The following blog entry appears in the form of a report to those who support the S.K.I.F.F. program …
Boston caught a mixed bag of 11 fish this morning, including 8 white bass, 1 crappie, 1 drum, and 1 largemouth bass.
11 February 2012
Dear Friends of S.K.I.F.F.,
Today I fished with Boston Dillree, the 7 year old son of Staff Sergeant Dismas and Dr. Amy Dillree of Harker Heights, TX. SSG Dillree is currently stationed at Camp Marmal in Afghanistan where he works in Army Aviation as a technical inspector and crew chief. This is his (catch this!!) 7th deployment in 9 years. Dr. Amy Dillree is a PhD and operates “Behavior for Life, Inc.” which serves children affected by autism and the families they come from.
This trip was a bit different in that Boston has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a high-functioning form of Autism. Meeting new people and entering new environments can be overwhelming to Boston, so, to “grease the skids” a bit, I stopped over to meet him in his own surroundings at home after fishing this past Thursday evening. His mom and I agreed that putting Boston in my boat (a new environment) with me (a new person) could be a bit too much for him. That initial meeting, which included him touring my boat and me getting a look at his Lego collection, went very well and took the edge off of things. Amy told me Boston had really been missing his dad (to the point of tears) lately and this would be a good time for our trip. I knew once I put a date on the calendar, we’d have to make it happen or risk significant further disappointment! So, we nailed down today as our date, but, little did we know what surprises the weatherman had in store for us.
I picked Boston up at 7:40 and we were on the water by 8:00. It was 34F and a brisk N. wind was already up to 11mph and building.
We did a bit of flatline trolling with Reefrunner Ripshads in order to cover water and keep Boston’s hands warm until the sun’s radiation could be felt a bit more. We picked up a white bass, then a crappie, then a largemouth, all around Area 700. This let him explore the boat, ask a bunch of questions and catch fish all at the same time and worked out well. Boston has an i-Pad and does a good bit of research on it. He filled me in on quite a number of Guinness Book world records. Somehow we got on the topic of Valentine’s Day when he asked me if I had any plans with my wife. I told him Miss Rebecca and I were planning to go eat Chinese food that day. He volunteered that he’d be giving “Emily” a Valentine’s Day Card (along with all the other girls and boys in his 2nd Grade class).
When the birds that led us to this area left, we went in search of fish with sonar. I’d scouted several areas this past Monday and Thursday hoping we’d be able to make this trip happen today, but the building wind prevented us from accessing these open water areas. We found fish without having to do a whole lot of sonar work at Area 069. Boston really did well at mimicking the technique necessary for tempting the fish today … we used an “easing” tactic with jigging spoons to get our bait in front of fish holding in loose, small schools about 4-9 feet off bottom. The combination of a good graphite rod and sensitive braided line made the “take” of the white bass able to be readily felt. Boston got the hang of this and stuck with his technique really well allowing him to boat 7 white bass here, all around 11 inches.
After things settled down in this area, we went looking for more fish. We found a congregation of fish at Area 074 around 9:30am and fished over them for about an hour. These fish were in about 26 feet of water and were very tight to the bottom. At the time we got on this area, the winds were really ramping up to what would be their highest velocity of the day — around 16mph. Also, the skies were beginning to clear from the fair appearance they’d had up to this point. This indicates that the pressure was rising and, as they often do, the fish really locked up. Despite jigging right in and among these schooled fish, we managed only to hook 3 and boat 1. By 11:00 or so, the cold was beginning to soak in to Boston. I knew this because he was telling me in great detail about all the places he was currently experiencing “goose bumps”!!
We tried a bit of downrigging without success in a more sheltered area and then headed back in where my sun-warmed Ford F-150 cab greeted us in the parking lot.
Thank you all very, very much for giving to SKIFF and for your fundraising efforts, donations of time, gear, and more. Supporting our soldiers and their families is an honor and I thank you for equipping me to meet their needs!
Sincerely,
–Bob Maindelle
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TALLY = 11 FISH all caught and released
Start Time: 8:00a
End Time: 11:40a
Air Temp: 34F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 55.3F.
Wind: Winds were N11 at trip’s start, building to N16.
Skies: Skies were fair at sunrise, then going bluebird by trip’s end.