SKIFF Trip #22 of 2011 Breaks the 100 Fish Mark!! — 05 Nov. — Stillhouse






Rylan with the first fish of his lifetime which earned him a TPWD “First Fish” certificate.


Aedan with 1 of 103 fish we caught on TNT180 slabs on this cloudy, windy, warm day just right for white bass fishing!


A screenshot off of my Lowrance HDS-10 sonar unit showing the fish in absolute overdrive from bottom to top this afternoon literally hitting anything that moved!

The S.K.I.F.F. (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) Program exists to take the children of deployed or deceased soldiers on fishing trips at no charge to the soldiers’ families as a way of showing our support for our troops and providing a respite for their spouses. The following is a note to SKIFF supporters about this most recent outing…

Saturday, 05 Nov. 2011

Dear Austin Fly Fishers and Friends of SKIFF,

Today I fished with 12 and 8 year old brothers Aedan and Rylan Acheson of Harker Heights, TX. These boys are the sons of Major Eric Acheson and his wife, Rachelle. Eric is currently serving as an Army doctor with the 102nd Forward Surgical Team

at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bostick in the Kunar Province of NE Afghanistan.

As icing on the cake, Grandpa Randy (Rachelle’s dad) came along for the fishing trip. He and his wife drove in from Magnolia, TX, for a whirlwind weekend which included a football game, Rylan’s 8th birthday party, our SKIFF fishing trip, and attending church on Sunday where Aedan gave a report about a recent mission trip he attended.

After watching the weather reports very closely following our mid-week cold front, I saw a wind shift to the south, cloud cover, and good wind velocity called for and just knew this was going to be good!!

As we began at 3:00pm the wind was a bit too stiff for safe boat control out in open water given my pretty inexperienced crew, so, we sought out some protected water near Area 885 and ran downriggers until the winds let off a bit. We managed to boat 2 white bass and 1 largemouth as we waited, which included the first fish Rylan had ever caught in his life, thus earning him a TPWD “First Fish” certificate.

After about 40 minutes or so the winds came down from 17-18 mph to 14-15 and we made a go of it.

From 3:45 to 6:45 we fished over top of three “humps” out in open water (Area 232/950/951, Area 949, and Area 915). Each topped out at about 36-41 feet deep.

At each location, the scenario was the same … aggressively feeding white bass were positioned in a feeding posture within 18 inches of the bottom and on the windward side of the humps. At times the fish were so aggressive and competing with their schoolmates so strongly that our slabs wouldn’t make it to the bottom before being struck at by a fish, often resulting in hookups.

The boys and their grandpa kept reeling ’em in and I kept my forceps handy and just went from person to person unhooking fish, keeping lines untangled, and coaching to make sure everyone’s technique was remaining effective.

By the time our daylight failed us, we’d boated exactly 103 fish. We had been anticipating the possibility of hitting the century mark once we put fish number 80 in the boat, but I had told all three that it was a race against time, as there comes a point where the light level gets too dim and the feed stops very suddenly. Armed with this knowledge, Aedan, Rylan, and Randy stayed extra focused on making every cast count and on boating every hooked fish with no “long distance releases”. So, with this big buildup, you can imaging there was a lot of cheering going on when that 100th fish came over the side!!

Thank you all for the contributions you make in terms of both time and money so that unforgettable outings like this can take place even if the one who would normally be tending to such things is serving half a world away!!


Sincerely,

Bob Maindelle

TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 3:00p

End Time: 7:00p

Air Temp: 70F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~66.4F

Wind: Winds were S13-18.

Skies: Skies started off fair with rapidly increasing grey cloud cover to the point of totally obscuring the direct sun.