This past Saturday morning, Oct. 18th, I fished with Joshua and Kennedy Vassar of Killeen, TX. This was the 26th SKIFF trip of the 2014 season. 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: Kennedy and Joshua Vassar worked through some tough “turnover” conditions with me to land 25 fish this morning.
15-year-old Joshua and his sister, 7-year-old Kennedy, are the youngest two of five children of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class and Mrs. Dameon Vassar of Killeen, Texas. SFC Vassar is currently serving a nine month deployment to Afghanistan where he serves as a “Commo NCO” installing, upgrading, and repairing radios and other communications equipment. This is SFC Vassar’s fifth deployment.
Turnover has finally occurred and, as it normally is during this time, the fishing was tough with bait and gamefish scattered from 0 to 55 feet and everywhere in between. Turnover is an annual event that occurs when cool autumn weather chills the warm, upper layer of water and causes it to sink down into the cooler, lower layer of water. When these previously separated layers of water mix, the temperature becomes uniform from top to bottom and the entire water column gets oxygenated sufficiently to support life. Fish can be and are, literally, everywhere and are scattered about.
Our best success came in two distinct periods. First we caught fish right after sunrise by downrigging for suspended white bass that were schooled up and chasing shad from 25 feet deep up to the surface in over 40 feet of water. During this short feed, Kennedy landed the first fish of her life, a 10.25 inch white bass, thus qualifying her for a TPWD First Fish Award.
Our second bit of success came in the last hour of the day when the cloud cover that persisted all morning finally cleared and a bit of wind began to blow. At this time we found moderately aggressive white bass loosely congregated in the gut of a channel in 45 to 50 feet deep. Once again, downrigging with three armed umbrella rigs did the trick. Despite e-anchoring and fishing through these loosely scattered fish vertically with slabs, our presentations were ignored — probably because the fish were not very densely schooled and therefore were not truly competing with one another.
We finished up the day with 25 fish including 21 white bass, 1 largemouth bass, and 3 longear sunfish. These sunfish were caught at the boat ramp just because little Miss Kennedy spotted them and took a liking to them, thus opening the opportunity to quickly introduce her to a new technique and make her instantly successful at it. When the children’s mother, Lovette, arrived I asked her if she enjoyed her downtime. She said she did indeed enjoy it and spent it doing a little shopping with no kids attached at our local Lowe’s home improvement store.
TALLY = 25 FISH, all caught and released
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TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:15a
End Time: 11:30a
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Water Surface Temp: 74.7 to 75.8F
Wind Speed & Direction: ESE2-4
Sky Conditions: Greyed over but bright until 10am, then clearing to 50% cloudy on a fair blue sky
Other: GT=0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 1246/1449 downrigging at 25 feet over 40-42 feet of water
**Area 1464 downrigging at 41 feet over a 44 foot bottom
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Salado, TX
www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com