WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Tuesday, July 12th, I conducted the sixth Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip of the 2022 season.
Joining me was Mrs. Serena Flatt and her six-year-old daugther, Sofia.
We also had an unexpected guest this morning — U.S. Army Corporal Travis Flatt! Travis literally just returned from his most recent of two deployments to Iraq during his 5-year military career as a drone operator.
When Serena planned this trip for her daughter, she knew Travis would be reaching the end of his deployment, but, for security’s sake, exact dates are rarely revealed.
Since both Serena and Travis chose to get fishing licenses, they were able to be very “hands-on” and helped me help Sofia be successful.
ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip was provided to this military family at no charge. S.K.I.F.F. stands for Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun. This program began in May of 2009. It is funded by the donations and fundraising efforts of the Austin Fly Fishers and other organizations they have partnered with. S.K.I.F.F. provides the children of military personnel separated from their families due to duty commitments with the opportunity to go fishing. SKIFF trips are also provided, free of charge, to Gold Star families who have lost their service member while he or she was on active duty. In mid-2019, SKIFF also began providing trips to dependents whose parents are bona fide disabled veterans. I coordinate and conduct these 3.5 to 4 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Hood in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.
My next open date for a free SKIFF trip for qualifying families will be on August 11th.
Here is how the fishing went …
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PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Serena Flatt, her daughter, Sofia Lumaye, and U.S. Army Corporal Travis Flatt celebrating Travis’ return home from his most recent of two tours to Iraq as a drone operator.
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday, 12 July 2022
HOW WE FISHED:
As we launched right at sunrise, we found ourselves in the midst of a days-long “Excessive Heat Warning” issued by the National Weather Service. Indeed, it was hot, but, thankfully, there was a light breeze all morning which kept it tolerable until about 10:30A.
Over the course of the morning, Sofia would manage to catch 7 species of fish in her 70 fish total.
We began the morning downrigging, catching 17 white bass, a hybrid striped bass, a freshwater drum, and a largemouth bass. We’d landed a total of 20 fish using 3-armed umbrella rigs equipped with Pet Spoons on the downriggers before I suggested we take a boat ride to go shoot for sunfish up in shallow water. Somewhere in the midst of all of this fish catching, Sofia braved up and held one of the fish she caught in order to release it in healthy condition.
We found a shallow, rocky area which held an abundance of sunfish and used a pole with a slip-float to present small baits to these aggressive fish in under 4 feet of water. Sofia quickly got the hang of placing her rig (using what is much like a fly-fishing roll cast) accurately, and it was game-on from that point. Sofia went on to land 21 sunfish, including bluegill, green, and longear sunfish. Sofia also tried her hand at baiting a hook for the first time, and got better with each attempt.
We closed out our trip by heading back out to open water to search for white bass. I had noted a lot of topwater action over the course of the morning, but, every school I spotted stayed up for only seconds — just not enough time to crank up, run to them, slow down, cast, and retrieve. But, as we downrigged on this go-round (between 9:30 and 10:30A), I noted even more schooling action and a few schools lingering at the top for what I thought would be enough time for us to approach them and present lures to them.
After landing another 4 fish on the downriggers, I headed to one of these lingering topwater schools and that turned out to be a good call. After we got to the vicinity of that particular school, multiple schools of fish began to feed on the surface in all directions. We witnessed a 45-minute long frenzy which allowed Travis and I to zing MAL Dense Lures out over top of these schools, crank the lures back through the fish, hook up, and then allow Sofia to reel in fish after fish until she was tired.
Sofia battled exactly 25 white bass back to the boat during this frenzy, taking her 4-hour catch up to a final 70 fish. The fish quit very suddenly right around 10:25, for no apparent reason — no boat ran through them, no cloud cover increased or decreased, no wind started or stopped — they just quit.
Sofia’s 70 fish catch included exactly 45 white bass, 1 hybrid striper, 1 largemouth bass, 1 freshwater drum, 6 green sunfish, 1 longear sunfish, and 14 bluegill sunfish.
As we arrived back at the dock, there was another surprise awaiting us. Mrs. Maria Tolleson of the Sun City chapter of Women Helping Others (WHO), escorted by her husband, stopped by in-person to present the SKIFF program with a handsome donation to help keep the program strong. She got to see the dividends of her investment as she met the Flatts and heard Sofia excitedly tell about all the fish she caught.
The entire family of MAL Lures is found here: https://whitebasstools.com/
TALLY: 70 fish caught and released
OBSERVATIONS: Here was the water temperature profile:
0 feet 87.9F
5 feet 88.5F
10 feet 88.5F
15 feet 87.2F
20 feet 85.6F
25 feet 84.3F
30 feet 83.3F
35 feet 79.9F
40 feet 73.4F
45 feet 68.5F
50 feet 65.3F
55 feet 63.1F
60 feet 61.9F
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 6:45A
End Time: 10:25A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 80F
Elevation: 6.24 feet low, 0.06’ fall in last 24 hours, 89 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 87.9F
Wind Speed & Direction: SW3-5 then shifting to NE3-5 around 9A
Sky Condition: ~10% white cloud cover on a blue sky
Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous moon at 98% illumination.
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Areas B0201G to 1974 to B0077G – early downrigging
Area 1583 – sunfishing
Area vic B0040G – downrigging leading to topwater action
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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