This afternoon I conducted an “after school” SKIFF trip for Zach, Marissa, and Brock Christenson. 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) Brock, Marissa, and Zach Christenson worked in an afternoon SKIFF trip between school, soccer practice, band practice, and more.
Here, Marissa poses with her first “double”. We actually had more multiple hookups today than singles, including a “triple” that Brock brought in unassisted.
Zach, Marissa, and Brock are the children of Staff Sergeant (SSG) Ryan Christenson and his wife, Erica. SSG Christenson is a Master Gunner and has been sent to Germany with a follow-on tour to Poland for a 9-month stint as part of a large contingent of troops now in Europe from the 1st Cavalry Division.
Now that the school year is “in”, juggling schedules to make room for a SKIFF trip, and then hoping the weather cooperates on the chosen day, gets trickier as we head into the cooler months. This trip was over 3 weeks in the making given Marissa’s soccer schedule, Zach’s physical therapy schedule, Erica’s church band schedule, and 5 out of 7 nights per week being a “school night” with an early wakeup the next day as Erica gets the whole brood up for her early start as a teacher’s aide.
With no school tomorrow and no practices on the calendar, we chose this evening for the trip. Erica picked the kids up directly from school to save the bus ride time and get the kids to the dock where I was waiting. We launched just before 4pm under still-turbulent skies after several wet, grey days thanks to the inland impacts of Pacific Hurricane Odile. Turbulent weather is never a good thing, so, I was expecting our success to be impacted by it, and it was.
We covered a lot of water today and really found just light quantities of bait and suspended, schooled fish up and chasing that bait. Regardless, the action was steady, and, because we were running and checking areas regularly, the kids enjoyed “going fast” from one area to the next. The new Cannon electric downriggers I installed early this season have all “push button” keypads, so, as you might imagine, the kids are all over any feature that remotely resembles a video game!
Every fish we caught came on a 3-armed umbrella rig armed with Pet Spoons, and, more often than not we caught multiples today. In fact, we had more multiple hookups than we did single hookups, which is rare.
During our fishing trip, Erica went over to the home of another Army mom whose husband is away right now, and so I dropped the kids off there following the trip to save her the hassle. As we drove home from the lake, I asked the kids what was tough about having dad gone. Marissa was the first one to chime in. She noted that it was harder for her mom to do all the things that normally were shared tasks between her mom and dad. I asked her to give an example. She told of how, normally, when she goes to soccer practice, her mom takes her and stays with her while Brock and Zach stay home with their dad; now with dad away, mom has to gather all 3 kids up and watch the other two while Marissa practices soccer. Zach observed that their bedtimes are later than usual because it take more time to get things done and because on one night each week mom has band practice. Brock had no comment.
As I dropped the kids off, Erica thanked me, so, I in turn, thank you, Austin Fly FIshers and friends of SKIFF, for making a way for Erica to have a break in the action.
TALLY = 18 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 3:50p
End Time: 7:40pm
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 86F
Water Surface Temp: 83.4
Wind Speed & Direction: E8-10
Sky Conditions: 80% cloudy
Other: GT=0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area bounded by Areas 1242-1246 gave up all but one fish we caught today.
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Salado, TX
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com