Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) Trip nets 66 on Belton

This past Saturday evening, I fished  with Aaron, Daniel, and Alexandria Chambers, chaperoned by their mom, Melissa.

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Shoemaker High School student Aaron Chambers landed the first fish of his life and many more after that on our SKIFF program trip to Lake Belton this past Saturday.

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8-year-old Alexandria show off the first fish of her life with a little help from her mom, Melissa.

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Alexandria’s twin brother, Daniel, stayed enthusiastic the entire trip and really came on strong in the last hour as we encountered solid surface-feeding white bass action.

Melissa and I had coordinated a previous date in August, but rain and illness in their family prevented that from happening.  Still, Melissa was able to keep the entire thing a surprise for the kids until the moment they drove through the Corps of Engineers gate to the park we met at on Lake Belton.

None of the three kids had ever fished before.  Aaron (age 14) was a good bit older than his 8-year-old twin siblings, so I enlisted his help in helping ensure their success while I made sure he caught his fair share of fish, too.  Aaron’s help was much appreciated as we encountered 17 mph winds following the passage of a cold front that sped through central Texas in the morning, shifting the winds to the north, darkening the skies, and dropping trace of rain.

We enjoyed three distinct “chapters” on this trip.  Chapter one consisted of downrigging for white bass that were somewhat lethargic under the bright, post-frontal skies.  We found a solid congregation of  white bass holding on a distinct breakline in 20-25 feet of water and worked them over with repeated passes using downriggers equipped with Pet Spoons.  Following a 4:15p start, we had over 2 dozen fish in the boat by 6pm, thanks to landing a number of doubles on the tandem rigs we were downrigging with.

We spent about 45 minutes fishing cut bait near bottom for blue catfish until each of the three kids was able to land several catfish on their own.  These catfish were small, as they have been all summer, but they were plentiful and very cooperative.  As we wrapped up the catfishing the tally stood at 32 fish boated by around 7pm.

The last chapter of the day was to be written up in shallower water.  Thanks to a few sparse, but well-positioned clouds, the decrease of light that normally accompanies sunset came a bit early tonight as the sun sank behind these clouds before sinking below the horizon.  This got the white bass going on their evening topwater feed a bit early.  We enjoyed over an hour of sight-casting to surface feeding white bass, and ended the trip with an additional 34 fish landed via this technique.

It is not at all uncommon to catch as many fish in the last hour of light as in the previous 3 hours preceding.

All three kids obviously caught the first fish of their lives on this trip and earned TPWD “First Fish Awards”.

If you are a military spouse and your spouse is away from home on military duty, your children can also participate in such a SKIFF trip, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers.  Simply give me a call, text, or email (see below).

TALLY = 66 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 4:15p

End Time:  8:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 88F

Water Surface Temp:  84.7F

Wind Speed & Direction:  NNW17, tapering down to NNW8

Sky Conditions: 10% cloud cover in the western sky.

Water Level: ~0.06 feet high.  Lake is at full pool with only evaporative losses and no water being released.

GT = 0

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1602/813/1746/811 shallow downrigging at first light

**Area 1805/1790/1800 deeper downrigging during 2nd hour of light

**Area 502 sunfishing

**Area 1805 bluecat on cutbait

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website:www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail:Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle