WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Thursday, October 12, I conducted the seventh SKIFF trip of the 2023 season providing a fishing trip at no charge to the family of U.S. Army Colonel Charles Ausman.
Mrs. Denise Igo, who herself was once served by the SKIFF program, kindly made the Fort Cavazos community aware of the free trips I was offering to military children separated from their parents by military duty this week during the Killeen Independent School District’s fall break via her Fort Cavazos Area Events Facebook page.
The boys’ mom, Jessi Ausman, contacted me after seeing this Facebook post, and arranged for the oldest three of her four boys to come out fishing with me this morning. I hosted Jameson (10), Will (9), and Sampson (7) for a 3.5 hour trip on Lake Belton. The boys father is a logistician currently deployed to southwest Asia.
ABOUT SKIFF: This fishing trip, like all SKIFF trips, was provided to this military family at no charge. 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, namely The McBride Foundation and Subaru. 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 hour adventures on Belton Lake and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, just outside the gates of Fort Cavazos in Bell County, TX, year ’round. Call or text 254.368.7411.
Here is how the fishing went…
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Here’s an up-to-date calendar so you can check availability: https://holdingthelineguideservice.com/available-dates.php
Next available dates are Oct. 23, 24, & 26
PHOTO CAPTION: From left: Jameson, Will, and Samson Ausman and a few of the 69 fish they landed on their Soldiers’ Kids Involved in Fishing Fun (SKIFF) trip on Lake Belton.
PHOTO CAPTION: Samson was curious just what it feels like to the fish when we “lipped” them to lower them back to the water prior to releasing them. Well … he found out!
WHERE WE FISHED: Lake Belton
WHEN WE FISHED: Thursday, 12 October 2023
HOW WE FISHED:
Once again, we had a warm, humid, 100% cloudy sky this morning. The temperature at sunrise was around 64°. These cloudy skies just about guarantee that no topwater bite will take place, and that was the case this morning. Having been through the same scenario earlier this week, I came prepared to downrig for suspended fish during the low light period with plans to find heavily schooled fish on bottom and fish for them later in the morning under brighter sky conditions.
We enjoyed great success as the boys took turns landing fish on the two downriggers I ran simultaneously, each equipped with a three-armed umbrella rig outfitted with #13 Pet Spoons for a total of six baits in the water. We caught 21 fish by downrigging.
As the skies brightened, activity along the bottom steadily increased as witnessed on down-imaging. When that activity had grown sufficiently, I switched the boys over to fishing MAL Originals with chartreuse tails to take advantage of these concentrations of bottom-oriented fish. The boys all got the hang of using the smoking tactic in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope fairly quickly, and that is what we stuck with for the remainder of the trip.
By the time mom returned for the boys around 10:50 AM, the boys had amassed a catch of 69 fish which included hybrid striped bass, largemouth bass, freshwater drum, and white bass.
TALLY: 69 fish caught and released.
Find the MAL Lure here: https://whitebasstools.com/
OBSERVATIONS: For the third consecutive day, no topwater action materialized thanks to a very slow brightening of the morning skies under thick, grey cloud cover.
WEATHER DATA:
Start Time: 7:20A
End Time: 10:50A
Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 64F
Elevation: 18.91 feet low, 47 CFS flow
Water Surface Temp: 75.8F on the surface.
Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12-14 all morning
Sky Condition: Thick, grey cloud cover at 100% all morning.
Moon Phase: Waning crescent moon at 5% illumination.
GT = N/A
Wx SNAPSHOT:
AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:
Area 1356 thru B0234G – downrigging Pets for 21 fish
Area B0233G- 16 fish smoking MAL Originals
Areas 1469, B0237G, B0235G, and B0236G – a combined catch of 32 fish at these three areas, all via smoking MAL Originals
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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