After School Special — 42 Fish for Josh and Abigail, SKIFF Trip #22

WHO I FISHED WITH: US Army Major Theresa Marie Long and her two children, Joshua (age 4) and Abigail (age 8).  Theresa is a field surgeon assigned to Darnall Army Medical Center on Ft. Hood.  Her husband, Lieutentant Colonel Jeff Long, is the commander of the 2/149 General Support Aviation Battalion currently serving in Southwest Asia.  This was the 22nd free SKIFF program trip of the 2017 season the Austin Fly Fishers have provided to our military community.

IMG_4124

Abigail Long with a “triple”!  She landed 3 fish at a time as we downrigged a slow tapering point just prior to sunset.  She was obviously a little unsure about holding these fish any closer for a photo!

IMG_4116

4-year-old Josh Long and his mom, Major Theresa Marie Long, with one of the better white bass they teamed up to catch on tailspinners early in our trip.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species SKIFF program trip focused on white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday evening, 11 October

HOW WE FISHED:  Since this was an after work/after school trip, we had a shorter-than-normal time to get on the water, find fish, show the kids what to do, and put fish in the boat.  Fortunately, the first 2 hours of daylight and the last 2 hours of daylight tend to be the most productive of the day anyway, and today was no exception.  We drove about 200 yards from the boat ramp, graphed active white bass on a breakline in about 34 feet of water and put exactly 20 fish in the boat in just over an hour (with plenty of missed fish and fish that flipped off at boatside, to boot) using tailspinners fished vertically.  When this school simmered down, we moved another 300 yards and fished a point with a moderate taper using downriggers after sonar revealed fish pushing higher in the water column to take advantage of the greater amount of light there as sunset approached.  We put another 22 fish in the boat as we caught singles, doubles, and even a triple for Abigail, all using Pet Spoons on 3-armed umbrella rigs.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  “Homefront” spouses with a husband or wife away from home on military duty (not just deployments) are welcomed to call me at 254.368.7411 to arrange for free 4-hour outing for your children.  Homefront parents are always welcome to attend, but are equally welcome to take some downtime from their own children and leave them in my care for this time on the water.  This is all made possible through the sponsorship and work of the Austin Fly Fishers and the supportive allies they have developed along the way.

TALLY: 64 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 5:00p

End Time: 7:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 74F

Water Surface Temp: 78.4

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable, under 3mph

Sky Conditions:  <10% white cloud cover the entire trip

Water Level: 1.33 feet low

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT: 

11OCT17

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 1150 – 20 fish on tailspinners fished vertically

**Area vic 2021 – 22 fish on downriggers

 

 

Bob Maindelle, Central Texas Fishing Guide

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

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle

Leave a Reply