This morning I was joined for our 21st “S.K.I.F.F.” fishing trip of the year by Brayden and Zach, both 9 years old.
Zach (L) and Brayden (R) enjoyed one another’s company and some solid fishing this morning utilizing 4 different techniques.
When Brayden’s mom accidentally left the boatramp with Brayden’s snack bag, Zach recognized the situation and, without prompting of any sort, offered to share his entire lunch with his fishing buddy.
At ~40mph with no windshield, it is sometimes necessary to improvise on eye protection!!
Brayden’s dad, Sergeant First Class Benjamin Scott, is stationed at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California. SFC Scott has served 2 tours in Iraq. Zach is the son of U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class (SFC) Abe Marquez and his wife, Hilary. SFC Marquez has served overseas on 4 previous deployments and is now providing security at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. SFC Marquez is currently assigned to the 479th Field Artillery Brigade.
SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) trips are provided free of charge to families whose children are separated from a parent due to that parent’s military service. These trips are funded by the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S.!
Thanks to a nearly windless first 2 hours on the water, things were a bit slow, so we used our downriggers to cover a lot of ground and get our baits in front of the few active fish amongst the many still inactive fish. Over the first two hours, we boated only 14 fish, but the action was evenly distributed, so the boys stayed engaged.
At exactly 9am, a light SSE wind began, and the fish turned on with that wind. From 9a to 10a, we took our fish count from 14 white bass up to 36 white bass and, during this time, witnessed some light topwater action and some heavy submerged schooling which allowed us to leave the downrigging behind and go vertical using slabs to put a bunch of fish in the boat in short order.
By around 10a, that peak of activity ended, and we went back to downrigging, but, I could tell the boys were ready for a change of pace, so, we headed shallow and put 12 sunfish in the boat in about 30 minutes’ time before the very hot, very still conditions in the back of the cove we were fishing got to be too much. We rounded out the trip with one last shot at vertical jigging, during which time we put a final 5 white bass in the boat and then called it a day and enjoyed the breeze evaporating the sweat on our skin as we cruised back to the boatramp to meet up with moms.
TALLY = 53 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 7:00a
End Time: 11:15a
Air Temp: 75F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 86.5F
Wind: Winds were calm until 9a, then blew SSE4-6.
Skies: 30% cloudy on a fair sky.
Areas Fished:
**1245 downrigging
**1246/1241/909 smoking & downrigging
**1098 sunfishing
**1252 smoking
Bob Maindelle
Holding the Line Guide Service
254-368-7411
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
Salado, Texas