WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning I fished the 2018 season’s 9th SKIFF (Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun) program trip provided free of charge to the Cruz family of Fort Hood.  Mrs. Katy Cruz, originally from Illinois, accompanied her four kids on this morning’s excursion, including Dakottah (age 14), Makenzie (age 12), Makayla (age 10), and Gavin (age 6).

Staff Sergeant Jose Cruz, originally from Puerto Rico, has been in the U.S. Army for 12 years now.  He has been deployed approximately 3 months on an overseas deployment which is forecast to last approximately 9 months.  SSG Cruz is a medic and is currently involved in training with NATO partners.

SKIFF serves to put the kids of soldiers on the water at times when duty pulls parents away from their families.  Begun in 2009, SKIFF offers trips free of charge to any military family wherein kids are separated from their parent due to that parent’s military obligations from short-term commitments like gunnery or field time at Ft. Hood, to lengthy deployments, and anything in between.  Simply call me, Bob Maindelle, at 254.368.7411 to reserve a date.

The girls, from the left: Dakottah, Makayla, and Makenzie, and little brother Gavin who was decidedly NOT in favor of touching the fish he caught!  During this morning’s trip, the kids all landed the first fish of their lives, thus earning TPWD First Fish Awards, and went on to land a total of 80 fish including 54 sunfish and another 26 white bass.

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

WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir

WHEN WE FISHED:  Monday morning, 20 August 2018

HOW WE FISHED:  We broke this morning’s trip down into two distinct parts.  First, we nailed down some basics up in shallow water by fishing for sunfish with slipfloats and live bait in under 4 feet of water, landing bluegill, green, longear, and redear sunfish.  For part two, we headed out into deeper, clearer water in search of white bass.  Fortunately, the fish were in a feeding mood this morning to the point of driving bait to the surface, making them able to be spotted with the optics I have onboard.  Once we got near the commotion, I verified the exact location of the fish and bait using sonar and we sealed the deal with the pair of Cannon downriggers rigged up with 3-armed umbrella rigs and Pet Spoons.  After making a few runs at the fish with the downriggers and connecting each time, and to provide some variety for my young clients, we identified an area with a particularly heavy concentration of white bass holding near bottom and used the Minn Kota trolling motor’s Spot Lock function to establish a hover over these fish through the i-Pilot Link system which allows the Humminbird sonar (which I use primarily for side imaging) to be used as a remote control for the trolling motor.  Once we were hovering, I equipped the kids each with a spinning outfit and showed them how to work tailspinners vertically through the fish.  When the novelty of that tactic wore off, we did one more round of downrigging and then called it a morning before the temps hit the 90’s.  In all, we landed 80 fish including 54 sunfish and 26 white bass.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES:  A mild cold front is due in in the early afternoon today and is due to change the wind direction to northerly for the remainder of the day today and all day tomorrow.

 

TALLY: 80 fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 10:30a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 76F

Water Surface Temp:   83.8F

Wind Speed & Direction: Winds S7 at sunrise, slowly moving to SW and increasing to 12 through 9:30a, then backing off to SW9-10 for remainder of trip

Sky Conditions: ~70% cloud cover, tapering to 40% by trip’s end

Water Level: 7.47 feet low and falling

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:  

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 201 & 420 for sunfish

**Area SH0054C thru SH0044C for white bass located beneath fish crashing bait on the surface and accompanying tern activity

 

 

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@HoldingelleTheLineGuideService.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bobmaindelle

Twitter: www/twitter.com/bobmaindelle