, I met up with the Salyer boys — Chase, Sean, and Trent, also of Harker Heights.


Sean (L), Chase (C), and Trent (R) wore the paint off my slab spoons today — 147 fish taken during a major 3 hour feeding binge.


These boys are the sons of Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Roy Salyer. LTC Salyer is with the Third Armored Corps (III Corps) headquarters and is stationed in Baghdad, Iraq. Mrs. Salyer is a teacher with the Killeen school district. The timing on this trip turned out to be a blessing to Mrs. Salyer, as she had planned a baby shower for a friend this afternoon and was a bit concerned as to what her 3 young men would be up to during this decidedly feminine event. As it turned out, my phone call offering a fishing trip for the boys took care of those concerns! Grandma Salyer dropped the boys off and picked them up and the shower went off without a hitch.

The fishing this afternoon was yet another blessing. I am not exaggerating when I say that no sooner did I arrive at the boat ramp at Stillhouse about 20 minutes in advance of our agreed upon meeting time, than a cloud of terns descended upon a patch of open water near the old Lampasas River channel feeding on the shad being pushed to the surface by hungry white bass beneath. That 20 minute wait for the boys was the longest 20 minutes I’d waited in a long time! I just knew the birds would dissipate or some other boat would pull up under them while I waited on the boys, but, as they arrived at 2:00pm sharp, the birds continue to work. I gave them the world’s fastest safety briefing and life jacket fitting ever witnessed and we tore off after those birds to try to make hay while the sun shone! Well, there was no need to rush, as those birds stayed over an 80 yard stretch of channel for nearly two hours. With the boys’ 3 rods going constantly and me occasionally kicking in a fish of my own, we amassed a catch of 99 fish in the first two hours of the trip. These fish all came off of Area 721. After things got slow here, we just bumped up the channel a ways and got back into the fish at Area 320, putting 34 more fish in the boat, including our trip lunker, a 3.00 pound largemouth brought to net by Chase. After a brief lull from around 4:30 to 5:00, the birds began working once again over Area 722, where we boated a final 14 fish.

This afternoon’s trip yielded a total catch of 147 fish (146 white bass and 1 largemouth bass), all of which were taken on TNT 180 slab spoon in both 3/8 oz. (that’s what I used) and 3/4 oz. (that’s what the boys used to give them a bit of extra sensation so they could stay in contact with their lure).

Chase took the largest fish of the day, an 18.75″, 3.00 pound largemouth found mixed in with a school of white bass.


With any luck the foul weather forecast for early this coming week will not bring any flooding rains and we’ll get back to fishing after the weather stabilizes.

Thank you all so much for allowing magical days like this on the water to become a reality and a memory for our military families!!

Sincerely,

Bob Maindelle


Today’s Conditions (AM):

Start Time: 7:20a

End Time: 11:35a

Starting Air Temp: 44F

Ending Air Temp: 64F

Water Surface Temp: 50-51F

Wind: Calm until ~10:30, then going SW14

Skies: Varying from fully clear to fully clouded



Today’s Conditions (PM):

Start Time: 2:00p

End Time: 6:00p

Starting Air Temp: 68F

Ending Air Temp: 66F

Water Surface Temp: 51F

Wind: SSW12, tapering off to SW5 by trip’s end

Skies: Varying from fully clear to fully clouded