On the morning of Aug. 15th I conducted the 16th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season by welcoming aboard Jayden Barrios (age 5) and Austin Bayless (age 11) . 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 thanks to the Austin Fly Fishers and a network of supportive individuals from all over the U.S. All it takes is a phone call from a parent to me at 254-368-7411 to reserve a date.
L to R: Jayden Barrios and Austin Bayless.
Austin, who has been fishing with me before during his father’s multiple deployments, served as my first mate to try to help me make Jayden successful. Austin did a great job in this role being both helpful and watchful.
By the end of our trip we had landed 34 white bass and 2 large mouth bass.
Funny moments are just about a guaranteed part of these SKIFF trips. As we fished, Austin asked me about generalities of the various decades in recent U.S. history. When he asked specifically about the 1950s, I asked if he had ever watched the TV show “Happy Days”. He said he was not sure. I then asked if he had ever heard of The Fonz. He replied, “Isn’t that a band, or an extraterrestrial life form?”.
Then, after I had dropped Jayden off at his house and was on the way to Austin’s house to drop him off, Austin turned to me and asked, “How old are you?”. I replied, “I am 45 years old.”. Austin said, “That’s pretty good.”. I’m still not sure what scale he had in mind to make that judgment with…
TALLY = 36 FISH
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:00am
End Time: 11:00am
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F
Water Surface Temp: 84.6
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-11 until 10am, then shifting SSW11-12
Sky Conditions: 30% clouds on a fair sky.
Other: GT=0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1419 slow white bass action on downriggers in the first 30+ minutes of the trip (low light) and strong action on bottom-oriented white bass after the wind shift at 10am on slabs.
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Salado, TX
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com