This past Saturday morning, April 1st, I fished with Cub Scout Pack 511 — yes, the WHOLE Pack — 26 boys in all!!
The names of the boys in my flights, and their chaperones were as follows:
Flight One L-R: Nick Long, Charlie Kauffman, Mr. JT Long, Luke Jurbergs, and Cole Danforth
Flight Two L-R: Robert Gjertson, Ben Jaggers, Mr. Chris Jaggers, Eli Stern, and Arjun Kapoor
Flight Three L-R: Grady Sorensen, Mr. Mike Sorensen,Tyler Crawford, Carter Nix, and Drew Gilley
Flight Four L-R: Ash Hoffman, James Davenport, Mr. David Hoffman,James Romberg, and Dylan Engle
Flight Five L-R: Jared Carrasco, Mr. Alamando Carrasco, Alex Range, Zane Bauer, and Elijah Range
Flight Six L-R: Evan Roll, Adrian Camacho, Mr. Jonathan Roll, Eddie Faigley, and Jett Henson
Flight Seven: Ash Hoffman, Asher Treadwell, Mr. Dan Treadwell, and Eli Treadwell
Pack 511 camped out overnight Friday into Saturday at the Union Grove Park on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. Weeks in advance, event organizer David Hoffman and I planned out how, in a very limited amount of time, we might be able to help make each boy successful as each endeavored to catch a fish.
We planned on a ~8 hour day, divided the number of boys, grouped in 3’s or 4’s, into this amount of time, and forecast that we could get in up to 8 “flights” of about 50 minutes each.
By 7:10am Saturday I had 4 boys and one adult chaperone aboard and ready to roll and we hit the road running. Over the first three “flights”, a shallow downrigger bite went strong in under 25 feet of water. We routinely landed singles and doubles on a tandem rig equipped with small Pet Spoons. By mid-way through the third flight, this bite died and we had to move deeper, into 40-44′, in order to continue catching fish. These deep fish required a vertical presentation with slabs.
By the time each boy had been out on the water, all 26 kids caught at least one fish, Pack 511 amassed a catch of 74 fish, and 11 boys had landed the first fish of their lives.
TALLY = 74 FISH, all caught and released
WX Snapshot:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:10a
End Time: 1:25p
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 61F
Water Surface Temp: 66.1F
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE8 at sunrise, increasing to SSE14 by midday
Sky Conditions: Grey and to the point of drizzle the entire time
Water Level: 0.48 feet above full pool
GT = 0
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 720 thru 1048 thru 1056 – downrigging with tandem rigged Pet Spoons under low light conditions
**Area – 1492 – vertical jigging with slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hook in 40′
**Area vic 1279 – vertical jigging with slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hook on 40-45′ breakline
Bob Maindelle
Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service
254.368.7411 (call or text)
Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com
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