WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, March 20th, I conducted what was both the final Spring Break trip of the week, as well as the first SKIFF trip of the 2021 season.
SKIFF is an acronym for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. It is a program now in its 12th year, sponsored by the Austin Fly Fishers, and supported by individuals and entities, all of whom desire that kids separated from a parent by that parent’s military duty, be given an opportunity to experience the outdoors through fishing during that time of separation, free of charge. The program offers a time of respite for the home-front parents who made need a short break from single-parenting.
This morning I welcomed the Maness brothers aboard. Jayden, age 9, and Elijah, age 8, are the sons of U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Jamal Maness and his wife, Nicole (who is herself a veteran).
SFC Maness has been in the military for 11 years and serves as the acting First Sergeant in an aviation maintenance unit. His unit is undergoing intensive field time in preparation for a rotation to Germany by year’s end.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Elijah (8) and Jayden (9), were treated to a SKIFF trip, free of charge, as they face separation from their father during train-ups in advance of his unit’s rotation to Germany.
PHOTO CAPTION: Big brother, big fish.
PHOTO CAPTION: Elijah with a Stillhouse largemouth which fell for his crankbait worked at 2.6 mph.
WHERE WE FISHED: Stillhouse Hollow
WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday (AM), 20 March 2021
HOW WE FISHED:
The boys had limited prior experience in fishing saltwater down in Florida prior to this trip, but, they were both enthusiastic and willing to listen.
Given their age and experience, I tried to “mix it up” the best I could given the weather conditions and fish mood. We alternated back and forth between flat-line trolling and vertical jigging with 3/4 oz. white Hazy Eye Slabs.
The flat-lining gave us a steady feed of fish from start to finish and allowed me to slowly, effectively sweep large areas of bottom with side-imaging. When I spotted what I thought would be a “can’t miss” opportunity for white bass, based on school size and location, we brought in the trolling rods, quickly switched over to slabs and used a slow-smoking tactic in combination with Garmin LiveScope to add fish to our tally more quickly than the flat-lining allowed for.
In this way, we put a total of 34 fish in the boat in 3.5 hours, including 32 white bass up to 14.25″, and 2 largemouth bass, one for each boy.
Hazy Eye Slabs, MAL Lures, and Stinger Hooks are found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 34 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS:
TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:
Start Time: 7:30A
End Time: 11:00A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 43F
Elevation: 0.34 feet high, .04 foot 24-hour drop, 1 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 56.6 F
Wind Speed & Direction: Winds were calm the entire morning
Sky Condition: Cloudless, bright skies
Moon Phase: Waxing crescent at 40% illum.
GT = 20
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
**Area 730 to 764 to 733 to 374 in a circuit for flatlining; 733 to 374 end of the circuit was best and also offered one shot at slab work.
**Area SH0075C with slabs
Bob Maindelle
Full-time, Professional Fishing Guide and Owner of Holding the Line Guide Service
Belton Lake Fishing Guide, Stillhouse Hollow Fishing Guide
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
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